Opera North Announces Cast of WEST SIDE STORY, 7/31-8/13

OPERA NORTH, located in Lebanon NH, is one of the leading summer music festivals in New England (Evans Haile, General Director), celebrating its 33rd season. The company announces the principal cast and creative for West Side Story, with performances from July 31-August 13.

The show will be directed by Evan Pappas (Broadway My Favorite Year, Parade, Putting It Together), choreographed by Cathy Young, (Head of Dance at Boston Conservatory), and conducted by Opera North Artistic Director Louis Burkot.

The cast includes Arianna Rosario (West Side Story National Tour) as Anita, Warren Curtis (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, A Chorus Line) as Bernardo, Victor Starsky (Celebrant/Bernstein Mass) as Tony, and Candace Matthews as Maria.

The production is the first collaboration between Opera North and the Boston Conservatory of Music (recently named one of the top 10 conservatories in the country and the top contemporary dance program in the country by OnStage). The ensemble includes Evan Kinnane as Baby John, Jordan Ford as Riff, Andrew Norlen as A-Rab, Andy Garcia as Action, and Alexander Swift as Chino.

Set design by Robert Fetterman and costumes by Collette Benoit.

Opera North is famous for its roster of noted American singers including Nathan Gunn, Faith Esham, Todd Thomas, and Kristen Choi to name a few, and its large scale orchestra performs at the Lebanon Opera House, Lebanon, NH, every July and August, with additional concerts at historic sites throughout the New England Upper Valley. It is the region's only professional opera company, and the only full time opera company in the tri-state region of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.

This season also includes Aaron Copland's The Tender Land and Mozart's Abduction From the Seraglio, directed by Russ Treyz, and designed by David Arsenault.

For more information or to purchase tickets visit www.operanorth.org, or call 603 448-0400.