Oct 25

“The Werewolf”: Supernatural Melodrama is Split Open to Reveal Howling Good Time

Photo credit: Sara Haugland; a werewolf, extra fluffy.

Presented by WholeTone Opera 
Based on Le Loup-Garou by Louise Bertin
Fresh Libretto by Teri Kowiak & J. Deschene
New Music by Molly Preston

October 20—31st
The Rockwell in Davis Sq, Somerville
255 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144
The Werewolf on Facebook

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Davis Square, Somerville, MA) The Werewolf fooled me. Genuinely fooled me. I don’t know if that was its intention, but it did. It begins wholly in the realm of operatic convention. Alice (Jeila Irdmusa/Katie O’Reilly) wanders through the dark woods, possibly beset by something terrible. She meets her sisters, played by Nathalie Andrade, Elizabeth Clutts, Brooke Dircks, and Rebecca Wright, and they frolic. Then she encounters a handsome young man (played fantastically by Andy Troska through out the play) and they, well, also frolic, though in a much more suggestive way. Then we jump forward to Alice and her sisters preparing for her wedding, where Bertrand (Nick Stevens) reveals a werewolf (or loup-garou) is on the loose and the charming, flamboyant Vincent (Von Bringhurst/Nora Maynard) is referred to as a man of “unusual tastes,” everyone starts kissing each other, and the ethereal aura of the beginning collapses into a riotous comedy of errors with supernatural elements and a prominent queer subplot. Continue reading

Oct 23

WholeTone Opera Presents “The Werewolf,” Oct. 20 – 31

WholeTone Opera Presents: THE WEREWOLF
At The Rockwell in Davis Sq, Somerville
October 20 & 27, 7pm
October 21 & 28, 10pm
October 22 & 29, 1pm
October 31st, *HALLOWEEN* 8pm
Tickets: http://bit.ly/2x575HH
The Werewolf on Facebook

From the company that brought you La Zombiata, the zombie love opera, comes a freshly transformed and fiercely queer production. This Halloween, WholeTone Opera and The Rockwell present:
THE WEREWOLF!

A cursed and seductive nobleman has transformed into a loup-garou (werewolf)! He terrorizes a quiet village where almost no one is quite as they seem. To whom will the clever young witch, Alice, choose to pledge eternal devotion? To the werewolf, or the pious falconer? Or will Vincent, a sassy young nobleman, be the one to find true love at long last?

Adapted from Louise Bertin’s 19th century melodrama, Le Loup-garou, with new music by Molly Preston.
Visually inspired by early 20th C horror films with set design by Helen McCarthy & video projection mapping by Theresa Silver.
Modernized English libretto by Teri Kowiak & J. Deschene.
Special opener at every curtain featuring Parlor Opera Players!
Pre-show Tarot available from Cali Panesis.

Ring in this Halloween with comedy, horror, gaity, and WholeTone Opera at The Rockwell!
Costumes Encouraged!

Feb 22

Short, Sweet, and Gory: “La Zombiata”


Presented by WholeTone Opera
Opera by Jillian Flexner
Based on the opera by Giuseppe Verdi and Francesco Maria Piave.
Stage Director: J. Deschene
Music Director: Ian Garvie

February 12 – 14, 2016
Davis Square Theater
Somerville, MA
WholeTone Opera on Facebook

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Somerville, MA) The few times I’ve been to an opera, I noted that if you took out a lot of the notes people sang, you would end up with a bloody, sexy tale. Being that I’m generally inclined for a bloody, sexy tale over a lot of notes, I daydreamed of a streamlined opera that didn’t take itself so seriously. (Have you gathered I don’t usually like opera?) Continue reading