"LOVE: A Tragedy and a Comedy": One-Act Operas "Il Tabarro" & "Mr. Bruschino"

Operas of Murder, Mayhem & Mistaken Identities in "LOVE: A Tragedy and a Comedy"

A barge owner violently murders his wife's adulterous lover. A former politician's mischievous daughter disguises her boyfriend as someone else to trick her father into letting them marry. One tale is a taut, gut-wrenching tragedy; the other, a giddily conceived comedy where anything is possible. And both are on the bill at Island City Opera's love-themed two-part production of Puccini's "Il Tabarro (The Cloak)" and Rossini's "Mr. Bruschino" at Alameda Elks Lodge. With its evocative harbor setting and soaring duets, "Il Tabarro" offers ample opportunities for magnificent set pieces. Meanwhile, "Mr. Bruschino" updates its source material, "Il Signor Bruschino", to modern-day California, ushering in a slick-yet-shady businessman character, and giving its lapsed politician a hazy, all-too-familiar alternative lifestyle.