Photo Flash: Sneak Peek at Shorts from 'THAT CERTAIN AGE', Coming to Opera America This Winter

On December 1, The Aviva Players will conclude its 40th Anniversary three-part concert series at The National Opera America Center, 330 Seventh Ave. (at 29th Street), Manhattan with THAT CERTAIN AGE: SHORT OPERAS ABOUT AGING WITH HUMOR AND GRACE. The evening is presented by Aviva Players and Kindred Spirits. Director is Rina W. Elisha and musical director is Barbara Ames. The evening will feature works composed by Anne Phillips, Alice Shields, Mira j Spektor, Haim Elisha and Seymour Barab. Scroll down for a sneak peek at some of the shorts!

The lineup includes: "Give me Time" and "Mothers and Daughters" by Mira J. Spektor, "Komachi at Sekidera" by Alice Shields, "Making Plots" and "Tempo Fuori Del Tempo" by Anne Phillips, "Originality" by Haim Elisha and "Jewish Humor" by Seymour Barab.

Singers include Shadia Almasri (Soprano), Santiago Aponte (Tenor), Martha Cluver (Soprano), Charles Coleman (Baritone), Karen Jolicoeur (Soprano), Bill Krakauer (Bass), Angela Leson (Soprano), Leslie Middlebrook (Mezzo Soprano) and Lars Woodul (Baritone). Musicians include pianists Barbara Ames and Anne Phillips, Koto player Mayuko Matsuda and cellist Wanda Glowacka.

The evening is the third part of the Aviva Players' 40th Anniversary Series to be presented this fall at Opera America. For information on the other concerts, see www.jsnyc.com/season/aviva.htm. Tickets for 'THAT CERTAIN AGE' are $20 general admission. Box office: SMARTTIX, 212-868-4444, www.smarttix.com. Runs 1:30.

ABOUT THE SHORT OPERAS:

"Give Me Time," music by Mira J. Spektor, lyrics by Mira J Spektor, June Siegel and Caroline Crippen. Two people meet on a park bench in this operatic cabaret duet about love and aging in our ever changing world. Performed by Karen Jolicoeur and Lars Woodul.

"Mothers and Daughters" is comprised of two short pieces by Mira J. Spektor. "Casino" offers us dice and roulette for a daughter in a Casino in the South of France; cards for her mother, who plays Gin Rummy in her Central Park West Apartment. The games are over and nothing goes. With Angela Leson and Leslie Middlebrook. "Have Song, Will Travel" depicts a daughter remembering her mother in a time of adversity. With Karen Jolicoeur as the Daughter.

"Komachi at Sekidera" by Alice Shields is based on the Japanese Noh play, "Sekidera Komachi" by Kanze Motokiyo Zeame (1363-1443). The protagonist, Ono no Komachi, was a woman of great literary gifts and beauty who lived at the Heian court in ninth-century Japan. She became a legend after her death, and many apocryphal stories surround the few known facts concerning her life. In the opera, Komachi has lived into old age, beyond her beauty and her literary fame, and is forgotten. Confronted with age and mortality, she alternates between crying out for the days that are gone, and contemplates the bittersweet delight of being alive. Featured are Martha Cluver as Ono no Komachi with Mayuko Matsuda (Koto) and Sarah Carrier (Alto Flute).

"Tempo Fuori Del Tempo" by Anne Phillips, with libretto by Marilyn Scott Murphy, is about a women who decides to celebrate her fiftieth birthday in Italy; she takes a plane and is delighted to discover that her seat mate is a dashing young Italian. The title means Time out of Time and it is a fantasy-come-true experience. With Shadia Almasri, Santiago Aponte and Leslie Middlebrook.

"Making Plots" by Anne Phillips, libretto by Robert F. Benjamin, is about an elderly woman whose park bench is taken over by a videographer. She fights for her right to her park spot and becomes the woman in the cast of the video being made. Features Soprano Shadia Almasri as the old woman, Charles Colman as the actor in the film and Anne Phillips on piano.

"Originality" by Haim Elisha, based on a play by Mario Fratti, is about an old couple who have been married longer then necessary. The husband, trying to come up with fresh and interesting material to satisfy the wife's demand for originality, rattles off story after story but she has heard it all before. She is bored to death and dies, He, full of happiness and joy to be free at last, collapses and dies too. Performed by Leslie Middlebrook and Charles Coleman.

"Jewish Humor from Oy to Vey" by Seymour Barab. A selection of Jewish jokes, dramatized. With Leslie Middlebrook and Bill Krakauer.

Photo Credit: Jonathan Slaff