Review of Opera Theatre's "The Kiss"

Photo: Ken Howard

Fed up with politics? Disgusted with TV? Got a headache from 3D movies? Wilted by the heat? Well, take heart, dear friends. Opera Theatre has a charming romantic comedy for you that will take your mind off whatever’s bugging you and send you out of the theatre with a smile on your face and a Smetana melody in your heart.

The product, ironically, of a time in composer Bedřich Smetana’s life when his personal life was at a low ebb—his deafness was complete and he had lost an important job as a result—“The Kiss” is a resolutely sunny and good-natured confection of an opera with sparring lovers (a la “Much Ado About Nothing”), a hilariously crotchety father, nice-guy smugglers, and a happy ending for all. It’s filled with Smetana’s captivating melodies and lively dance-inspired rhythms and features a heroine with surprisingly modern-sounding attitudes toward the opposite sex and marriage, given that the opera premiered in 1876.

Chalk that up to the fact that the libretto is by a female author. Alžběta Pechová (writing as Eliška Krásnohorská*) wrote a total of four operas for Smetana, including “The Kiss.” “Entering into the world of these operas,” writes director Michael Gieleta in the OTSL program, “one is immediately transported into the realm of Mother Earth: into the countryside milieu of a household setting, motherhood, fertility, domestic relationships, betrothals and marriages, ill-balanced families, male faults, and female endurance.” The libretti show “the genuineness, the unquestionable emotional honesty” that comes from first-hand experience; something that “is seldom encountered in operatic portrayals penned by male librettists.” “The Kiss” looks at the quarreling lovers from a female point of view, in short, and it’s not a submissive one.

Corinne Winters
Photo: Ken Howard

Lukáš, a wealthy young farmer, had always loved Vendulka, but his parents forced him to marry another. Now a widower and orphan with a baby son, Lukáš returns to ask for Vendulka’s hand from her cynical and curmudgeonly father Palouckŷ. Papa warns that the lovers are too much alike and too stubborn to make a match, but things are going well enough until Lukáš asks for a kiss to seal the betrothal. Vendulka refuses out of consideration for the deceased wife, the argument escalates, and by the end of the first act Lukáš is off getting tanked with a couple of local lasses, Vendulka has run off with her aunt Martinka to join a band of jolly smugglers, and Palouckŷ gloats over the whole mess.

All ends happily, but not before Lukáš eats a considerable helping of humble pie and both he and Vendulka admit they might have been just a bit hasty.

The Opera Theatre production could hardly be better. Soprano Corinne Winters (who has done such fine work as Mélisande and Micaëla in the last two seasons) carries the bulk of the opera as Vendulka, convincingly portraying a wide range of emotions from joy to despair with a radiant, clear voice. Tenor Garrett Sorenson (who sang Hoffman so well back in 2008) brings that same impressive tenor to the role of Lukáš.

Bass-baritone Matthew Burns has demonstrated his flair for comedy before on the OTSL stage, so it’s no surprise that his Palouckŷ gets so many laughs. He looks a bit young for the part, though.

Emily Duncan-Brown
Photo: Ken Howard

The young servant Barče only has one aria of any consequence—the “Lark Song” from Act II—but it’s a doozy, filled with flashy vocal leaps and pyrotechnics. Soprano Emily Duncan-Brown’s performance was a true showstopper—lovely and seemingly effortless.

Baritone Matthew Worth is the mellow voice of reason as Lukáš’s brother-in-law Tomeš, mezzo Elizabeth Batton a fine comic presence as Martinka, and bass-baritone Charles Z. Owen roguishly charming as the smuggler Matouš, whose merry band brought to mind the comic pirates of Penzance.

James Macnamara’s set has an oddly artificial look for an opera filled with so many lovely musical evocations of nature. The stage floor is covered in something that looks a great deal like Astroturf and the moveable backdrop consists of long, rectangular wooden panels that wouldn’t look out of place in a high-end bar. Still, it works well enough, and Fabio Toblini’s colorful Bohemian peasant costumes add to the cheerful look of the piece.

Michael Gielata’s direction handles focus and stage movement nicely. His decision to accompany Smetana’s cheerful overture with a pantomime sequence showing the funeral of Lukáš’s wife struck me as oddly discordant, though. Conductor Anthony Barrese brings Smetana’s lively, tune-filled score to brilliant life.

