Arias of passion and compelling Broadway melodies will be floating in the air this weekend.
Fourteen members of the Glee Club present "A Weekend in the Country with Mozart and Sondheim" at the Warner Bentley Theater at the Hopkins Center.
The program includes some of the most famous scenes from classical opera as well as selections from the musicals of Stephen Sondheim, regarded as one of the most talented composers in musical theater today.
Louis Burkot, conductor of the Glee Club and director of this production, originated the idea of combining opera and musical theater. "It's most important in voice training for students to gain a well-rounded stylistic capacity. In the late twentieth century the lines are obscured between opera and musical theater-- in this production we hope to allow the best of each world to invade the other," says Burkot. He explains opera and musical theater as "two things that feed off each other." Although, in conservatories, the two genres are often completely separated, operatic training and control lends a fuller, more sensitive quality to musical theater.
The performers, many of whom are seniors, are all students of voice. To work on a production like this provides those students continuing their vocal studies in graduate school with a chance to develop skills of performance which will help them compete with other graduate students.
Over the past week this small group of singers have been rehearsing for about six hours a day. Itir Sayin '95 says, "These rehearsals helped us see what it is like in the professional world. During the rehearsals we learned to prepare ourselves not only physically but also spiritually for this show. We want to make it an elegant and honest show."
"A Weekend in the Country with Mozart and Sondheim" will be presented in two halves. The first half features the entire first act of Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro", Pamina's aria and the Spirits Quartet from Act II of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" and the Act I duet between Norina and Dr. Malatesta from Donizetti's "Don Pasquale."
One nice touch is that all of the opera scenes will be performed in English, allowing the general audience to follow the themes more clearly. Ronald Luchsinger, the stage director of several local Opera North productions, designed the movement for these scenes.
Jane Anne McCoy '95 says, "While we have had the opportunity as voice students to begin working on arias from various operas, most of us have never had the chance to perform fully staged excerpts for an audience. This show has provided us with that kind of dramatic and vocal experience."
The second half of the show includes a choreographed revue of fifteen songs from Sondheim's "Into the Woods", "A Little Night Music", "Sunday in the Park with George", "Merrily We Roll Along", "Follies", "Sweeney Todd", "Company", and "Pacific Overtures." Dan Heiser will accompany the Glee Club students on the piano.
Matt Riley '95 says, "I personally think it is amazing how even though this [half of the] show is a review of Sondheim's greatest moments and each piece takes on a character and style all its own, the show as a whole really takes the audience through some of the most fundamental questions posed in theater such as the relation between friends, husbands and wives, fathers and sons, and the position of the individual in a sometimes tough and lonely world."
Jen Lien '95 agrees: "If you listen to the words carefully and try to put yourself in the shoes of the singer the music can make you laugh and cry along!" Lien points out that the complex emotions of Sondheim's songs have made the performers grow in their interpretative and acting skills.
Performances for "A Weekend in the Country with Mozart and Sondheim" are at 8 PM on both Friday and Saturday, Jan. 6 and 7, as well as at 2 PM on Sunday, Jan. 8. Tickets are available in the Hopkins Center Box Office at $10.50 for reserved seats, $2 for Dartmouth undergraduates.
