CMU School of Drama


Friday, January 31, 2014

_L'etoile_ gives students a night at the opera

The Tartan Online: L’etoile, which literally translates to “The Star,” tells the story of Lazuli, a poor peddler who falls in love with a princess, Laoula, who is destined to be married to the king, Ouf. When Lazuli denounces the king and slaps him, Ouf orders Lazuli dead, but his royal astrologer explains that with Lazuli’s death, the king’s death follows closely. Through a series of dramatic events, Lazuli ends up marrying Laoula, only to appear dead shortly after, having apparently been shot by officials. When Lazuli reappears alive after swimming in a lake, Ouf is so overwhelmed that he gives his blessing for Lazuli and Laoula to live happily together — a rare happy ending for an opera.

7 comments:

Olivia LoVerde said...

Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to see L'etoile in it's entirety. I did however get the chance to see a piece of it while they were in tech and did get to assist with the load in and focus of the lighting. With just the only fifteen minutes of rehearsal I got to see I was so impressed, the training required to master this skill is immense and these student seem like they have been doing this for years. In combination with the amazing talents of the cast and the wonderful designs of the production team the show seemed to be a huge success.

Keith Kelly said...

I love L'etoile and it was much better than Albert Herring in my opinion. I got the opportunity to see the opening night and I do have to agree that the audience was of a younger age and had more energy than your typical opera crowd. In comparison to Albert Herring, i thought that every aspect of the show was better. Daniel must had had a blast forming unique characters and funky costumes. The set was unique and gorgeous. My favorite aspect of the set was the large rotating archways. When working with light the set look amazing. There was some weird shadows going on in the second act with the picture frames, but other than that it was a very pretty show. I thought the vocal performance majors mostly had terrific voices, but some were not completely developed. The one thing that needed major improvement was the acting. Opera is not all about singing, these students need to be taught how to act and not make it look corny. Some could, but others really could not. Overall i thoroughly enjoyed the show and I'm excited to see what the school of music produces next year.

AnnaAzizzyRosati said...

I loved L'etoile! It was SO funny and the actors were able to portray characters who were both interesting AND dynamic. I loved the simplicity of the set with the forced perspective and the colorful arches. And, of course, Daniel's costumes were crazy and perfect! It was really a very entertaining show!

Thomas Ford said...

I'm not a big opera person, so I was doubtful going to see l'etoile, but I thought that it was great. It was really funny and it looked fantastic. The costumes for that show were fabulous. The set was really interesting as well, with the spinning arches creating perspective, as well as the different sized streetlights. That show really surprised me because I didn't think that I would have that much fun seeing an opera, and I look forward to seeing the opera next semester.

Lukos said...

Opera is usually one of those things that i grimace about when someone asks me if I like it. Its becoming more apparent to me that i don't like a certain type of opera. But this opera was spectacular in my opinion. I was hesitant going because i had heard that it was half spoken and that the dialogue would be in english. But i was pleasantly surprised. I was incredibly impressed with Laoula on saturday night. I had seen the performers around during run-throughs in costume and i was very confused but when i saw it made so much sense even if its not apparent why it makes sense.

Lukos said...

Opera is usually one of those things that i grimace about when someone asks me if I like it. Its becoming more apparent to me that i don't like a certain type of opera. But this opera was spectacular in my opinion. I was hesitant going because i had heard that it was half spoken and that the dialogue would be in english. But i was pleasantly surprised. I was incredibly impressed with Laoula on saturday night. I had seen the performers around during run-throughs in costume and i was very confused but when i saw it made so much sense even if its not apparent why it makes sense.

Unknown said...

When I hear opera, I normally think of a certain type of overly dramatic show and a certain crowd that would go see it. But no, I was pleasantly surprised at the variety of the people attending and how much I got pulled into the show. I loved it! I only wish I had not been interrupted when watching the show by RA stuff. I really hope they have more shows of this caliber in the future!