[NEohioPAL] Kent State Opera at Solon Center for the Arts tonight and Sunday

[Beth & Dave Van Horn]

Kent State Opera at Solon Center for the Arts tonight and Sunday
Kent State Opera presents two 20th-century American operas – one comic, one tragic – at the Solon Center for the Arts, Friday, April 20, at 7:30 pm, and Sunday, April 22, at 3 pm, with a reception following each performance. The Solon Center for the Arts is located at 6315 SOM Center Rd., in Solon.
The program features “Gallantry” by Douglas Moore and “The Medium” by Gian Carlo Menotti. Members of the Kent State University Orchestra will accompany sixteen singers from the School of Music and the School of Theatre and Dance, conducted by Kent State Associate Professor Kerry Glann. Katherine Perkowski directs both productions.

“The performance certainly presents a stark contrast in styles,” says Glann. “You get a somewhat over-the-top comic tone in “Gallantry,” whereas “The Medium” is an eerie, psychological thriller with supernatural overtones. Both are melodramatic in their own ways.”

“Gallantry” is a spoof of 1950s-era soap operas, complete with live commercials just like the early years of television. The soap opera is set in a hospital, in which Dr. Gregg is in love with his nurse, Lola, who is engaged to another hospital worker. Commercials for the two ‘sponsors’ of the show, Lochinvar soap and Billy Boy wax, are interspersed in the action, providing additional context and humor.

Menotti’s dramatic masterpiece, “The Medium,” follows the story of a woman who supports herself as a medium, performing fake séances in her home with her daughter and a mute boy. Her world turns to chaos when she believes an unidentified presence has touched her, and her mental decline wrecks havoc on her career and those around her.

Note: Some content may not be suitable for young children. “There is a murder at the end of “The Medium,” though it's not done in a gruesome way,” says Glann. “Overall it's probably PG-13.”

Both operas will be performed as one show. “Gallantry” will run approximately 30 minutes, while “The Medium” will run approximately 60 minutes, with an intermission in between.

“This is what's called a ‘double bill.’ It's not uncommon in the opera world to have two shorter works presented together to make a full evening of entertainment,” Glann says. “We chose these two operas because they offer a good number of casting opportunities for our students.”

This production represents a continued and developing collaboration between the Solon Center for the Arts and Kent State University’s Hugh A. Glauser School of Music.

Tickets are $16 for adults, $12 for seniors and $5 for students, and can be reserved by calling the Solon Center for the Arts at 440-337-1400. 

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