Over Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, the Illinois Wesleyan Opera Theatre put on a double opera performance of “Trouble in Tahiti” by Leonard Bernstein and “The Impresario” by W.A. Mozart in collab-
oration with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra.
Admission was free and all performances were open to the public. Both shows were directed by Visiting Assistant Music Professor Ingrid Kammin, whose first experience with opera was the 1984 film “Amadeus,” based on Wolfgang Mozart.
“Opera is a complete art form—one that brings together music, drama, poetry, costumes, sets and often dance. Opera also asks a great deal of its singers, presenting some of the most fundamental challenges of the voice. Musical theatre can feel like a sprint, while opera is very much a marathon,” Kammin said
in her director’s note.
“Trouble in Tahiti” featured junior vocal performance major Reese Suddarth as Dinah and senior math major Adam Schofield as Sam, a married couple in the 1950s who are each discontented
with their suburban lives. The couples’ lives are operatically narrated by a trio composed of Rowan Loseke, Shayne Howe and Jay Shore.
“The Impressario” is a dueling opera that tells the story of the artistic director of an opera theatre, Mr. Scruples (Professor Cody S. Parrot), who is preparing to resign just as the failing theatre is visited by tech billionaire Mr. Angel (Rowan Loseke) and the two performers he patrons, Madame Goldentrill
(Anna Noga) and Miss Silverpeal (Lucy Tester).
Performer Anna Noga said the audition process for the double feature was unorthodox, as it was a blind audition. “We didn’t audition for any specific characters. When we auditioned, the operas hadn’t been picked yet. After they were chosen, we were assigned our characters,” Noga said.
The show also featured Assistant Professor Robert Mangialardi as Mr. Bluff, Scruples’ eventual successor. In her director’s note, Kammin wrote about the thematic connections between the two very different shows.
“With the juxtaposition of these two very different works, I hope you notice a few themes: connection, belonging and the fruit (or none fruit) of maintaining ‘facades.’ In both shows, we spend a single day peering into the lives of people grappling with the most basic human needs—to connect, to belong, to be
seen, to be loved, to keep going… or to change direction,” Kammin said.
After the shows, student Stage Manager Jai Gupta acknowledged the importance of an audience’s energy and its impact on performers. “When the audience isn’t reactive, it shakes their confidence and the pacing of the scene. “Friday night’s audience was more responsive to ‘Trouble in Tahiti,’ but Saturday afternoon’s audience responded more to ‘The Impressario,’” Gupta said.
The School of Theater Art’s upcoming performances include the Titan BandFest (Honor Band Clinic) Concert on Feb. 10 at 4 p.m., the Symphony Orchestra Concert—“Concerto-Aria” on March 12 and the Wind Ensemble & Musical Theatre Collaboration on April 16-17 at 7:30 p.m., all in Westbrook Auditorium inside Presser Hall.
