For Boston Opera Collaborative’s next production, the award-winning team of conductor Andrew Altenbach and director Katherine Carter bring Benjamin Britten’s delightful British comedy Albert Herring to the stage of the Strand Theater. Performances from Thursday to Sunday offer FREE ADMISSION through a generous grant from The Free for All Concert Fund, Inc. The third BOC production in the historic Strand, located Uphams Corner, Dorchester, this is also BOC’s third collaboration with The Free for All Concert Fund, Inc., which has helped BOC bring performances throughout the Boston community.
The scene: The zany residents of Loxford, England are preparing for their local May Day festivities. The problem: The town lacks any young ladies sufficiently chaste to be named the May Queen. The solution: The May Day committee identifies the local greengrocer, young Albert Herring, for the dubious honor of May King. Follow Albert Herring as he discovers that sometimes it’s OK to break the rules.
Andrew Altenbach and Carter earned Best Musical Direction and Best Direction from My Entertainment World Boston Theater Division for BOC’s production of Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Cinderella) last summer. About Andrew Altenbach, music director & conductor: The Boston Globe raved, “Altenbach built the drama with such point and purpose; it was as if Rossini were creating a new art form.” Andrew Altenbach continues to garner attention as a musical leader of his generation. Mr. Altenbach is Artistic Director of the Minnesota Bach Ensemble, Music Director of Opera at the Boston Conservatory, and Artistic Director of the Boston Opera Collaborative. He is the recent winner of Best Musical Direction from My Entertainment Worldʼs Boston division. Recent opera credits include Opera Birmingham, Opera Africa, Central City Opera, Minnesota Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Music Academy of the West, San Francisco Opera Merola Program, and Indiana University Opera Theatre. www.andrewaltenbach.com. Katherine Carter, stage director, is a Michigan born, New York based director.
Katherine was awarded Best Director of a Musical for her work last summer on La Cenrentola with the Boston Opera Collaborative. She is the founding Artistic Director of The Other Mirror, the 2011-12 Playwrights Horizons Directing Resident, and a guest director at The Atlantic Theatre School and Stella Adler at NYU. Katherine is a two-time director in the Directors Company Adaptations for the Stage Workshop. Her pieces Madame Bovary, adapted by Katherine from the Flaubert novel; and Bite the Apple by Linda Manning culminated in full productions with The Other Mirror. Selected Directing Credits: Uncommon Women and Others (Stella Adler, NYU), Mirror Alchemy (The Other Mirror), Going Away (The Other Mirror), Les Miserables (Meadow Brook Theatre, MI); Stories on Five Stories (Playwrights Horizons, NY); At Home at the Zoo (Peter J Sharp Theatre, NY); Darwin and Fitzroy (The Actors Studio, NY); For Better (Pioneer Playhouse, KY); A Midsummer Nightʼs Dream (The Secret Theatre, NY). www.KatherineMCarter.com.
The cast includes My Entertainment World Boston Theater Division nominees for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor in a Musical Sadie Gregg and Thomas Middleton from La Cenerentola (Cinderella).
The orchestra of some of Boston’s best freelances will be performing Britten’s standard version without any reductions.
CAST
July 24 & 26, 7:30 pm July 25 & 27, 3:00 pm
Albert Herring Jeremy Ayres Fisher Zac Engle
Lady Billows Katie Abraham Allison
Provaire Florence Pike Sadie Gregg Erika Mitchell Mayor Upfold Salvatore Atti Salvatore Atti
Superintendent Budd Simon Dyer Simon Dyer
Mr. Gedge, the Vicar Thomas Middleton Thomas Middleton
Miss Wordsworth Elizabeth Kinder Jessica J. Jacobs
Sid Scott Ballantine Jonathan Nussman
Nancy Beibei Guan Heather Gallagher
Mrs. Herring Kaitlin Berentshaw Kaitlin Berentshaw
Emmie Allesandra Cionco Allesandra Cionco
Cis Sarah Schechtman Sarah Schechtman
Harry Malia Jane French Malia Jane French
Covers:
Alex Schlosberg (Mayor Upfold), Camille Sherman (Mrs. Herring)
Albert Herring is a three-act opera sung in English with English supertitles. It runs approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes, with two intermissions. The Strand Theatre, owned by the City of Boston and managed by the Fund for Neighborhoods, Inc., is located at 543 Columbia Road, Dorchester, MA.
Boston Opera Collaborative is a company managed by its vibrant artists, dedicated to cultivating exceptional performance opportunities beyond higher education and to producing dynamic opera that engages Boston audiences.www.bostonoperacollaborative.org
Performances are:
Thursday, July 24, 2014 @ 7:30 pm
Friday, July 25, 2014 @ 3:00 pm
Saturday, July 26, 2014 @ 7:30 pm
Sunday, July 27, 2014 @ 3:00 pm
FREE TICKETS can be reserved here.
See related review here.