Pocket Opera's 2007 Season will open February 4 and run through July 22 with performances in San Francisco at the Florence Gould Theater in the the Palace of the Legion of Honor, the Napa Valley Opera House in Napa, the Osher-Marin JCC in San Rafael and the Ralston Ballroom, Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont.

     Click here for information to order tickets and to print order form.

     All operas will be sung in English with narration by Donald Pippin. Donald Pippin's English libretti will be available for each of the season's operas. They may be purchased at performances, or ordered in advance by mail from Pocket Opera.

Listen to Audio Clip

SYNOPSIS

     Lady Harriet would seem to be the person who has everything -- wealth, position, beauty, intelligence, charm --- yet she is dissatisfied. Something -- she knows not what -- seems to be lacking in her privileged, rarified, sheltered yet emotionally empty life.

     On an impulsive whim, she takes her friend Nancy, along with Sir Tristram, her all too persistent suitor, to Richmond Fair, a lively, raucous place where servant girls go each year, literally to auction off their services to the local farmers, hoping for a year’s employment. Masquerading as peasantry, our two highborn ladies, carried away by the novelty and excitement of their adventure, abruptly find themselves unwittingly and irrevocably hired out as farm help.

     The scene shifts to the simple, roughhewn farmhouse that is to be their new home, and where they are quickly confronted with totally unfamiliar tasks, like spinning and cooking. Lionel, one of the two farmers, is instantly drawn to Lady Harriet – or Martha as she is now called. We suspect that the attraction is mutual, despite the vast disparity of their social status. Bear in mind the rigidly stratified standards that prevailed at the time. Nonetheless, she tries to cool his passion and confesses quite frankly that, as a servant, she is totally useless, good for nothing except playing and singing, He tells her no matter, and begs her to sing for him. What can a servant do but comply?

     Before things have gone too far, the ladies are rescued by their old friend Sir Tristram, and the farmers are off in hot pursuit of the servants who got away. They meet by accident a few weeks later, where the identities of the two ladies are inevitably revealed. Lionel again professes his love for “Martha”, and this time she rejects him harshly and decisively, overcoming the battle with her real feelings. His passionate reaction leads to his arrest, which in turn leads to the revelation that he is in fact the son of an Earl, unjustly banished and now posthumously pardoned by the Queen.

     This change of status, taken far more seriously at the time than it would be, one hopes, today, frees Lady Harriet to follow her heart and accept the love she has felt all along. But by now, Lionel is thoroughly disillusioned and embittered, indeed close to madness. She is determined to win him back, and eventually does so by convincing him of a newfound humility and sincerity. In short, by once again becoming “Martha”.

Dianna Shuster, director. With Marcelle Dronkers, Brian Thorsett, Julia Ulehla, Clifton Romig, Roger McCracken, Eric Carter, Michael Beetham, Fenanado Tarrango, Steven Hoffman, Joanne Um, Nancy Munn, Randy Linee, Rosalee Szabo

Sunday, February 4, 2007, 2:00 pm - Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor
Friday, Feb 9, 7:30 PM - Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor
Sunday, Feb 11, 2:00 PM - Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor
Sunday, Feb 18, 2:00 PM - Napa Valley Opera House
                  (Call Napa Valley Opera House for tickets: 707-226-7372)
Saturday, Feb 24, 2:00 PM - Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor
Sunday, March 11, 2:00 PM - Osher-Marin Jewish Community Center
                  (Call Osher-Marin JCC for tickets: 415-444-8000)

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     One lecherous king, two ambitious fathers, and four distraught lovers find their way out of a seemingly hopeless impasse.

Concert format. With Geeta Novotny, Brian Thorsett, Eileen Morris, Elspeth Franks, Erina Newkirk, Kindra Sharich, Boyd Jarrell

Saturday, March 31, 2:00 PM – Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor
Sunday, April 1, 2:00 – Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor
Sunday, April 15, 2:00 – Ralston Ballroom, Notre Dame de Namur University

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    Sir John Falstaff, the plump knight, has most imprudently written identical love letters to two of Windsor’s highly respectable wives -- respectable, but by no means averse to a bit of mischief. With great glee they plot their vengeance for this assault upon their good sense, which leads to two harrowing escapes. Harrowing for Sir John, that is to say.

    Falling for the bait a third time, at midnight in Windsor Forest, Sir John is assaulted by goblins, fairies, imps and hornets who prick him back into his senses.

    Meanwhile, lovely Anne Page has done some plotting on her own and succeeded, despite her short-sighted parents’ objections, in marrying the man of her own choice.

Debra Lambert, director. With Marcelle Dronkers, Brian Thorsett, Kathleen Moss, Roger McCracken, Lee Strawn, Michelle Yaghmai, Axel Van Chee, Sherrine Aubert, Julia Louise Hosack, Heidi Olson, Marilyn Pratt, Jeffrey Wang, Justin Nixon

Friday, April 27, 7:30 – Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor
Sunday, April 29, 2:00 PM – Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor
Sunday, May 6, 2:00 PM – Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor

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Pocket Opera Premiere



Listen to Audio Clip

     The Countess, once a raving beauty, now old, frail and haggard, some time ago was let in on a powerful secret, invaluable at the card table:
The Countess arrived at the court of Versailles
With trunks full of gold and a gleam in her eye,
But soon at the table her losses were such
One had to conclude she was losing her touch.
Germain heard a cry of dismay:
“God help me! I’m ruined!
My gold I’d regain, winding up in the black,
If only I had crucial knowledge I lack.
A sequence of three cards could save me!”

