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MSU Opera presents ‘A Little Night Music’ Nov. 5-8

MSU Opera will present Stephen Sondheim’s comedy “A Little Night Music” in Duncan Recital Hall of the Baird Music Building on the Morehead State campus, Nov. 5-8. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. each night.

Tickets are available at the door for $10 and $5 for students and seniors (cash and checks only). All MSU students will be admitted free on Wednesday, Nov. 5.

A Little Night Music is based on the 1955 Ingmar Bergman film, Smiles of a Summer Night. It takes place in Sweden, at the turn into the 20th century. Jonathan Tunick, who orchestrated the show for Sondheim, compared the work to a Scherzo, the third movement of the Classical symphony. “It is light, fast, playful, mysterious, and in triple meter.” Indeed, with the exception of a very few measures, the entire score of this musical is in some form of triple meter. The number three also figures in the plot development, as created by Hugh Wheeler’s book for the show. Of this, Tunick said it consisted of “a chain of triangles: in each of these connected relationships, the unstable number three is drawn to the stable two, as the various mismatched couples disengage and find their proper partners.”

Appearing in the cast are Kristin Mosley, Hindman sophomore, as Fredrika Armfeldt; Matthew Hammond, Louisa freshman, as Frid; Joseph Rivers, Cincinnati senior, as Henrik Egerman; Ariel Snider, Cynthiana sophomore, as Anne Egerman; Nick Wolford, Jackson, Ohio, sophomore, as Fredrik Egerman; Olivia Foster, West Portsmouth, Ohio, senior, as Petra; Brittany Thompson, Hazard senior, as Desirée Armfeldt; Kaitlyn Osborn, Louisa freshman, as Malla; Joseph Hamilton, Lexington senior, as Bertrand; Ryan Wardell, Big Stone Gap, Virginia, senior, as Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm; Jasmine Wheeler, Morehead sophomore, as Countess Charlotte Malcolm; and Alisha Hampton, Ashland sophomore, as Osa.

Appearing as Madame Armfeldt is Pamela Hammonds, Camden-Carroll Library associate. Sondheim also employs a Greek chorus known as Liebeslieders, which comment on the action and tie scenes together. They are played by Reagan Stamper, Hazard freshman; Kaitlyn Osborn, Louisa freshman; Alisha Hampton, Ashland sophomore; Gabrielle Keith, Louisville sophomore; Charles Day, Lawrenceburg, Indiana, sophomore; Joseph Hamilton, Lexington senior; Matthew Hammond, Louisa freshman; Noah Colley, Jackson, Ohio, freshman; Andrew Hall, Ashland freshman; and Curtis Turner, Jackson, Ohio, freshman.

An orchestra of MSU’s musicians will accompany the production. Members include Jared Davis, Morehead, bass; Tyler Gibbs, Ashland, flute; Amanda Martin, New Castle, Indiana; and Melyssa Brookshire, Shepherdsville, clarinet; Blake Johnson, Shelby Valley, oboe; Brittany Giles, Mount Sterling, bassoon; Josh Harney, Morehead and Kyle Mills, United States Virgin Islands, trumpet; Kathryn Jackson, Ashland, Anthony Nolan, Louisville and Tyler Sullivan, Belcher, horn; Anthony Ritchie, Vest, trombone; Gloria Yehilevsky, San Diego, California, percussion. Guest musicians include William Murphy, Huntington, West Virginia, keyboard; Nathanial Ramsey, Huntington, West Virginia, violin; and Wing Sun Ku, Huntington, West Virginia, viola.

Roma Prindle, associate professor of voice is the director of the MSU Opera while Samuel Fowler is assistant to the director. The rehearsal pianist is Chialing Hsieh, instructor of music.

A Little Night Music is presented through special arrangement with Music Theater International.

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