PUBLISHED ON September 25, 2008
Yakima Herald-Republic
ON
Magazine
by KIM NOWAKI YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
Next week, the Capitol Theatre's 2008-09 Best of Broadway series opens with the rock opera styling of the East Village Opera Company.
Initially created as a one-off project by Canadians Peter Kiesewalter and Tyley Ross in 2004, the East Village Opera Company recently released its third album of opera arias reimagined as rock numbers -- albeit over-the-top rock numbers.
On "Olde School" (Decca Records), arias by Verdi, Puccini, Bach, Mozart and Wagner get the pop treatment, as well as some new lyrics, in English.
"We took more liberties with the original arias on this record than we did on the last one," Ross says in a news release. "This time around we challenged ourselves to do more English songs, which are pretty scarce in opera save for baroque and 20th century works. We played around with some Italian and French arias translated to English, but they didn't jive with us stylistically, so on this record we've written some new lyrics and music, integrating them into the arias we selected."
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 3 and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 4 at the Capitol Theatre, 19 S. Third St. The Capitol's Best of Broadway series continues on:
* Oct. 31-Nov. 1 -- Six quirky adolescents compete in "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" in this musical comedy.
* Dec. 12-13 -- Out for revenge is "Sweeney Todd," the demon barber of Fleet Street.
* Jan. 9-10 -- "Movin' Out," the rock ballet that blends the pop hits of Billy Joel and choreography of Twyla Tharp.
* Feb. 13-14 -- In the 1950s romp "The Pajama Game," it's the union vs. management at the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory.
* April 17-18 -- A show-within-a-show, "The Drowsy Chaperone" pays homage to American musicals of the jazz age and centers on a showgirl about to marry a man she just met.
All Best of Broadway performances are at 7:30 p.m. for the Friday show and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. for the Saturday shows (except "The Pajama Game," which has evening shows at 7 p.m.) at the Capitol Theatre.
Season tickets are available through the Capitol Theatre box office, 853-2787. Order forms are also available at www.capitoltheatre.org.
Individual tickets for all these shows are available through TicketsWest, 800-325-7328, www.ticketswest.com.