“The Kiss” has one more performance on Friday, June 28, at 8 PM at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. It’s a sunny, lovable piece that only someone as crabby as Palouckŷ could fail to enjoy. For more information: experienceopera.org

*Why, I have no idea.

Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic for 88.1 KDHX, where this review originally appeared.

Review of Opera Theatre's "Champion"

Photo: Ken Howard

The opera receiving its world premiere this month at Opera Theatre has an impressive pedigree. The music is by jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and genre-crossing composer Terrence Blanchard, and the libretto by Pulitzer Prize­winning playwright Michael Cristofer, whose play “The Shadow Box” remains a perennial favorite of small theatre companies. It’s a bit surprising, then, that while I found “Champion” moving and often profoundly sad, I felt that it lacked the real dramatic depth I would have expected from that kind of talent.

The true story on which “Champion” is based is certainly tragic enough. In 1962, U.S. Virgin Islands immigrant Emile Griffith won the World Welterweight Championship in a controversial fight that left his opponent Benny “Kid” Paret dead and Paret’s two-year-old son fatherless. Griffith went on to win multiple titles but ultimately lost them all and had to end his career as “boxer’s brain”—the result of multiple knockouts—began to claim his mental faculties. A beating from a group of thugs outside a Manhattan gay bar exacerbated the damage and hastened his slide into dementia.

Photo: Ken Howard

As the opera opens, an aging and confused Emile is preparing to meet the son of Benny Paret in an attempt at reconciliation. As Emile’s adopted son and caretaker Luis helps him dress, Emile’s mind drifts back and forth in time, unveiling his story in a series of flashbacks and visions. Along the way we meet important figures in his life: the mother who abandoned him in the Virgin Islands and later reconnected with him in New York, his manager, his wife (whom he married in an attempt to deny his homosexuality), and the men and women at the gay bar he frequented. Through it all we see Emile try to come to grips with the contradiction between his private and public persona and his guilt over the death of Kid Paret.

This is the kind of material that offers opportunities to ask serious questions about the way our culture defines masculinity and the odd contradictions that definition creates. Mr. Cristofer’s libretto certainly does that, often very effectively. As Griffith observes in the opera, “I killed a man and the world forgave me; I loved a man and the world wanted to kill me.” Mr. Blanchard’s eclectic score supports and adds emotional resonance to the text. But ultimately the most genuinely moving moment in the evening came near the end, when Emile embraces Paret’s son—a touching scene that takes place in total silence.

The problem, I think, is that most of the scenes in “Champion” go on too long and lose their dramatic impact in the process. The scene in which the young Emile and his mother visit the hat factory run by Emile’s future fight manager is a typical example: the same words and music are repeated, more or less unchanged, at least two or three times, like some sort of instant replay. It’s a pattern that’s repeated often enough to drain away the sense of dramatic momentum and make the show feel a bit plodding. I think a bit of editing would tighten the overall structure and add a sense of dramatic urgency that “Champion” often lacks.

And then there’s the matter of the ending. After the touching silent embrace and a scene in which Emile finally finds a way to forgive himself for his past mistakes we’re back to the beginning, with the confused Emile not sure where his shoe goes or where he goes. It’s not clear that he’ll remember the catharsis he’s been through or that anything has actually changed. That might be medically realistic, but after everything he (and we) have been through, I think we all deserve better than that.

Still, it’s a pretty good opera as it stands. With some work, I think it could be a great one. And there’s no question that “Champion” is getting a truly outstanding production from Opera Theatre, with a wonderful cast, fine orchestral playing, and polished tech.

Bass Arthur Woodley captures the confusion and vulnerability of the elderly Emile perfectly, right down the palsied hands and slumped posture. And you can hear the echoes of the character’s youth in that powerful voice. Bass-baritone Aubrey Allicock is a real force of nature as the young Emile. He sings powerfully as well. He is not, however, a good physical match for Mr. Woodley, who is noticeably taller.

Making her OTSL debut, Denyce Graves shows considerable acting skill and a remarkably wide-ranging voice as Emile’s mother Emelda. The role sounds more alto than mezzo to me, but Ms. Graves didn’t seem to be particularly challenged by the low notes. Baritone Robert Orth is very effective as Emile’s aggressive manager Howie Albert and tenor Victor Ryan Robertson does an excellent job as both the brash, light-footed Kid Paret and his more mild-mannered son.

