If the word “opera” conjures up thoughts of warbling sopranos and unintelligible arias, think again.
The MSU Opera Theatre and the MSU Philharmonic Orchestra will present a combination of Leonard Bernstein’s one-act operetta, “Trouble in Tahiti,” and a smattering of some of Bernstein’s most popular tunes this weekend at the Music Building Auditorium.
“It’s not really opera,” general business management and music performance senior Alison Johnson said. “It’s more toward musical theater. It’s good because in not many shows do you get a chance to do this; have a serious operetta to start with and the second half with all the fun stuff.”
Johnson plays Dinah, whom she describes as a “representation of the suburban housewife of the 1950s.” She shares the role with music performance graduate student Alyson Sklar.
“Being double cast is good because we learn from each other,” Johnson said. “Each person brings something different to the character.”
Jeff Kitson, a composition and music theory senior, shared the stage with Johnson several years ago in another popular English opera, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” Like “Charlie Brown,” the evening of Bernstein offers audiences a chance to hum along to music they know.
“This is a solid group of performers,” Kitson said. “It (the revue) provides more music variety for the audience because things happen faster.”
As Kitson enters his seventh and last opera at MSU, he is optimistic about the future of the program, calling director Melanie Helton “a breath of fresh air.”
“Under her leadership, the program’s going to grow,” he said. “It’s going places.”
Helton put the show together as a tribute to Bernstein, whom she worked with early in her career.
“He was amazing,” she said. “People throw the word genius around, but he truly was a genius and larger than life.”
Helton added the revue to the one-act opera in order to fill up the evening and give undergraduates a chance to do solo parts. Chris Austreng, a pre-med and music performance freshman, said he is excited to do his first show at MSU.
“To perform with an orchestra is a really nice plus,” he said.
The second half of the show will be all fun, from a rousing rendition of “Gee, Officer Krupke,” directed by vocal-general music education senior John Bragle, to music performance junior Amanda Merrow’s dancing between two men in a “tango sandwich.”
“One thing I like about this show is that it’s lighthearted and more accessible for the audience,” music performance junior Si
