This weekend, Opera Theatre VCU will perform “Brush Up Your Shakespeare: A Gala of Shakespeare-based Opera Scenes” at the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts.
Each year Opera Theatre VCU puts on a fall and spring production. The fall performance is set up to display a gala of opera scenes from different operas. “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” features nine opera scenes from various Shakespeare plays, including “Romeo and Juliet,” “The Comedy of Errors” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
The night will be a rich sampling of comedy and tragedy, said Director Melanie Kohn Day. The students involved in the production have been working since the second week of classes. While they have only had 12 weeks to rehearse in class with virtually no outside rehearsals, Day said the students have shown tremendous growth, and the show highlights the students’ progression and talent.
Unlike the spring production, which features the VCU Symphony Orchestra, the fall production solely features Day on piano. The performance is fully staged and includes minimal chorography. However, “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” will highlight the vocal talent of Opera Theatre VCU.
Unlike other performance arts, opera’s goal is to take the audience out of reality, Day said. “When you go to an opera, you expect to go to a foreign place,” Day said.
The production features songs in foreign languages, and will serve as a synthesis of different aspects of performance arts.
Opera Theatre VCU is the most developed opera undergraduate program in the state of Virginia, Day said. “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” will display the immense talent of a young group of opera performers, Day said.
“Brush Up Your Shakespeare: A Gala of Shakespeare-based Opera Scenes” runs Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. at the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts.