The Tuneful Voice

<p><em>The Tuneful Voice: Selected Libretti </em>presents a collection of works by Eugene Benson professor novelist playwright and editor written over a fifty-year period. The volume includes adaptations of the writings of such prominent authors as Jane Austen Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde as opera operetta musical theatre and oratorio. The death of Canadian painter Tom Thomson is probed in the oratorio <em>The Mystery of Canoe Lake </em>and the extraordinary story of the Canadian theatre mogul Ambrose J. Small is dramatized in the musical <em>The Millionaire Who Disappeared.</em> Other subjects range from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century.</p><p>This is a book rich in detail and personal insight and an illuminating exploration of how musical theatre in its various genres is created. Benson's work has been performed by the Canadian Opera Company the Stratford Festival of Canada the Guelph Spring Festival Toronto Operetta Theatre Westben Arts Festival Opera-in-Concert (Toronto) Stratford Summer Music and broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.</p>