An Eve11ing of

Excerpts fi om

l 'lncoronazione di POppiea

Le Nozze di Figaro

The Mikado Der Freischtitz

Cenerentola

M.U.N. Little Theatre Tuesday, 24 January 1984

at 8:00 p.m.

OPERA EXCERPTS

LA CENERENTOLA Act I, Scene I

Clorinda Jhisbe · Ci ncfcrell a Ali doro

Piano

L' INCORONAZIONE DI POPPAEA Act II, Scene IV

THE MIKADO From Act I

Poppe a Arnal ta Amor Ottone

Piano

Yum-Yum Pitti-Sing Peep-Bo Ko-Ko Pooh-Bah Nanki-Poo

Piano

Darlene Cornick Wanda Boodansingh

Heather Burry Dave Winsor

Ji 11 Dawe

Genevieve Halfyard Dianne Pritchett

Shei 1 a Osbourne John Russell

Ji 11 Dawe

Jill Whitten Sheila Osbourne

Agnes McCarthy Charlie Bown

Dennis Caines Dave Winsor

Jill Dawe

Gioacchino Rossini

Claudio Mon+everdi

Arthur Sullivan

OER FREISCHUTZ Act I I, Scene I

LE NOZZE DI FIGARO Act II

.. Ann chen Agathe Max

Piano

Countess Susanna Figaro Cherubi no Count Antonio

Piano

Karen Barbour Catherine Cornick

Charlie Bown

Lisa Sells

INTERMISSION

Carl Maria von Weber

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Sonya Gosse Susan Mercer

Randol ph Rodgers Sheila Lindsey

Dennis Caines Dave Winsor

Lisa Sells

LA CENERENTOLA ( CINDERELLA )

Libretto = Jacopo Ferretti Premiere: Rome, 1817

PROGRAMME NOTES

Rossini

Cinderella is making coffee for her half-sisters, Clorinda and Thisbe. The friend and counsellor of the Prince, Alidoro, enters in disguise. The two sisters curtly dismiss him; Cinderella pities him and offers him refreshment. The scene ends as the sisters prepare to go to the ball, clamouring for Cinderella's services.

L'INCORONAZIONE DI POPPAEA ( THE CORONATION OF POPPAEA)

Libretto= G.F. Busenello Premiere: Venice, 1642

Monteverdi

Poppaea, mistress of the Emperor of Rome, demands that love shall guide her ship safe to harbour. Arnalta, her nurse, sings her to sleep with a lullaby. The Goddess of Love appears and promises to watch over her as she lies defenseless. Ottone, Poppaea's former lover, enters in disguise and with murder in his heart, but the Goddess intervenes, Poppaea wakes up and Arnalta pursues him out. The Goddess of Love is triumphant, having defended Poppaea. That very day she will see that she becomes Empress!

THE MIKADO Text by W.S. Gilbert

Premiere: London, 1885

Sullivan

Nanki-Poo, son of the Emperor of Japan, is wandering the countryside disguised as a minstrel, and has fallen in love with Yum-Yum, ward of Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner. He asks Ko-Ko for her hand, but Ko-Ko plans to marry her himself, and has Nanki-Poo taken into custody. Yum-Yum and her friends join Pooh-Bah, the Lord High Everything Else, in a discussion of the ways of youth.

DER FREISCHUTZ ( THE FREE SHOT )

Text by Johann Friedrich Kind Premiere: Berlin, 1821

von Weber

The act begins witn Agathe and her young relative Annchen hanging a pictut·e of one of thE. ir ancestors. _However Agathe is depressed and expresses her gloomy forebodings. Annchen decides to sing to her a little story about a handsome young man and how to win him over. The

song momentarily cheers up Agathe but she begins to worry again about when she will see Max~ her lover. She sings how love and anxiousness go hand in hand and then she intones a prayer. She is suddenly very haPPY as she sees Max approaching. He comes in quickly followed by Annchen and informs them that he must leave again soon because he has shot a deer 1n the Wolf's Glen and must go after it. The girls try vainlY to warn him against the locality which is said to be haunted.

