The University of Alabama Opera Theatre’s fall scenes program, “Something Old, Something New: The New and Old of Opera,” creates a marriage between Baroque and contemporary opera to bring audiences one thrilling operatic experience.
The show is comprised of different scenes, arias and songs from Baroque and modern opera as well as musical theatre. Under the direction of Paul Houghtaling, student members of UAOT range from freshmen to doctoral students. Each is involved in multiple scenes. The graduate students and seniors are also given the additional responsibility of directing individual scenes.
One of these students is Alana Sealy, a first-year master’s student in vocal performance.
Sealy is one of two opera graduate teaching assistants. She directs the trio and chorus from Act II, Scene I of Henry Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas.” Directing has been a new challenge for Sealy, but she met it head on and is proud of how far her cast has come in the short amount of rehearsal time.
“They definitely have risen to the challenge,” Sealy said. “They have made it their own.”
Making it their own is a trait of which UAOT is especially proud. “Something Old, Something New” will feature three new compositions, two from the first Opera Composition Competition. Composers from the University were encouraged to write short one-act operas to be performed by the Opera Theatre last fall. The winner and runner-up of this competition will have their works performed Friday and Sunday.
The winning piece, Thomas Wilson’s “Onomast,” is a five-and-a-half minute long opera with libretto by creative writing student J.M. Gamble. Though a short piece, “Onomast” is a satire that raises questions of societal pressures like fitting in and the fear of not being heard.
Wilson is a junior majoring in music composition at the University. His goal is to write music for video games, so writing for an opera was a bit of a challenge at first. He said he had to watch and research operas to prepare for the task of writing one.
As opening night approaches, Wilson is excited to see his composition come to life.
“It’s opening up the second half of the show,” he said. “That’s a pretty big deal. [Houghtaling] went above and beyond in directing it. I only wrote in a few stage directions. I would like it to be open to interpretation.”
The decision to pair the incredibly modern with the incredibly old was a calculated decision on the part of Houghtaling.
“It’s very important to show where this art form that we love started, and it’s equally important to show where it’s going,” Houghtaling said. “We’re doing some very cool things, from staged sacred Bach to musical theatre. We actually have more musical theatre in this program than we’ve ever had before in the fall.”
Nicole Pietrangelo, a junior majoring in vocal performance, is in two of the musical theatre pieces.
“It’s definitely been fun,” Pietrangelo said. “I feel so comfortable doing it. People will be in for a surprise.”
“Something Old, Something New” will be performed Friday, Oct. 12 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 14 at 3 p.m. in Moody Music Building’s Choral/Opera Room. The space is transformed into an intimate theatre setting, but seating is limited so early arrival is recommended. Costumes are by Daniel Whitlow, a first-year MFA student in costume design. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for general admission. They can be purchased at uamusic.tix.com.
