The University of Iowa Summer Opera will present Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe, a magical and hilarious operetta full of brilliantly witty dialogue and soaring melodies, complete with orchestra and some fantastical special effects. Performances will take place at 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, July 11-13, and 2 p.m. Sunday, July 14, at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts.
The UI production is directed by Nicholas Wuehrmann, and the orchestra is conducted by William LaRue Jones, director of the UI Symphony Orchestra.
After Iolanthe, a fairy, commits the capital offense of marrying a mortal, she is banished from Fairyland for life. She gives birth to their son, Strephon, who, as a result, is half mortal, half fairy. After the Queen of the Fairies, who is fond of Iolanthe, agrees to pardon her, Iolanthe announces that her son Strephon will soon be married to Phyllis, an Arcadian shepherdess. Problems occur when it turns out that every member of the House of Lords is also in love with Phyllis. The Lords and Phyllis happen upon a meeting between Strephon and his mother (who still looks 17) and the Lords convince Phyllis that Strephon is being unfaithful.
The fairies punish the Lords by sending Strephon to Parliament and casting a spell that makes all the peers pass any bill that Strephon wants. Who will win Phyllis’s heart? Who is Strephon’s father? Will Iolanthe be banished once again?
Wuehrmann has directed Countess Maritza, The Merry Widow, Utopia Limited, and The Pirates of Penzance for Ohio Light Opera, and his productions of Die Zauberflöte and Hänsel und Gretel have been touring around Europe for three years under the auspices of Great Performances in Germany. He has also directed Romance/Romance, You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow, Starting Here Starting Now, The World Goes ’Round, and jimmy for Seaside Music Theater/UCF. His production of Baby earned him a Kennedy Center Award for outstanding direction.
Since 1997, Jones has been professor of music and director of orchestral studies and conductor of orchestras and opera at the UI. In 2011 he received the distinct honor of becoming a Collegiate Fellow in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. His conducting schedule includes a wide array of professional, festival, collegiate, and student ensembles throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, ranging from the Minnesota Orchestra and the Minneapolis Pops to the Penang (Malaysia) Symphony, the Orquestra Sinfonica do Theatro da Paz (Belem, Brazil), the Antofagasta (Chile) Symphony, and the Symphony Orchestra of Lucerne (Switzerland).
Tickets are $20 ($15 for senior citizens, $10 for youth, and $5 for UI students with a valid UI ID) and are available from the Hancher Box Office in the Old Capitol Town Center. Tickets are available at www.hancher.uiowa.edu/tickets. Hancher Box Office summer business hours, for walk-up and phone sales, are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays. Call 319-335-1160 or 800-426-2437. People with special needs for access, seating, and auxiliary services should dial 319-335-1158, which is equipped with TDD for people with hearing impairment.
The School of Music and the Department of Theatre Arts are units of the Division of Performing Arts in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. For accommodations at the concert contact the School of Music at 319-335-1603. For a UI arts calendar and details about upcoming events, visit the Arts Iowa website.