The Living Opera Brings First Opera to Garland

Garland, TX. The Living Opera will be presenting operas by American composers at the Plaza Theater in March and April of 2007, a first for the City of Garland. Bernstein's one act opera Trouble in Tahiti will be coupled with Menotti's one act The Old Maid and the Thief in March, then Copland's The Tender Land will be presented in April. All three operas will be sung in English, with five performances of each opera.



Tickets start at $10 and go up to $34 Additional discounts are available for groups of 10 or more. On Tuesday evening performances, TLO is offering half price tickets for students and seniors. For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit www.thelivingopera.org or call 972-494-3500



Trouble in Tahiti/The Old Maid and the Thief

Trouble in Tahiti is a short opera composed by Leonard Bernstein to an English libretto written by Bernstein himself. Bernstein is one of the most widely known American composers and conductors, famous for West Side Story, among other works. Set in the affluence of a nameless American suburb, Trouble in Tahiti shows the disenchantment of Dinah with her philandering husband Sam, who is more interested in his career than in his family. They effect a reconcilement of sorts at the end of the opera, although it is doubtful that it will last.

The Old Maid and the Thief is an opera by Italian- American composer Gian Carlo Menotti, written and premiered in 1939. It was the first opera ever composed specifically for performance on the radio, commissioned by NBC. The opera is probably most known for two arias. First, "What curse for a woman, is a timid man (Steal me, sweet thief)," is a full scene, where Laetitia sings of her ...