Observing her beauty, the Count, deeply stirred,
Was quick to respond to the cry overheard.
A master of magic and skilled in black art,
His tone was celestial as strains of Mozart.
“My dear, I can teach you to play.
O Countess! Dear Countess!
The cards you require I shall whisper to you
For merely the price of a brief rendezvous.
The sequence of cards that can save you . . .”

She shuddered, protested, “How dare you suggest? . . .”
But on second thought . . . you’ve by now surely guessed . . .
On leaving his chamber next day, as implied,
The coveted knowledge she stored up inside.
“You gamblers, get out of my way!”
She promptly recovered the loot she had lost,
Now Queen of the table – we won’t mention the cost.
For three cards, the three cards, three only!

The sequence in time to her husband was told,
And then to a lover enamored of gold.
But soon came a warning as if from the dead,
A stern apparition that solemnly said,
“O Countess, take warning, beware!
You will die when a passionate stranger appears,
Demanding, beseeching in tears of despair.
You will die holding on to your secret:
Three cards!
     Ghermann, an obscure, impoverished, passionately intense young army sergeant, is determined to wrest the secret from the Countess. He succeeds, but with horrendous consequences for the girl who has given up everything to throw herself into his arms. And it is the ghost of the Countess that gets the last malevolent laugh.



Jane Hammett, director. With Rachel Michelberg, Kevin Courtemanche, Yoo Ri Clark, Todd Donovan, Adam Meza, Sonia Garaieff, Ayelet Cohen, Rosalie Szabo, Brad Kynard, Willian O'Neill, Jeffrey Wang, Steven Hoffman, Ann Elizabeth Jones, Beth Henry

May 4, Friday, 7:30 – Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor
Saturday, May 12, 2:00 PM – Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor
Sunday, May 20, 2:00 PM – Napa Valley Opera House
                  (Call Napa Valley Playhouse for t11:10 PM 2/2/2007ickets: 707-226-7372)

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Emperor Norton : San Francisco’s legendary mad “Emperor” makes an appearance at auditions for a new play about his life, and gives the actors, and the playwright, the real story.
Starbird: In New York City a dog, a cat and a donkey are set adrift by their owners. They meet--where else--in Central Park, which is the starting point for an adventure that propels them into outer space.

Saturday, May 26, 2:00 PM – Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor
Saturday, June 9, 2:00 PM – Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor

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Listen to Audio Clip

    The bandits are restless, on the verge of revolt. Fed up with small change stuff – a purse here, a pocket there -- they long for the bigtime international stage: the bank safes, the jewelry cabinets, the underground vaults, the front page headlines. Their leader is on the spot: how to come up with a scheme that will provide the artistic stimulus that they hunger for?

    Fate plays into his hands: a royal wedding in the offing, three million francs (roughly 75 million dollars) for the taking, without so much as a knife drawn or a pistol fired. A fool-proof plan. How can it possibly go awry?

    Offenbach at his best!

Philip Lowery, director. With Michael Mendelsohn, Tamra Paselk, Katherine Growdon, Justin Nixon, Chris Walkey, Beth Henry, Morgan Harrington, Andrew Morgan, Fernando Tarango, Elena Krell, Jessica Hatley, Randy Linee, Mirissa Binder, Jordan Eldrich, Eric Carter, Wayne Wong

Saturday, June 2, 7:30 PM – Ralston, Notre Dame de Namur University, Belmont
Sunday, June 10, 2:00 PM – Napa Napa Valley Opera House
                  (Call Napa Valley Playhouse for tickets: 707-226-7372)
Saturday, June 16, 2:00 PM – Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor
Friday, June 22, 7:30 PM – Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor
Sunday, June 24, 2:00 PM – Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor

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Pocket Opera Premiere



Listen to Audio Clip

     On a hillside above Nagasaki a marriage is about to take place between James Pinkerton, officer of the U. S. navy, and Butterfly, as she is affectionately called by her friends. Entranced by Butterfly, for him the ceremony is a charming make-believe, an exotic dream, an intoxicating adventure in a quaint, captivating, miniature far away land. For her, it is a matter of life or death. Now cut off from her own past, her future rests entirely in his hands.

     Although compelled to depart soon afterwards when his ship sails, Pinker-ton vows to return to her “when the robins come to nest”. After three years of patiently waiting, she has never doubted that, true to his word, he would return to her and the infant son he has not yet seen and take them back with him to America. Suddenly it appears that her faith is justified: his ship is seen sailing into the harbor. Butterfly is ecstatic. But she is in for a crushing disappointment. He indeed returns, with his new American wife, a ‘real” wife, with the intention of taking his son to a better life back home. Butterfly sees clearly that she must give up her baby, for his own sake. She also sees that for herself there is but one recourse.

Rod Gomez, director. With Bharati Soman, Shouvik Mondle

Saturday, June 23, 7:30 PM – Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor
Friday, June 29, 7:30 PM – Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor
Sunday, July 1, 2:00 PM – Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor
Sunday, July 8, 2:00 PM - Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor
Sunday, July 15, 2:00 PM – Napa Valley Opera House
                  (Call Napa Valley Playhouse for tickets: 707-226-7372)
Sunday, July 22, 2:00 PM - Osher-Marin Jewish Community Center
                  (Call Osher-Marin JCC for tickets: 415-444-8000)