The DePauw School of Music presents "A Gilbert and Sullivan Extravaganza!"
With fifteen musical numbers from seven G & S shows, the one-hour DePauw Opera production happily breezes through some of the best of the dynamic British duo, whose Victorian-era English-culture musings set the stage for 20th Century music theater. "The students and faculty are excited to present these tuneful and whimsically themed numbers to our audiences," says Orcenith Smith, conductor of the production. "Our guest stage director, Cara Consilvio, has created a mystery story connecting all these memorable moments and the technical director, Jaye Beetem, has illuminated that story filling the stage with fun set objects!"
A group of college friends rent an old English country estate for Spring Break for an authentic Downton Abbey type of experience. As they all try to get some sleep on their first night, they are awakened by some singing ghosts. It turns out this house is haunted by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan and all the actors who starred in their shows.
What will they do? Will they perform an exorcism? Demand a refund? Or, will they be seduced into joining this merry band of ghosts by the infectiousness of these Gilbert and Sullivan tunes?
Conductor Orcenith Smith writes: "DePauw Opera Guest stage director, Cara Consilvio, has created this unique and fun story that winds its way through 18 musical numbers from 8 different G&S masterpieces, all filled with that tunefulness and whimsy that is the hallmark of this English humorous style, which we are blending with our own!"
Cara Consilvio is a director and producer of opera, theater, and film with extensive
experience in dance and choreography whose inventive, kinetic, and evocative productions are in great demand. In 2022, Cara directed the world premiere of I Give You my Home for Guerilla Opera, Glory Denied for Opera Naples and The Sound of Music for Charlottesville Opera. Other recent directing credits include Il Trovatore for Opera in the Heights, Scalia/Ginsburg for Chautauqua Opera and the world premiere of Our Trudy for the Ad Astra Music Festival.
In the Spring of 2021, she directed the chamber opera season at Grand Rapids Opera, which included Penny, an opera film, and Second Nature. In January of 2021, Cara directed and edited Bernadette’s Cozy Book Nook; a world premiere opera film for Fort Worth Opera. Other stage directing highlights include productions of Philip Glass' Hydrogen Jukebox at Chautauqua
Opera, An American Dream at Anchorage Opera, The Threepenny Opera for Syracuse Opera and The Elixir of Love for Piedmont Opera. Other credits include engagements with Houston Grand Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Portland Opera, Tulsa Opera, American Opera Projects, and Opera Carolina, Tri-Cities Opera and Opera Saratoga.
As a teacher and guest director, Cara has taught at The Boston University Opera Institute and directed productions for Loyola University
at New Orleans, UC San Diego, and The Hartt School of Music. Cara is a co-founder of Hup! Productions, her film production company. Her feature film directing debut, a documentary called For the Love of Friends, is currently enjoying a successful film festival run.
The DePauw Opera production features twenty-two student singers and a full orchestra in Moore Theater, Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 9, 10, 11 at 7:30pm and Sunday, Feb. 12 at 2pm.
Tickets are $10 general admission and students are free. Tickets available at DePauw.edu/greencenter
