Created: October 11, 2012 Last Updated: October 11, 2012
EVANSTON, Ill.?Light Opera Works brings majesty to the productions they stage. While they do not have the funding that the downtown and larger regional theaters have, they have creative minds, talent, and aspiring young performers.
The forte of Light Opera Works is operetta and musicals that come very close to qualifying as such. Their mission is to ?present musical theater from a variety of world traditions,? according to their website. This is what they do to perfection.
They just finished a spectacular Man of La Mancha; they also did a wonderful Camelot earlier in the year.
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Operetta?s Greatest Hits, with a cast of six performers and four musicians, bring us some rather sterling examples of the operetta with music from Vienna, Paris, London, and Broadway.
The music of Jacques Offenbach, Emmerich K?lm?n, Richard Strauss, a medley from Franz Leh?r?s The Merry Widow, Gilbert and Sullivan (another medley), Rudolf Friml?s Indian Love Call, and much more are among the songs performed.
Directed by Rudy Hogenmiller in a chamber-like setting, I had no problem hearing every glorious word the performers sang. It seems that Hogenmiller and musical director Marta Johnson selected the pieces to reveal the growth of the operetta.
Hogenmiller uses some of his regulars who have thrilled many a main stage production audience: Alicia Berneche, Natalie Ford, James Rank, George Andrew Wolff, Colette Todd, and Matthew Giebel. All six have great audience appeal and vocal ranges that are sheer delight to the ears. They are also pleasing to look at as they banter with each other and the musicians.
This is a two-act, two-hour evening of what we could call a different type of easy listening, an evening that allows you to relax, take the hand of the date you brought, and just watch and listen to some history brought to life by the cast of Operetta?s Greatest Hits.
Operetta?s Greatest Hits
Nichols Concert Hall
Music Institute of Chicago
1490 Chicago Avenue, Evanston
Tickets: 847-920-5360 or visit www.LightOperaWorks.com
Running Time: 2 hours
Closes: Oct. 14
Alan Bresloff writes about theater in and around the Chicago area.
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