by Kelly Ferjutz, Special to ClevelandClassical
It’s a little bit sassy, a little bit bawdy, and a whole lot of musical fun! What is it, you ask? Why, it’s One Touch of Venus, now onstage in repertory through August 8 at the Ohio Light Opera in Wooster. It’s totally fabulous. One Touch of Venus is one of half-a-dozen or so musicals written by the eminent classical composer Kurt Weill, but the music is anything but strictly classical in orientation. There’s jazz, boogie-woogie, and jitterbug, in addition to beautiful melodies such as “Speak Low,” and “I’m a stranger here myself.” [Read more…]
On Tuesday, July 1, the house was full and the audience bustled with excitement for Ohio Light Opera’s opening performance of Pirates of Penzance in Freedlander Hall on the campus of Wooster college. The customary standing and singing of “God save the Queen” set the tone for the afternoon’s English fare. As the curtain raised we were immediately swept into the action, a rocky seashore on the coast of Cornwall, town of Penzance.
On a beautiful summer day last week, we drove to Wooster to spend the afternoon in Shangri-La – or, more specifically, to watch Ohio Light Opera’s opening performance of Johann Strauss, Jr.’s comic masterpiece, Die Fledermaus (“The Bat”).
“Another opening, another show…” And so it was on Thursday afternoon, June 19 when the Ohio Light Opera staged its opening performance Irving Berlin’s Call me Madam in Freedlander Theater on the campus of The College of Wooster. Filled to capacity, the house was teeming with enthusiasm as OLO launched its 36th season with a political topic that, not coincidentally, hit close to home.