Westminster Opera Theatre is set to present two comedic operas, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor and Giacomo Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi.
Performance are scheduled for 8 p.m. Dec. 6 and 7 at the Princeton Regional Schools Performing Arts Center, 151 Moore St., Princeton.
The fully staged productions will include the Westminster Festival Orchestra conducted by musical director William Hobbs.
Mozart’s score is set to the libretto of Gottlieb Stephanie in the singspiel tradition in which musical excerpts are fused with spoken dialogue. For this production, the music will be sung in German and the dialogue will be in English. Der Schauspieldirektor is a farcical backstage look into creating a production, including over-the-top prima donnas.
Gianni Schicchi centers on a family who will go to any lengths to be included in their recently deceased relative’s will after learning that he has left his entire estate to the community. The libretto was written by Giovacchino Forzano and relates to an event mentioned in Dante’s Divine Comedy. It will be performed in Italian with English supertitles.
Both operas will be staged with contemporary settings and scenarios. The performers are students at Rider University’s Westminster Choir College.
The production is directed by Kara-Lynn Vaeni, who recently directed the premiere of a two-story theatrical installation/event, AliceGraceAnon, which she developed with playwright Kara Lee Corthron.
She has also directed the premiere of Rob Hartman’s new musical Vanishing Point at American Stage and Leos Janacek’s opera Jenůfa with Opera Slavica.
Tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for students and seniors.
More information tion online at rider.edu/arts.
