By Chris Bavender
It’s the age old question – “How will I find love?” Some look to friends and family to set them up … others turn to online dating. And, then, there’s speed dating. Five minutes to tell your life story to a stranger in hopes of making a love connection.
That’s the premise behind the Intimate Opera’s latest production – Speed Dating: Tonight! Set in a bar, the musical comedy explores the world of dating and the characters you meet along the way.
Some of the characters are way out there – maybe they have multiple cats or wei professions or they are triathletes – people like that,” said Steven Linville, executive director of Intimate Opera, who is also directing the show. “Then there are the couples who are more relatable – who are trying to find the love of their life. Maybe they have been married and it didn’t work out and so they are trying to get back in the dating game. It’s nice to have those relatable characters but the fact there are some totally outrageous ones to keep it lighthearted and who may remind people of others they know.”
Written by composer Michael Ching, Linville said the show is based on a concept by Dean Anthony.
“We like working with living composers and doing shows that are new and we saw this online over a year ago – someone posted it on Facebook and we kept researching it and watching YouTube videos,” Linville said. “The music is interesting and it’s a fun topic and something different and not what people expect an opera to be about.”
Speed Dating: Tonight! features a cast of 23.
“The nice thing ice thing about how the show is written is that it is a bunch of solos and when you get the score you can put it in whatever order you want,” Linville said. “The parts are not written specifically for a man or a woman so you can choose. So, it’s nice for us to say, ‘Hey, we listened to this and read through it and we think this would work nicely for a woman,’ and then pair it with this one to see how it works out and if not, then try something different.”
And, if the word opera “scares” you, Linville said this is the perfect show to see.
“It is not the stereotypical opera – it is almost musical theatre and almost like a study in watching people,” he said. “It is not the hats with horns and the fat lady singing that most think of. It is just a fun evening at the theater and you don’t have to dress up – we want people to be comfortable in the space. We really want to show you opera singers and classical musicians are people do and we like to have fun and we want the audience to have fun at the same time.”
The show is set for Feb. 12-15 at Studio 37 of the Ji-Eun Music Academy. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for those 17 and under and are available at www.intimateopera.org.
