Tyler Horning/Collegian
Figaro (Elliot Wild, R) attends to a wealthy widow (Margee Meckstroth) who wants to marry him. In a Freudian twist she turns out to be his mother, saving him for his true love Suzy.
From Thursday to Sunday of last week, an assorted cast of characters, including a waitress, car mechanic, gourmet cook, restaurant owner and even a few college students took up residence in the Howard Music building.
Before sold out audiences, they plotted against each other, laughed, cried, and sang their hearts out as they acted out the new opera Le Nozze Di Tutte , crafted by Hillsdale College vocal coach Eden Simmons particularly for the annual Hillsdale College Opera Workshop.
The idea for an original libretto sprung from a conversation between Simmons and her fellow Hillsdale vocal coach, Melissa Osmond, after the successful run of the opera workshop's performance of Die Fledermaus the previous spring semester. The two were discussing the workshop project for the current academic year.
“[I thought] it would be fun to do the best of Cosi fan Tutte and Le Nozze di Figaro and set it in a soda shop,” Osmond told the audience at the beginning of Thursday night's performance.
About two weeks after their conversation, Osmond said, Simmons came to her with a new libretto which wove together the storylines of both operas and the famous operatic numbers from each. In response to Osmond's request, Le Nozzi di Tutte featured characters from both operas interacting together on stage.
“You're going to get the price of two operas in one,” Osmond, who also directed the show, said to the audience.
The audience was indeed well awarded for their attention.
The story begins with a duettino between the waitress Suzy, played by junior D. Giles Jago, and her fiancée Figaro, played by senior Elliot Wild, in which the two share their excitement and anticipation for their wedding ceremony scheduled for that evening.
Suzy and Figaro are soon joined onstage by Figaro's carefree nephew, played expertly by sophomore Matt Macaulay, and the restaurant owner's neglected wife, Tess Almaviva, sung beautifully by sophomore Julia Burgess. The restaurant owner Tony Almaviva also makes an appearance as his desire for Suzy leads him into a series of fruitless attempts to foil her wedding plans. The plot is lightened, however, by several comic twists, including the antics of the restaurant cook Despina. The role is played delightfully by senior Hannah Dixon, who displays a mastery of comedic acting and singing.
Dixon's character is also involved in the other storyline that developes among the restaurant's collegiate patrons Fred and Will, who make a bet with Coach Alfonso that their girlfriends will always remain loyal to them.
Despina aids the Coach in getting the girls to fall in love unknowingly with each other's sweethearts.
The songs performed by this group characters are both enjoyable and expertly sung, particularly the role of Will's girlfriend, Gigi, to which Christie Aldrich lends her lovely soprano voice. Simmons herself also makes a cameo appearance as the Coach's disturbed wife, who flies into a frenzy after she burns her tongue on coffee and launches into a famous aria from Mozart's The Magic Flute .
Le Nozzi di Tutte was also unique in that Simmons and Osmond chose to set it in Hillsdale and incorporate several Hillsdale jokes.
Among these were included references to various faculty members and an array of Hillsdale catchphrases with a new twist, such “dating for liberty.”
The opera also closed with Figaro announcing his intent to establish a college which would accept no federal funding, causing another character to direly predict that “it will never work.”
Both audience and cast members enjoyed the Hillsdale references.
“I loved the approach of putting the opera in a modern setting and applying it to Hillsdale,” said sophomore Natalie Mock, who attended the Thursday evening performance.
“I think that this type of performance is a great one for those who are opposed to opera.”
Cast member Hannah Dixon agrees.
“I love making the show local,” said Dixon. “It makes for humor that everyone gets and appreciates, and, for me, it really makes the opera relevant to the here and now. It's just plain fun to see your friends up on stage, performing from the bottom of their hearts and doing silly things they'd never do in real life!”
As the writer, Simmons was relieved to find the jokes so well received.
When she was not on stage during the performances, she was backstage marking the lines where the audience laughed or unexpectedly remained silent.
“I was relieved to hear lots of laughing — since the cast knew all the jokes, they had stopped laughing weeks ago, and I was worried that the libretto wasn't actually funny,” she said.
“In performance, students laughed more at certain lines, older audience members laughed at other jokes. I tried to write something for everyone, and am glad it was so well received.
As for Suzy, Figaro, and rest of the characters from Le Nozze Di Tutte who for a year now have called Hillsdale College their home, their future looks promising.
Simmons is planning to make the libretto available to other schools.
“I hope other small liberal arts schools will find the libretto attractive because it uses well-known Mozart arias, the lyrics and story are funny and accessible, and the set is easy to build,” Simmons said.
“Melissa Osmond has already sent the libretto to some of her friends in the opera world, and I will be doing the same, after I remove a few of the specific Hillsdale jokes. I will be pursuing a copyright later this month. First I want a couple of nights off to eat dinner with my family!