For tickets, visit "The Arts Bridge Project: A Century of Song" takes places at 7:30 p.m. 22 at the Marcus Center's Uihlein Hall, 929 N. The Florentine Opera performs "The Merry Widow" at 7:30 p.m. Pink described the ArtsBridge evening as a chance to spend “a fun relaxing evening in the theater,” hearing Cambridge singing some standards, “which come to life with some of our beautiful dancers performing pieces created specially for the event.”įlorescu added, “This is a really cool collaboration - a celebration of Americana and the Great American Songbook.” IF YOU GO The Florentine and Milwaukee Ballet will continue their collaboration into the following week, joined by the Marcus Center, with an Oct. 27 performance entitled "The Arts Bridge Project: A Century of Song." The show puts classical music and opera on the same bill as classic rock. She will appear in the opera portion of Broadway premiere of “Rocktopia,” which has built an international following through tours and a PBS special. In 2016 she released a crossover album entitled, “Until Now,” containing tunes from the Great American Songbook, and even a Sting song.Ĭambridge said she will take her opera roots to a crossover production on Broadway this season - her Broadway debut. She said she feels it’s important to “do my part and cross over into new mediums.” “I am grounded and rooted in opera, but things started to change for me in 2012,” which is when she was cast in the Lyric’s production of “Show Boat.” “For a long time now I have been committed to having a very diverse career,” Cambridge said. To that end, many companies are including musical theater presentations on seasons that have traditionally included just opera. “They are having a great time.”Īlthough “Merry Widow” has been a frequent feature on opera stages for more than a century, Cambridge pointed out that the opera business has changed, as opera companies have begun working to “grow new audiences.” “I heard them in the studio rehearsing the singing they will be doing - yes they will be singing in addition to dancing - and they sounded wonderful,” he said. Michael Pink, artistic director of the Milwaukee Ballet, said that MB dancers will perform choreography by Petr Zahradnicek, a choreographer-in-residence with the MB.Īccording to Pink, the dancers are enjoying themselves, too. Its sophisticated wit, frothy scenes, infectious music and stage-filling dance scenes have made it an international audience favorite ever since.
#MERRY WIDOW LYRIC OPERA CHICAGO FULL#
It’s full of uplifting melodies that really stick with you.”Ĭambridge is not alone in her fondness for “Merry Widow.” It ran for 483 performances when it premiered in Vienna in 1905. “This role is just so much fun,” she said. “Even in music theater roles,” she continued, mentioning her appearance with Chicago Lyric Opera as Julie in “Show Boat,” “I have played tragic characters.”
“I don’t often get to play fun, spicy roles,” said Cambridge, whose work is familiar to Florentine audiences, in a recent interview, “I’ve played rather tragic heroines in the past, who were suffering from consumption, or abandonment, and usually dying at the end of the opera.” The term, which means “small opera,” refers to works that are shorter than most full-length operas, based on a comic story, or comic situations, and often written with spoken dialogue in addition to musical numbers.
“It’s been 10 years since we did it last.”Īlthough “Merry Widow” is sung by opera singers and is usually presented by opera companies, it is actually an operetta. Audiences really like it,” said Florentine Opera general director William Florescu. “We are often asked about when we will be bringing ‘Merry Widow’ back.
This includes casting of American soprano Alyson Cambridge in her debut performance of Hanna Glawari (the widow), as well as opulent, traditional sets and costumes, and appearances by Milwaukee Ballet dancers and accompaniment by the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra. Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera Company is pulling out all the stops for its upcoming “Merry Widow” production. Opera is not exactly rife with festivity, frivolity and happy endings, which makes Franz Lehar’s “The Merry Widow” such a delight when it appears in an opera company’s season.
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