“Mostly Menotti,†the University of Evansville Opera spring production, is Friday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25, 7:30 p.m., in Wheeler Concert Hall, Krannert Hall of Fine Arts. General admission is $10.
This production features three one-act American operas from the middle of the 20th century. Two were composed by Carlo Menotti, and one by Samuel Barber. Menotti provided the libretto for all three.
The evening opens with Menotti’s comic opera, The Telephone, or L’amour à trois. In this opera, Ben arrives at the apartment of Lucy with the intent of proposing. He is thwarted by her conversations on the phone, and then realizes the only way to get Lucy’s attention is to propose over the phone. The opera ends with a romantic duet.
Much darker in nature is Barber’s A Hand of Bridge (with a libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti). In this opera, two married couples play a game of bridge. Told through a series of arias, each character reveals to the audience his/her own thoughts and desires.
The final opera is Menotti’s self-described “grotesque opera in 14 scenes,†The Old Maid and the Thief, which centers on spinster Miss Todd and her maid Laetitia. The arrival of a beggar upends the life of Miss Todd as she tries to keep him happy.
