{"id":19891,"date":"2013-03-14T10:06:29","date_gmt":"2013-03-14T14:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=19891"},"modified":"2013-03-18T10:01:00","modified_gmt":"2013-03-18T14:01:00","slug":"opera-features-plenty-of-songs-and-laughs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2013\/03\/14\/opera-features-plenty-of-songs-and-laughs\/","title":{"rendered":"Opera features plenty of songs\u2014and laughs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Students in Wright State University\u2019s Opera Theatre program will poke fun of themselves and the art form they love during this weekend\u2019s opera Too Many Sopranos.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to spoof ourselves,\u201d said Kimberly Warrick, D.A., associate professor and director of opera theatre at Wright State. \u201cWe make fun of every stereotype we can think of,\u201d including diva sopranos, famous operatic characters and opera itself. \u201cIt\u2019s even a little irreverent,\u201d Warrick added.<\/p>\n

Too Many Sopranos <\/em>will be performed at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, March 15 and 16, and 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 17, in Schuster Hall in the Creative Arts Center <\/strong>on the Wright State campus.<\/p>\n

In the comic opera, four sopranos go to heaven to audition for the heavenly choir, only to be told by St. Peter that there\u2019s only room for one soprano. After learning that all of the divas could join the choir if more tenors and basses were available, the sopranos attempt to retrieve four male singers from hell, where they were banished.<\/p>\n

Too Many Sopranos<\/em>, by Edwin Penhorwood, an American composer and faculty member at Indiana University, premiered in 2000.<\/p>\n

Warrick, who is the director and conductor of the Wright State production, describes Too Many Sopranos <\/em>as a \u201cgreat introduction to opera.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s very accessible to singing and is very audience friendly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Though the performance includes some jokes that will be more familiar to aficionados, Warrick said the gags aren\u2019t too obscure for those new to opera. \u201cIt\u2019s not so inside (opera) that somebody who hasn\u2019t seen an opera won\u2019t enjoy it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpera gets a reputation for being full of ourselves and elite,\u201d Warrick said. \u201c(Too Many Sopranos<\/em>) humanizes it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This weekend\u2019s three performances are the culmination of a semester and a half of work. Since many of the students in the opera hope to be professional singers, Warrick said, this year\u2019s opera is a great tool to teach them what it takes to mount a production.<\/p>\n

Ticket Information<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ticket are $10 for Wright State faculty and staff, all students and seniors; and $12 for adults.<\/p>\n

For tickets, contact the Theatre Box Office at (937) 775-2500 or visit the box office in the Commons of the Creative Arts Center.<\/p>\n\n\t\t