There’s very fine work here as well by soprano Chabrelle Williams in multiple roles (including Emile’s wife), mezzo Meredith Arwady as bar owner Kathy Hagan, tenor Christopher Hutchinson as the Ring Announcer (who acts as something of a Greek Chorus), and tenor Lorenzo Miguel Garcia as the Young Man with whom Emile flirts on the night of his beating.

Tenor Brian Arreola cuts a sympathetic and loving figure as Luis and young Jordan Jones shows skill beyond his years as Little Emile.

Director James Robinson keeps the show moving and the blocking focused and motivated, assisted by Seán Curran’s always reliable choreography. Allen Moyer’s multi-level set make very effective use of video projections (by Greg Emetaz) to quickly define time and location, enabling swift set changes.

Mr. Blanchard’s score sounds modern without being harsh. Jazz, blues, and Afro-Caribbean elements are present as well, with the former mostly showing up in urban scenes and the latter in Emile’s memories of his home. There’s even a jazz rhythm section in the orchestration (piano, bass, and drums). Mr. Manahan’s direction integrates it all seamlessly.

The bottom line on Opera Theatre’s “Champion” is that its flaws aren’t big enough to overcome its strengths and, in any case, a world premiere here in St. Louis always deserves attention. I think “Champion” is worth seeing for the quality of the performances and for the importance of the questions it raises. Performances continue through this Sunday at the Loretto-Hilton Center in Webster Groves. For more information: experienceopera.org.

Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic for 88.1 KDHX, where this review originally appeared.

Review of Opera Theatre's "Il Tabarro" and "I Pagliacci"

Robert Brubaker as Luigi and Emily Pulley as Giorgetta in Il tabarro
Photo: Ken Howard

Opera Theatre’s second production this season is a dramatically powerful and musically impeccable combination of two classics of verismo opera: Puccini’s “Il Tabarro” (“The Cloak”) and Leoncavallo’s “I Pagliacci” (“The Clowns”). “Verismo” is, literally, the Italian for “realism”; the verismo libretti deal with the joys and sorrows of ordinary people. Verismo arose as a kind of reaction to the mythic and historical subjects favored by Verdi and earlier masters.
Verismo was, in short, an attempt to make opera more “relevant” to (in the words of critic Stanley Sadie) “a middle-class public, which had a social conscience and expected to be seriously addressed in the course of its entertainment.”

Yesterday’s relevance, however, is today’s historical artifact. The provincial touring commedia dell’arte troupe of “Pagliacci” and, to a lesser extent, the commercial barge on the Seine of “Tabarro” would have been familiar to audiences when the operas were written at the turn of the last century, but now they seem exotic. How do you recapture the immediacy the original composers and librettists had in mind?

Director Ron Daniels has elected to move the action up slightly in time—both operas now appear to take place sometime in the middle of the last century. Otherwise, however, he seems to be willing to let these grim and violent dramas of despair, betrayal, and passion gone rancid speak for themselves—with dramatically powerful results.

Both operas deal with older men in loveless marriages with younger women who yearn for improbable escape with young lovers.

In “Tabarro” the barge owner Michele and his wife Giorgetta clearly loved each other at some point—they even have a poignant duet in which they recall those earlier days—but the death of their infant son has apparently driven a fatal wedge between them. She now dreams of escaping to the town of her birth with the stevedore Luigi, while Michele nurses a grudge and plots revenge. Michele is just sympathetic enough to make him a quintessentially tragic figure.

Kelly Kaduce as Nedda and
Robert Brubaker as Canio in Pagliacci
Photo: Ken Howard

In “Pagliacci,” on the other hand, Canio (Pagliaccio in the troupe’s show) is a boiling reservoir of rage from his first appearance on stage. When a villager jokingly suggests that the hunchback Tonio might have designs on Canio’s wife Nedda (the troupe’s Columbina), his smile becomes the rictus of Batman’s nemesis The Joker as he declares (in a very free translation of the original) “that’s not funny. .” When Tonio, angered by Nedda’s rejection of his crude attempt at seduction, arranges for Canio to find Nedda in flagrante delicto with her lover, the villager Silvio, the increasing spiral of violence is not so much tragic as grimly inevitable—a slow-motion train wreck.

