The Glimmerglass Festival presents a new adaptation of Offenbach’s La Périchole created by Eric Sean Fogel, James Lowe and Kelley Rourke, which moves the comedy’s action to New Orleans with new musical arrangement and orchestration by James Lowe in the style of 1920s jazz bands. The original libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy.
Isabel Leonard and William Burden star as a couple of hard-working musicians who have fallen on hard times. Conducted by James Lowe, co-directed by Francesca Zambello and Eric Sean Fogel, and with costume design by Christelle Matou, the 90-minute adaptation will be performed in English and French with translation by Kelley Rourke.
“If we’ve learned anything this year, it’s that artists — in the face of politics, prohibitions, even pandemics — will always find a way. In the story of Piquillo and Songbird, we see an overnight sensation that has been years in the making, which feels pretty realistic to me. It’s a good reminder that the best is yet to come.” — Eric Sean Fogel
90 minutes