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Tell me more about Manchester's Music Department!
It’s true: Opera is a
hoot
at Manchester College!
Three operatic comedies
are
in the wings for Feb. 17-19
Judging from the laughter rising from the
rehearsal stage, Manchester College’s opera production the weekend of
Feb. 17-19 promises to be a real audience pleaser.
The 17-member cast will offer tastes of three
operas – all in English, all comedies – including the hilarious brief
opera Gianni Schicchi by Puccini. Also on the program are scenes
from Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates
of Penzance.
 The
curtain rises on the Friday, Feb. 17 and Saturday, Feb. 18 performances
at 7:30 p.m. The Sunday, Feb. 19 matinee begins at 3 p.m. Reservations
are necessary because seating in Wine Recital Hall is limited; call
260-982-5296. Tickets are $5.
“Come ready to laugh!” says Debra Lynn,
associate professor of music and choir director. “One of the great
things about opera at MC is the sincere love these students share for
singing and acting. Many are not music majors and most have little, if
any, operatic experience – and yet they are able to learn this extremely
difficult music and present this exciting production!”
About 100 area high school music students
will form the audience for a dress rehearsal, Lynn said.
Puccini’s opera is about relatives’ reaction
to the death of a wealthy landlord who supposedly left his estate to the
local monastery. The frantic search for the will, a marriage engagement
dependent upon its contents and a sly farmer lead to considerable
melodrama.
The cast for Don Giovanni includes
sophomore Andrew Suhre of Michigantown as Don Giovanni; senior Myra
Martin-Adkins of Washington, D.C., as Zerlina; senior Torrance Dean of
Camby as Masetto; and sophomore Joel Waggy of Goshen as Leporello.
The cast for Pirates of Penzance
includes senior Rachael Heath of Fort Wayne as Mabel; Myra Martin-Adkins
as Edith; junior Robbie Bucher of North Manchester as Frederic; and
first-year student Jeff Combs of Wabash as Major General. The daughters
are first-year student Leslie Butterbaugh of Wabash; junior Allison
Hoover of Flossmore, Ill.; junior Tabitha Hufford of Coatesville;
sophomore Breana Lindsay of Freemont, Mich.; junior Audrey Wiedman
Lucker
of Huntington and first-year student Tedra
Tague of New Market. The Policemen are Torrance Dean, senior James
Hutchings of Wabash; sophomore Jon Largent of Muncie; first-year student
David Moan of Goshen; junior Mike Spaulding of North Vernon; Andrew
Suhre and Joel Waggy.
In the cast for Gianni Schicchi:
David Moan as scheming farmer Gianni Schicchi, Audrey Lucker as his
daughter, Allison Hoover as old Zita, James Hutchings as Rinuccio,
Robbie Bucher as Gherardo, Rachael Heath as wife Nella, Myra
Martin-Adkins as young Gherardino, Jeff Combs as cousin Betto, Andrew
Suhre as Simone, Joel Waggy as Marco, Leslie Butterbaugh as Ciesca, Mike
Spaulding as Dr. Spinellocchio, Torrance Dean as lawyer Amantio di
Nicolao, Tabitha Hufford as undertaker Pinellino, Tedra Tague as tailor
Guccio, and sophomore Jon Largent of Muncie as the deceased wealthy
landlord Buoso Donati. |
