UCF Opera presents Mozart’s beloved “Marriage of Figaro,” sung in English. A delightful story with some very unexpected twists!

UCF Opera presents one of the most beloved operas of all time: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. This fully-staged comedy will be sung in a fresh English translation and includes dialogue excerpts taken from the play upon which the opera is based, The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro, written by Pierre Beaumarchais.

Set in the south of Spain, the primary plot of the opera is that Susanna and Figaro wish to get married but must first overcome several obstacles. Count Almaviva, chief magistrate of Andalusia, has certain “interests” in the bride himself. Marcellina, the castle’s head housekeeper, is enamored with Figaro (which, we find out, is quite inappropriate), and has a contract stating that if he cannot repay a loan, he must marry her!

Add to that the despairing circumstance of Countess Almaviva, who goes to great lengths to try to regain her husband’s love, an adolescent pageboy, Cherubino, who seems to be desperately in love with every female he knows, and several other characters all attempting to either assist or hinder the wedding, and, well, you’ve got a delightful story with some very unexpected twists.

Presented twice: April 6 and April 7.

This event is funded in part by the Thow Family Opera for Young Audiences Endowment.

Performance Schedule

Saturday, April 6, 2024, 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 7, 2024, 2:00 p.m.

Back to the full schedule

Production

This year’s spring semester project for the Opera Workshop class at UCF is the largest we have ever attempted: a production of one of the most beloved operas of all time – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.” This fully staged comedy is sung in a fresh English translation and includes dialogue excerpts taken from the original play upon which the opera is based, “La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro” [The crazy day, or the Marriage of Figaro], written by Pierre Beaumarchais.

This year’s production is also the most collaborative project we have done to date for the students in our class, with the generous participation of two enormously talented professors from Theatre UCF, Vivian Majkowski, as our dialogue coach and Christopher Niess as our stage director. Their participation has greatly increased our students’ on-stage communication and movement skills. We also would like to acknowledge James Cleveland, Theatre UCF’s Production Manager, for allowing us to borrow some key furniture pieces, and Grant Preisser, Opera Orlando’s Artistic Director, for loaning us some crucial props for the opera.

And finally, due to the length of some of the roles in this opera, and also with the goal of offering more of our students performance opportunities, we have cast the two longest principal roles with more than one student. In this performance, you will see/hear two different students singing Figaro and three different students singing Susanna.

Cast

Count Almaviva

Countess Almaviva

Susanna
-
-

Figaro
-

Cherubino

Marcellina

Bartolo

Don Basilio

Don Curzio

Barbarina

Antonio

Two Young Ladies
-

Ensemble

Nicolas Barth

Isis Bermudèz Rivera

[in Act 1] Rebekah Poe
[in Act 2] Mary-Kelly Reimel
[in Acts 3&4] Casey Wynn

[in Acts 1&2] Cullen Heuman
[in Acts 3&4] Samuel Portugal

Alessandra Capasso

Caroline Smith

Frederick Brown

Yuan Yu

Adam Barnes

Kyra Moore

David Burrows

Jenna Mazzoli
Madison Rost

Kol Ball

Orchestra

Reduced orchestration by Jonathan Lyness

Julia M Gessinger

Olga Kolpakova

Melissa Swedberg

Jean-Marie Glazer

Meliari Sepulveda

Jacob High

Amie Hellake

Jaden Crawford

Nick Gallegos

Joshua Sanchez

Michael Colbassani

Jay Forsythe

Violin 1

Violin 2

Viola

Cello

Bass

Flute

Oboe

Clarinet

Bassoon

Horn

Timpani

Harpsichord

Production Team

Thomas Potter

Robin Jensen

Christopher Niess

Jay Forsythe

Vivian Majkoski

Lisa Buck

John Whitely

Jacob Wilson

Elizabeth McDermott

Mary McDermott

Waylon Lemasters

Producer

Music Director/Conductor

Stage Director

Rehearsal Pianist/Coach

Speech/Dialogue Coach

Set/Graphic Designer/Painter

Lighting Designer

Production Stage Manager

Stage Manager

Carpenter

A Special Thanks

UCF Opera wishes to extend a special note of thanks to:

UCF Opera Board Members
Additional Donors and Supporters of the opera program
Tommy Harrison, Barbara Kelly Hursey, & Maureen Landgraf for their assistance
with the purchasing process and budget management.
Claudia Lynch for assigning these three wonderful and talented student stage managers.

We extend particular gratitude to the staff and administration of Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts for their partnership over the past ten years.

Thank You to Our Supporters

Logos for LIFE at UCF, OUC The Reliable One, Florida Arts and Culture, Downtown Orlando, Rockley Family Foundation, and Sigma Alpha Iota Philanthropies Inc.

Sponsored in part by the State of Florida through the Division of Arts and Culture and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Judith and David Albertson Endowment in the Arts
Cartwright Family Humanities & Arts Endowment
Phil and Jane Easterling
LIFE at UCF
Orlando Downtown Development Board
OUC – The Reliable One
Women’s Club at UCF, Inc.

"Marriage of Figaro"