The cast for this production, three of whom appear in both operas, could hardly be better.

Baritone Tim Mix is utterly credible as the tragic Michele, the black-hearted Tonio, and the mild-mannered Prologue of “Pagliacci,” who delivers the artistic manifesto of the verismo movement. It’s a classic triple-threat performance, beautifully sung. Tenor Robert Brubaker is equally remarkable in the contrasting roles of Luigi and Canio, with a powerful, ringing voice and compelling stage presence. I felt he overplayed Canio’s rage a bit in the famous “Vesti la giubba,” but he perfectly captured the despair of Luigi’s short (but technically challenging) aria in “Tabarro”.

Tenor Matthew DiBattista rounds out the double-cast trio as the stevedore Trinca in “Tabarro” and Beppe/Harlequin in “Pagliacci.” Both are relatively lightweight comic roles and he does well by them.

Soprano Emily Pulley makes an auspicious Opera Theatre debut as Giorgetta, perfectly capturing the character’s longing and conflict with a dark, almost mezzo voice and finely tuned acting. Soprano Kelly Kaduce once again captivated me with her combination of first-rate acting and singing as Nedda/Columbina. I’ve seen her in a wide range of roles over the years and she never has failed to impress.

Bass-baritone Thomas Hammons and mezzo Margaret Gawrysiak provide a moving interlude in “Tabarro” as the stevedore Talpa and his wife Frugola, whose longing for a bucolic escape mirrors that of Giorgetta and Luigi.

Both operas call for a considerable amount of offstage action, which can be a challenge for a space like the Loretto-Hilton center, but Mr. Daniels makes ingenious use of both the wings and the house, with large crowd scenes spilling up the aisles and surrounding the audience. That proves to be especially helpful in “Pagliacci” with its crowd of villagers and children (to say nothing of the silent Greek chorus of clowns added by Mr. Daniels). Even in the more intimate “Tabarro,” though, having the strolling song vendor, organ grinder, and unnamed lovers enter and exit through the house adds to the sense of immediacy.

The scores of both operas are musically rich. Puccini’s is clearly the more impressive and through composed of the two, while Leoncavallo is the more overtly theatrical. Both offer considerable challenges to the players and conductor as well, especially with singers coming in from ”here, there, and everywhere.” In his Opera Theatre debut, Ward Stare—who has done such fine work with the symphony over the years—kept everything humming along beautifully and the orchestra sounded great.

Both operas looked great as well, thanks to set designer Riccardo Hernandez and costume designer Emily Rebholz. “Tabarro” takes place in front of a backdrop showing Michele’s barge. The prow of the boat, the suggestion of the river, and the riverbank are all in black and grey, mirroring the bleak world in which the characters live. Even the titular cloak is black. After intermission, the stage appears to be largely unchanged for the Prologue of “Pagliacci,” but that’s an illusion. As soon as the Prologue ends, the silent chorus of clowns whip dark coverings off the stage, the barge backdrop rises, and suddenly we’re thrust into the gaudy world of the circus where the dominant color is, appropriately, a bloody red and the stage is dominated by a huge image of Pagliaccio on the rear wall.

It’s a smart bit of theatre, as is the entire evening. The musical and dramatic values of this production are all exemplary and I recommend it highly.

Opera Theatre’s compelling double bill of “Il Tabarro” and “I Pagliacci” runs through June 29th in rotating repertory with the rest of the OTSL season. For more information and schedules, experienceopera.org.

Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic for 88.1 KDHX, where this review originally appeared.

Review of Opera Theatre's "Pirates of Penzance"

The cast of Pirates of Penzance
Photo copyright Ken Howard, 2013

Time was when St. Louis Savoyards could expect an annual Christmas present from Opera Theatre in the form of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta presented at Washington University’s Edison Theatre. Alas, either the present proved too expensive or the school had other plans for the space. These days we have to be content with the occasional production as part of the regular season by Opera Theatre or one of our other local opera companies.

The Pirates of Penzance, the G and S classic that opens the current Opera Theatre season, was last produced as one of those Christmas presents in 1982. This new version, directed and choreographed by OTSL veteran Seán Curran, sometimes gilds the comic lily with excessive and occasionally distracting stage “busy-ness”, but on the whole it’s tremendous fun. The cast are all fine singers and actors, James Schuette’s colorful costumes and pop-up book set—complete with a gilt Victorian false proscenium and red velvet curtains—is a delight, and the orchestra under conductor Ryan McAdams sounds terrific.

