A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, opera a cappella now available at Albany Records

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Feedback on Dream

I stuck my e-mail address in my program bio for DREAM and asked for feedback. My favorite one so far has been from a high school student, Eric. Here's some of it:

"I had never been to an opera before, but I knew that I enjoyed the energy of a cappella groups (I had heard DeltaCappella before) and the catchiness of musical theatre. I feel that your opera brought out the best of all three worlds and combined it with wonderful staging and acting to create an enjoyable experience. I thought that Playhouse on the Square was the perfect place to perform your work because it created an intimate setting that a cappella groups thrive on. In particular, I liked it when characters emerged from the "voicestra pit."

One of the stereotypes that I held about opera in general before going to your show was that I would be unable to understand the words if it was in English (or the plot if it was in Italian, French, German etc.) I had no trouble understanding the words and the dialog felt natural and never seemed contrived. I liked how you were able to bring out the comedic elements in Shakespeare's play through clever staging and through the music. My personal favorite characters were Lysander (for his fantastic acting and great solos) and Puck (for his general mischief). I liked how you ended the opera with the main melody again after Puck gave his famous last monologue.

The melodies were fantastic and catchy especially the opening/main melody! I feel that you really did combine "very accessible melodies" with "serious music." My friend and I agreed that Helena's main, recurring melody had the catchiness of a pop song melody. "

The sweetest music to my ears is his comment about being able to understand the words!.

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