BY KAREN BOSSICK
The glamour and enchantment of Richard Strauss’s 19th century Vienna will be on display when the Metropolitan Opera presents a live simulcast MetHD production of “Arabella” on Saturday.
The lavish production will start at 10:55 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 22, at Merlin’s Magic Lantern in Ketchum. The show, presented by Sun Valley Opera and Broadway and Merlin’s Magic Lantern, runs four hours and 10 minutes with two intermissions.
Strauss’s elegant romance is being produced by legendary director Otto Schenk. It stars soprano Rachel Willis-Sorensen as Arabella, a young noblewoman in search of love on her own terms.
Soprano Louise Alder portrays her sister Zdenka and bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny is the dashing count who sweeps Arabella off her feet.
The opera opens with Countess Adelaide consulting a fortuneteller about the family’s financial crisis. The cards predict a rich marriage for the beautiful daughter Arabella, which would get the family out of debt. But the fortuneteller sees danger regarding a second daughter Zdenko, who has been masquerading as a boy to save the family the ruinous expense of introducing two daughters into society.
Alas, misunderstandings are on the horizon due to this misrepresentation.
Zdenka—the daughter’s real name—has been writing love letters to a young lieutenant Matteo, with whom she has fallen in love with. And she’s been doing so in Arabella’s hand, prompting him to ask Zdenko—his best friend—to help him woo Arabella.
Tickets are $22 for general audience members and $20 for seniors.