The story of Pirates is so well known that you don’t need me to summarize it here. I’ll just note that it’s a typically Gilbertian mix of parody, paradox, and verbal wit that remains hilarious over 130 years after its simultaneous New York and London premieres (an arrangement made necessary by the requirements of British and American copyright law at the time).

Heading this first-rate cast are tenor Matthew Plenk as Frederic, the “slave of duty” of the opera’s subtitle, and soprano Deanna Breiwick (a fine Johanna in Sweeney Todd last season) as Major-General Stanley’s youngest daughter Mabel. Mr. Plenk’s robust voice is almost too big for the role—a fact that Mr. Curran uses for a great visual joke during “Oh, is there not one maiden breast”—but he makes it work. Ms. Breiwick’s seemingly effortless execution of the vocal filigree in “Poor wandering one”, meanwhile, demonstrates why the New York Times once called her a "vocal trapeze artist." And her comic acting skills are solid.


Bass Bradley Smoak once again demonstrates his own impressive vocal and comic abilities (previously only on display in OTSL’s Don Giovanni and Marriage of Figaro) as the Pirate King. Mezzo Maria Zifchak is equally fine as Ruth, “a pirate maid-of-all work.”

Bass-baritone Jason Eck is an excellent Sergeant of Police, although he seems not entirely comfortable with the very bottom notes in “When the felon’s not engaged.” Mezzos Jaime Korkos and Corrie Stallings and soprano Katrina Galka—all Gerdine Young Artists—all have moments to shine as Stanley daughters.

Baritone Hugh Russell, who was such a great Figaro in Barber of Seville seven years ago, shows the same vocal and acting skills in the “principal comedian” role of Major-General Stanley. He seemed to be having a bit of difficulty enunciating all the lyrics of "I am the very model of a modern Major-General" on opening night, but that’s a minor complaint.

Mr. Curran’s choreography, while not elaborate, makes all his performers look good—which is what great choreography should do. His direction is, as I mentioned before, sometimes a bit too busy for its own good but it mostly serves the material well. I will, however, confess to being annoyed that the overture was, for no discernable reason, cut in half. Sullivan’s overtures are mostly little gems, with Pirates being one of the best, and they deserve to be heard as intended. Just because Joseph Papp did it for his 1981 pop/rock adaptation of Pirates doesn’t necessarily make it a good idea.

Opera Theatre may not be presenting a perfect Pirates of Penzance, but it’s an awfully good one, my minor “quibble quaint” not withstanding. It’s well worth seeing and highly recommended. Performances continue through June 29th in rotating repertory with the rest of the OTSL season. For more information and schedules, experienceopera.org.

Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic for 88.1 KDHX, where this review originally appeared.

Union Avenue Opera's "Trouble in Tahiti" Opens Friday

Union Avenue Opera opens its 19th Festival Season with Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti this weekend, running April 19, 20 (8pm) and 21 (3pm). Audiences will see the candid portrait of a young suburban couple, Sam and Dinah, and their struggle to save their marriage as they long for the American dream. Experience the roller coaster of emotion as they try to reconcile their love.

Though the opera was originally set in the 1950s, Allyson Ditchey's production at UAO updates the action to the modern day. Mezzo Soprano Kara Cornell, Dinah in UAO's production, recently spoke on St. Louis Public Radio's Cityscape about the piece and its update: "There are marital issues in the 50s that are still pertinent today even though divorce is now respectable, even if it wasn't then." In a recent interview with The St. Louis Beacon, Baritone Ian Greenlaw, Sam in the production, explains a theme of distractions running through the piece:

"Bernstein mentions the radio jingles. Television was limited and new at the time of the 1951 opera. Instead of just the radio bombarding a couple with ads and other distractions, today couples have much more distractions," Greenlaw says. He constantly notices couples in restaurants and coffee shops reading text messages, using cell phones and checking email even when they are out as a couple. Some employers and friends expect responses to messages 24/7. You see it all the time," he says. "Distractions all the time."

Ditchey, in the same article, encourages audiences to attend because "it's a wonderful introduction to opera. It's in English with supertitles. And the story is very smart, as relevant today as it was when [Bernstein] wrote it."

