Encompass Opera Presents 'Shaw Sings!' at Symphony Space

Nancy Rhodes, Artistic Director of Encompass New Opera Theatre, announced the award-winning company, in association with Opera Index, will present the NY Premiere of SHAW SINGS! for five performances at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space, Broadway & 95th Street, on June 19-22, 2008.  Ms. Rhodes will direct the new comic operas with Mara Waldman as conductor.

 
In SHAW SINGS! composer Philip Hagemann joins forces with George Bernard Shaw setting two of his most inspired plays to music featuring a chamber orchestra of 14 musicians.  In the musical farce based on Shaw's "Passion, Poison and Petrifaction," we are thrust into his upside-down world of infidelity, murder and intrigue.  "The Dark Lady of the Sonnets," in a unique twist, we spy the Bard convincing Queen Elizabeth I to establish a National Theatre, a cause very near and dear to George Bernard Shaw and one he promoted to the British Monarchy.  And, a cause very, very dear to Encompass New Opera Theatre today.

 
This limited New York Premiere engagement of "SHAW SINGS!" will be presented on June 19, 20 & 21 at 8 PM with a 2 PM matinee on Saturday, June 21 and a 3 PM matinee on Sunday, June 22.  Seats at $45 ($35 for Students/Seniors) are available at (212) 864-5400 or via www.symphonyspace.org/event/2348.

 
"The Dark Lady of the Sonnets" cast includes Hai-Ting Chinn (as Queen Elizabeth), Andrew Cummings, Deborah Lifton and Matthew Pena as William Shakespeare. 

 
"Passion, Poison and Petrifaction" features Deborah Lifton, Darcy Dunn. Ross Benoliel, Luke Grooms, Andrew Cummings, Dominic Inferrera, Matthew Pena and Justin Sherwood. 

 
Sets will be designed by Charles Townsend Wittreich, Jr., with costume design by A. Christina Giannini and lighting design by Christopher Greevy.

 
Award-winning composer Philip Hagemann is the leading musical interpreter of Shaw's plays, having composed five operas based on Shaw plays.  He has composed two full-length operas (in addition to an adaptation of Debussy's The Prodigal Son).  His opera, The Nightingale and the Rose won the 2003 competition for a one-act chamber opera sponsored by the National Opera Association.  His opera Paris and Oenone was a co-winner of the same competition in 1998.  In 2001, excerpts from his full-length opera Androcles and the Lion were presented as part of the New York City Opera's Showcasing American Composers Series.  A choral conductor and composer, he has published over 70 choral works with several major music publishers.

 
Opera Index, Inc.'s mission is to provide advocacy for opera and support for its artists at the start of their career through financial gifts and sponsored performances; to foster a community of opera lovers; and to promote knowledge of opera's history, singers and organizations.

 
Encompass New Opera Theatre, founded in 1975, is New York City's longest established company dedicated to the creation, development and production of contemporary opera and new music theatre, as well as the revival of important musical works from the 20th Century by American and international composers.  In the vanguard of companies devoted to forging a wider recognition of America's outstanding composers, dramatists and singers, Encompass has, presented over 50 fully mounted productions with orchestra and staged readings of over 150 new works from jazz and cabaret to musicals and opera.  In 2000, OPERA America honored Encompass and its founding Artistic director, Nancy Rhodes, for 25 years of Dynamic Leadership.