LA DIDONE



In The Wooster Group's production of LA DIDONE, Francesco Cavalli's 1641 opera, with libretto by Francesco Busenello, collides with Mario Bava's cult movie Terrore nello spazio (1965) in a war-like symbiosis, dropping Aeneas' ships onto a forbidding planetary landscape and forming a synergy between early baroque opera and pre-moonlanding sci-fi.


Production Credits

LA DIDONE
An opera by Francesco Cavalli
Libretto by Francesco Busenello
Director: Elizabeth LeCompte
Music Director: Bruce Odland

La Didone
Dido: Hai-Ting Chinn
Aeneas, Ghost Chorus: John Young
Neptune, Jarbas, Ilioneus, Jove, Ghost Chorus: Andrew Nolen
Juno, Mercury, Anna, voice of Cupid: Kamala Sankaram
Ghost of Sichaeus: Hank Heijink
Shadow of Dido, Old Man, Guard: Kate Valk
Shadow of Aeneas, Cupid, Ghost of Sichaeus: Ari Fliakos
Shadow of Jarbas, boar: Scott Shepherd
Acate: Judson Williams

Terrore nello spazio
Sanya: Kate Valk
Mark: Ari Fliakos
Wess, Salas’ body: Scott Shepherd
Dr. Karan, Burt, Brad: Judson Williams
Tiona: Hai-Ting Chinn
Eldon: John Young
Kir: Andrew Nolen

The Band
Keyboard: Jennifer Griesbach
Theorbo, baroque guitar: Hank Heijink and David Walker
Accordian, tambourine: Kamala Sankaram
Electric guitar: Harvey Valdes

Set: Ruud van den Akker
Lighting: Jennifer Tipton
Sound: Matt Schloss and Omar Zubair
Video: Zbigniew Bzymek and Joby Emmons with Andrew Schneider
Production Manager: Bozkurt Karasu
Assistant Director and Baroque Gesture Coach: Jennifer Griesbach
Stage Manager: Teresa Hartmann
Technical Director: Aron Deyo
Costumes: Antonia Belt
Cineturg: Dennis Dermody

Production: The Wooster Group, KunstenFESTIVALdesArts
Coproduction: Edinburgh International Festival, Productiehuis Rotterdam (Rotterdamse Shouwburg), Grand Théâtre du Luxembourg, CC Belém (Lisbon)


Production History

2006 October and December: LA DIDONE rehearsals at The Performing Garage
2007 May 19-24: LA DIDONE performances at Kaaitheater, Brussels, Belgium
2007 May 30-June 2: LA DIDONE performances at Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2007 August 18-22: LA DIDONE performances at the Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland
2008 February-May: LA DIDONE rehearsals at The Performing Garage
2008 September 18-20: Open rehearsals of LA DIDONE at St. Ann's Warehouse, Brooklyn, New York
2008 October 16-18: LA DIDONE performances at Grand Théâtre de la Ville, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
2009 March 17-April 29: LA DIDONE performances at St. Ann's Warehouse, Brooklyn, New York
2009 June 11-21: LA DIDONE performances at REDCAT, Los Angeles, California


Articles & Reviews

Ben Brantley review in the New York Times
Heidi Waleson review in The Wall Street Journal
David Cote review in Time Out New York
Charles McNulty review in the Los Angeles Times
John Yohalem review in Opera Today
Yvonne Korshak review in Let’s Talk Off-Broadway