EMU Delivers Slap-stick Rossini: 'It's Pure Comic Opera"

The opera was a joint production between EMU's Symphony Orchestra and the Opera Workshop.

Donald Hartmann directed the opera with musical help from orchestra conductor Kevin Miller. Attendance was high at Friday's and Saturday's performances.

To make the opera more enjoyable, it was done in English translation and Hartmann had surtitles projected on a screen so that guests would have an easier time understanding the music.

This opera was one of Giaocchino Rossini's first comic success, Hartmann said.

The opera is about the Bey (ruler) of Algiers, who is surrounded by harem girls but is unable to find satisfaction in their company.

He believes an Italian girl would make him happy. It just so happens that an Italian girl and her companion are shipwrecked, and the Bey's captain of the guard says that he has just the girl for him and he brings the Italian girl, Isabella, to the palace to see him.

The Bey then decides to make Isabella his wife, and he no longer wants anything to do with the other women, Hartmann said.

Isabella and her travelling companion, Taddeo, were looking for her former lover, Lindoro, who just so happens to be a slave of Mustafa, the Bey of Algiers. Isabella and Lindoro happen to run into each other and decide to scheme their way away from the Bey. This is exactly what happens and they live happily ever after.

"What happens when she arrives and leaves is when the comic stuff takes place," Hartmann said.

"All of the scheming and plotting is comic. It is 'slap-stick' comedy," Hartmann said. "It is just slap-you-on-the-knee-laugh-out-loud type comedy."

Hartmann said that it is harder to perform comedy because it is very difficult to make comedy believable. It is much easier to make people cry, and that makes drama a little easier.

Hartmann said when people come to this opera and realize that it is supposed to be funny and is meant to make you laugh they have a great time.

Kristin L. Walukas, who played Isabella for Saturday's performance, mentioned the different funny touches that Hartmann added to the opera.

"He has a flair for comedic plays," Walukas said.

"It's very funny," said Scott Elsholz, who played Taddeo. "I feel as if I have landed a perfect role for myself. It's pure buffo. It's pure comic opera 'slap-stick' the whole way. It's quite hilarious."

Violinist Jennifer Wilson and violist Tracy Carroll mentioned how they were really enjoying working with the cast of the opera.

"They appreciate us being here," Wilson said. "They feel that it is better to have a live orchestra because you have more flexibility with the music," Wilson said.

"You feel like a team player," Carroll said.

The reviews from the audience were positive on the whole. Many people have said that the opera was funny and the music was very enjoyable.

Many said they were pleased to have the surtitles because they helped them follow the music a little more easily.

A number of people also mentioned how good it felt to see an opera and not have to pay a lot of money just to look down from the "nosebleed" section.

Previously published in the EMU Eastern Echo on Monday, February 8, 1999 by Faith Redwine.