BWW Previews: Mozart to Rock Houston!

Are you ready to be rocked by Amadeus? Wolfgang "Amadeus" Mozart is coming to town so buckle up your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy ride. Yes, Mozart in Houston is like Bette Davis, Santa, and catchy pop music all rolled into one.

On January 30, Houston's two major opera houses will run performances of Mozart's final two completed operas - LA CLEMENZA DI TITO and THE MAGIC FLUTE. Opera in the Heights (OH) will open LA CLEMENZA DI TITO for the first time in Houston since 1991, and Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will start performances of THE MAGIC FLUTE.

To sweeten the deal, OH is offering an OPERANEWBIE discount of 50% to all new opera-goers to its performances of LA CLEMENZA DI TITO. It's a great time to experience world-class opera in a world-class city. Come one, come all - Houstonians, Austinites, Dallasites, Fort Worthers, San Antonians, New Orleanians, even worldians! See two different interpretations of two different Mozart operas from two different companies - one grand, one intimate - in one weekend. Experience Houston's Mozart invasion.

"The pieces are so different!" says Stage Director Keturah Stickann of THE MAGIC FLUTE AND LA CLEMENZA DI TITO. THE MAGIC FLUTE is a fantastical fairy tale while LA CLEMENZA DI TITO is a political thriller. "They were written overlapping each other, and they speak to different parts of Mozart's brilliant brain," Stickann says. "What a great opportunity to hear them at nearly the same time."

LA CLEMENZA DI TITO also has a stellar cast to bolster Mozart's impeccable work. OH double-cast of LA CLEMENZA DI TITO includes Eric Barry and Zach Averyt (Tito); Theodora Cottarel (Servilia); Claire Shackleton and Jennifer Crippen (Annio); Deborah Domanski and Vera Savage (Sesto); Mary-Hollis Hundley and Celeste Fraser (Vitelia) and Justin Hopkins as Publio. Mozart is there to bolster their work according to Stickann: "Mozart gives you everything. There's a rhythm in Mozart that, if one can find it internally, will inform a performer of everything they need to do."

While THE MAGIC FLUTE is one of Mozart's most famous compositions, LA CLEMENZA DI TITO is one of the beloved composer's most neglected. "The story can be hard to grasp immediately. It's very psychological, very political and has a lot of talking, as every good political drama does," Stickann says. "Its musical sophistication is overshadowed by the words in some places, and so it more easily fell by the wayside." But LA CLEMENZA DI TITO is not all politics. "Once you realize how twisted the relationship between Vitellia and Sesto is, how conflicted Tito is, how precariously this empire sits on the brink, then it becomes an exciting drama." Stickann adds, "The more I work on this piece, the more I love it, and doing it in such a small theater invites the audience to come with us in a way they couldn't in a large hall."

I'll add to director Keturah Stickann's words. Mozart is like pizza. It's always going to be some version of tasty. Stickann, who directed DON GIOVANNI just last year, agrees: "I love the way Mozart shapes a story. If you read between the lines, literally, you get every thought your character is having. In a pre-psychological world, Mozart knew how to find those innermost desires, fears and uncertainties through the layers of his music."

Opera in the Heights' LA CLEMENZA DI TITO runs Jan 30 - Feb 9. HGO's THE MAGIC FLUTE runs Jan 30 - Feb 14. For new initiates requesting half-price tickets, please call the OH box office at 713-861-5303 or go online at operaintheights.org to order, using the code OPERANEWBIE. Regular single ticket prices for the production run from $35-$67, senior tickets are $32-$58, and student tickets are $15-$17 in designated areas. For more information about LA CLEMENZA DI TITO, visit operaintheheights.org, and for more information about THE MAGIC FLUTE, visit www.houstongrandopera.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.