Get ready to be entertained this weekend as the University’s Opera Theater students are putting on a spring showcase at the Hult Center.
The common theme between the four mini-operas is love and the performance is appropriately named “Faces of Love.” Each piece takes place in a different time period and has to do with women and their various relationships with love and men.
One of the four operas, “The Ruined Maid,” is being directed by first time director master’s student Catherine Olson. She has had the opportunity to converse about her vision for the piece with its composer Seymour Barab while in New York over Memorial Day weekend.
“The Ruined Maid” is a contemporary satire set in 19th-Century England that pits a formerly wealthy aristocratic woman against her former maid whose riches have grown since becoming a “woman of the town.”
The piece uses exaggeration to put a comedic spin on the otherwise serious topic of societal and gender roles that women were held to during that time.
“For me I just see beauty in [the four operas],” Olson said, “and the ideas consist of love and the way that love in healthy and unhealthy ways plays out in our lives and affects our lives.”
Olson will also be singing in another act, “Broken Pieces,” where she plays the role of a neurotic lonely woman who lives in a modern-day slovenly New York City apartment whose bathroom is in sore need of tile repair. She then meets a charming tile repairman, played by David Fertall for Friday’s performance and Marco Valerio for Saturday’s performance, in the early morning.
This unexpected love story shows how two lonely people can find solace in each other’s company, even if it’s only for a short time.
All three University a cappella groups will be appearing at the performance this weekend.
The newest group on campus, the co-ed Mind the Gap, will be greeting audience members with songs at the Hult Center door.
The all-woman a cappella group Divisi and the all-men a cappella group On the Rocks will have full sets after the first two opera theater acts.
“We’re a different flavor for the opera,” says Divisi member Laurie Fullmer.
The interim director of the Opera Theater program, Doug Webster, decided to get the a cappella groups involved in the performance after months of hearing them practice across the hall from his office.
Impressed with their work, Webster thought that a cappella would be an exciting and interesting addition to this contemporary opera performance.
“Go and listen, enjoy and think,” says Olson about her hopes for this weekend’s show. “That’s all you can ever ask an audience to do.”
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