Image from Unsplash
Last night Pesel & Carr, sponsors of the Lyric Opera of Melbourne, attended the opening night preview of their new April season – a double bill of quirky, rarely performed operas.
The two operas performed back to back, The Red Apple (Pomme d’Api) and Trouble in Tahiti both take a look at desire and love in a modern metropolis.
The Red Apple was a funny and light-hearted opera, showing the struggle between the ageing bachelor Gravenstein and his newphew Jonathan to win the affections of their dream woman, a blonde-haired beauty named Catherine. The set is bright and retro, adorned with pink flamingos and bachelor pad furniture, including a zebra-print couch, and the story is set to charming and exquisitely crafted music.
In the second half of the show, Trouble in Tahiti brings us to a typical morning with Dinah and Sam and is a touching look at the post war suburban dream. Both feel trapped in their marriage, with the characters typically thought to be a reflection of composer Leonard Bernstein’s own parents. The score is a 45 minute therapy session set to jazz infused music, with both fraught meetings between characters and solo scenes allowing the audience to see into their souls.
This excellent production is showing at Chapel off Chapel until next Sunday 29th April. Please visit www.chapeloffchapel.com.au or phone (03) 8290 7000 to book your tickets.
