Show Boat Comes to Town by Kathryn Bumpass

Opera San Luis Obispo will present Jerome Kern's and Oscar Hammerstein's classic musical Show Boat, Mother's Day weekend, May 10 and 11, 2014, at the Performing Arts Center on the Cal Poly campus. Tickets are now on sale.

According to a recent press release, OperaSLO will lead Show Boat, in collaboration with Kelrik Productions, the Civic Ballet of San Luis Obispo, and the choirs of Morro Bay High School and Los Osos Middle School. Guest artists will perform the major roles. Brian Asher Alhadeff, Artistic and General Director of OperaSLO, will conduct. Erik Austin of Kelrik Productions will direct the production, and Drew Silvaggio of the Civic Ballet will be the choreographer.

Based on Edna Ferber's bestselling novel of the same title, the musical follows the lives of a theatrical family on the "Cotton Blossom," a Mississippi River show boat, and their struggles with gambling, racial tensions, infidelity and poverty. Show Boat contributed songs such as "Ol' Man River," "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man of Mine," and "Only Make Believe" to the canon of American popular song.

Ticket prices range from $10 - $75 and may be purchased online at PacSlo or by calling 805-756-4849. Performances will be Saturday, May 10, at 7pm, and Sunday May 11, at 3pm.

The MET Live in HD

One of the most popular of all operas, Puccini's La Boheme, will be broadcast live in high definition by the Metropolitan Opera Saturday, April 5, at 9:55am, in the Performing Arts Center on the Cal Poly campus.

Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo stars as the passionate writer Rodolfo, and Romanian soprano Anita Hartig makes her Met debut as his frail lover, Mimi. Susanna Phillips sings the flirtatious Musetta, and Massimo Cavalletti is the painter Marcello. The performance is conducted by maestro Stefano Ranzani.

Puccini was part of a musical family, a dynasty of 5 generations of musicians. His operas span the years 1884 – 1926. His last, Turandot, was left unfinished at the time of his death in 1924 and was finished by others.

The libretto for La Boheme was written by Giuseppe Giacoso and Luigi Illica, who based their story on the novel Scenes de la vie boheme, by Henry Murger. Murger's four principal characters were based on people he actually knew. They came from middle class backgrounds and adopted the Bohemian life style by choice. Like many young people of their time they were seeking freedom from social conventions and strictures.

As Giacoso and Illica were fashioning the libretto, Puccini kept changing his mind about characters and scenes. This was his habit, and he drove librettists crazy.

The story as it finally emerged follows the escapades and romances of four young men, three artists and a philosopher, Rodolfo the writer, Marcello the painter, Schaunard the musician, and Colline the philosopher.

Rodolfo is in love with Mimi, a passionate but consumptive young woman who becomes increasingly ill over the course of the opera. From very early in the plot we sense that she will die. Indeed, tensions arise between the couple because Rodolfo believes the poverty in which they live is making Mimi sicker; he blames himself and wants to leave her because he cannot stand to watch her growing ever weaker.

Marcello loves Musetta, but she is a flirt who will toy with any rich man she can take advantage of. This makes Marcello insanely jealous, yet he and Musetta really love each other.

Puccini's name is often associated with a movement called verismo; the word means "realism" or "truth" in Italian. Verismo typically involved stories about the grittier realities of life among the lower classes. In this sense La Boheme is a good example.

The musical style of verismo is generally heavy, brash, marked by extremes in expression; Tosca is a good example. By contrast, La Boheme, though using a large orchestra, achieves expression more by the use of colorful sonorities and evocative harmonies. The melodies are speech-inspired and ornamented very little. All that said, Puccini's mature style requires big voices and passionate singing.

We can expect to hear just that in the Met's simulcast on Saturday, April 5. Tickets for La Boheme are available online at All content copyright Slo Coast Journal and Kathryn Bumpass. Do not use without express written permission.