Three faces of one love

A story of love and despair entangled with comedy will take the stage at 8 p.m. this Friday and Saturday and April 11 and 12 at the Musical Arts Center. The center will be home to the famous “Les Contes D’Hoffmann” opera composed by the late Jacques Offenbach. The opera, which will complete the 2007-08 opera and ballet season, will honor 60 years of the IU Opera Theater, which featured “Hoffmann” in its opening season. \n“The music is so great, and the singing is fantastic,” said Josh Lindsay, who plays Hoffmann.\nLindsay added that this particular opera is one of Offenbach’s best, as well as one of his most mature. The viewers always seem to enjoy the opera, and they keep coming back each time it is performed, Lindsay said. \nThe story is three acts. In each, Hoffmann recounts a lost lover, and in each act his love is taken away by an antagonist. In the first, he recalls the story of Olympia, a lifeless doll and his first love. In the second, Hoffmann falls in love with Antonia, who is suffers from a mysterious illness which eventually kills her. \nIn the third act, Hoffmann falls in love with Giulietta, a courtesan who ends up stealing his shadow in exchange for some diamonds. In the epilogue, Hoffmann reveals that these three women are in fact various aspects of Stella, his one true love. \n“Basically, Hoffmann is telling the story of one woman he loved. He is telling it in three different perspectives, and in each act, he refers to a different (woman),” said Sarah Fox, who plays the role of Olympia. “He uses a different character each time to portray his stories – the three aspects to Stella’s personality.” \n“(The opera) is very hilarious and very detailed,” said Yungee Rhie, who also plays the role of Olympia. “The story is tragic but it has a lot of comic element in it.” \nThere are a variety of characters in the show, giving the students at the IU Jacobs School of Music the chance to be on stage and showcase their talent, Lindsay said. The cast started preparing for the opera at the beginning of the semester. \n“We first start the coaching of the music itself, after we have lessons in French diction, and then eventually we transition to musical rehearsal and then to acting rehearsals,” Fox said.\nThe entire process of preparing for the show spans a few months, but it all depends on the opera itself and the scheduling, Fox said\nTickets are on sale now at the Musical Arts Center Box Office, open from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; at all Ticketmaster outlets; by phone through Ticketmaster at 333-9955; and online at www.music.indiana.edu/opera.\n“I think people will enjoy the opera a lot,” Rhie said.