Students across the Tufts campus will be treated to a bit ofculture tonight as the Tufts Opera Ensemble puts on its springconcert in Alumnae Hall.
"Old Maid and the Thief"The Magic Flute" "Merry Wives ofWindsor."
The one-act, comedic opera, "Old Maid and the Thief", is themain feature. The opera was written by Gian Carlo Menotti for radiobroadcast in 1939. It tells the story of an old woman, Miss Todd,and her sheltered maid, Laeticia, who take a beggar man in out of astorm. After Laeticia falls in love with the man, she begs heremployer to allow him to stay, and Miss Todd grudginglyacquiesces.
All is well until Miss Pinkerton, a friend of Miss Todd's, paysthe house a visit. She warns her neighbor that a malicious thiefhas escaped from jail and has been roaming the neighborhood,robbing anyone he can come across. Convinced that the beggar is thethief, the two old women conspire to find things they can steal togive to him so he won't resort to crime while staying in theirhouses.
Junior Rosie Osser, cast as Miss Todd in next Tuesday'sperformance, said that one of the real strengths of this particularopera is its setup. "The opera has an unusual, strange plot," Ossersaid. "The plot is just strange and amusing. There are twoextremely bored and lonely old maids, and one of them is convincedto do anything to win the love of a younger man."
The opera has only four characters, but it was double-casted inorder to give the maximum number of students a chance toparticipate in the production. One group will perform tonight, andthe other will sing next Tuesday. Sophomore Lauren Murphy, thesecond week's Miss Pinkerton, said that having two casts wasbeneficial because it allowed more people to get involved.
"Everyone has a chance to get performance experience this way,"Murphy said, "but now, we only get to perform it once, and we haveto get it all right for one shot. It would be more successful ifthere could be more runs."
The performances mark only the second time that a full lengthopera has been performed at Tufts. Last year, the opera ensembleperformed Seymour Barab's short one-act opera, "Game of Chance,"but senior Lauren Phillips called this year's project "slightlymore ambitious."
"The set changes make things more difficult," Phillips said. "Ittakes place in a house, and figuring out how to work the sets waschallenging, but the way it came out works well and is morebelievable."
Also being performed are a few short scenes, two from "The MagicFlute" and one from an opera rendition of "Merry Wives of Windsor."Although the main opera features two casts, the individual sceneshave only one set of singers who will perform on both nights.
The biggest challenge facing the casts of the various scenes wasthe extreme lack of time. The opera ensemble class is scheduled tomeet for only two hours on Mondays, and in the weeks leading up tothe performances, the performers have been forced to hold extrarehearsals on their directors' own time. The group also found itdifficult to work with the space and resources given, which had tobe utilized to their fullest in order to put on an adequateshow.
The opera format posed an additional hurdle. The cast was giventhe full scores back in December, and individual members wereexpected to learn their parts over winter break. Sophomore LisaGabbai, who plays two parts in the scenes from "The Magic Flute,"said that the music was challenging in itself because of problemsin hitting the high notes and difficulties in making everythingcome together.
"But I think it will be good," Gabbai said. "People have donehard work, and we've run through the show many times."
The opera class has become a regular feature of the Tufts MusicDepartment. It gives singers whose voices aren't the right stylefor popular music the chance to perform in a more classical format,as well as presenting a smaller group that allows for moreindividual attention. Students must audition to become a part ofit, and they are required to study voice and become partiallyresponsible for the opera's production, assisting with props, stagemanagement, and publicity.
"It's only in the past couple of years that people have knownabout it," long-time member Phillips said. "This semester, thecaliber has increased tremendously."
The opera performance will take place both tonight and nextTuesday, April 27, at 8 p.m. and is directed by CarolMastrodomenico and Steven Morris of the Tufts MusicDepartment.
