Opera Orlando – Analog Artist Digital World

I attended a final dress rehearsal for Donizetti’s bel canto masterpiece Lucia Di Lammermoor in the Steinmetz Theater in the Dr. Phillips Center for the Preforming Arts. (445 S. Magnolia Avenue
Orlando, FL). Presented by Opera Orlando, this was an impressive production.

Music is by Gaetano Donizetti with libretto by Salvadore Cammarano. The opera is Sung in Italian with English and Spanish super-titles. Since I was sketching I didn’t have time to read the super-titles.

What is particularly interesting about the show is that they styled it to resemble Game of Thrones. It is a tale of love, betrayal, and madness, Lucia is torn between allegiance to her family and her love for Edgardo–her brother Enrico’s sworn enemy. A forced marriage leads to tragic ends for all involved in this gorgeous operatic treatment of Sir Walter Scott’s gothic romance The Bride of Lammermoor.

Particularly impressive were the large celebrations with crowds of guests in gothic attire. At one such celebration the partners turned and gasped when they saw Lucia stumble down the steps in a white dress holding knife covered in blood. Her disruption took center stage as she sang her sorrowful aria. Again I didn’t read the translation, but read the meaning in every guests reaction of horror and bewilderment.

I started a second sketch towards the end of the production. Time was short, this was the final moments of the opera. Singers stood around a funeral pyre.

I was among several dozen people who were in the second tier of the theater. The rest of the theater was empty. In the pit were members of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. choreographer Mila Makarova, had dancers from the Orlando Ballet performing some sinister dance moves around Lucia as she went mad.

Next time I sketch a production from so far away, I plan to bring opera glasses. I used them in the courtroom for the Pulse Nightclub shooting case, but realize now I need them when seeing a theater production from afar.

Performances are on Friday | April 19 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday | April 21 at 2 p.m. Tickets start at $29.

Spring time marked the boisterous rebirth of Opera in Orlando. Opera Orlando presented The Impresario, which is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart‘s “comedy with music”, followed by Les Mamelles de Tiresias, Poulenc‘s “fertile farce.” A small orchestra was set up in the lower balcony. I went to the final dress rehearsal which had a small audience with friends and family.

Mozart’s comedy was quite fun and director Eric Pinder did a fabulous job of modernizing the story so that it referenced Orlando. Two producers contemplated a small low budget opera. They admired the theater and even shot a selfie in the opulent theater. I liked that the ghost lamp remained on stage. A ghost light is put on stage when the theater is unoccupied. Superstition states that it allows ghosts which occupy the theater the opportunity to perform on t empty stage. This appeases the ghosts so they do not sabotage a production. To keep costs down, t he producers decide to stage a production with no set pieces. A diva entered from house left and walked up to the stage. She was an older well established performer who faced rumors that she could no longer hit the high notes. She performed a solo that was comically flamboyant and over the top. She demanded $5000 a performance and stormed off stage.

A theater patron, Deep Pockets, entered and offered a sizable donation if the producers would hire a female singer he had discovered. She turned out to be a bawdy burlesque performer who also demanded $5000 a performance. What followed us a hilarious battle of wills as the two female divas tried to out sing each other. This was a hilarious production that was sung and perform in English, so there us no need for subtitles.

The only hint of the second production, Les Mamelle de Tresias in my sketch, is the large balloon creature in the upper balcony. It had many appendage like an octopus and a snout that looks like a large inflated rubber. This creature would hoover over the audience at the end of Poulenc’s farce about fertility. I plan to go back to do another sketch.

Mark your Calendar! There are two performances left. One is tonight, Saturday April 23rd at 7:30pm. The other is Sunday April 24 at 2 pm. Tickets cost between $10 to $66. You can call the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts (445 South Magnolia Avenue Orlando FL) box office Monday through Friday 10am to 4pm. Saturday from noon to 4pm.