Opera Workshop presents three American one-act operas

03/27/2008

Please note: due to weather, the performance scheduled for Friday, April 11 has been cancelled. Please contact the SBH Box Office at 320-363-3577 before 4 p.m. today or 12 p.m.-2 p.m. tomorrow to exchange your ticket to one of the other performances of this show. 

The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University Opera Workshop presents three American one-act operas April 10-13 in the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater, Saint John’s University, Collegeville.

Performance times are 8 p.m. April 10-11, and 2 p.m. April 12-13.

The one-act operas are A Game of Chance by Seymour Barab; The Telephone by Gian Carlo Menotti; and Signor Deluso by Thomas Pasatieri.

A Game of Chance is a comic opera, taking place in a garden. The “Representative,” an eternal messenger of fate, brings to three young women their dearest wish: One would like to be wealthy; one would like to be famous; and one would like a lover in her life. Each discovers she has not asked for enough. The moral of this comic opera? They all wanted too much or too little.

The Telephone is a tale of a couple attempting to discuss their future, only to find their discourse continuously interrupted by the telephone, “this two-headed monster.” 

Signor Deluso is a series of erroneous assumptions made by couples that their true loves are being unfaithful. A clever maid comes to the rescue to sort out the misunderstandings, restoring the couples to their previous happiness.

The CSB/SJU Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. J. David Arnott, will provide accompaniment during The Telephone and Signor Deluso.

The Opera Workshop is an annual event. It is conducted as a scheduled class, with rehearsals in the evenings as needed. CSB and SJU students audition for either solo or chorus roles within the opera.

All of the operas are fully staged and costumed, and are sung in English. 

Ticket prices are $10 for adults; $5 for CSB, SJU and any other full-time student; $5 for CSB and SJU faculty and staff ; $5 for seniors; $3 for children ages 8-12; and free for children under age 7. Tickets are available in advance at the box offices of the Benedicta Arts Center of the College of Saint Benedict, or the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater at SJU. Tickets will also be available at the door.