2024 The Old Maid and the Thief (Gian Carlo Menotti)
“The Telephone” and “The Old Maid and the Thief” are by the American composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who composed both the music and wrote the libretto. He was only 28 years old in 1939 when the opera premiered in a radio broadcast with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. He was inspired to write the story of "The Old Maid and the Thief" after visiting the family of his partner Samuel Barber. He found that a quaint, cute town actually covered up secrets. It’s tells a twisted tale of morals and evil womanly power. Menotti writes in the libretto “The devil couldn’t do what a woman can – Make a thief out of an honest man.”
The opera is most known for two arias. First, "What curse for a woman, is a timid man (Steal me, sweet thief)", is a full scene, where Laetitia sings of her affection for Bob, the bum. The other popular aria is "When the Air Sings of Summer", where Bob contemplates hitting the road.
CAST
Miss Todd, Janice Meyerson
Miss Pinkerton / Lucy, Brooke Schooley
Laetitia, Veronica Mak
Bob / Sam, Chris Fistonich
Pianist/Music Director Martin Yazdzik
Stage Director, Carol Castel
2024 PINOCCHIO by John Davies
Pinocchio, An Opera for Children by John Davies - June 22 & 23, 2024
Pinocchio - Carson Cook
Geppetto/Cat - Lindell Carter
Blue Lady/Olympia - Dana Kluczyk
Dulcamara/ Wolf - Robby Flora
Music Director / Pianist - Martin Yazdzik
Stage Director - Carol Castel
Stage Manager & Costumes - Aly Galvin-Bliefernich
Costumes - Amy Potter
Make-Up - Lily Skuthan
Mr. Davies has created several children's operas to familiar fairy tales and stories. These delightful pieces are a perfect introduction to the operatic art form because all the music is from popular operatic repertoire, written by the masters of the genre. The music is chosen to be immediately accessible to young ears and introduce the original richness and complexity of the art form without dilution.
Mr. Davies has replaced the original words with his own English ones to tell the stories. “Pinocchio” is one of these charming works. The story is the traditional one about Geppetto, a wood worker, who wishes for a son. He is granted his wish. He is to carve a little boy out of wood. This boy will magically become a real boy in time. Meanwhile, he has one peculiar quality --- if he lies, his nose will grow.
2024 Two One-Act Operas by Gian Carlo Menotti
The Telephone, or L’Amour à trois is an English-language comic opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti, who composed the music and wrote the lyrics. It was his fifth opera and was premiered in New York City in February 1947. A Broadway production took place on May 1, 1947, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre as a prelude to performances of The Medium, his fourth opera. These operas became Menotti’s first internationally successful works, notably receiving critically acclaimed productions in Paris and London in 1949 and later touring Europe in 1955 under the sponsorship of the United States Department of State with musical forces led by Thomas Schippers. The Metropolitan Opera Company presented it once, at the Lewisohn Stadium, on July 31, 1965.
The Old Maid and the Thief is a radio opera in one act, commissioned by NBC in 1939 by Gian Carlo Menotti who composed the music and wrote the libretto. The opera premiered in a radio broadcast on April 22, 1939, with Alberto Erede conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra It was the first of several operas in the English language by the young composer who was just 28 years old at the time. He was inspired to write the story of the opera after visiting the family of his partner Samuel Barber. He found that a quaint, cute town actually covered up secrets. It’s tells a twisted tale of morals and evil womanly power. Menotti writes in the libretto “The devil couldn’t do what a woman can – Make a thief out of an honest man.”
2024 - Yasmina Reza's International Hit Play ‘ART’
Four performances only!
June 8 & 15 at 8pm
June 9 & 16 at 2pm
River Rep Theatre will open its 2024 season with Yasmina Reza’s international hit play ‘Art’. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play, the “sharp, witty and clever” (The Guardian) comedy focuses on the meaning of art (in the form of a solid white painting) as well as the meaning of friendship, to both the man who bought the painting and the two friends who come to see it. The Washington Post called the play “funny and engaging" and The New York Times called it “an impeccably tailored piece of work.”
Starring River Rep ensemble members Arthur Aulisi, Christopher Peditto and Gregory Thomas. Directed by Jessica López-Barkl. Set and costumes by Alyena Galvin-Bliefernich. Original music by Kazzrie Jaxen. Sound design by Dan Piburn.
Learn more at riverrep.org
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