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…]
Usually, the celebration of an anniversary results in gifts offered by the visitors to the host. But not this time! 
The year 1924 features strongly in the 2017 season at Ohio Light Opera. No fewer than three of the seven scores date from that year — and all are vastly different from each other in setting, style, and country of origin. 
There should be something for every taste in Ohio Light Opera’s premiere production of 
It’s common for productions of lyric theatre works to be placed in countries other than their original setting. But