by Daniel Hathaway
For over four decades Ohio Light Opera has enthralled audiences with performances of the complete Gilbert & Sullivan catalog as well as American and European operettas and titles from the Golden Age of musical theater. Performed in the intimate Freedlander Theatre located on the campus of the College of Wooster, Ohio Light Opera offers fully-staged, entertaining productions in the atmosphere of a charming college town.
This summer’s titles include Cinderella, Hello, Dolly!, The Student Prince, The Pirates of Penzance, The Mock Marriage, and The Fantasticks. All six titles are currently running in repertoire until July 31, and all six are well worth the trip to Wooster. Click here for ticket availability.
This is light opera and musical theatre at its best. The young professional ensemble exudes theatrical and vocal talent and the leads wouldn’t be out of place in any provincial opera company. The Orchestra, skillfully led by Michael Borowitz and Wilson Southerland is first class and in addition to the acting, singing, and dancing, the productions are visually gorgeous. [Read more…]
Gilbert & Sullivan might be the Ohio Light Opera signature, but the company in residence at the College of Wooster each summer has made other traditions out of its love for lyric theater. One curious case is the 1924 operetta The Student Prince, which OLO reprises for a seventh time in a production running through July 29 at Freedlander Theatre.
Before Austrian composer Franz Lehár hit the Viennese operetta bull’s eye with The Merry Widow, he composed a less well-known show, The Mock Marriage (Die Juxheirat), whose complicated plot, set in America in 1904, gives a nod to such contemporary societal issues as gender identity and the empowerment of women.
The Fantasticks 
On June 23, Ohio Light Opera rang up the curtain on the second production of its 43rd season in Freedlander Theatre at The College of Wooster. Following on the heels of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, the company’s first-ever staging of Hello, Dolly! continued the inclusion of Broadway in OLO’s repertoire.
Like nearly every performing arts organization in the world — especially those reliant on vocalists — 
For over four decades Ohio Light Opera has enthralled audiences with performances of the complete Gilbert & Sullivan catalog as well as American and European operettas and titles from the Golden Age of musical theater. Performed in the intimate Freedlander Theatre located on the campus of Wooster College, 
The Ohio Light Opera made a smart move adding The Fantasticks to its repertory this season. The company that puts operetta first but always has room for a musical or two couldn’t have chosen a better classic for this strange summer back from the pandemic. This is a show that needs only a barebones setup, and OLO’s production (which ran from July 14–24, outdoors at Wayne Center for the Arts in Wooster) was charmingly stripped down.