In order to provide offerings for all age groups, Orlando Opera will tour three new properties during the 2006-08 cycle:

PASSION, POWER, & PERIL

Highlighting major themes and the overall spectacle of Opera, Operetta, and Broadway, Orlando Opera will offer PASSION, POWER, & PERIL throughout Florida during the 2006-08 seasons.  Based on a show concept by General Director Robert Swedberg, this musical revue will feature some of the best of the operatic and music theater repertoire, sung by Orlando Opera’s world-class Resident Artists, selected through competitive national auditions. 

Previous versions of this variety show, including OPERA EXTRAVAGANZA!; AIN’T IT GRAND?; ROMANCE, RAGE, & REVELRY; ACTS OF PASSION; LOVE AND LAUGHTER; and AFFAIRS OF THE HEART have delighted audiences in every region of the state, making opera accessible to all Floridians.  They have included beloved selections from such operas as CARMEN, LA BOHEME, I PAGLIACCI, RIGOLETTO, ROMEO AND JULIET, and DON GIOVANNI, and music theater’s WEST SIDE STORY, CABARET, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, TROUBLE IN TAHITI, and MAN OF LA MANCHA. 

Available in a full two-hour version, appropriate for adults as a matinee or evening performance, or in an abridged version, up to ninety minutes, appropriate for high school and college students.

 
MINI-MAGIC FLUTE

A smaller scale version of this classic Mozart opera will be staged in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.  This production features four singing-actors and a pianist in a fully-staged and costumed performance.  This production is designed to fit into a school period, but can also be offered for adult audiences.  And while the school production is particularly suited to elementary students, children of any age can enjoy this mini-version of the original opera.  A full-scale version was successfully staged to open Orlando Opera’s 10th anniversary season of the Resident Artist Program in 2002. 

ZARZUELA!

Orlando Opera will stage an “Introduction to Zarzuela” (costumed, with piano accompaniment), which will be appropriate for middle and high school students, as well as college audiences.  Again, this production is designed to fit into a school period, but can also be offered for adult audiences.  Comparable in style to operetta, Zarzuela is a treasured art form in Spanish-speaking countries, yet virtually unknown to the average music lover in the United States.  It is anticipated that this program will have special appeal to the burgeoning Hispanic population in Central and South Florida, and will be an intriguing programming alternative to audiences in the rest of the state.