YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Opera Western Reserve is trying something new with its dinner-show production of “Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night.”
It aims to “bring back the energy of the elegant evenings at Stambaugh Auditorium” that was a big part of OWR’s past spring gala events, said Scott Skiba, OWR artistic director.
The event will take place May 29 in Christman Hall, on the second floor of Stambaugh Auditorium.
The one-act opera, which is being helmed by Skiba, expands upon the character Aurelia Havisham from Charles Dickens’ novel “Great Expectations.”
It will showcase Kate Tiemens, an OWR emerging artist and a senior at Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory.
The evening will begin with a cocktail hour (cash bar) at 5:30 p.m., followed by a buffet dinner at 6:15 p.m. and the performance at 7:15 p.m.
Tickets are $100 and available by phone at 330 259 9651; in person at the DeYor Performing Arts Centre box office, downtown; and online HERE.
Denise Glinatsis Bayer, president of the opera company’s board of directors, said “Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night” will check two bucket-list boxes.
“We have long wanted to produce an additional show outside of our traditional fall production and outside of the children’s operas we have produced in the past,” she said. “We also wanted to provide an event that would serve as an introduction to opera to those who may be intimidated by the art form.”
Glinatsis Bayer described “Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night” as “a captivating and accessible performance perfect for both opera aficionados and ingenues.” It does not require supratitles projected over the stage, she noted.
In “Great Expectations,” Miss Havisham is a wealthy spinster who was jilted at the altar on her wedding day and continues to wear her wedding dress every day for the rest of her life.
“Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night” looks in on the character on the eve of her wedding day, and shows what happened in its immediate aftermath. It reveals how she became the tragic and lonely character in “Great Expectations” who cannot let go of the betrayal she experienced.
Skiba said the show is immersive, powerful and unique, and the small venue will enhance those attributes for the audience.
“There’s nothing quite as exciting as being up close to live opera, and the beauty of Christman Hall will make a stunning environment for this performance,” he said.
The opera originally premiered as “Miss Havisham’s Fire” in 1979 at the Lincoln Center in New York, garnering weak reviews. It was created by composer Dominick Argento with a libretto by John Olon-Scrymgeour.
Argento later shortened it to a one-act monodrama, which the Minnesota Opera premiered in 1981.
It was revived in 2001 by Opera Theatre of St. Louis, which used a second revision by Argento that was even shorter in running time. This is the version that OWR will present.
Pictured at top: Kate Tiemens will star in Opera Western Reserve’s production of “Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night.”