Rockford's Rock Opera - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Rockford's Rock Opera is an ecological musical story created by Matthew Sweetapple, Steve Punt

Steve Punt

Stephen Punt is a British writer, comedian and actor, best known for his long-time comedy partnership with Hugh Dennis. Punt lives in Wimbledon with his girlfriend and two children.-Life and career:...

and Elaine Sweetapple. It was first released on the internet and as a three album set by Sweetapple

Sweetapple

Sweetapple is the charitable brand, creative consultancy and music project established by Elaine and Matthew Sweetapple.Based in London, since 2002 Sweetapple has been responsible for creating and giving ideas to charities which have raised over £1,000,000 for the causes concerned...

in 2009.

Rockford's Rock Opera uses audio visual resources, CGI animation (created by Steve Skinner) and an audiobook story to teach about extinction

Extinction

In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...

, ecology

Ecology

Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...

and biodiversity

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...

. As a result it has been promoted by education portals including the BGCI, Woodland's Junior School, Teachernet and Primary Times. It has also been featured on BBC Radio

BBC Radio

BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...

– including a musical feature on BBC Radio 4's Go4it programme.

Rockford's Rock Opera introduces the Island of Infinity, home to the last single representative of every extinct animal and plant species. Key characters include the fictional Cocklebur Ick (named after the Cocklebur seed - inspiration for the invention of Velcro

Velcro

Velcro is the brand name of the first commercially marketed fabric hook-and-loop fastener, invented in 1948 by the Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral...

), the Registrar, Dectopus, Feeble Beetle and The Herculous. Also featured are non fictional species such as the Passenger Pigeon

Passenger Pigeon

The Passenger Pigeon or Wild Pigeon was a bird, now extinct, that existed in North America and lived in enormous migratory flocks until the early 20th century...

, Great Auk

Great Auk

The Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis, formerly of the genus Alca, was a large, flightless alcid that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus, a group of birds that formerly included one other species of flightless giant auk from the Atlantic Ocean...

, Moa

Moa

The moa were eleven species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about ....

and Thylacine

Thylacine

The thylacine or ,also ;binomial name: Thylacinus cynocephalus, Greek for "dog-headed pouched one") was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or the Tasmanian wolf...

.

Rockford's Rock Opera is described as an "Adventure in Sound", citing influences such as Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, Roger Glover's Butterfly Ball

Butterfly Ball

The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast is a concept album and subsequent live rock opera appearing in 1974 and 1975 respectively, based on the children's book of the same title .- Origin and production history :The work was originally conceived as a solo vehicle for Jon Lord to be produced...

and Harry Nilssen's The Point!

The Point!

- Musical play :In 1975, Esquire Jauchem, Artistic Director of the Boston Repertory Theater, approached Harry Nilsson about creating a stage musical of "The Point!" Although Nilsson said he had been asked many times and had always turned down the request, this time he granted his permission...

. Delivered via the web and on CD, Rockford's Rock Opera was described by The Observer as "Magical", by The Guardian as an "ingenious story" and a "thoroughly modern musical" and, by The Times, as a "cult favourite as beloved as Wallace and Gromit.". The musical story's on-line and on-mobile formats allow visitors access a variety of free audio visual materials and resources as well as different story formats (including text synchronized readalong, pdf and audio downloads). On the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch and iPad Rockford's Rock Opera is available as Apps.

In addition, Rockford's Rock Opera's ecological messages and content have led to cooperative links with environmental organisations and charities including the WWF

World Wide Fund for Nature

The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...

, Buglife the BGCI and the Open University

Open University

The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...

.

As well as many school performances, Rockford's Rock Opera (Part One) has been performed live on stage at various venues including the Museum of London and The Bull Theatre in London.

History

Rockford's Rock Opera grew from the success of a Sweetapple song released with the help of Gerry Bron

Gerry Bron

Gerald L. Bron is an English record producer and band manager. In his early days, he managed the Bonzo Dog Band.Bron is the brother of actress Eleanor Bron. His family is Jewish. He is also of Eastern European origin...

on behalf of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home

Battersea Dogs and Cats Home

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home is the UK's oldest and most famous home for dogs and cats and is situated in the Battersea area of London, England. It is financed by voluntary donations with an income of over £12.2 million in 2009.-History:...

called 'Rockford's Christmas' which entered the UK singles chart in 2004.

Rockford's Rock Opera Part 1 was first performed live at The Bull Theatre, High Barnet on Friday 29 January 2009.

The Cast Included:
Steve Punt

Steve Punt

as the Narrator,
Matthew Sweetaple as the Guitarist/Narrator,
Zoe Karp as the Cocklebur Ick and
Danny Lane as Iggy the Passenger Pigeon

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.