Opera had only been around for 10 years when Claudio Monteverdi debuted “L’Orfeo” to an Italian audience in 1607. As one of the earliest opera’s still performed today, Ithaca College’s goal was to make this centuries old classic appeal to a modern audience. With the combined talents of theater and music students, the college gave this opera a fresh new spin.
From uplifting beginning to powerful end, a nonstop wave of vibratos tunefully tells of an unusual love triangle in a contemporary fashion. Sung in its entirety, the 85-minute operatic performance of “Bed & Sofa” brings to stage a story once considered socially ahead of its time but is now brewing laughter and compassion for its timeless premise.
With lights descending upon the doo-wopping trio whose harmonic tones resound, and an electric ray of pinks and greens that beams around center stage alluring viewers, the mesmerizing opening scene of “How I Learned to Drive” braces the audience before the heavy performance unfolds.
For almost 14 years the Broadway revival of “Chicago” — the jazzy musical by Fred Ebb, John Kander and Bob Fosse — has invited audiences to a world where scintillating sinners wear their buckle shoes and get away with naughty things. The revival, which was darker than the original “Chicago,” set an unshakable image of what a production of the show looks like: lots of black, lots of sexy and very little set.
Before the lights go up on Ithaca College’s production of “Electra” by Euripides, the faint echo of a rock scratching against a dull blade reverberates through the theater. It sounds eerie, almost barbaric.
There are only a handful of plays that stay viable throughout generations. After a few decades, even the most venerable classics wear out their welcome or lack the timeliness that made them great in a bygone era. But Noel Coward’s 1930s romantic comedy “Private Lives,” which opened Saturday at the Kitchen Theatre, still packs a heavy comedic punch even to the most modern of audiences.
To end the Ithaca College theater season with a show about nothing may seem like a random choice. But Shakespeare’s comedy “Much Ado About Nothing” is a fitting note to end the year on after the department’s array of edgy, contemporary pieces.
