Center Stage Opera is thrilled to bring back by popular demand a remount of our widely successful 1980's setting of Donizetti's most sparkling and popular comic masterpiece The Elixir of Love.

It's a classic story straight out of any 1980's teen movie - unpopular guy likes the popular girl, popular girl likes the popular guy, and so the unpopular guy goes to whatever lengths necessary to win the girl's heart. What most people don't realize is that Donizetti was telling this same story 150 years ago in The Elixir of Love! In a return of Artistic Director Dylan F. Thomas' acclaimed re-setting of this beloved masterpiece, Center Stage Opera takes you back to the 80's to tell you the story of Nemorino and Adina like nobody's ever told it before!

Brian Onderdonk returns to conduct the Center Stage Opera Orchestra (decked out in their 80's finest, of course!) in this raucous and delightful production audience members of all ages are guaranteed to enjoy. This one will sell fast, so order your tickets today!

A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR...

"The concept of this show is born out of my love for the 80's move. I love the movies of that era because it was the time of the NERD...and I, fortunately, happen to be one. In no other time in American cinema has the little guy, the forgotten guy, the beaten-up guy gotten so much; Weird Science, Can't Buy Me Love, Say Anything, Revenge of the Nerds...the list goes on and on.

What had struck me the most growing up were the social cliques - on the screen, and in my actual high school. We had the Jocks, the Geeks, the Nerds, the Sluts, the Saints (I went to Catholic school), the Preppies, the Stoners, the Rockers...ugh! It seemed as if every movie I went to was written by a guy like me (or by John Hughes). I work very hard as a director to see the human connection between texts of different eras, but the connection between now and the time of this opera was blindingly obvious to me.

No work was needed to connect the archetypal 80's movie character to those represented here in Donizetti's masterpiece L'elisir d'amore. It just came screaming to me, 'I am a John Hughes movie!' Adina is the proud land owner...smart, cute, and just slightly out of our league. In our reincarnation, she becomes the head of the cheerleaders, the coolest girl in the school...smart, cute, and just way out of our league. Belcore, the strong conquering hero who is just a bit too full of himself, becomes the end-all-be-all of high school feminine desire: the captain of the football team; still too full of himself, but then again, too stupid to notice. Gianetta...well come on, she's the slutty friend (in both versions actually).

And of course, we can't forget the loveable and unforgettable nerd who makes good: Nemorino. To quote the number one movie influence for the 1860's to 1980's transition, Can't Buy Me Love: 'He like went from totally geek to totally chic.' Just throw in your much needed nosey Principal and a couple of free thinking teachers, and Donizetti might have set Elixir in the 80's himself."

D.F. Thomas