Independence Eve is a new one-act chamber opera by composer Sidney Marquez Boquiren and librettist Daniel Neer exploring the troubled journey of race relations in America. Comprised of three independent scenes, each taking place on July 3 of different decades in unspecified American cities, Independence Eve focuses on the stories of three character pairings struggling with identity and acceptance amidst issues that span one hundred years of the American experience.

Taking place on the benign location of a single park bench in three different urban locations, Independence Eve is a study of black and white America, offering commentary on the intricacies of race relations and the insidious and persistent stain of racism that has remains consistent throughout American history. The characters in each scene are products of their upbringing, and constrained, to varying degrees, by outside influences and ideals that shape their attitudes regarding race, masculinity, education, and socioeconomic status in their respective generations.

World Premiere Performance present by UrbanArias at the Signature Theatre in Washington DC. Tickets and more information at UrbanArias

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Anything Goes
(1934)
Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Original Book by P. G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton
Revision: Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse

Cole Porter’s 1934 masterpiece not only secured his position as the period’s leading Broadway composer, but still stands today as a captivating testament to his incomparable fusion of words and music. And, in keeping with its mission, OLO presents the show in its original 1934 version, shorn of all the interpolations that have “plagued” more recent productions. Porter’s revelatory score includes “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Top,” “All Through the Night,” “Blow, Gabriel, Blow,” and the knee-slapping title tune.

HMS Pinafore or The Lass That Loved a Sailor
(1878)
Music by Arthur Sullivan
Libretto by William S. Gilbert

Gilbert and Sullivan’s rollicking romp through naval life, class distinctions, and melodramatic villainy has entertained millions since its London premiere. Where else can one find a First Lord of the Admiralty who had never seen a ship, or a seafaring captain who gets seasick, or a nursemaid who can’t tell one baby from another? It was the 1879 success of this show in New York – and during that year, there were said to be more than 150 productions playing across the United States – that inspired the American theater community to create its own musical theater tradition.

The Student Prince 
(1924)
Music by Sigmund Romberg
Book and Lyrics by Dorothy Donnelly
Based on the play Old Heidelberg by Wilhelm Meyer-Forster

The Student Prince, the longest-running Broadway musical of the 1920s, is for many theater-goers the quintessential romantic operetta. Hungarian-born composer Sigmund Romberg cashed in on his earlier musical training in Vienna and created a magical score of waltzes and marches, all set to Dorothy Donnelly’s adaptation of a 1901 German play titled Old Heidelberg. Romberg’s score brims over with tunes that you will be humming as you walk in and walk out of the theater: “Golden Days,” “Overhead the Moon Is Beaming,” “Just We Two,” “Deep in My Heart Dear,” and, of course, that most rousing of libation songs, “Drink, Drink, Drink.”

Countess Maritza 
(1924)
Music by Emmerich Kalman
Libretto by Julius Brammer and Alfred Grunwald
English Translation by Nigel Douglas

Among Ohio Light Opera’s many contributions to lyric theater, none has proved more fulfilling and rewarding than the successes it has achieved with the operettas of Hungarian-born Emmerich Kalman. OLO returns this season to what many believe is his supreme masterpiece, Countess Maritza. Song gems include Tassilo’s heartfelt tribute to his home town, “Vienna Mine,” the Maritza-Zsupan duet “Let’s Go to Varasdin,” and Tassilo’s lament “Play, Gypsy.”