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Pacific Opera Project’s ‘Ariadne auf Naxos’ Comes to Highland Park May 14
Arts Apr 15, 2015
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-Photo Courtesy Pacific Opera Project
Pacific Opera Project returns to Highland Park in a big way with Ariadne auf Naxos following a wildly successful run of their Star Trek-themed Abduction from the Seraglio last month in North Hollywood. We reviewed it: http://www.pasadenaindependent.com/entertainment/arts-and-culture/boldly-going-where-no-opera-has-gone-before. It was hilarious.
With yet another clever “POP spin,” Strauss’s mash-up of German romantic opera and commedia dell’arte set in the “home of the richest man in Vienna” is transported by POP to the opening night of the Ebell Club of Highland Park (the actual performance venue) in 1913. POP looks to continue their streak of 27 straight sold out performances on their mission to bring accessible, affordable, and ENTERTAINING opera to Los Angeles.
An unbelievably talented cast assembled from across the country will present Richard Strauss’s most popular opera accompanied by a chamber orchestra, food, and wine all for around $30 per person in a the cozy 200-seat venue. Ariadne auf Naxos will be the best bargain in opera and entertainment Los Angeles has seen all year.
Combining exquisite voices, brilliant music, and inventive, colorful sets and costumes, this hysterical comic opera cleverly weaves together two separate, but complementary, stories. Audiences will be entertained and impressed by this hilarious production, sung in both German and English, with a new English libretto by Music Director Stephen Karr.
Audiences will be transported back in time to 1913 and the grand opening of the now historic Ebell Club of Highland Park. Unable to resolve a debate as to which troupe should perform first, the newly commissioned opera Ariadne or the vaudeville The Naughty Vixen Zerbinetta and Her Merry Men, the president of the Ebell Club decides to combine the two productions into one so that the evening’s entertainment may conclude in time for a brilliant display of fireworks. Wagnerian-sized voices and comedy collide as we see Ariadne lament the loss of her love while being encouraged and cheered on by the rollicking, passionate Zerbinetta. The wildest of follies result!
-Photo Courtesy Pacific Opera Project
POP’s mission is to provide energetic, high-quality, accessible performances of a broad variety of operatic repertoire at various venues throughout Southern California. Co-founders Josh Shaw (stage direction and production design) and Stephen Karr (music director and conductor) team up for the company’s sixteenth production since its inception in the summer of 2011. Renowned choreographer Heather Lipson Bell (NY Philharmonic, LA Opera, City Ballet of LA) joins the POP team and veteran costumer Maggie Green will design her eleventh POP production.
POP is known for getting talent far beyond their means, but this cast reaches new levels of professionalism with credits from, LA Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opera Leipzig, Long Beach Opera, Opera San José, Opera Santa Barbara, New Orleans Opera, Kentucky Opera and more, supported by an 11-piece orchestra. They will sing mere feet from your table or seat. Los Angeles favorites Tracy Cox (2014 Metropolitan Opera National Finalist and Domingo-Thorton Young Artist) and Marina Harris (Adler Fellow at San Francisco Opera) will perform the role of Ariadne/Prima Donna, joined by coloratura soprano Sara Duchovnay as Zerbinetta, tenor Brendan Sliger as Bacchus, and mezzo-soprano Claire Shackelton as the Composer. Rounding out the talented cast are Brooke deRosa, Aumna Iqbal, Ryan Thorn, John Lee Keenan, Robert Norman, Nicholas LaGesse, Keith Coclough, Tim Campbell, Maria Elena Altany, Kelci Hahn, and Sarah Beaty. (Thursday May 21 is the cover performance featuring Marina Harris as Ariadne, Brooke deRosa as Zerbinetta, and Aumna Iqbal as the Composer.)
When:
Thursday, May 14 and 21 – 8 p.m.
Friday, May 15 and 22 – 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 16 and 23 – 8 p.m. [Tables are already sold out for Saturday May 16.]
Where: Highland Park Ebell Club 131 S. Avenue 57, Los Angeles, CA 90042
Tickets: $25 General Admission. Table for 2, $65. Table for 4, $125. Tables include a bottle of wine and plate of appetizers.
For further information please visit www.paciicoperaproject.com, or write to info@pacificoperaproject.com.
We’ll be there…will you?
-Photo Courtesy Pacific Opera Project
