by Kelly Ferjutz
Special to ClevelandClassical.com
If you’ve never quite understood all the fuss about Gilbert & Sullivan, then you owe it to yourself to see Ohio Light Opera’s production of Iolanthe, in repertory at the College of Wooster through August 9. Do not delay, or you’ll miss one of the most luscious, lighter-than-air confections ever seen. [Read more…]
by Jarrett Hoffman
With July 4th a day away, it’s as good a time as any for this conversation-starter: aside from The Star-Spangled Banner and America the Beautiful, what music do you most associate with the US of A? It may be the marches of J.P. Sousa, or it could be a particular song by the Violent Femmes (“Do you liiiike American music?”). And it very well might be the works of a certain native-born composer that have graced more than a few programs this year.
The day after the United States turn 242, Ohio Light Opera will celebrate two more birthdays — the company’s 40th and Leonard Bernstein’s 100th — when they present that composer’s 1956 comic operetta Candide. Performances begin on July 5 at 2:00 pm in Freedlander Theatre at the College of Wooster and continue through August 10. (See their calendar for details.)
Directed by Steven A. Daigle and conducted by Steven Byess, the production also marks OLO’s first-ever performance of any Bernstein work. Ted Christopher, Alexa Devlin, Stephen Faulk, Benjamin Krumreig, Hannah Kurth, Daniel Neer, Sarah Polinski, and Stephen Walley will take on a cast of characters who are repeatedly killed, only to bizarrely turn up again in far-off locales and ever-stranger situations.
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…]