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Published by Communications and Development
Opera-goers can expect a night of laughter and suspense with this month's operatic offering from the University of Canterbury's School of Music.
The Telephone and The Medium, two short operas by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer/librettist Gian Carlo Menotti, will be staged as part of the University of Canterbury 's arts festival Platform.
This double bill of contrasting works – comic and tragic – which date from 1947, still holds the record for the longest run of opera on Broadway.
In The Telephone, Ben comes to ask Lucy to marry him but he finds he has a rival — the telephone. Constantly thwarted by Lucy taking long calls from her friends, Ben is forced to take drastic action.
In The Medium, Madame Flora is a charlatan clairvoyant who, with the aid of her daughter Monica and mute orphan boy Toby, stages phoney séances for grieving parents. Tragedy ensues when she is taken in by her own devices.
Director Elric Hooper says while The Medium is set in 1947, The Telephone has been set in 2008 for the UC production – the modern take meaning Lucy has a cellphone seemingly glued to her ear.
“It is a witty little short piece about the irritations of the phone,” says Mr Hooper.
“Another thing is it is a spoof of all sorts of things like Mozart and mid-19 th century florid music whereby Menotti cleverly translates long runs to mimic the answers people give on the telephone.”
Mr Hooper says The Telephone was written by Menotti as a light-hearted curtain-raiser to The Medium, which is “a very dramatic piece”.
“It is about the power of autosuggestion and as time goes on Madame Flora gets more and more demented as she is haunted by the spirits she phonily summons up. Many people consider it Menotti's best opera.”
Mr Hooper says he was able to cast the pairing of short operas perfectly with singers studying in the University's voice programme, under Dame Malvina Major.
In The Telephone Lucy is played by Jamie Ling and Ben is played by Ben Caukwell, who also plays a grieving parent in The Medium. The lead role of the medium Madam Flora (or “Baba”) is played by Rachelle Pike, with guest actor Marcus Hoetjes playing the mute orphan boy. The rest of the cast and orchestra are made up of senior performance students from the School of Music. Associate Professor Martin Setchell will conduct both operas.
“For those who have never experienced opera before this double bill is a very good introduction to opera, particularly for young people. It is very approachable stuff and very exciting. Plus the music is absolutely stunning,” says Mr Hooper.
The Telephone and The Medium will be performed on 29, 30 and 31 May, 7.30pm, in the Ngaio Marsh Theatre. Tickets are $35 (students $25) from Ticketek.
Mr Hooper and Professor Setchell will also give a free public lecture on Menotti in Production on Sunday 25 May at 3pm in the Philip Carter Family Auditorium of the Christchurch Art Gallery.
More information about the Platform festival can be found at www.canterbury.ac.nz/platform.
For further information please contact:
Greg Latham
Festival Co-ordinator
College of Arts
University of Canterbury
Ph (03) 364 3451
gregory.latham@canterbury.ac.nz