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05/25/2017 12:01 AMMadison Lyric Stage will present Verdi’s grand opera Otello with orchestra for four performances Friday, June 16, Saturday, June 17, and Friday, June 23 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, June 25 at 5:30 p.m. at the North Madison Congregational Church, 1271 Durham Road in Madison.
Based on Shakespeare’s Othello, Verdi’s epic masterpiece tells the story of a powerful foreign general, Otello, whose life and marriage to the beautiful Desdemona are ruined by a conniving, deceitful, and envious soldier, Jago. Otello is a tale of “otherness,” about a man of honor and courage in a strange land, with few friends, who is ultimately destroyed by a trusted brother-in-arms.
Tenor Marc Deaton stars as Otello, with soprano Lara Ryan as Desdemona and baritone Mark Womack as Jago. The opera will be sung in Italian, with English surtitles.
International stage director Marc Verzatt directs, while award-winning conductor and composer Glen Cortese conducts 22 members of the Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra and a chorus of 25, including North Madison Congregational Church pastor The Reverend James H. Latimer.
“This is a landmark production for our company as it is the first time that we will use a complete orchestra,” says Marc Deaton, artistic director of Madison Lyric Stage. “We have an embarrassment of riches involved, from the singers, to the conductor, to our locally well-known director.
“The story of Otello resonates loudly today,” says Deaton. “So many of our modern nations are struggling with issues surrounding immigration and what it means to be a foreigner. Otello is himself an immigrant, and pays the ultimate price for being an outsider.”
Tickets are $35 and can be purchased at madisonlyricstage.org or by calling 203-215-6329. Tickets are also available at R.J. Julia in Madison.
Next up for Madison Lyric Stage is the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, which will play for 10 performances July 19 through July 30.
Madison Lyric Stage is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity and arts collective for the Shoreline of Connecticut. Its mission is to present professional-quality entertainment from the worlds of opera, musical theater and drama. Past productions include: A Little Night Music, Blithe Spirit, Evita, Macbeth, Peter Grimes, Salome, The Glass Menagerie, and many others.
For more information about Madison Lyric Stage, visit madisonlyricstage.org.