Cape Town Opera and UCT Opera School Present LA TRAVIATA at Artscape in May

By: Apr. 24, 2015
Enter Your Email to Unlock This Article

Plus, get the best of BroadwayWorld delivered to your inbox, and unlimited access to our editorial content across the globe.




Existing user? Just click login.

The young company of LA TRAVIATA

Cape Town Opera in collaboration with the UCT Opera School present perennial opera favourite LA TRAVIATA, with multiple casts of talented young students sporting vintage 1900-inspired costumes in Giuseppe Verdi's emotional masterpiece. Directed by Angelo Gobbato and conducted by Kamal Khan, LA TRAVIATA features design by Michael Mitchell, lighting by Faheem Bardien and choreography by Sean Bovim. The production will be accompanied by the UCT Symphony Orchestra.

Now seen not only as one of Verdi's finest and best loved operas, LA TRAVIATA is also viewed as one of the world's great music dramas. Its themes - the right of a human being to live as he or she sees fit, the right to love in the manner that the individual chooses, and the resulting potential for society's calamitous "moral" interference - still jump at us from media all over the world. Through the character of Violetta Valéry, the terminally ill prostitute is coerced into sacrificing her one hope of personal happiness for the sake of Alfredo's public reputation and his sister's marriage prospects, Verdi's romantic story exposes society's double standards when it comes to sex and money.

The legacy of LA TRAVIATA can be seen in today's popular culture. Films like Garry Marshall's PRETTY WOMEN, where the plot of the movie mirrors that of the opera, which itself is featured in one scene when Vivian (the Violetta character, played by Julia Roberts) is taken by her "Alfredo" (Edward, played by Richard Gere) takes her to a performance at the San Francisco Opera. Baz Luhrmann's epic film MOULIN ROUGE also draws on the opera for inspiration, with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor playing the lead roles.

Bookings for LA TRAVIATA are open at Computicket, with tickets ranging from R125 - R250. Performances take place on 30 April, 6 May and 8 May at 19:30, with 18:00 performances on 2 May and 9 May. For further information visit www.capetownopera.co.za or follow Cape Town Opera on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.



Videos