presented by Opera Anywhere and Sorelle
Running time: 2 hours, including a 20 minute interval.
All welcome.
charity. comedy. family. live music. musical. opera. play.
A journey through some of opera’s most compelling music and drama, exploring the face and fate of women in opera, offered in two parts.
Shunning the image of the tragic scorned heroine, the first first half of the evening tells the stories of feisty, wronged women determined to win back their love, seek revenge, or forge their own route to happiness at any cost. The programme includes, Vissi d'arte - Puccini, So'ave il vento - Mozart, The Sound of Music medley - arr. O Bell, and Beatrice et Benedict Trio - Berlioz, amongst others.
The second half includes a fully staged one-act Puccini opera, Sister Angelica, performed in English. This production is set in the Republic of Ireland in the 1950s, in a rural convent - a superstitious and isolated community. It is not their religion that drives the other characters to ostracise Angelica, but rather it is their disgust at her social fall from grace and their refusal to accept their own hypocrisy. Despite its social-political background, at its core Sister Angelica is a story of the true love between mother and child, and also one of faith.
Bring a blanket and picnic to enjoy before the show along with some refreshments from the theatre bar. This promises to be a wonderful evening of dramatic operatic entertainment.
