Opera Scenes Synopses
Scenes intros 2025
1: CANDIDE
We begin this evening with a scene from Candide with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics and the following text by Richard Wilbur.
In Germany, in Westphalia in the castle of the Baron Thunder-Ten-Tronck, there lived four young people. All of them were very happy because they knew they were living in the best of all possible castles in the best of all possible countries in the best of all possible worlds. The happiest of them all was the noble youth, Candide. Though merely a bastard cousin, he was graciously permitted to wear the best second-hand clothes and to fly the third best baronial falcon.
The next happiest of the four was possibly the serving maid Paquette. She enjoyed the honor of dressing the Baroness in the presence of the Baron himself—and for her willingness to “cooperate” was a favorite of all.
Also extremely happy was the Baron’s daughter, Cunegonde. Cunegonde knew she was not only the highest born maiden in the land but also the prettiest.
At the moment, the least happy of the four—though still extremely happy—was the baron’s son, Maximillian. Being the handsomest youth in Westphalia, he was very sincerely devoted to his own person. (To Max) Ahem!
These admirable children had the great good fortune to be instructed in the realities of life by the wisest of all possible philosophers—Dr. Pangloss! (MUSIC)
2: HANSEL AND GRETEL
Now for something completely different. We remain in Germany but experience a very different social level. Two poverty-stricken children, a brother and sister, have been sent into a dangerous wood by their angry mother to find berries. They get lost and spend the night in the dark, foreboding environment. The next morning they wake up to a beautiful sunrise, recounting a mutual dream they have had which concerned being protected by fourteen guardian angels. Suddenly, a vast house appears made entirely of gingerbread in Engelbert Humperdinck’s fantasy opera, Hansel and Gretel.
3: CAROUSEL
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel is considered a classic and a scandal for its subject matter. Based on Ferenc Molnar’s play Liliom, it concerns Billy Bigelow, a street educated carousel barker and professional gigolo, who falls in love with a strong and honest if somewhat naive young woman, Julie Jordan, who works in a New England, coastal town fabric mill. In true R&H fashion, the piece develops into Billy hitting Julie in anger and in frustration with himself; he later commits suicide during a botched robbery attempt. Before that though, Julie and Billy (who has just been fired from his carousel job) meet in a park with trees covered in cherry blossoms and get to know each other.
4: LUCIA
We travel now to the highlands of Scotland and Gaetano Donizetti’s gothic opera-thriller Lucia di Lammermoor. The story centers around Lucia Ashton, a not-too-stable young woman from a wealthy family who has fallen in love with the bad boy from a rival family, Edgardo Ravenswood. The first time we see Lucia, she has arrived at a desolate spot marked by a broken-down well where she and Edgardo normally meet. Lucia confesses to her cousin and companion, Alice, that she has seen the ghost of a woman who was killed by a jealous Ravenswood who then threw her body into the well. Alice perceives this as an evil portent for Lucia and Edgardo. Lucia fiercely defends her love for Edgardo who is the only ray of light in her bleak life.
5: KISMET
Robert Wright and Chet Forrest made a career out of adapting the music of classical composers into Broadway musicals. One of their most popular shows was Kismet. Based on the music of Alexander Borodin, the show is set in the ancient middle-east. A starving beggar-poet accidentally comes into a fortune and promises his daughter, Marsinah, that they will buy a house with a garden. Marsinah has been spied by the Caliph, the ruler of the country, who is disguised as a gardener in order to mingle among his people. (MUSIC) The Caliph follows Marsinah into a beautiful garden where, through the magic of musical theatre, they fall in love.
The two lovers are separated and lose track of each other. Marsinah turns to her father, the poet and begs him to find the the mysterious gardener. The Caliph turns to his evil chief-of-police, the Wazir, for help finding the beautiful young woman he met earlier.
6: HAMLET
Now to Denmark and the tragic story of the Danish prince, Hamlet. Shakespeare’s tragedy was set to music by 19th century composer, Ambroise Thomas. Ophelia’s mad scene was perfect opera fodder. Having been rejected by Hamlet to whom she had been engaged, Ophelia is seen wandering, claiming to be married to him. She shares her bridal bouquet of rosemary, symbolic of remembrance and periwinkle, representative of everlasting love and immortality. She then recounts the tale of the Willi, a malevolent being who lives under the water. The Willi avenges spurned lovers by forcing their heartless partners to dance and dance until they die of exhaustion. Finally, Ophelia immerses herself in a river and drowns.
7: GLORIANA
On to England during a period which many people feel was the peak of Great Britain’s power, both domestically and internationally. During his illustrious lifetime, Benjamin Britten’s most magnificent failure was his opera commissioned for the coronation of QE II, GLORIANA. The story centers on the relationship of QE I and Robert, the Earl of Essex. Part of the failure of the original production was that QE II notoriously disliked opera and was not pleased that the opera set the first Elizabeth in an a very human light. The greater part of the failure was that all of the women and a large portion of the men in the audience were wearing formal evening gloves which meant that most of the applause for scenes was literally inaudible. I had the great good fortune to direct the first American opera house production of GLORIANA and found it to be a masterpiece on every level.
In this scene, Lord Mountjoy, a courtier, is meeting his mistress Penelope, Lady Rich, the sister of the ambitious Earl of Essex who is the queen’s fsavorite. They are interrupted by Robert of Essex who is furious that the Elizabeth won’t allow him to take her army and attack James Tyrone, the leader of a band of rebels fighting for Irish independence. Essex’s ever patient wife, Elizabeth, is wisely trying to calm him down. Unfortunately, Penelope and Mountjoy become involved and urge Essex to wait for the right moment to strike against the aging queen.
8: L’AMICO FRITZ
Placed in the Alsace region of France, L’Amico Fritz is a truly touching opera by Pietro Mascagni, better known for the verismo Cavalleria Rusticana. In LF, Mascagni sets the story on the vast estate of the titular character, a wealthy, young landowner and confirmed bachelor who falls in love with Suzel, the daughter of a tenant farmer on Fritz’s estate. The stumbling block is that Suzel is already engaged to a man with whom she is not in love. She is actually in love with Fritz. In the middle of the opera,through observing the beauty of nature around them, Suzel and Fritz discover their love for each other in the beautiful Cherry duet.
9: BRIGADOON
Prologue
We now return to the Scottish Highlands and Lerner and Lowe’s magical musical, Brigadoon.
Three hundred years ago, the Highlands were plagued with witches. Here in Brigadoon lived an old minister named Mr. Forsythe and he loved his parish like no other. It grieved him that one day soon he would leave his parish. But most of all he feared the witches. He began to wonder if there was something he could do to protect his people from the outside world. One night, he decided to ask God for a miracle. He asked God to make Brigadoon and all the people in it vanish into the highland mist. Vanish—but not forever. It would all return just as it was for one day every hundred years. The people would go on leading their customary lives but each day when they awakened, it would be a hundred years later.