Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Two widely performed operas for children, Monkey See, Monkey Do (Mary Duren Medrick, librettist and Robert Xavier Rodríguez, composer-librettist) and Frida Kahlo and the Bravest Girl in the World (Mark Campbell, librettist and Joe Illick, composer) can be performed in English, Spanish, or a combination of both. Bilingualism extends to the operas’ musical contents, as their scores include transnational genres associated with the Latin American diaspora alongside other styles. These works also foreground intertextuality through adapting pre-existing sources. Monkey See quotes and then alters folk melodies, several of which are used in folklórico dance performances, an art form closely associated with Mexican and Mexican American identity; Frida Kahlo is based on a best-selling children’s book. As a result, these two operas model how languages can be interwoven and combined and how narratives can be adjusted and altered. Therefore, they encourage children to adapt the cultural “scripts” they have been given.</jats:p>