Opera della Luna
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Opera della Luna, founded in 1994, is a British touring theatre troupe of singers and comedians. Led by artistic director Jeff Clarke, it takes its name from Haydn’s operatic setting of Goldoni’s farce Il Mondo della Luna. The company’s goal is to create innovative productions of musical theatre, comic opera and operetta, in English, and to tour them to mid-scale venues all over the UK. Opera della Luna is a registered British charity.
The company undertakes two major tours each year and regularly visits over a hundred venues countrywide. Occasionally the company tours overseas.
The company's first success was an adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, called The Parson’s Pirates. Three other G&S productions have followed: The Ghosts of Ruddigore, The Mikado, and H.M.S. Pinafore, all adapted for a cast of 7 or 8 and no chorus. All of these have been presented at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival. The company's newest G&S-related piece is The Burglar's Opera, with a script by Stephen Wyatt, based on W. S. Gilbert's Burglar's Story mixed with elements of The Threepenny Opera. The music was adapted by Jeff Clarke from Arthur Sullivan's orchestral music. This toured in 2005 and 2006.
The company has also presented its chamber adaptation of The Merry Widow. In 2003, the Iford Opera Festival commissioned a new production of Offenbach’s La Belle Helene, which the company later toured. New productions of Robinson Crusoe and The Tales of Hoffmann have followed, and the company has returned to Iford.
The Opera Babes have performed with Opera della Luna.
