"The best thing of all is to want…to want something with all of your heart."
Regina by Marc Blitzstein
An Opera in three acts
Libretto by the composer, based on Lillian Hellman’s play The Little Foxes
First performance: New York; 46th Street Theatre, October 31, 1949
Sung in English with English supertitles above the stage
June 21, July 8 & 12, 2008
7:30pm Curtain
June 29 & July 4, 2008 2:00pm Curtain
Marc Blitzstein’s Regina, based on the Lillian Hellman play The Little Foxes, captures the sounds of early twentieth century America in a score filled with jazz, ragtime and spiritual flavor. Set against the backdrop of the Deep South, where land equaled power, the opera delves into the frailty of humankind, from the lust for money to the heartbreak of faded memories in one Southern family with dreams of the good life. Hellman called the work “the most original of American operas, the most daring.” Many call it an American masterpiece.
CAST:
Regina Giddens
Gwendolyn Jones
Alexandra Giddens (Zan)
Sara Gartland
Birdie Hubbard
Anna Vikre
Addie
Gwendolyn Bowers
Horace Giddens
Ryan Allen
Benjamin Hubbard
Kimm Julian
Oscar Hubbard
Rod Nelman
Leo Hubbard
Jeremy Little
Cal
Justin Hopkins
William Marshall
Edwin Griffith
Jazz
Ishan Johnson
John Bagtry
Guests of the Giddens, Servants
Cast and opera are subject to change without notice.
PRODUCTION:
Stage Director:
Robert L. Larsen
Conductor:
Robert L. Larsen
Scenic Designer:
R. Keith Brumley
Lighting Design:
Barry J. Steele
Costumes:
Malabar, Ltd.
SETTING: Bowden, Alabama in the spring of 1900
Prologue:
Late morning in the Gidden’s house
Act I:
Reception hall and parlour of the Gidden’s house, same evening
Act II, Scene 1:
Evening, a week later
Act II, Scene 2:
The same night