North Central College staging two light operas

The Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas "Trial by Jury" and "The Sorcerer" will take center stage in July during performances by North Central College's Summer Light Opera.

Six performances will be staged at 7:30 p.m. July 11-12 and 17-19 and 2 p.m. July 13 in North Central's theater at Meiley-Swallow Hall, 31 S. Ellsworth St., Naperville. Tickets are $18 for adults and $12 for students and senior citizens. For tickets or information, call (630) 637-SHOW (7469) or visit northcentralcollege.edu/showtix.

"Trial by Jury" and "The Sorcerer" are British duo Gilbert and Sullivan's second and third collaborations, respectively, with libretto by Gilbert and music by Sullivan. Both operas feature heavy satire and outrageous plots.

"Trial by Jury" is a sung-through piece in which a jilted bride takes her groom to court. "The Sorcerer" is a tale of magic and mix-ups where a betrothed man attempts to level social ranks and share the gift of love by slipping a love potion in his guest's tea.

The double bill is directed by Matt Boresi, with musical direction by Jeordano Martinez, and features community residents in the cast. Boresi, a 1997 alumnus of North Central College, is an award-winning librettist who's written a number of successful plays, musicals and operas and serves as an acting and writing instructor for North Central's Musical Theatre Workshop.

Martinez is professor of music emeritus at North Central College and conducts the 125-voice Naperville Chorus.

"Trial by Jury" and "The Sorcerer" will be featured as a one-act and encompass modernized interpretations from Boresi and Martinez of early British comic opera.

"'The Sorcerer' is now set at a modern British royal wedding and 'Trial by Jury' is set in a modern courtroom, with modern sloppy bridesmaids," says Boresi. "A Gilbert and Sullivan work, even though it is filled with literary and musical references specific to its time, is so keenly observant of human folly that it modernizes well."

The North Central College Summer Light Opera program is now in its sixth year. Boresi and Martinez previously presented "Iolanthe," "Princess Ida," "The Mikado," "HMS Pinafore" and "The Gondoliers." The cast of "Trial by Jury" and "The Sorcerer" includes students from a number of colleges and conservatories, voice teachers, early career professional performers and opera enthusiasts from all walks of life.