OperaHub Announces June 2014 Show:
Heinrich Marschner’s
DER VAMPYR
in a new English-language adaptation
Boston’s “opera punks” say, “Bite me!”
Librettist: John J King
Stage Director: Christie Lee Gibson
Music Director: Lina Gonzalez
FREE ADMISSION!
In the spirit of accessible opera for all, tickets are absolutely free, and may be reserved in advance online here!
BOSTON, MA – OperaHub broadens their ambitions with their June 2014 production: a new adaptation of Heinrich Marschner’s 1828 gothic opera DER VAMPYR. Though the work had its American premiere at the Boston Conservatory in 1980, it has not been seen in Boston since. Several companies around the world have produced it in recent years, including the American Symphony in Spring 2013 and the New Orleans Opera last fall. Hailed by the New York Times as a “gem of an opera,” it falls stylistically between Weber’s DER FREISCHUTZ and Wagner’s FLYING DUTCHMAN, with a thematic debt owed to Mozart’s DON GIOVANNI.
In the original version of DER VAMPYR, Lord Ruthven, the blood-sucker in question, has not been sucking his fair share of blood. The other vampires in his coven gather at the witches’ dance to charge him with taking three virgins by the end of the third day, or he will perish as a mortal. Tragedy ensues in the local village until the vampire is vanquished.
Playwright/librettist John J King, whose IRNE-nominated parody FROM DENMARK WITH LOVE ran last summer at the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and the Outside the Box Festival, has created an entirely new libretto for this production. This adaptation restructures the story, tightening the plot by consolidating several characters, and broadens the scope of the story to include contemporary pop-culture vampire references. A small instrumental ensemble will be playing orchestrator Moshe Shulman’s new six-instrument arrangement of the score.
PERFORMANCE DETAILS
The Plaza Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St., Boston, MA 02116
Thurs, June 19 at 8pm
Fri, June 20 at 8pm
Sat, June 21 at 8pm
Sun, June 22 at 3pm
Wed, June 25 at 8pm
Thurs, June 26 at 8pm
Fri, June 27 at 8pm
Sat, June 28 at 8pm
Running time will be approximately two and a half hours with one intermission.
ABOUT OPERAHUB
Hailed by The Boston Globe as “an idealistic company that takes on…challenging, significant repertoire,” OperaHub is committed to bringing innovative, accessible, and fresh interpretations of opera in an intimate setting to the greater Boston community. Since June 2007, OperaHub has created eighteen productions, featuring music ranging from traditional to contemporary in such eclectic formats as fashion show and cabaret. For more information, visit www.operahub.org.
