On Site Opera Blurs The Lines Of The Audience-Theater Experience This Season

On Site Opera, an organization dedicated to presenting site-specific opera productions in non-traditional venues throughout New York City, announces its dynamic 2019-2020 season. As the company has grown in recent years, they have established a season that includes three core mainstage productions, The Turn of the Screw, October 25-27, Amahl and the Night Visitors, December 4-8, and Das Barbecu, January 26-February 11, along with additional partnerships and events beyond the boundaries of the New York City boroughs in summer of 2020.

The New York pioneer of the immersive opera experience, On Site Opera travels to Riverdale's Wave Hill for their first performance of the season, The Turn of the Screw, October 25-27. In this haunting new production based on the Henry James novel of the same name, a Governess arrives at a remote estate to care for two children, only to discover that malevolent spirits may be haunting the estate and targeting the children in her charge. With music by Benjamin Britten and the libretto by Mifawny Piper, On Site Opera's production will unfold in multiple areas across the Wave Hill estate, taking the audience around the grounds and into multiple rooms of the historic Wave Hill house. The cast will feature Jennifer Check (Governess), Margaret Lattimore (Mrs. Grose), Adriana Zabala (Miss Jessel), Ashley Emerson (Flora), Dominic Armstrong (Peter Quint), Darius Elmore (Miles); American Modern Ensemble will provide the chamber orchestra.

After a successful run in December 2018, On Site Opera will revive its acclaimed production of the family-friendly, holiday opera Amahl and the Night Visitors, December 4-8. Director Eric Einhorn's vision for Gian Carlo Menotti's opera resets the story in modern-day New York, and connects the story's themes of charity, community, and forgiveness to NYC's prevalent issue of homelessness through partnerships with Breaking Ground, a supportive housing organization, and the production's venue, Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen. Residents from several Breaking Ground buildings will sing alongside a stellar cast including Aundi Moore, Musa Ngqungwana, Daniel Belcher, Joshua Jeremiah , and Julius Ahn; with American Modern Ensemble as the chamber orchestra.

Winter takes a witty and delicious turn with On Site Opera's new production of Jim Luigs and Scott Warrender's musical comedy Das Barbecu, January 26-February 11 at Hill Country Barbecue Market in the Flatiron District. A nod to Wagner's Ring Cycle merged with a comedic Texas fable, the songbook ranges from Broadway to Texas swing, from jazz to twangy country and western as mismatched lovers meet on the day of their double shotgun wedding with five actors playing more than 30 outrageous characters at breakneck speed.

Additionally, the organization will bring their site-specific works beyond New York City in a collaboration with Wolf Trap Opera and Urban Arias at the Human Rights Campaign in Washington DC, June 2020 for the DC premiere of Gregory Spears and Greg Pierce's Fellow Travelers. With a spotlight on gay rights in America, Fellow Travelers, follows two men who fall in love during the "lavender scare" in the 1950s McCarthy era during which gay people were outed and fired from positions in the US Government and related political jobs. On Site Opera will also revive its 2015 production of Paisiello's The Barber of Seville on the grounds of an historic estate in upstate New York in late summer.

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