APPLETON, WIS. — William Shakespeare’s farcical whirlwind of love, lust and jealousy gets a musical treatment in four performances of Lawrence University’s production of Otto von Nicolai’s comic opera “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”
The opera will be performed March 6-8 at 8 p.m. and March 9 at 3 p.m. in Stansbury Theatre of the Lawrence Music-Drama Center, 420 E. College Ave., Appleton. Tickets, at $10 for adults and $5 for senior citizens and students, are available at the Lawrence University Box Office, 920-832-6749.
Through masterfully rich orchestration and beautifully sweeping melodies, Nicolai’s setting of Shakespeare’s farce of the same name follows the amorous antics of Sir John Falstaff and his struggle with the battle of the sexes. The aging and prodigiously portly Falstaff attempts to simultaneously court two married women, who quickly become aware of his plot and plan their revenge.
Visiting Professor of Music John T. Gates, who is directing the production, notes that audiences may be more familiar with “Falstaff,” Verdi’s operatic adaptation of the same story, but he considers “The Merry Wives of Windsor” to be “a more successful wedding of music and drama.”
“The mythological personification of Love randomly afflicts unsuspecting human beings with uncontrollable passions and then sits back to watch its spectacles unfold, be they tragic, comic or sublime,” said Gates. “For me this human vulnerability to the whims of Love is at the core of Shakespeare’s ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor.'”
The production features a double cast of singers with one performing Thursday and Saturday nights and the other taking the stage Friday and Sunday. Gates said audiences will be treated to “two excellent casts of students singing this fantastical story of love gone right and love gone wrong.”
Gates is a veteran of the opera world, with a resume featuring more than 1,000 performances covering 80 roles in many of Germany’s most important opera houses and concert halls. David Becker, who directs orchestral studies at Lawrence, is the musical conductor for the production. Bonnie Koestner, Brian DeMaris and Tad Hardin are the production’s vocal coaches.
