OU University Theatre will open “La Clemenza di Tito,” an opera performed in Italian that explores themes of civic duty, loyalty and romantic love, on Thursday.
“La Clemenza di Tito” is about the benevolent Emperor Tito who is under the threat of a coup incited by Vitellia, the daughter of the former emperor.
According to JJ Toly, the show’s stage manager, many students on the cast and crew have been working on the show since before winter break, attending rehearsals to learn how to sing operatically.
“(Stage management is) there at staging rehearsals to record everything that happens in the rehearsal, so we have a record of where they are at which point in the show,” Toly said.
Toly said the show started to come together in the first week of January, after multiple rehearsals every week, until Feb. 9, when tech week began.
Movements for the stage crew are based on the opera’s scene changes during a musical playoff, or repeated melodies, and have to be timed out perfectly.
“It was a lot of, ‘OK, how heavy is this?’ Looking at what we knew, and then looking at how many people were assigned to be on the crew, and looking at the amount of time that we had to move it,” Toly said. “It wouldn't have been a challenge if we could have taken all the time in the world.”
According to Toly, there are also positives of working for an opera.
“I have honestly really liked the music,” Toly said. “I didn't expect to like opera music as much as I did just because I didn't know as much about it, but the music is very beautiful.”
Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at Reynolds Performing Arts Center. Tickets for students start at $17 online or at the box office in Catlett Music Center.
This story was edited by Madisson Cameron and Audrey McClour. Kennedy Johnson and Tori Pham copy edited this story.
