Opera debuts at UL
By: Erin Stickney
On May 3, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette College of Arts and the Acadiana Symphony will debut their collaboration of “The Barber of Seville,” an opera in two acts. The show will run through Sunday at Angelle Hall Auditorium.
“The Barber of Seville” is a comic opera by Gioacchino Rossini based on Pierre Beaumarchai’s 1773 comedy, “Le Barbier de Seville.” It takes place in Seville, Spain, during the 17th century and focuses on a love triangle of two men competing for the same woman.
“It is the universal story of love between two young people who want to be together, with an obstacle of an older man who also wants the young girl,” said Shawn Roy, director of the show. “With the help of the barber, they succeed in their plot to fool the old man and everything ends happily.”
Roy, who is ending his ninth year at UL Lafayette, has been working with the cast of “The Barber of Seville” since January. The show features six dancers from the performing arts department, 35 musicians from the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra and a professional cast of singers from as far as New York, California and Minnesota. Figaro will be played by Nathan Abbott; Rosina will be played by Stacy Broussard; Dr. Bartolo will be played by Nicholas Manzo; Berta will be played by Sasha Massey and Fiorello will be played by Lenix Donnell.
One of the actors of the professional cast, Paul Sahuc, is a graduate of UL Lafayette and the University of Cincinnati. Sahuc, who will be playing Figaro, attended UL Lafayette in the 1970s and is now a voice teacher at the University of Redlands in Redlands, Calif. He has performed nationwide with the Michigan Opera Theatre, the New Orleans Philharmonic and the Minnesota Opera. Some shows this baritone has appeared in include “Madama Butterfly,” “La Boheme” and “Tosca.”
Mezzo-soprano Gulnara Mitzanova, who hails from Russia, is a member of the professional cast as well. Mitzanova, playing Rosina, has studied at the Moscow Conservatory, in addition to the Juilliard School and the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. She has performed with an extensive list of companies, including the Brandenburg Opera, the Genesis Opera, the Opera in the Heights, the Liederkranz Opera Theater and the Bel Canto Lyric Opera. Mitzanova has been cast in numerous shows such as “Carmen,” “Prince Igor,” “The Scarlett Letter,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Hansel and Gretel” and “Tsar’s Bride.”
Irwin Densen, a bass-baritone, is another one of the show’s professional performers. Densen, from New York, has performed at theaters across the United States and in other areas of the world, as a soloist with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Isreal Philharmonic, the Connecticut Opera, the Syracuse Opera and the New Orleans Opera, along with many others. He will play Don Basilio.
According to Roy, the new performing arts referendum, which will go into effect with the fall 2007 semester, will help the department tremendously in producing future performances, especially those bringing in professional actors, dancers and musicians, like “The Barber of Seville.”
“I think the referendum is an amazing achievement and will impact the department beyond our wildest imagination,” said Roy.
Student tickets are available for the 7:30 p.m. performance on Thursday for $5, and general admission tickets are $25. General admissions tickets will be sold for $25, $35 and $45 for Friday and Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. The show lasts approximately two hours and 45 minutes, and tickets can be purchased through http://www.acadianasymphony.org or by calling (337) 232-4277.
Last update: 2007-05-09