Trouble in Tahiti & Amelia Goes to the Ball

Description

Directed by: Laura Johnson
Sung in English with supertitle lyrics

Trouble in Tahiti
Music and libretto by Leonard Bernstein

Amelia Goes to the Ball
Music and libretto by Giancarlo Menotti

A wise song writer once wrote, “Love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage.” But in this pair of one-act operas, love isn’t always that easy.

Set amid a seemingly idyllic 1950s suburban backdrop, Trouble in Tahiti depicts a day in the life of Sam and Dinah, an unhappy couple who long for the American dream. Like his West Side Story and Candide, Bernstein speaks straight to the heart in this one-act masterpiece, with a jazzy and uniquely American score.

In Giancarlo Menotti’s one act opera buffa Amelia Goes to the Ball, comedy erupts when the young socialite Amelia, her husband, and her lover are caught in a triangle of mayhem. Amidst a series of farcical events, Amelia remains focused on her sole objective: to go to the ball. Amelia Goes to the Ball is a comic delight set against the tuneful, vivacious music of Menotti.