Lynne Hayden-Findlay, who teachers our weekend classes (W1 & W4), works with the Chelsea Opera Group. This week they are putting on two shows, The Winners and La Pizza,
More information about the operas can be found “here“.
I am the stage director and costume designer for the production, in addition to being co-producer.
University Settlement Adult Literacy students are invited to attend the Friday, Oct 11, 7:30pm performance free of charge at St. Peter’s Church in Chelsea, 346 West 20th Street between 8th & 9th Avenues.
If students wish to attend, they must arrive at the theater between 7pm and 7:15, go to the box office table and say “Lynne sent me!” They can then go in for free.
Winners (1999) is based on the play Lovers by Irish playwright Brian Friel. In Richard Wargo’s opera, Mag and Joe, two young lovers, celebrate their final days of high school, pending marriage and dreams of their life together. But as foretold by two ballad singers, they will die later that day in a boating accident. The lovers will leave the world with their love intact and their youthful aspirations unscathed, never to know heartbreak and disillusionment. In that sense, they are “winners”.
La Pizza con Funghi (1988) is a parody on 19th century Italian opera: the soprano, in love with the tenor, plots to poison her older baritone husband. Her mezzo maid spills the beans and as in many operas, no one is left alive at the final curtain! The casting mirrors that of Winners (soprano, mezzo, tenor, baritone) and singers will appear in both operas.
