In a world of power and privilege, Anna Karenina is a woman who dares to obey her heart by leaving her scrupulous husband, Karenin, and traveling with her charming lover, Count Vronsky, across Europe in a scandalous affair. Playwright Helen Edmundson illuminates the original story’s grand pattern: how the adulterous Anna travels towards disintegration and death while her brother, young landowner Levin, travels toward maturity and a sense of wholeness with his true love, Kitty.

Milwaukee-based actor and director Gordon, received her MFA in acting from the University of Iowa and is a Lunt-Fontanne Fellow. Gordon said she was drawn to acting as a shy kid and loves the opportunity to walk in another person’s shoes.

Cast includes: Dane Braddy (Levin); Rebecca Swan (Anna); Mitch Shira (Vronsky); Cat Evangelho (Kitty); Hayden Sproul (Stiva); Rachael Hodge (Dolly); Scotty Fletcher (Karenin); Sophie Call (Seriozha); Madison Archibald (Countess Vronsky, Agatha); Heather Bodine (Railway Widow); Wyatt Coggins (Vassily, Priest); Mollee Barse (Princess Betsy); Anna Bodily (Governess); AJ Black (Petritsky) and Cameron S. Neeley (Nikolai).

Tickets for Anna Karenina are $13 adults, $10 seniors/youth, $8 USU faculty/staff and free for USU students with ID. For more information or tickets, contact the CCA Box Office in room L101 of the Chase Fine Arts Center on USU’s campus, call 435-797-8022, or go online to cca.usu.edu.

Struggling artist, Sonny, is trapped in a dull job painting album covers. He falls in love with one of the random women he has to paint and goes on a quest to find her. The mysterious beauty, Kira, happens to be an ageless Greek muse who encourages him to build the first roller disco. When she falls in forbidden love with a mortal, chaos ensues.

Rachael Hodge, who plays the role of Kira, said Utah State Theatre is really embracing the satirical side of the musical.

“It’s based off the 1980s movie starring Olivia Newton John,” Hodge said. “The movie was not super successful so the musical plays on that quite a bit, but we really take it up a notch and comedy ensues. The actors cast in this production have great comedic timing.”

Hodge said the set and lighting are very bright with every muse being dressed in bright pastel colors.

“There’s sparkle literally on the faces of our actors,” Hodge said. “And figuratively in the air of the performance.”

Hodge thinks people who have seen the movie will really enjoy this production of the show and the trip into nostalgia. She had to learn to skate on pink, sparkly roller skates for her role in the show.

“Before this summer I had never worn roller skates before,” Hodge said. “I fell a lot and have the bruises to prove it, but now I feel way more confident and thankful that I have a new skill.”

The heaviest they get during the musical is still pretty comedic according to Hodge. She encourages audience members to come out and have a great time.

Tickets for Xanadu are $18 adults, $15 seniors/youth, $10 USU faculty/staff and free for USU students with ID. For more information or tickets, contact the CCA Box Office in room L101 of the Chase Fine Arts Center on USU’s campus, call 435-797-8022, or go online to cca.usu.edu.

“Dido and Aeneas is one of the great works in the operatic canon and one of the most frequently performed 17th century operas,” Christopher Scheer, associate professor of musicology in the Caine College of the Arts, said. “Dido is queen of Carthage and has fallen in love with the Trojan, Aeneas, who is briefly waylaid in fulfilling his destiny to found Rome. The evil sorceress hates Dido and succeeds in separating the lovers.”

Dido dies from being lovesick, though not before singing one of the most famous arias in operatic history, When I am Laid in Earth, Scheer notes. The music includes spritely and dignified dances, dramatic monologues and tuneful arias.

Scheer says the opera’s music is in a style that demands a special approach and historical understanding, which is why Scheer, along with Dallas Heaton, director of the opera theatre program in the Caine College of the Arts, brought in the special guest music director, Nicholas Kraemer, and Purcell Scholar and Syracuse University professor, Amanda Eubanks Winkler.

Kraemer is one of the leading interpreters of pre-1750 music working today and has a magisterial list of engagements with orchestras and festivals around the world, including the Music of the Baroque (Chicago), the Berlin Philharmonic, the BBC Scottish Symphony, Bath (U.K.) Festival and more. Scheer said he brings a wealth of experience to this project.

Amanda Eubanks Winkler is one of the leading scholars of 17th century English musical drama. She has published books, articles and critical editions on this topic and is currently participating in an international project entitled Performing Restoration Shakespeare. For this production, she has acted as the historical consultant and will also be giving preconcert talks an hour before each performance.

“In addition to preparing this production, students can take a semester-long for-credit seminar on the works of Henry Purcell, augmenting their performance experience with critical scholarly enquiry into the period,” Scheer said. “There are very few opportunities anywhere for students to have such immersion in a project as we offer at USU.”

Though a historical approach is being taken with music preparation, the production itself is modern both in look and the dancing.

“The sort of postmodern juxtaposition has become increasingly common in the production of early opera,” Scheer said. “It offers our students further insight into contemporary production approaches.”

Tickets are $10 adults, $8 seniors/youth, $5 USU faculty/staff and free for USU students with ID. Free pre-show lectures given by Amanda Eubanks Winkler are one hour prior to each performance in FAV 262. For more information and tickets, contact the CCA Box Office in room L101 of the Chase Fine Arts Center on USU’s campus, call 435-797-8022 or go online to cca.usu.edu.

“I wanted to produce Mozart for the student’s benefit,” Dallas Heaton, director of the opera theatre program in the Caine College of the Arts, said. “La finta giardiniera is the perfect fit for the talent we have this semester and allows each cast member an intensive chance to work in a semi-professional setting. We’ve brought in a professional and highly successful director and collaborated with the USU Symphony Orchestra to present this piece in an authentic manner.”
While this is not the first time the opera theatre program has collaborated with the orchestra or the first show they’ve produced in Italian, it will be the first time they’ve done the two together, Heaton said.
“The cast, orchestra, production team and everyone else involved have put in many hours of preparation,” Heaton said. “I suspect this show will be another crowning achievement for the ensemble and a unique source of cultural enrichment for the university and community. This is truly an event you won’t want to miss.”
Tickets for the opera are $10 adults, $8 seniors/youth, $5 USU faculty/staff and free for USU students with ID. For more information and tickets, contact the CCA Box Office in room L101 of the Chase Fine Arts Center on USU’s campus, call 435-797-8022, or go online to cca.usu.edu.