‘25-’26 Season
by Giacomo Puccini
La Rondine
music direction by Mary Chun
stage direction by Elly Lichenstein
June 12-28
“What does wealth matter, so long as, in the end happiness has blossomed again!
Oh, such a golden dream, to be able to love like that!” -Magda “Chi il bel sogno di Doretta”
Love is back in fashion! It’s Paris in the Gilded Age, where romance, decadence and glamour await at every turn. The beautiful Magda (the “swallow” of the title) resides in comfort in her gilded cage, mistress to the wealthy Rambaldo. But recalling a tender moment from her past, she breaks from her cage and risks it all for true love to run away with the young Ruggero. Meanwhile, her delightful maid Lisette seeks happiness with a charming poet. Will love win out?
Written during the height of WWI, La Rodine started as a commissioned operetta for Vienna’s Karlstheater. By the time it was completed, the war meant that a Viennese premiere was out of the question. It finally premiered in 1917 in Monte Carlo as a full-fledged opera.
Says Stage Director Elly Lichenstein:
Sometimes following one’s heart may end well, and sometimes our past intervenes. When we strive to reinvent ourselves, do we find a better way to be true to ourselves and others, or does the opposite occur? Mercury’s production, sung in English, explores the complexities of self-knowledge and self-worth, all to Puccini’s achingly beautiful score. It’s one of his most elegant and lighter works, blending the lush Romanticism of his late career with the spirited charm of a waltz-filled Viennese operetta.
About the Composer:
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was born in Italy in 1858 as the sixth of nine children. He came from a musical family which had served as the maestro di cappella in Lucca for 124 years by the time Puccini was born. Puccini is considered the leading exponent of verismo (literally, realism) opera, which focuses on people rather than gods or mythological beings. His work is marked by his effortless lyricism, unabashed romanticism, and a keen sense of stagecraft. Perhaps best known for La Boheme, Madame Butterfly, and Tosca he also composed La faniculla del West, La rondine and Il trittico: Il tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi, and the posthumously finished Turandot before succumbing to a heart attack at the age of 65 in 1924.
Past Shows
Pins & Needles
by Harold Rome
August 30 - September 14
For the first show of its inaugural season, Mercury Theater presents, “Pins and Needles,” an unjustly forgotten piece of musical theater history that speaks powerfully to the present day.
“Pins and Needles,” is a musical revue by composer Harold Rome and a crew of Depression Era scribes first performed by members of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union in 1937.
With a modern day cast of 10, the theater has culled the best songs and sketches from the revue’s ever-changing four-year Broadway run. These include songs like “Doin’ the Reactionary,””It’s Better with a Union Man,” “Sitting on Your Status Quo,” “One Big Union for Two,” and “Call it Unamerican.”
Woody Guthrie’s American Song
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
by Bertolt Brecht
October 31-November 16
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is a satirical parable play that uses a gangster-ruled Chicago in the 1930s to allegorically depict Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1930s Germany. Set during an economic slump, the play follows the small-time gangster Arturo Ui as he takes over the city's vegetable trade through corruption, bribery, and violence. Each event and character in the play has a parallel to real-life events in Nazi Germany, serving as a cautionary tale to audiences that people's complicity and lack of resistance allow demagogues to take control.
This production is not recommend for audience members under 13; our apologies for the inconvenience, but children under the age of 5 will not be permitted to attend.
Songs and Writings by Woody Guthrie
Conceived and Adapted by Peter GlazerOrchestrations and Vocal Arrangements by Jeff Waxman
January 9-25
Woody Guthrie's American Song serves as a musical tribute to the American folk singer and poet, Woody Guthrie, conceived and adapted by Peter Glazer. It uses Guthrie's own songs and writings to narrate his life and the historical and social forces that shaped him and the nation, such as the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and labor struggles. The show brings to life the spirit of Guthrie's music as a celebration of American history, its people, their struggles, and their joys.
by Noël Coward
Private Lives
March 6-21
In Noël Coward's sparkling and sophisticated comedy of manners, Private Lives, a divorced couple, Amanda and Elyot, find themselves unexpectedly honeymooning at the same hotel with their new spouses. Their shared past ignites a firestorm of passion, leading them to abandon their new partners and escape together to Paris. This witty and chaotic escape reignites a turbulent romance filled with both adoration and dramatic clashes, as their spurned spouses, Victor and Sibyl, give chase.
Discover this sharp, hilarious battle of the sexes, a timeless exploration of love, lust, and the scandalous, intoxicating nature of human relationships.
Enfrascada
by Tanya Saracho
Practical, down-to-earth Alicia has had her heart broken and her world shattered, but her girls, Yesinia and Carolina, know what to do! With Alicia's cousin Lulu they launch into a madcap plan of magical manipulation with a little Santeria, a dash of Hoodoo, and a whole heap of Brujeria!
Get 'engrossed' in this dark Latine comedy about friendship, magic, and finding yourself after your world falls apart.
Apr 24-May 10
Our new season is here!
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