Opera Club
The Opera Club will screen the Metropolitan Opera’s highly acclaimed production of “Un Ballo in Maschera” by Giuseppe Verdi on Tuesday, Aug. 15, at 1:30 p.m. in the Learning Center of Clubhouse 3. It is a sumptuous tale of love and suspected deception that keeps the audience wondering who is to be believed. All are welcome.
Act 1 introduces the audience to a powerful man of noble birth, Ricccardo, who is planning to host a masked ball. However, he is in love with Amelia, the beautiful wife of his chief of staff, Renato. When he hears about the accuracy of a fortune teller, Ulrica, he visits her in disguise to learn that he will be killed by a person with whom he next shakes hands—which turns out reassuringly to be the arrival of his trusted friend Renato.
Simultaneously, Amelia arrives to consult the fortune teller about how best to get over her guilty love for Riccardo. The fortune teller advises her to go find a specific herb that grows in the local graveyard.
In Act 2, Riccardo follows her to the graveyard to tell her he loves her, to which she admits that she loves him too. When a stranger approaches, Amelia covers her face with a veil.
The stranger is Renato, come to tell Riccardo that his enemies are coming to kill him. The two men exchange overcoats to protect the senior official who flees. The villains discover the remaining man to be Renato and the woman, who is commanded to lift her veil, to be his wife.
In Act 3, Renato at first threatens to kill his wife Amelia for infidelity but changes his mind and confers with the villains to kill Riccardo instead. All three conspirators receive invitations to the masked ball, where the guilty Riccardo tells Amelia he has arranged for safe passage of herself and her husband, Renato, to London. The ensuing music and activities resolve their fates as the curtain falls.
The production is in Italian with English subtitles. Attendees are invited to wear masks if desired. No dues or fees are collected. For more information, contact Margaret Gillon at MargaretGi@yahoo.com or call her at 562-370-3844.
