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  • Jeffrey McCollum, left, and Nick Chabot play the roles of Dulcamara and his assistant in the Italian comic opera, "Elixer of Love," opening Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Oklahoma State University's Seretean Center. The show is double cast in some parts with another performance on Saturday night. Tickets are available an hour before curtain time.

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  • Opera students in "The Elixer of Love," kneeling in front, include Lauren Blakeburn, Tiffany Wright, Elizabeth Koch, Jeffrey McCollum, Nick Chabot, Carol Coleson and, back row, Bill Sheets, pianist Louise Reginia, Ivan Ley, Anthony Weber, Lydia Bechtel, Anthony McMullen, Brittany Wright, Taylor Anderson, Brianne Mathews and Michael Kollmorgen.

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January 30, 2013

OSU Opera and Orchestra present L'Elisir D'Amore

Comic love story staged in Oklahoma

By Elizabeth Keys Stillwater NewsPress

STILLWATER, Okla. — L’Elisir D’Amore – Oklahoma style — will be presented 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Oklahoma State University’s Seretean Center.

OSU students are singing the comic Italian opera about a love triangle by Gaetano Donizetti.

“We will have English subtitles on a screen and the setting is in rural Oklahoma instead of in Italy,” said Lydia Bechtel, who will sing the heroine’s role of Adina on Friday evening. “In the original, a young peasant, Nemorino, falls in love with the wealthy but fickle Adina. She is an oil heiress in our performance and the peasants are actually oil field workers.”

The soldiers in the opera will wear authentic military uniforms provided by the OSU ROTC program.

Director of OSU Opera Studies April Golliver said operas often change the setting to appeal to local audiences. L’Eliser D’Amore translates to the Elixer of Love. The comedy in the tale translates to any language, said Anthony Weber, who will play the role of Belcore, Nemorino’s foe in the battle to win Adina’s heart. Nemorino’s only chance to win over Adina’s love comes with the help of a traveling quack doctor, Dulcamara, and his cure-all potion of the Elixir of Love, which is really just cheap wine.  

It’s a story the whole family will enjoy, Golliver said. 

Written in the 1800s, it was the most popular opera performed in Italy for 10 years after it premiered and has continually remained in the opera repertory for nearly two centuries. Today, it is one of the most performed operas worldwide, Golliver said. The cast includes:

Adina: Lydia Bechtel (Friday) and Chelsey Wilburn (Saturday),

Nemorino: Michael Kollmorgen (Friday) and Anthony McMullen (Saturday),

Belcore: Bill Sheets (Friday) and Anthony Weber (Saturday),

Dulcamara: Jeffrey McCollum (Friday and Saturday),

Giannetta: Tiffany Wright (Friday ) and Brittany Wright (Saturday),

Farmers, Soldiers and Peasant Women: Nick Chabot, Carol Coleson, Brianne Mathews, Ivan Ley, Grace Nelson, Elizabeth Koch, Taylor Anderson, Lauren Blakeburn, Bernardo Medeiros, Casey Carruth and Matthew Taylor.

 David Malis is the stage director and Douglas Droste is the orchestra conductor.

Tickets can be purchased one hour prior to the performance at the concert hall box office. Tickets are $6 for students and senior citizens and $8 for general admission.

The troupe has performed excerpts for music students at Stillwater High School.

On Feb. 7, the Noon Concert Series in the Edmon Low Library Peggy V. Helmerich Browsing Room will feature teasers from L’Elisir D’Armore.

They will also present portions of the opera at the Friends of Music Musicale on Feb. 10 at Zannotti’s. Tickets for the musicales are available in the OSU Music Department office.

For more information, contact Golliver at 405-744-8986 or april.golliver@okstate.edu.

 

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