Write a commentNow in its 45th year, the Oswego Opera Theater has staged its latest production, a double-bill of comedic operettas, in an unusual venue: the Oswego County Courthouse.
In Cox and Box by Burnand & Sullivan, two men are fated to be engaged to the same woman—a woman neither one can stand. The action begins with Cox (played by Vincent Gover) threatening to throw a pillow at the musical ensemble for daring disturb his sleep in a self-aware fourth wall break. From this first scene to the denouement, the comedy is filled with goofiness, fourth wall breaks, and inside jokes that only a local audience could appreciate.
Besides the jokes in the script itself, this production also enjoyed great interplay between the actors and Conductor Ben May, DMA, who is the Director of Choral Activities at SUNY Oswego. The banter was enough to consider him a character in his own right, in addition to the conductor of the ensemble.
The comic opera Cox and Box first made its debut in 1866, and based on the laughter of the packed courthouse (my own included), still maintains its charm today.
After a short intermission, the stage was set for the night’s second operetta: Trial by Jury by Gilbert and Sullivan. This story is more complex, though not a bit more serious. Leading lady Angelina (played by SUNY Oswego junior Lizzy Dunn) is taking her former fiancé (played by Matthew Youngblood) to court for breach of a promised contract when he breaks their engagement.
The choice of venue lent itself to a sparse realism that only added to the comedic effects of the material. Nowhere else could the absurdity be so obvious when, for example, the plaintiff treats the walk to the front of the courtroom like the walk down the aisle she is suing for… in her wedding dress, no less.
Gilbert and Sullivan often had disagreements about music that, in Gilbert’s opinion, was too high of a class for the absurd material it was paired with. However, it is precisely this tension that creates much of the comedy of this production. The Usher, for example, sings delightfully for “silence in the courtroom” and, when he is not paid any mind, switches to a stern “Be quiet!” that feels like it was pulled straight from a modern law drama.
The double-bill also offers a meta twist between the two productions with Vincent Gover and Matthew Youngblood, who respectively play Cox and Box in the first production and then the Defendant and Judge in the second. These operettas are made to be enjoyed by all, whether engaging in deep analysis or simply laughing at the lullaby sung to a rasher of bacon.
Trial by Jury was notable in that it also paired numerous SUNY Oswego students with talented professional actors. The Oswego Opera Theater prides itself on giving aspiring performers experience to help start and further their careers—an opportunity that this cast’s student performers have proven themselves quite worthy of.
Last night’s audience offered a standing ovation to the cast. Readers interested in checking out the show can still catch the matinee, today at 2pm. For more information, visit the Oswego Opera Theater website.
