Whether you like your love stories to end syrupy sweet or with a tragic murder-suicide twist, you’ll have an opportunity to pick from two rarely seen operas this weekend at Historic Everett Theatre.
Puget Sound Opera presents a traveling summer opera festival that features Bellini’s “La Sonnambula” and Verdi’s “Luisa Miller.”
Neither one of these works has been seen locally in nearly 20 years and both are fantastic operas, said James Walker, Puget Sound Opera’s artistic director.
Walker also said young directors were involved in both these productions, helping to modernize the pieces to make them more accessible to audiences while also pushing the singers to be actors.
English translations will be projected above the stage so audiences can follow along with the story plot.
Among the many gifted actors and singers performing is Jennifer Bromagen, who is from Marysville and who has sung with Seattle and Tacoma operas.
“La Sonnambula,” or “The Sleepwalker,” has the much more lighthearted ending. The story revolves around Amina, who, no one realizes, walks in her sleep. This affliction leads to her being wrongly accused of infidelity to her beloved Elvino on the morning of their wedding, according to press information about the opera.
The story in “Luisa Miller” is one based on the tragic relationship between a father and a daughter, made quite palpable by Verdi, who lost his wife and two children all within a year, Walker said.
In the opera, Luisa has fallen in love with the new boy in town, Carlo. But she doesn’t realize that Carlo is actually Rodolfo, the son of the new count. The count learns of his son’s affair and devises a plan to split the couple up, according to press material.
The plan does not end well for Luisa or her lover.
Walker called the opera’s ending duet “insanely gorgeous and heart wrenching.”
Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424; goffredo@heraldnet.com.
Puget Sound Opera
“Luisa Miller” will be presented at 7:30 tonight and Saturday and “La Sonnambula” will be presented at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Historic Everett Theatre, 2911 Colby Ave., Everett.
Tickets are $28. Call 425-258-6766 or go to www.etix.com. For tickets, audio clips, synopsis and composer and artist biographies go to www.pugetsoundopera.org.
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