ARTS . Arts Picks

The Tales of Hoffmann


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Published: Nov 15, 2006

opera

Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann is a terrific vehicle for Temple University's opera department, which has done some of its best work over the years with this sort of large-scale, giddy comedy. The Temple team has a large range of resources at its command, including armies of set designers, dancers, choreographers, a large orchestra and, of course, very good singing actors. The nationally recognized (and locally underappreciated) triple threat of director Copeland Woodruff, conductor John Douglas and producer Jamie Johnson is once again in place.

As the title suggests, Offenbach uses three loosely strung-together stories by the early 19th-century German polymath E.T.A. Hoffmann. The dramatic material is high, dreamlike Romantic kitsch, and even a bit psychedelic. There is a mechanical doll (which, when viewed with magical glasses, becomes the object of the hero's lust), gondolas, a barcarolle (you will know the melody) and an evil Dr. Miracle. The stage is never still in this florid extravaganza. Aficionados will be interested to know that Temple is using a new edition of Tales, which includes 24 pages of newly discovered music.

Fri., Nov. 17, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 19, 3 p.m., $20, Tomlinson Theater, Temple University, 13th and Norris sts., 888-OWLS-TIX, www.liacourascenter.com.