Autumn Opera Workshop 2006

Samuel Barber's A Hand of Bridge
Hugo Weisgall's The Stronger
Seymour Barab's Mushroom Pizza

THE CAST
Jennifer Griffiths - Hand of Bridge, Mushroom Pizza
Anna Belikova - Hand of Bridge, Mushroom Pizza
James Tuttle - Hand of Bridge, Mushroom Pizza
Marion Samuel-Stevens - The Stronger

Music Directors:
James Wells - Hand of Bridge, Mushroom Pizza
William Shookhoff - The Stronger

Stage Director:
Edward Franko

Workshop Home Page

A HAND of BRIDGE - Samuel Barber
Four friends are gathered for their evening bridge game. As play progresses, each sings an aria expressing their true thoughts. Sally is not thinking about much except which new hat to buy; her husband, Bill, wonders whether Sally know about his lover Cymbeline and what she is doing. Geraldine, ignored both by her husband David and Bill, her former lover, is worried about her dying mother; her husband, bitter about his dead-end job, daydreams about what his life would be like if he were as rich as his boss; as the opera ends, he admits that it would probably not be very different.

THE STRONGER - Hugo Wesigall
On New Year's Eve, Estelle meets her friend Lisa in a bar while she's finishing her Christmas shopping. She talks about her family, in the process revealing that she knows that Lisa was in love with Harold, the man she married. As Estelle leaves, she decides that she is, after all, the stronger of the two.

MUSHROOM PIZZA - Seymour Barab
In this satire on 19th century Italian opera, we meet the unfaithful wife, Voluptua who confides her amorous escapades with her lover, Scorpio to her maid Phobia. Voluptua’s husband, Count Formaggio returns from the hunt to find Voluptua hiding Scorpio in a large trunk. Voluptua makes the Count’s favourite food, Pizza with Mushrooms but with the poisoness mushrooms. Or are they? Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion.