in performance: 3 Comic Operas by Music for the Stage

In the world of college opera it is an extraordinary task to find projects suitable to the student’s voice as well as interesting to the audience. Towson’s Music for the Stage pulled together an admirable program in “A Goose, a Telephone, and Dueling Divas.” Featuring the perennial favorites: “Der Schauspieldirektor” – “The Impresario” (W.A. Mozart) and “The Telephone” (G.C. Menotti) also resurrecting the incomplete Mozart opera “L’oca del Cairo” – “The Goose of Cairo”. All three operas were performed in English with (sometimes operational) supertitles.

Justine Hoerning (junior – voice performance major) was a standout as Madame Heartmelt in “The Impresario” with her clear tone ringing throughout the hall. Both Heartmelt and Impresario elicited quite a few chuckles from the audience by displaying their knack for timing on stage.

“The Goose of Cairo” was a supreme flight of fancy giving ample singing time to the singers involved as well as providing larger-than-life characters to flesh out those acting chops. Jeff Williams was eye-catching as the eccentric Don Pippo, jumping about the stage and making all the girls giggle profusely.

Music for the Stage provides a great stepping stone for these younger singers to try out different characters in an audience situation. I will look forward to these singers stepping into bigger roles during their time at Towson.