After the one-act opera, the evening continues as the cast of Trouble in Tahiti treats audiences to a special cabaret on the UAO stage featuring clever and tuneful music from Bernstein's songbook including "Tonight" from West Side Story, "New York, New York" from On the Town, "Simple Song" from Mass, "Pennycandystore Beyond the El" from Songfest, and many more.

THE CAST and CREW

Kara Cornell & Ian Greenlaw

Union Avenue Opera presents a cast of veteran artists. Baritone Ian Greenlaw, who most recently sang the role of Danilo in Die lustige Witwe (2009), sings the role of Sam. Having last appeared as the wicked stepsister Tisbe in La Cenerentola (2011), Mezzo Soprano Kara Cornell sings the role of Dinah, Sam's wife. Three artists form a jazz trio commenting on the action: Soprano Elise LaBarge (seen last season in Acis and Galatea), Tenor Clark Sturdevant (Froh in last season's Das Rheingold) and Tenor Anthony Heinemann (Amelia's Servant in last season's Un Ballo in Maschera). Musical Director Henry Palkes leads a three-piece jazz combo onstage. Stage Director Allyson Ditchey, who last staged UAO’s Acis and Galatea, returns to stage the production.

L to R: Elise LaBarge, Clark Sturdevant & Anthony Heinemann

MEDIA

Local print and broadcast media are buzzing about UAO's season opening production! Sarah Bryan Miller interviews the cast, director and Scott Schoonover in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Patricia Rice speaks with cast and director for the St. Louis Beacon. You can also hear archived audio of Kara Cornell and Ian Greenlaw's interview with Steve Potter for Cityscape on 90.7 KWMU.

Trouble in Tahiti runs April 19, 20 (8pm) and April 21 (3pm) at Union Avenue Opera, 733 N. Union Blvd. Production sung in English with projected English supertitles. Tickets may be purchased online at www.unionavenueopera.org or by calling 314-361-2881.

STL Public Radio's "Cityscape" to Feature "Trouble in Tahiti" Artists

St. Louis Public Radio's broadcast of Cityscape for tomorrow--Friday, April 12th at 11am--features the leads of Union Avenue Opera's upcoming production of Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti. Host Steve Potter welcomes onto the program Mezzo-Soprano Kara Cornell (singing the role of Dinah) and Baritone Ian Greenlaw (singing the role of Sam) to discuss the production opening next weekend.

Cityscape airs on KWMU 90.7 FM at 11:00 a.m. to Noon on Friday, June 22nd and will be repeated at 10:00 p.m. that evening. You may also listen to archived audio of the program on http://www.stlpublicradio.org/

Tickets for Trouble in Tahiti and upcoming UAO productions start at $30 and are available online at http://www.unionavenueopera.org/ or by calling the box office Monday through Friday between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. at 314-361-2881.

Union Avenue Opera: 19th Season Overview

Union Avenue Opera prepares to raise the curtain on its 19th Festival Season this month. Audiences will peer into the private struggles and discord of a 1950s suburban married couple in Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti, witness the romance and utter betrayal of a young Japanese geisha in Giacomo Puccini's classic Madama Butterfly, and take a wild ride into Die Walküre, the action-packed second part of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle.

THE REPERTOIRE

Opening this month, Trouble in Tahiti is a candid portrait of the troubled marriage of a young suburban couple, Sam and Dinah, as they long for the American dream. Experience the roller coaster of emotion as they try to reconcile their love.

The evening continues as the cast of Trouble in Tahiti treats audiences to a special cabaret on the UAO stage featuring clever and tuneful music from Bernstein's songbook including "Tonight" from West Side Story, "New York, New York" from On the Town, "Simple Song" from Mass, "Pennycandystore Beyond the El" from Songfest, and many more.

Trouble in Tahiti will be performed in English with English supertitles on April 19 and 20 at 8:00pm and April 21 at 3:00pm.

