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H.M.S. Pinafore
Take to the high seas aboard Her Majesty’s Ship Pinafore in this traditional telling of Gilbert and Sullivan’s beloved comic operetta full of mistaken identity, duty, intrigue and lots of laughs.
Seaman Ralph Rackstraw is love-struck with a lass above his station—the Captain’s daughter, Josephine. What’s a fellow to do when his love is promised by her father to The Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Porter, KBC, First Lord of the Admiralty who is followed everywhere by his sisters and his cousins and his aunts; how can a sailor of such a low station compete with that? Enter the mysterious Little Buttercup, a bumboat of a woman with a secret that turns everything upside down.
Poking good-natured fun at patriotism, party politics, the Royal Navy, and the appointment of unqualified people to positions of authority, H.M.S. Pinafore is a classic, time-tested delight not to be missed.
Directed by Eric Gibson
Conducted by Scott Schoonover
Friday, July 6 at 8 pm
Saturday, July 7 at 8 pm
Friday, July 13 at 8 pm
Saturday, July 14 at 8 pm
Presented in English with projected English supertitles.
Nabucco
Nabucco, King of Babylon, seizes control of Jerusalem in his war with the Israelites. Meanwhile, his daughter Fenena and her half-sister Abigaille are both in love with Ismaele, the nephew of the King of Jerusalem. War rages on between Babylon and Jerusalem. Abigaille, thinking to stop the warring once and for all, tells Ismaele that she will save his people if he vows to love her and not Fenena. When he denies her, Abigaille ruthlessly plans to take down the kingdom, claim Nabucco’s throne, and kill all the imprisoned Israelites.
Not since Wagner’s Ring cycle has Union Avenue Opera presented a show with such epic splendor. Experience some of Verdi’s grandest orchestral and choral music ever written, including the soul-stirring “Va, pensiero” chorus.
Directed by Mark Freiman
Conducted by Stephen Hargreaves
Friday, July 27 at 8 pm
Saturday, July 28 at 8 pm
Friday, August 3 at 8 pm
Saturday, August 4 at 8 pm
*This production features lighting effects that mimics lighting.
Presented in Italian with projected English supertitles.
Lost in the Stars
Merging influences from Broadway, traditional African music, jazz, and blues, Kurt Weill’s final work for the stage is a gripping musical tragedy based on Alan Paton’s novel Cry, the Beloved Country.
Set in 1940s South Africa apartheid, Lost in the Stars tells the story of Absalom, the son of Stephen Kumalo, a local black preacher. When Absalom kills his white neighbor in a desperate bid to provide for his wife and child, he is arrested and sentenced to death. Before his son is executed, the murdered man’s father, James Jarvis, comes to the preacher to offer compassion and understand rather than hatred and retaliation.
Lost in the Stars soars with thrilling operatic passages as it lays bare the tragedy of social barriers among all people, ending with a moving promise of reconciliation and hope for the future.
Directed by Shaun Patrick Tubbs
Conducted by Scott Schoonover
Friday, August 17 at 8 pm
Saturday, August 18 at 8 pm
Friday, August 24 at 8 pm
Saturday, August 25 at 8 pm
Presented in English with projected English supertitles.
Friday Night Lecture Series
Know Before You Go
7:00 pm Each Friday night before the performance in the Fellowship Gallery.
Join Union Avenue Opera and Glen Bauer, Ph. D. for our Friday Night lecture series. Dr. Bauer will discuss the opera’s historical importance, guide you through the (sometimes convoluted) plot line, and offer a sneak peak of the music to come.
