MANSFIELD, Ohio – Elements of classical music and romantic comedy harmonize perfectly in Mid-Ohio Opera’s upcoming performance of the Italian opera romantic comedy, “L’Elisir D’Amore,” or “The Elixir of Love” at Mansfield Senior High School.
This is the first comedy performed by the Mid-Ohio Opera, in the midst of their first full season here in Mansfield. The company’s founder, Joel Vega, said more than a dozen major orchestral works have been performed in Mansfield within the last three years – more than in major cities like Cleveland and Columbus.
“Classical music has been kept at a very high level here,” said Vega. “Not every town has that. People are really hungry for this around here, and they’ve really supported us.”
“L’Elisir D’Amore” tells the story of a shy country boy, Nemorino, who falls in love with a beautiful woman, Adina.
“She’s way out of his league because she can read,” Vega explained. “He’s thoroughly in love with her, but he’s so shy he can’t speak to her and tell her how he feels.”
Nemorino seeks the help of a quack doctor and his “magical” elixir to confess his true feelings to Adina. In the meantime, to evoke some action from Nemorino, Adina agrees to marry the sergeant of a troop of soldiers that has come through that very day.
“Of course Nemarino chugs it all down, and the fun starts,” said Vega. “It doesn’t work exactly the way he wants because he gets drunk and can’t really speak to her. It’s so human; the romantic comedy element is the same whether it’s Sandra Bullock or a tenor.”
The cast includes young up-and-coming professional singers from across the country. Tom Sitzler, who plays the military sergeant Belcore, and his wife Stephanie Ball Sitzler, who plays Adina, both join the cast from Colorado.
“Opera is needed everywhere, and this is a great little town to give this magnificent work of art,” said Tom Sitzler. “It tells stories that are everywhere, it’s all part of our lives. Most people think if it’s in Italian or if it’s written in the nineteenth century it’s not going to be like them, they’re not going to connect to it. But it’s all the same stories.”
Vega said the cast also includes a 25-member opera chorus all from the Mansfield area, led by maestro Paul Chandley, formerly of the Metropolitan Opera, and accompanied by international concert pianist Sophia Pavlenko Chandley.
The accessibility of modern opera to the public is one idea Vega wants to encourage. He explained the rituals of dressing up in a tuxedo and attending an opera at a magnificent concert hall are long past, especially in Mansfield. At Mansfield Senior High School, “L’Elisir D’Amore” will be sung in Italian with projected English supertitles.
“We’re performing in local venues, and I want people to know it’s casual, they can come in jeans if they like,” said Vega. “We’re trying to be fun. It’s a smaller scale, so it’s not this huge, unreachable spectacle.”
However, despite being on a smaller scale the quality and talent levels of the opera are anything but small. Vega described it as “the best singing you’ve heard in the last decade” – and all unaccompanied by technology.
“The main difference opera has is it’s all sung, there are no speaking parts,” explained Tom Sitzler. “Also, we are singing without microphones. We are our own amplification, so we are trained to use our bodies in a way that we can amplify without using microphones and be heard all the way to the back of the theater.”
The goal of Vega and Mid-Ohio Opera is to encourage people to experience the opera, even just once. The full production will take place at Mansfield Senior High Auditorium, July 24 at 7:30 p.m. and July 26 at 3 p.m. Tickets are only available at the door, $10 for general admission and $5 for seniors and students. The maximum family price is capped at $35.
“The art form of opera, you have to go and experience to understand, it’s visceral,” said Vega. “When someone is singing that high quality of music usually at a higher volume than you’re used to hearing, it’s like watching an athletic event that also includes classical music, costuming, sometimes ballet, and it’s all the creative arts put into one. It’s the complete package of performing arts.”
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“Opera is needed everywhere, and this is a great little town to give this magnificent work of art,” said Tom Sitzler. “It tells stories that are everywhere, it’s all part of our lives.”
