Viva Zarzuela! offers Spanish operetta highlights

Thursday-Saturday, April 16-18, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 19, 4 p.m.
Fine Arts Recital Hall

UAA's most talented student-artists take the stage in a production featuring highlights of popular Spanish operettas. Excerpts from works such as "El Barbero de Sevilla" by Gimenez, "La Pentenera" by Torroba and "La Revoltosa" by Chapi are featured, along with the entire "La Gran Via" by Federico Chueca. The production is directed by Mari Hahn and accompanied by Janet Stiles.

In "La Gran Via," an uproar ensues as the news reaches the residents of a new thoroughfare to be built that will obliterate the smaller streets. And the residents are not people, but the streets themselves -- all with their own charming, or alarming personalities. They include a philandering dandy hoping to hold political office, a maid-servant who has managed to gain the upper hand, three thieves that always outsmart the authorities and a hilariously ineffective policeman, all personifications of particular streets whose names will be quite familiar to residents of Anchorage.

This production launches the University of Alaska Opera Ensemble and Anchorage Opera Apprenticeship. The only program of its kind in North America, this undergraduate-level apprenticeship provides young Alaska artists with advanced training by the top specialists in the field and professional performing experience. For more information, please call (907) 786-1575.

Tickets are available through Centertix and the UAA Box Office; $10 in advance, $15 at the door. There is a $5 discount for students, seniors and military.