Four Operas, Four Nights - The 2019 Selection Box is now open! 

Selection Box offers a unique insight into all that is moving, mysterious and magnificent about opera; the combination of story-telling, stagecraft and music make opera the art form that comes closest to expressing pure emotion. Award-winning Opera in a Box have assembled a 20 strong cast of the finest creative and vocal talents in the southwest for our production! It is an operatic experience for everyone; experience opera for the first time, or expand your horizons with these rarely performed gems in this innovative and intimate setting.

Selection Box – Four Shows (two per night)

Wednesday 6th November – Act 1: The Telephone | Act 2: The Impresario, 7:30pm

Thursday 7th November - Act 1: Mozart & Salieri | Act 2: The Happy Prince, 7:30pm

Friday 8th November - Act 1: Mozart & Salieri | Act 2: The Impresario, 7:30pm

Saturday 9th November - Act 1: The Telephone | Act 2: The Happy Prince, 7:30pm

The Telephone

Words and Music by Gian Carlo Menotti

The key to a successful relationship is good communication, right? So what would you advise Ben to do to make Lucy really hear what he is desperately trying to tell her? The Telephone by Menotti is an hilarious comedy which explores how difficult it can be to communicate with the one that you love, even in a world where you are only a telephone call away. Could the telephone itself be the problem?

The Impresario

Music by W.A. Mozart

Libretto by Stephanie the Younger

English Adaptation by Giovanni Cardelli

It’s 1935, the height of Hollywood’s Golden Age, and all of the world’s greatest actresses and actors are heading to sunny California to try their luck on the silver screen. Mr Angel, an up-and-coming director, is looking to create a new musical film, inspired by the recent success of the genre. But first he must cast it, and there are two prime candidates battling for his attention; the ageing Madame Goldentrill and the young, aspiring Madame Silverpeal both vie for the part of the leading lady. Struggling to balance the petty politics of Hollywood along with the actresses’ outsized egos and craving for the spotlight, Mr Angel (along with his Assistant Director, Mr Bluff) must attempt to cast his film without too much drama, otherwise the whole project will be over before it has begun! Who will receive top billing? It’s anyone’s guess!

Mozart & Salieri

Music by Rimsky Korsakov

Words adapted from Chekov

Translation by David Meadows

Psychological drama, or crime thriller? Rimsky Korsakov’s Mozart & Salieri remains one of opera’s greatest murder mysteries, where as witnesses to Salieri’s tortured introspections we watch his plan to poison Mozart slowly unfold… While there is almost no evidence to suggest that the relationship between the two composers was at all contentious, Mozart’s death at the age of only 35 followed by revelations of a sincere rivalry between the two spawned the rumors that Salieri’s exceptional jealousy at the talented young Mozart drove him to commit the ultimate sin. Join us in this intimate setting as witnesses to a drama that delicately unveils the true nature of ‘genius’ and ‘villainy’.

The Happy Prince

Music by Malcolm Williamson

Words adapted from Oscar Wilde

Based on the 1888 Oscar Wilde story, the Happy Prince is a statue that watches over the city that the Prince once governed. Saddened by the suffering that he sees in the city, the Prince enlists the help of a passing Swallow, on her way to Egypt for the winter, to help ease the pain he witnesses by distributing the jewels with which he is adorned. He makes this sacrifice willingly, not realising the cost for his dear friend, the Swallow. How will their devotion to the people of the city, and to each other, be rewarded?

All tickets include a £1 admin charge 

Approx running time 2 hours including interval (timings vary per night)