Summer opera season opens with 'Widow'

'Tis the season of light entertainment, from the movie theater to the opera?

"The Merry Widow," 1997's Music Department Summer Opera ( or in this case, operetta), comes your way this weekend.

The piece, described by director Charles Roe as "a play with music," takes place in the Parisian embassy of a fictional European city. The said widow has traveled to Paris following the death of her husband, the town's banker. Suitors from both Paris and the widow's city square off for her hand. Wackiness ensues, as the French say.

The work, written in 1906 by Austrian Franz Lehar, is the "most famous operetta of all of them," said Roe. He said the operetta was last performed at the university in 1990.

The cast is made up of students as well as professional actors and singers, he said.

The operetta is like a musical, with the singing broken up by dialogue, said James Crowley, a summer student in town specifically for the performance. The work is performed in English.

"There's some difference performing in English but seeing it in English is much more accessible," Crowley said.

Rehearsals for the show began May 15, Roe said. He said that working through the summer has given the cast more time to rehearse unfettered by normal class commitments.

The performance will include a full orchestra and a chorus, Roe said.

"The Merry Widow" runs June 26 -29 at Crowder Hall in the Music building.