Encompass' A WAKE OR A WEDDING to Run 11/6-16 at Baruch

TV's Dallas meets Chekhov in Richard Pearson Thomas' new comic opera "A Wake or a Wedding," receiving its New York premiere by Encompass New Opera Theatre, Nancy Rhodes, Artistic Director, November 6-16 at Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue. The sophisticated farce, with music and libretto by Thomas, will be performed by an ensemble of eight superb singers starring Joy Hermalyn, whose credits include Broadway productions of Candide, Cyrano, Fiddler on the Roof, Baz Luhrmann's La Bohene, and numerous City Center Encores!, to name a few. She leads an exceptional cast who have appeared with opera companies in the U.S. and abroad. The chamber orchestra, Ionization New Music Group, will be conducted by Encompass Music Director Mara Waldman.

"A Wake or a Wedding" runs 90 minutes and is performed in English. Following the performances, audiences are invited to a Meet and Greet, where they can chat with the artists and enjoy a piece of wedding cake and other refreshments, in celebration of the Company's new home at BPAC. Some performances (tba) will also feature a talk-back with the composer, director and conductor.

"A Wake or a Wedding" takes viewers to 1898 Montana, where ruthless, unloveable copper king Pierpont Mackerel Davenport, has dropped dead on the eve of his daughter Velena-Sue's wedding, a matter of great inconvenience to her. "Selfish to the end," she snorts. The already topsy-turvy household is shaken up by the arrival of Marcella Sorella, opera diva extraordinaire, and her cohort Raimondo Vecchiofaraone, who could be from Cairo Egypt or Cairo Illinois - hard to tell! Other characters are the groom Jack Highstraw, a lepidopterist; the butler Smelt; housekeeper Miss O'Dell; Pierpont's mad as a hatter widow Deirdre; and seamstress Ambrosia.

Surprise relationships are revealed, the tables are turned, and all characters reveal their surprisingly true identities.