Ariadne auf Naxos at 425 S Wabash Ave – Chicago, IL

Ganz Hall at Roosevelt University:

Please enter via 425 S Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL 60605 in the evenings.

Creative Team:

Stage Director: Josh Miller

Conductor: Marlon Daniel

Assistant Stage Director: Johanna Mergener

Assistant Conductor: Moyue Zhou

Similar to a Shakespearian “play within a play,” Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos” is an “opera within an opera.”

We begin backstage at the home of a wealthy patron of the arts, where two performances are being prepared: first, an elevated opera seria led by a young composer; and second, a lowbrow comedy performance led by the witty Zerbinetta. Both groups are adamant that their performance will be the most entertaining and they argue over who should perform first.

Since dinner has run long, and a fireworks display is scheduled for later, the troupes learn that both performances will have to run concurrently. If they want to be paid, they must accept these new circumstances. The composer bemoans the loss of their artistic vision as the performances are messily merged.

After the Prologue, the performance begins. As Ariadne laments her loss of Theseus in true tragic fashion, the comedy troupe abruptly interrupts and tries to cheer her up, with Zerbinetta arguing, in a dazzling coloratura aria, that women shouldn’t mourn lovers who abandon them; there are plenty of other men to occupy their time. The opera continues its deliberately jarring juxtaposition of the serious and the comedic until the genres merge into a celebration of love – and art – that both groups can get behind.