The University of Rhode Island’s opera workshop has been hard at work, bringing Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s “Szenen aus Faust” to the stage on April 26.
This will be the department’s first opera completely in a foreign language and the first time a United States stage has put on the piece, according to director Devon Russo.
While there are many different plays and versions of the story, this is the only opera that uses Goethe’s original German text, according to Russo.
“[That] is what makes it so valuable that the story itself is told, like the language itself is so rich,” Russo said.
This production was selected because the workshop has a really strong cast for it this year since many of them have prior opera experience, according to Russo. This will be the first opera the department will put on with the symphony orchestra playing, so everyone in the cast needed to be able to sing over it unamplified.
Last year, the workshop performed “Threepenny,” which is partly in German, according to Russo.
“We sort of built up our German chops so that when we do a full show this year in ‘Szenen aus Faust,’ it was ready and everyone had the skills and felt comfortable,” Russo said.
This production will be the department’s first production that also features the concert choir, symphony orchestra and singers from Bryant University’s choir, according to Russo.
Due to the number of people and groups involved in the production, it will be hard to tell how the production will turn out until technical week, according to Russo. Having so many people involved has also been a learning experience.
“I mean, as far as our first time collaborating on such a large-scale project, you couldn’t ask for better people to work with, and the students are really stepping up,” Russo said.
While some students were involved in last year’s opera, others are not as well versed, according to Russo.
Rehearsing an opera is different from musical theater because learning is done mostly outside of rehearsals, according to fourth-year student and classical voice performance major Louise Joyce. This will be Joyce’s fourth opera.
“Since we’re in undergrad, we do [the] learning in rehearsal as well, but there’s a lot of waiting and a lot of high expectations that people struggle with when they’ve come just from musical theater rehearsals,” Joyce said.
Due to her experience, Joyce knows what to expect from the genre and how to work with it.
“Musicality-wise, [opera’s] similar to if the music department put on a musical, because the technique is slightly different vocally,” Joyce said. “But [with] the music department’s personal level of musical abilities, it does set us up for success in these scenarios.”
Overall, rehearsals have been going well, considering this is the biggest project anyone in the department has done in a while, according to fourth-year Louis Shriber.
“People are really rising to the challenge in the last couple of weeks,” Shriber said. “We’ve been rehearsing everything the past few months, but now we’re starting to run scenes altogether; we’re able to run acts as full acts, like one right after the next.”
As the show date gets closer, costumes are coming in and individuals are gathering set pieces, according to Russo.
“It’s really starting to come together,” Russo said. “It’s a big process, so we’re probably not going to know precisely what it is until our dress rehearsal a couple of days before we open, but I’m starting to get really excited to get this off the ground.”
Members of the cast are beginning to feel more prepared in their roles and feeling confident in their solos, according to fourth-year Sean Connaughton.
“When the lights are on and the costumes are there and the orchestra is going to be there, the students always get a boost in energy and skill,” Russo said. “I’m really excited to see what we can build all together when it actually comes together in a couple of weeks.”
Students interested in attending the show on April 26 can buy tickets through URI’s events page or directly through Eventbrite.
