Through Wed 8/10
Ooh, la LA!!! Zee tastee bon-bon ees now served!
La Vie Parisienne is the fifth production of the 2016 season at Ohio Light Opera, and it’s a real dandy. It’s nearly a laugh a minute, thanks to the fast-paced singing and dancing, as created by stage director Julie Wright Costa, and helped along by the dazzling choreography of Spencer Reese and the sprightly performance by the OLO orchestra, ably led by Wilson Southerland.
Add in the colorful period costumes by designer Stefanie Genda and the sets (love the trains!) by Daniel Hobbs, and Paris comes to life in front of our eyes. Of course, the lighting by Daniel Huston plays a major part in illuminating the City of Light for us.
You may well think you’re in the middle of a screwball comedy, along with effervescent music and the dancing. The composer, Jacques Offenbach, was a master of this light, happy music, although he also wrote more serious works. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, with English translation by Richard Traubner.
“The Belle Epoque era of the late 1880s was Paris at its most gay and beautiful,” notes Ms. Costa. “1889 was the year of the Exposition Universelle, for which the Eiffel Tower served as entrance to the Fair.” The Tower had officially opened earlier that year, and the celebrations also included the 100th anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille in 1789. Ms. Costa sees this show as the ultimate love letter to all things Parisian. Vive l’amour! And so It is!
The plot more or less defies easy description, but it does allow for comedy and dancing at the drop of any hat. Men are chasing women and women are chasing men, and then for a slight variation, the nobility is chasing servants and so on. A Swedish baron and his baroness are wonderfully enacted by Ted Christopher and Meagan Sill; Kyle Yampiro and Benjamin Krumreig are two Frenchmen. The courtesan Métella is Gretchen Windt, while the Brazilian is Clark Sturdevant.
Terrific comic relief is provided by Spencer Reese as the bootmaker Frick, and Tanya Roberts is the beautiful glovemaker Gabrielle. Hilary Koolhaven has a short stint as “Madame l’amirale” before returning to herself as Pauline, the chambermaid. Finally, the baron and baroness are reunited, as is Métella and her beau, and by the last musical notes, everyone ends up with the proper partner, to the accompaniment of champagne corks popping.
La Vie Parisienne continues in repertory at OLO through Wed 8/10, with performances Fri 7/22, Thu 7/28, Thu 8/4 and Wed 8/10.
For ticket information, visit OLO’s website or call the box office at 330.263.2345. Click this link to read more about this season’s shows and to hear audio clips of the music.
[Written by Kelly Ferjutz]
Wooster, OH 44691