One of the world's most beloved operas, Madama Butterfly, Puccini's tragic tale of love and heartbreak, returns to the Union Avenue Opera stage after its last production in 2003. In the harbor village of Nagasaki at the turn of the 20th Century, love blossoms between Cio-Cio-San (Butterfly), a young Japanese geisha, and Lieutenant Pinkerton, an American naval officer. Their marital expectations clash in Madama Butterfly as passion and honor reverberate with the explosive force of Puccini's powerful score, featuring Butterfly's famous aria "Un bel dì" and the exquisite "Flower Duet." A mother, alone and banished from her people, Butterfly pines for her husband. He returns only to humiliate and betray her beyond what she can endure.

Madama Butterfly will be performed in Italian with English supertitles on July 12, 13, 19 and 20 at 8:00pm.

Union Avenue Opera's four-year journey through Wagner's Ring Cycle continues on the heels of 2012's successful mounting of Das Rheingold. The second installment, Die Walküre, showcases some of Wagner's most renowned music, including his famous "Ride of the Valkyries." Wotan, ruler of the gods, wishes to protect his children, but is forced to forsake them when his twin offspring, Siegmund and Sieglinde, find themselves entangled in forbidden love. In an attempt to protect Siegmund, Brünnhilde, Wotan's Valkyrie daughter, disobeys her father's command and is duly punished: Wotan strips her of her immortality and puts her to sleep surrounded by a wall of flames that only the greatest hero can conquer.

Die Walküre is reduced and adapted by English composer Jonathan Dove. His masterful cuts condense the opera in length to under three hours and will be enhanced by video projections befitting the magnificent grandeur of the Ring Cycle.

Die Walküre will be performed in German with English supertitles on August 16, 17, 23 and 24 at 8:00pm.

IN THE PIT AND BEHIND THE SCENES

UAO Artistic Director and Conductor Scott Schoonover is set to conduct Madama Butterfly and Die Walküre this season. Pianist and musical director Henry Palkes leads a jazz combo for Trouble in Tahiti. Stage Director Allyson Ditchey, who last staged UAO’s Acis and Galatea, returns to stage Trouble in Tahiti. Stage director Jon Truitt of Asheville Lyric Opera and Director of Opera at the University of Evansville makes his UAO debut staging Madama Butterfly. Stage Director Karen Coe Miller, director of last season's Das Rheingold, returns to stage Die Walküre. Scenic Designer Patrick Huber and Costume Designer Teresa Doggett will collaborate on designs for Madama Butterfly and Die Walküre. Michael B. Perkins, building upon his video projections from Das Rheingold, will evoke the fantasy world of Die Walküre.

BEFORE THE FOOTLIGHTS

Union Avenue Opera welcomes back several veteran artists:

Trouble in Tahiti: Ian Greenlaw (Sam), Kara Cornell (Dinah), Elise LaBarge, Clark Sturdevant and Anthony Heinemann.

Madama Butterfly: Ann Hoyt Wazelle (Cio-Cio-San), Mathew Edwardsen (Pinkerton), Robert Garner (Sharpless), Debra Hillabrand (Suzuki), Emma Sorenson (Kate Pinkerton), Marc Schapman (Goro), David Dillard (The Bonze), Anthony Heinemann (Yamadori), Nathan Ruggles (The Imperial Commissioner), Debby Lennon (Cio-Cio-San's Mother) Tamara Miller Campbell (Cio-Cio-San's Aunt) and Melissa Payton (Cio-Cio-San's Cousin).

Die Walküre: Alexandra LoBianco (Brünnhilde), Elise Quagliata (Fricka) and Cecelia Stearman (Waltraute).

Several artists make their UAO debut:

• Bass-baritone Paul Robinson (Uncle Yakuside)
• Baritone Jay Chacon (The Registrar)
• Bass Timothy Bruno (Wotan)
• Tenor James Taylor (Siegmund)
• Mezzo-soprano Amber Smoke (Sieglinde)
• Bass Nathan Whitson (Hunding)
• Soprano Melissa Sumner (Helmwige)
• Mezzo-soprano Lindsey Anderson (Rossweisse)

TICKETS & INFORMATION

Trouble in Tahiti runs April 19 and 20 at 8:00pm and April 21 at 3:00pm. Madama Butterfly runs July 12, 13, 19 and 20 at 8:00pm. Die Walküre runs August 16, 17, 23 and 24 at 8:00pm. All performances take place in the sanctuary of Union Avenue Christian Church at 733 Union Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63108. Single tickets and Season tickets (at discounted prices) are available by calling the UAO Box Office at 314-361-2881 or visiting unionavenueopera.org