Ohio Light Opera Archives - Cleveland Classical

Ohio Light Opera Costume Retrospective showcases four decades of design

by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

The importance of costumes in theater or opera is easy to determine. Just think of how often a brief glimpse of a costume can not only tell you when the action is taking place, but frequently where as well. Think of The Mikado, for instance, or more recently, Brigadoon or My Fair Lady. But those costumes don’t just appear like magic.

Oh, no. There are numerous meetings with the other technical staff of the production in addition to Costume Design. Among these are Set and sometimes Prop Design, Lighting Design, more rarely Sound Design, plus the Stage Director, Choreographer, Stage Manager and Conductor. All of these people have an interest in how the production will both look and sound to an audience. Depending on the size of the show, these meetings may begin as much as a year in advance of opening night.

Obviously, I Do! I Do! (the famous two-person, one-set musical of 1966) isn’t nearly as demanding or complex as Phantom of the Opera, but either of them could easily have been ruined by a lack of proper attention to the necessities. For the former, that meant two nightgowns and a huge bed. For the latter, it seemed like half the population of Paris was onstage at times. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera Premiere: Franz Lehár’s Cloclo (July 25)

by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

Ohio Light Opera is no stranger to the works of Franz Lehár: prior to this year, seven of his operettas had been performed by the company, the most frequent being his luscious The Merry Widow. Number eight, having opened at Freedlander Theatre on July 25, is Cloclo, which is not in the usual Viennese operetta mode. First off, it takes place in Paris, as well as the French countryside near Perpignan. And written a few years after the end of WWI, its musical sensibility sensibility is a good bit different: it includes jazz, a tango, blues, and even a take-off on the final scene from Fledermaus — not originally written by Lehár. You know the one, when the inmates and jailor are happily mixed with champagne. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: Offenbach’s La Périchole (July 18)

by Kelly Ferjutz

You’ve heard of “screwball comedies,” right? Well, here’s your chance to see a screwball comedy disguised as an operetta. The sumptuous music is by the German-French master, Jacques Offenbach, and features a sparkling new English translation by OLO’s Jacob Allen. The original French libretto from 1868 is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. Offenbach wrote nearly 100 operettas from the 1850s–1870s, on more than a dozen of which Meilhac collaborated, while Halévy assisted on more than twenty. Today, only half a dozen or so are still in the active repertoire. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: Bernstein’s Candide (July 11)

by Timothy Robson

Ohio Light Opera’s production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide is in the midst of a repertory run through early August in the Friedlander Theatre at the College of Wooster. It is a splendid affair in every regard, and I can recommend it without reservation. The principal roles are double-cast — I saw it with the July 11 ensemble. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera continues season
with Iolanthe, La Périchole & Cloclo

by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical

Once the glitter and glitz of opening night and getting the season up on its feet is in the past, Ohio Light Opera settles into the imported, more traditional, part of the season. As it happened, the first four productions were all from the American Lyric Theater. Now we’ll be treated to Iolanthe, a not-so-well-known Gilbert & Sullivan; La Périchole by the French master, Offenbach, and closing the season will be a Viennese confection by Franz Lehár. Cloclo (an OLO premiere) is a sort of step-sister to The Merry Widow.

Any operetta by Gilbert & Sullivan is full of confusion, disguises, mistaken identities, and so forth, and all set to wonderful music, of course. But Iolanthe seems to go a bit over the top. In this one, the women are all fairies, or ‘peri’, while the men are all Peers of the Realm, always in full regalia, no matter the setting or purpose. It’s really a dandy battle of the sexes – in disguise. First there was Iolanthe, herself, falling in love with a peer, who turns out to be the Lord High Chancellor. They have a son, Strephon, who is a fairy above the waist but his legs are mortal. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: Fifty Million Frenchmen

by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

If you blink during the momentary lights-out between the end of the overture and the curtain going up, you might think you’ve somehow been transported to Paris in 1929. Time-travel, perhaps? Ohio Light Opera’s production of Fifty Million Frenchmen in Freedlander Theater at the College of Wooster is very realistic, to be sure, and totally enjoyable, but then, what’s not to like in a Cole Porter creation? His insouciant music and beguiling lyrics can support just about any plot imaginable. But this one, by Herbert Fields, is downright perfect. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: Babes in Arms (June 21)

by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

If you enjoy music from the Great American Songbook or the Golden Age of Broadway, then you’re already familiar with a good number of songs from Richard Rodgers’ and Lorenz Hart’s Babes in Arms. After opening on April 14, 1937 and running for 289 performances, the musical never again appeared on Broadway, quite possibly because of the show’s politically incorrect views and language. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: The Pajama Game (June 16)

by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

Who would ever have thought that labor troubles in a pajama factory in Iowa could become the fodder for an award-winning musical comedy that is still lively and topical at almost 65 years of age? The twentieth century might almost have been known as the century of the labor union, which peaked in the 1950s. At that time, they were still a major force, as cheekily demonstrated in the buoyant presentation of The Pajama Game that opened the Ohio Light Opera season in Wooster on Saturday evening, June 16. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera at 40: season preview, part one

by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

Usually, the celebration of an anniversary results in gifts offered by the visitors to the host. But not this time! Ohio Light Opera is celebrating its 40th anniversary this summer, but they’re gifting the audiences with five OLO premieres! That’s correct – five productions that have never graced the stage of Freedlander Theatre, their home in Wooster, Ohio.

Four of the premieres — The Pajama Game, Babes in Arms, Fifty Million Frenchmen, and Candide — are from America’s Lyric Theater tradition, while the fifth — CloClo — is steeped in the Viennese operetta tradition. The season is rounded out with two old friends of OLO, Iolanthe and La Périchole.

Opening on Saturday, June 16 at 7:30 pm, The Pajama Game is known for wonderful tunes and sassy choreography by Bob Fosse (one of his dancers was Shirley MacLaine), debuted in New York in 1954. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: George Gershwin’s Primrose

by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com

George Gershwin wrote the music for the English premiere of Primrose, catering to the British type of lyric theater —very different from the American. It’s a charming work, but has been hampered by being thought of as ‘too British’ for American sensitivities. Humbug!