LE NOZZE DI FIGARO ( THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO)

Text by Lorenzo da Ponte .

Premiere: Vienna~ 1786 ..

Mozart

In her room~ the Countess bemoans her pain over the cooled love of her husband. Susanna~ her maid~ enters and after her, Figaro~ who has con­cocted a plan~ in which all shall take part. The Count shall be given an assignation with Susanna~ whose place shall be taken by Cherubino. At the same time (through an anonymous letter) he shall be told that the Countess in her turn has made a rendezvous with an unknown man. Cherubino comes in to see if he can be dressed for the part, but first sings the song he has just composed. A knock is heard at the door -it is the Count! c~nsternation. Cherubino dashes off into the Countess' bedroom and Susanna hi des. The Co.unt' s sus pi cion that something is being hidden from him becomes certainty when he hears a noise in the bedroom and finds the door locked. He takes his wife with him as he goes off to get tools to break it down with. While he is away Cherubino slips out of hiding and jumps from the window, leaving Susanna to take his place. The ranting and raging of the Count re­doubles in fury when the Countess tries to explain that Cherubino is in her room without much on because he was being fitted for a charade. Both are struck dumb with amazement when~ at the height of the storm, Susanna emerges coaly from the bedroom. The Count rushes in to see if Cherubino is still there, but, finding he is not, can do nothing but sue for pardon. With Susanna's aid~ this is obtained, but with it the Count's suspicions begin to take possession of him again. The anonymous letter? Written by Figaro: Figaro bounds in to summon his master and mistress to the wedding dance which is about to begin. The Count sees a chance of getting his own back and questions Figaro about the anonymous ; letter. In spite of hints from the Countess and Susanna, Figaro denies ' all knowledge of it, and has almost turned the Count's suspicions when Antonio~ the gardener, bursts in, protesting that life is a perpetual trial but that today they have thrown a man out of the window onto his flower-beds~ and that is too much. Figaro says that it was he who jumped out, but Antonio thinks it looked more like Cherubino. Figaro sticks to his story until the Count catechises him about a paper Antonio says was dropped near the flower-bed. Figaro racks his brains~ and in the nick of time the Countess recognizes it and whispers to Figaro that it is Cherubino's commission. Why was it left? Just in time, the Countess remembers that it had not been sealed. Figaro's triumph is short-lived, and the act comes to end in pandemonium.

OPERA EXCERPTS

Music Director: Accompanists:

Stage Director: Costumes:

Stage Technicians:

Acknowledgments:

Wigs by Dal my

Carolyn Hart Jill Dawe lisa Sells

Martin Johnson Janet Pitt

Colleen Foley Kevin Hennessey Harold Johnson Barry Roberts Kitty Rideout Kam Stapleton

Riding habit by Sandra Martin, Clovelly Riding Stables Marie Sharp - Costnme Mistress, Arts & Culture Centre carol 1.ockwood Props courtesy of CBC Sets by Carpentry Maintenance, University Works

Joan Wells Dr. William Spain

M. u. N. r.,us I c:

8:oO p.m., Saturday, January 28

8 :00 p.m., Sunday, February 5

8:00 p.m., Saturday, February 1 ·.

3:00 p.m., Sunday, Febr ary 19

8:00 p.m. , Wednesday, March 7

COMING EVENTS

ENDELSSOHN STRING QUARTET

A SOUSA CONCERT with the MUN CO CERT BAND Gerald Olson, conductor at the Arts & Cu ture Centre

CAROLYN HART, Soprano MAUREEN VOLK, Piano

MUN CHAt~E E R CHO I R Douglas Dunsmore, conductor at the MUN Art Gallery, Arts & Culture Centre

KENNETH GREENE, Viola MAUREEN VOLK, Piano

Please check wi~h ~he ~partmen~ of MUsic~ phone 737-?487~ ~ ensure that each concer-t will go ahead as scheduled.

All concer-ts -take place i.n -the M. U. . LITTLE THEATRE ( Al05) in -the Ar-ts/Adminis-tra-tion Buildi-ng~ unless o-thenui.se specified.