The IU Opera and Ballet Theater will be presenting a dual performance of Giacomo Puccini’s “Suor Angelica” and Leonard Bernstein’s “Trouble in Tahiti” at 7:30 p.m., September 27-28, inside the Musical Arts Center.
“Suor Angelica” is a one-act opera that premiered in 1918. The work tells the story of a woman in a 17th-century convent who was estranged from her family for seven years, unraveling the socially complex tragedies of her life as she meets new sorrows. A double-cast production at IU, “Suor Angelica” will feature students Seonyoung Park and Ashley Ruckman, respectively, in the role of Angelica.
Like “Suor Angelica,” “Trouble in Tahiti” explores the dissatisfaction and inner conflicts individuals face while struggling to conform to social expectations. “Trouble in Tahiti” focuses on the fraught marriage of Sam and Dinah, a young couple struggling to access the fabled idyll of 1950s suburbia. Students David Drettwan and Ethan Upchurch, respectively, will portray the role of Sam, while students Katie Nam and Lauren Nicholls will portray the role of Dinah.
This pairing of operas is an uncommon one. “Trouble in Tahiti,” composed in between Bernstein’s best-known works “On the Town” (1944), and “Candide” and “West Side Story” (1956 and 1957, respectively), is a lesser-performed opera. The brief work is particularly rarely seen in conjunction with “Suor Angelica,” which is one in a series of three thematically, if not substantively, related operas composed by Puccini. Even seasoned operagoers can expect a novel experience this weekend at the Musical Arts Center.
Tickets to “Suor Angelica”/“Trouble in Tahiti” are available through the IU Opera and Ballet Theater website.
