Opera Scenes bring comedic relief

The Oklahoma Christian University Music Department explored the comedic side of opera through segments of the Figaro Trilogy during this year’s Opera Scenes.

On April 3-4 in the Adams Recital Hall, students performed scenes from French Pierre Beaumarchais’s Figaro Trilogy, including “The Ghost of Versailles,” “The Barber of Seville” and “The Marriage of Figaro.”

Each scene, although not composed by the same composer, were all written by Beaumarchais.

Chair of the Music Department Kathy Thompson said she was excited to see the comedic performance and to see her students progress.

“The composers that we are listening to are three different ones,” Thompson said. “The first one is a more contemporary one named Gioachino, a 20th century composer [and then there is] Mozart and Rossini back in the 18th century. But all of them are comedic and the scenes that are chosen are humorous and fun to listen to.”

Laura Cole, the show’s director of the production, narrated the performance to help with audience understanding.

Thompson said this production differs from a typical, formal opera performance.

“An Opera scenes production is different than the regular opera production in that the format is more concert style, the girls are wearing just black dresses and the guys are wearing tuxes, so it is more costume attire instead of being in costume which you would expect from going into a regular staged opera,” Thompson said.

Thompson said a typical opera would be held larger venue, but because of the age of the students, they can project into an entire area, making the recital hall the optimal choice.

“That is why we do that kind of production here — to give them experience in that kind of music,” Thompson said. “The singers auditioned last fall for it and then, Mrs. Cole, our adjunct teacher in voice…has taken note of what the students are ready to do and she picked scenes that fit their voices well.”

Senior Jolie Gasper plays Cherubino in “The Marriage of Figaro” and is also a dancer and choreographer in “The Ghost of Versailles.” This is Gasper’s last performance as a student.

Gasper said since she has attended school, they have never really done an opera that they believe the students would really enjoy until now.

“I think that students are actually going to enjoy this because there is a lot of story line that they can follow along with,” Gasper said. “Even with foreign language pieces there is so much action going on in them that they will understand and be able to follow the parts.”

Gasper said there were some struggles with rehearsal scheduling throughout the process of making the opera.

“It was difficult because we had snow days in the middle of all of it and Spring Sing and spring break in the middle of our rehearsal schedule, so our rehearsal time was very limited,” Gasper said.  “Then, last week we got a little bit freaked out because we were wondering if it was going to come together.”

Gasper plays the part of a male and said she was excited to show her more comical side.

“This is my last production at OC ever,” Gasper said. “So I am excited to play my part which I am playing the part of a boy, so it is very comedic and so I am excited to show a little piece of myself and me performing this role…and it is fun to have a big song for my last production ever.”

Sophomore Jaden Peckham attended the Friday night performance.

“[I] ended up going to the opera because my roommate was in it and I wanted to support my Theta sisters,” Peckham said. “I think they did awesome, they were funny and pretty entertaining, and I thought they were very talented.”

Peckham said she had never been to an opera before and so this was a new experience for her.

“It was a really well done production, and I thought the music department did a really good job,” Peckham said. “All their hard work definitely had paid off. I am really proud of them it was cool to be able to see some of my fellow students doing what they love on stage.”