Lyric Opera Lectures

Show Boat

Description : Show Boat Lyric Opera Community Lectures consist of an overview of the story, biographical information about the composer and librettist, and musical highlights.
It is 1887, and Capt. Andy Hawks is sailing his show boat down the Mississippi River. His wife, Parthy, objects strenuously to their impressionable daughter Magnolia having anything to do with the show-biz types who make up the boat’s performing company. Ignoring her mother’s warnings, Magnola forms a close friendship with Julie LaVerne, the company’s leading actress. The authorities in Natchez come to arrest Julie and her husband, actor Steve Baker, for miscengenation, Julie being a mulatto woman married to a white man. By cutting Julie’s hand and sucking her blood, Steve is able to consider himself a mulatto as well. The two thus avoid arrest, but they leave the showboat nonetheless. Capt. Andy puts Magnolia onstage in Julie’s role, and Steve’s is taken by an itinerant gambler, Gaylord Ravenal, with whom Magnolia has fallen in love. Over Parthy’s strenuous objections, the two marry and soon move to Chicago, where Ravenal’s gambling debts mount. By 1903 his shame over his financial woes has led him to abandon Magnolia. When she auditions to sing at Chicago’s Trocadero Club, she is surreptitiously observed by Julie, who is now the Club’s singer. Unbeknownst to Magnolia, Julie gives up her position so that it can be Magnolia’s. On New Year’s Eve at the Trocadero, Magnolia’s performance makes her a star. In 1927 she returns to the show boat with her daughter Kim, a star herself. Magnolia sees Ravenal once again and takes him back.

Sunday, February 12, 2012 from 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM
Location: Winnetka Library Lloyd Room
Event details
Lyric Opera

Rinaldo

Description : Rinaldo Lyric Opera Community Lectures consist of an overview of the story, biographical information about the composer and librettist, and musical highlights.
During the First Crusade, the Christian army led by Goffredo is attacking Jerusalem, which is ruled by Argante, the Saracen king. Argante’s ally is the sorceress Armida, queen of Damascus. The noble knight Rinaldo, who loves Goffredo’s daughter Almirena, is distraught when she is abducted by Armida. Goffredo’s brother Eustazio advises him to go with Rinaldo to consult a hermit, who can help them defeat Armida. In Armida’s magic garden, Argante woos Almirena, who rejects him. Meanwhile, Rinaldo is captured and brought to Armida, who proclaims her love for him. He rejects her, but then she transforms herself into Almirena. He is first deceived, then outraged when he realizes what she has done. The hermit reveals to Goffredo and Eustazio that Rinaldo and Almirena are Armida’s prisoners. The brothers’ attempts at rescue are initially unsuccessful, but they are eventually reunited with Rinaldo. She attempts to murder Almirena, but when Rinaldo attacks her, she vanishes. Argante unites again with Armida and, after the two are conquered by Goffredo’s forces, they embrace the Christian faith. Almirena is finally happily reunited with Rinaldo.

Sunday, February 26, 2012 from 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM
Location: Winnetka Library Lloyd Room
Event details
Lyric Opera