The Dwarf
a comic opera
by Yoav Gal
Gala Performance, Party, and Film Shoot
Thursday, Nov 21, 8:00 PM / Saturday, Nov 23, 8:00 PMThursday, Dec 5, 8:00 PM / Saturday, Dec 7, 8:00 PM, 2013
The Blue Building, 222 East 46th Street, New York City
Doug Fitch, Director and Host for the Evening
Peter Szep, Conductor
Kevin Courtemanche as Lingus, The Dwarf
Judith Barnes as Lady Katherina Kaiser
Scott Lindroth as Chanticleer
Glenn Seven Allen as Mr. T
Tyler Putnam as Mr. B
Ellie Forman as Salietta
The VPR Chamber Ensemble
Matthew Lobaugh and Saffron Chung, Pianos
Jonas Tauber, Double Bass
Joseph Fee, Percussion
The VPR Chorus
Emma Alexander, Laura de Araujo, Chitra Raghavan, Blake Burroughs, Rachel Coates, Sarah Downs, Deborah Houston, Susan Kommel, Tony Mowatt, Robert Lewis, Ulises Solano, Greg Spock, Olivia Stockard, Ray Weisbond
VPR premiered Gal’s quirky first opera, The Dwarf, in 2003. The New York Times featured that world premiere in “Never Say Die in Indie Opera” by Anne Midgette, who coined the term “indie opera.” THE DWARF tells of the Lady Katherina Kaiser and the attention she arouses by wearing an oddly capacious dress. What…or whom…is she concealing under there?
“…the music…illustrates the humorous fairy tale quality of the story by giving its harmonies a sardonic twist…” —Anne Midgette, The New York Times
“…a twisted world whose inhabitants are prisoners of their own conceptions…” –Brooklyn Heights Press
Photographs above by Andrei SevernyFor VPR production photos from the 2003 premiere click HERE