‘A Wedding’ injects humor into opera

It’s not likely that censors ever advised viewer discretion for adult content in Mozart’s operas.\nBut William Bolcom’s “A Wedding” is different. Saturday, the Grammy Award-winning composer’s creation opens at the Musical Arts Center with a comical twist on a classical art form.\nStage director Vincent Liotta said the opera is about what happens at a wedding reception when none of the guests show, and everything that can go wrong, does. \nBut unlike the conventional opera, “A Wedding” encourages laughter with double entendres, outrageous characters and bawdy antics.\n“The subject matter and style of presentation are much more what one sees in film than on the opera stage, including modern and often adult language, sexual humor and a very fast moving story line,” Liotta said.\nJim Lile, production manager for the opera, said the Musical Arts Center does a variety of operas each year, including both comedies and tragedies. \n“The preparation depends not on the type of performance, but on the needs of each production,” he said. \nThough this incarnation of the opera is comedic, there is still artistic value there. The Lyric Opera House of Chicago commissioned “A Wedding” in 2004, and IU is hosting its collegiate premiere. “McTeague” and “A View from the Bridge,” two additional operas Bolcom wrote, played to rave reviews at the MAC in 1996 and 2005, respectively. Bolcom came to IU to help with those productions, and he’s been working with the cast of “A Wedding” as well.\n“It’s a thrill to have Mr. Bolcom back in Bloomington for the production of ‘A Wedding,’” said Alain Barker, spokesman for the IU Jacobs School of Music. “He is an inspiring person to work with and fits well with the creative team working on the project.”\nLiotta said it is a unique honor to be able to work with Bolcom during the rehearsal process and benefit from his insights as the author of the work. \n“He is a genius who can break the normal boundaries between popular and classical sound,” said Liotta, who worked with Bolcom on both of his previous IU performances. “He is a unique voice as a composer, covering every style from the most strictly classical to rock.”\nLead cast member Robin Federici, starring as the bride, said she hopes the audience enjoys the opera as much as she enjoyed rehearsing it. \n“It’s quite rare for opera singers to have the opportunity to collaborate with the composers of the work they are performing,” Federici said. “Having Bolcom involved in the rehearsal process was invaluable and an experience I will never forget.”\nIn addition to the Pulitzer Prize-winning Bolcom, conductor David Agler will serve as guest conductor. He has performed with the San Francisco Opera, The Western Australian Opera and the Opera Company of Philadelphia, among others.\n“A Wedding” will be performed at 8 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2, 8 and 9 at the Musical Arts Center.