MSU Opera to perform 'Falstaff' starting Wednesday

The Michigan State University College of Music Opera Theatre program produces two operas each academic year. Usually one is a small, chamber type opera and the other is a well known, large opera.

This spring, Melanie Helton, director of the opera program, is presenting "Falstaff," a comic grand opera by Giuseppe Verdi.

Verdi, who is known for such tragic dramas as “Rigoletto,” “La Traviata” and more, was thought of as not being able to write a comedy. But at age 80, Verdi finally wrote this rollicking, goofy opera as the last of his 28 works.

Katherine Kilburn, assistant director of MSU Orchestras, will be conducting the 26-piece orchestra from the pit.

“Falstaff is so much fun," she said. "The oversized John Falstaff is a character that we love. We see his faults in a funny way and not too seriously. We grow to love him. When Verdi premiered the opera in 1893, it was a screaming success.”

The fictitious character is borrowed from Shakespeare’s “Merry Wives of Windsor” and “Henry IV.”

Helton says, “ “Falstaff” celebrates his own enormity and he turns the joke back on himself.”

To give opportunities for more students, Helton creates two sets of casts of the 10 principal singers.  In addition, 22 chorus members will be on stage. The opera will run for four performances.

As the stage director, Helton said she had some challenges.

“This opera has a lot of broad physical comedy, which is not that popular on TV as it once on was," she said. "We don’t have Carol Burnett anymore, so these kids don’t quite get the moves and the style. I spent a lot of time teaching the gag techniques. They’re having a lot of fun with it.”

Putting on an opera of this size is a major project. The two-level set was created by Kirk Domer, a professor of set design. MSU brought in a vocal coach from a Des Moines opera and 15 boxes of costumes were rented from a Florida firm. As usual, a full English translation of the opera will project above the singer’s  heads

Kilburn says, “The kids are working very hard on this piece.  It is entirely in Italian, lots of physical humor, and the orchestra is reduced in size, so many musicians are switching instruments very quickly throughout the piece.

“Playing an opera is so different for musicians They have to breathe when the singers breathe and follow their lyrical line perfectly. Opera is the total art form – it includes dancing, singing, acting plus the orchestra."

Helton says, “It’s a big sing. Lots of flashy arias and ensemble sections. The audience will love it.”

If you go

Falstaff, Verdi

• Michigan State University College of Music Opera Theatre

• Melanie Helton, Director,

• Katherine Kilburn, Orchestra conductor

• Fairchild Theater

• March 22, 24, 25, 26

• Tickets $22, adults; $20, seniors; music.msu.edu

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU Opera to perform 'Falstaff' starting Wednesday