La Périchole

By Jacques Offenbach · Directed by Sarah Mantel

November 29-December 1; 8:00 p.m. • December 2; 2:00 p.m. • Waller Hall Mainstage

First staged in Paris in 1868, La Périchole has the kind of screwball plot and froth “Can-can” style music that represents Offenbach at his most whimsical. The setting is Lima in the 1750s when Perú was a Spanish territory. To suit the whim of the Viceroy, a beautiful street-singer is brought to court and made a Countess by simply marrying her to a newly-titled “Count,” who is, in reality, her rather tipsy street-singer partner and lover. Jailbreaks, disguises, and timely flattery follow in quick successions as the two try to sing their way out of trouble.

The Threepenny Opera

By Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill • Directed by Rob Gretta · Musical Direction by Sarah Mantel

February 21-23 and February 27-March 1; 8:00 p.m. · February 24; 2:00 p.m. • Waller Hall Mainstage

A Music Theater and Theater-by-the-Grove Co-production

A milestone of Twentieth Century musical theater, The Threepenny Opera rolls on unstoppably into the Twenty-first with this production. In their opera “by and for beggars,” composer Kurt Weill and playwright Bertolt Brecht profoundly break from the standard opera and operetta forms of their time, combining a barbed political perspective with the sound of 1920s Berlin. Macheath, a notorious bandit and womanizer, runs afoul of Jonathan Peachum when he marries Peachum’s daughter, Polly, in a ceremony of doubtful legality. Featuring the universal hit “Mack the Knife,” The Threepenny Opera has been thrilling audiences since its 1928 premiere. This play contains situations to which some audience members may object and is not recommended for younger children.

In Support of The Lively Arts • Performance Plus Sponsors

Student Cooperative Association • National Endowment for the Arts • Pennsylvania Council on the Arts • Gorell Enterprises • Indiana Symphony Society • International Student Affairs • Liberal Studies Program • Office of Social Equity • African American Cultural Center • Division of Student Affair