Barry University Department of Fine Arts presents 'The Telephone' and 'Trouble in Tahiti'

Posted March 27, 2008

In this double bill of opera presented by the Department of Fine Arts in mid-March 2008, "Beware the Ides of March" was a great thing! These two modern Operas, Menotti's THE TELEPHONE and Bernstein's TROUBLE IN TAHITI, were a stark contrast to each other.

In THE TELEPHONE, Ben wishes to propose to Lucy but is unable to gain her attention because of her obsession with the telephone. He finally goes out and calls her on the telephone to propose marriage; as it's the only way to gain her attention. In this avant-garde production by guest director Eduardo Valdes, Ben (Valdes) uses a "Blue Tooth" device instead of a telephone in the last scene. Valdes and Beverly Coulter (who sang Lucy) put together a performance which rivaled any production. The reduction at the piano was played by Fred Coulter, who personally knew composer Gian-Carlo Menotti.. Mr. Coulter played the partly satirical and difficult accompaniment with authenticity and class.

The second Opera, TROUBLE IN TAHITI, was the exact opposite of the light-hearted theme of THE TELEPHONE. In it, Dinah (sung by senior Elizabeth Gerrard) and Sam (sung by freshman Giovanni Maschi) try to make sense of their drab, colorless marriage. The gray mood is broken during each scene by a jazz trio of all things (Eduardo Valdes, Jared Peroune, Elizabeth Doriety) which narrates the story in close clusters of harmony.

Eduardo Valdes and Beverly Coulter in THE TELEPHONE

Elizabeth Gerrard and Giovanni Maschi in TROUBLE IN TAHITI