June 9-15, 2005

artpicks

Intimate Details

opera

When most opera lovers think of Verdi's La Traviata they imagine soaring, grand opera and overstuffed stages. But the source for the libretto, La Dame aux Camellias by Alexander Dumas, was a play of few characters and confined settings. "Our production will stress the intimacy of the original," says Center City Opera Theater director Jonathon Loy. "You will get to know the characters better." He will accomplish this through the use of projected images of mostly impressionistic artworks (courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art), and lighting details designed to draw the audience closer to the action and dialogue. "Even the famous party scene will be a third of the size of most productions, as Dumas intended," says Loy.

The cast will include two singers from last year's Opera Theater Rigoletto. Soprano Christine Arand (pictured) will portray the doomed courtesan, Violetta, and Lawrence Harris, the pro-footballer-turned-operatic-baritone is singing the part of Germont. Their bright, impassioned singing was very impressive in CCOT's first production at the Perelman. They will be joined by tenor Christopher Bengochea as Alfredo. Andrew Kurtz will conduct a chamber orchestra, and the work will be sung in the original Italian with English supertitles on three sides.

La Traviata, Center City Opera Theater, Fri., June 10, Sat., June 11 and Wed., June 15, 8 p.m., $25-$85, Kimmel Center, 300 S. Broad St., 215-893-1999.

—Peter Burwasser