School of Music performs 'Marriage of Figaro' in Staples Family Concert Hall
Members of the cast of The Marriage of Figaro perform during the first movement of the opera on March 22 in Staples Hall.
Before the doors opened at the Staples Family Concert Hall, Saturday March 21 for the "Marriage of Figaro" performance from the School of Music, many people gathered outside of the hall, optimistic of this long anticipated opera.
The show had been cast almost a year ago, and the audience members were anxious about how the performance would turn out.
“I had heard of this opera but I had never seen it,” said Clinton Township sophomore Alexia Ellison, who is a music major.
A heavy portion of the audience was composed of strong-supporting family members, ready to give congratulations to the cast in different pastels of bouquets. Other attendees were students from the school of music who either wanted to support their fellow peers or were just curious to see what this show was all about.
“The cast had some last minute changes from members that ended up switching school in between semesters or becoming sick," said Birch Run junior Kayla Ayling. "I heard it was a little bit of struggle, but that they also worked hard.”
The Marriage of Figaro is an 18th century tale of love intertwined amongst betrayal. Underlying this seemingly dark and serious theme is a long stream of wit and humor, of which the cast interpreted through their characters.
I didn’t know what to expect and I was surprised that they were able to be entertaining for an entire three hours,” said Dewitt freshman and music major Amy Duffy.
The cast themselves were both surprised and proud at how well the show ended up turning out. Rebecca Hochhuth who plays Barbarina in the opera reflected on her experience of performing in the Marriage of Figaro for the first time.
“It was a great learning experience," she said. "I’ve never done anything in a different language so it was completely new to me.”
Another cast member, Benjamin Shadik who plays Antonio, also found challenge in learning Italian for the performanc.
“It was really hard to learn the Italian but once we knew what we were saying, it became really fun to interact with each other and to add humor to it for the audience,” he said.
