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diversions:
Center stays alive
By Mike Haubrich
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
Although the 2000-2001
performance season at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center
is over, there will still be productions presented by two
of the theater's resident companies taking place this summer,
including one starting Sunday.
The Long Beach
Opera will conduct two performances of Richard Strauss's "Electra"
at the Carpenter Center Sunday, June 10 at 4 p.m. and Saturday,
June 16 at 8 p.m.
Director Roy Rallo
and conductor Andreas Mitisek bring a twenty-first century
adaptation of the text and score to the opera. "Electra,"
first performed in Dresden, Germany in 1909, is based on the
5th century B.C. Greek tragedy by Sophocles.
The story revolves
around Electra and her brother Oreste as the duo seek to avenge
the death of their father, Agememnon, a Greek general who
has returned from the capture of Troy. Agememnon had been
killed by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisth.
The result is psychological drama and classic Greek tragedy.
Among the performers
will be Susan Marie Pierson, who will sing Electra, and Kathryn
Day, who will sing Clytemnestra.
Musical Theatre
West will conduct performances of "Singing in the Rain,"
also at the Carpenter Center. The shows will take place July
13-22.
"Singing in
the Rain," arguably one of the greatest musicals ever,
will be brought to the Carpenter Center stage by Director/Choreographer
Jon Engstrom and Musical Director Todd Helm.
The production
tells the tale of 1920s Hollywood and the rise in popularity
of the talking picture. This romantic comedy features such
standards as "Good Morning" and "You Stepped
Out of A Dream," along with the title song, which will
be performed complete with rain.
For more information
or to order tickets for Electra, call the Long Beach Opera
at (562) 439-2580; for Singing in the Rain, call Musical Theatre
West at (562) 430-2324; or call the Richard & Karen Carpenter
Performing Arts Center at (562) 985-7000 for information or
tickets to either show.
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