Daily
Nebraskan
Tuesday, April S, 1994
ArtscoEntertainment
Romantic opera portrays European history
EM
preview!
By Paula Lavigne
Senior Reporter _
A beautiful singer meets a starving
painter and falls madly in love. Yet
her love is strained by an evil baron
who holds her lover’s life in his hands
unless she surrenders to his black
mail.
Another love triangle spins out of
control in Italian composer Giacomo
Puccini’s tantalizing opera, “Tosca,”
which will be performed in concert by
the University Orchestra and the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln Oratorio
Chorus.
Emil Aluas, musical dircctor/con
ductor, said aside from being a love
story, “Tosca” served as a historical
document.
Firstpreviewed in Romcat the turn
of the century, Aluas said “Tosca”
illustrated the story of Italy’s pol itical
and social turmoils 100 years earlier.
“It was the turn of the century in
Europe. Europe was entirely in tur
moil,” Aluas said. “Rome in 1800,
alrcady Napoleon was in power. There
was an incredible revolutionary spirit.”
He said the three main characters,
Floria Tosca, Mario Cavaradossi and
II Barone Scarpiacach represented an
aspect of history. Tosca, a famous
singer, falls in love with Cavaradossi,
a painter.
Cavaradossi .Aluas said, represents
the revolutionary spirit bom in the
middle-class intellectuals. The baron
is symbolic of the oppressive forces
trying to extinguish the revolution.
Tosca, who is trapped in the middle of
this whole ordeal, represents Italy,
which then was split between the
Austrian empire and a collection of
city-states controlled by individual
noblemen.
-44—
Each instrument
represents
somebody. You can
hear the opera and
you are absolutely
moved.
musical director/conductor
—-- tt -
“These arc some of the pillars in
the story of ‘Tosca,”’ he said. “It’s a
very dramatic, short story in which
Cavaradossi gives refuge to a new
deserter, a revolutionary, as the start
of the story.”
Scarpia, as chief of pol ice, discov
ers these revolutionary actions and
arrests Cavaradossi. However, as in
any good love triangle, Scarpia had an
alterior motive.
He starts trying to blackmail for
sex, Aluas said. He tries to have Tosca
in exchange for her lover’s freedom.
Continuing the symbolism, Tosca,
like the revolutionaries in Italy, mur
dcrs her oppressive force, Scarpia.
Cavaradossi is executed regardless.
When Tosca realizes she has nothing
left, she commits suicide.
“Italy was almost like a raped
woman. Everybody held a piece of
Italy,” he said. “Tosca represents
Tuscani, a region at the heart of Italy.
Floria is a flower of Tuscani.”
Aluas said this symbolism carried
the opera to even greater depth.
“It’s a dramatic story because ev
erything that intrigues the three char
acters tells the (history) of Italy and
the entire Western civilization.”
Aluas said Puccini had even an
other message in “Tosca" — reality
and the mystcryofa woman’s strength.
“He said, ‘I’m not going to give
you any more power stories where
everything is beautiful,’” Aluas said.
‘“From now on I put you on the stage
Gerik Parmele/DN
Under the direction of Emil Aluas, Matt Norwood (left) sings the part of Sacristan. The
University Orchestra and the Oratorio Chorus will perform Puccini’s “Tosca”
Thursday at Kimball Hall. Admission for the 8 p.m. concert is free.
to show you their real lives whether
it’s beautiful life or life with all the
miseries and turmoil.’”
Aluas said Puccini was interested
in the female psychology. Roles such
as Tosca’s explored the powerful
mysteries women hold, he said.
Because of the financial invest
ment involved. “Tosca” could not be
staged as a full-fledged opera. In
stead, it will be performed as a concert
with the roles of Tosca, Cavaradossi
and Scarpiaalternating between three
singers for each role.
“It’s something new. It’s a very big
title, a very big and known opera,” he
said. “You can give an aesthetic value
to the music itself without spending
half a million on staging.”
“Of course there won’t be a visual
show, but on the other hand, the es
sence of the score will remain. From a
strictly musical point of view, Puccini
is a very unique composer.”
Puccini describes musically the
smallest details of the characters,
Aluas said.
“He works with aesthetic charac
teristics — grotesque, cynical, con
trast between beauty and sarcasm.”
Aluas said Puccini had the ability
to give music an entire story.
“Each instrument represents some
body,” he said. “You can hear the
opera, and youare absolutely moved.”
He said this would make it easier
for the audience to understand the
opera, even though it wouldn’t be a
visual work.
“Tosca” will be performed Thurs
day, at Kimball Hall at 8 p.m. Admis
sion is free.
The Connells to bring
modest look to Lincoln
Georgian band
follows British
rock influence
Concert
preview
The Connells, an alternative
rock band, will perform for all ages
Tuesday night at The Aflershock,
1330 P St.
Although Dave Connell and his
brother, Mike, hail from Macon,
Ga., their sound is a far cry from
cotton fields,blues or southern rock.
Instead, The Connells are influ
enced by the K inks and Jethro Tull,
bands stemming from British soil.
Yet, the six-man band is not
prone to classic British behavior,
such as smashing guitars on stage
or wearing outlandish outfits. If
anything. The Connells are likely
to be cited for insisting they be
allowed to maintain a normal flan
nel-shirted image — an attitude
they’ve fought record labels and
video producers to hold on to.
Lead singer Doug MacMillan
once said, “I didn’t get into this
business so somebody else could
tell me what to wear. I got into it so
I could drink beer.”
Recently, The Connells released
their fifth album, “Ring,” on TVT
Records, a New York label.
The album combines The
Connells’ flair for classic pop with
rich guitar-oriented melodics like
“’74-75” and “Slackjawcd,” songs
receiving airplay on college radio.
Bassist Dave has a hand in
songwriting, but guitarist Mike
composes the majority of songs,
and he occasionally shares the vo
cal spot! ight with lead singer Doug
MacMillan.
George Huntley also sings, plays
guitars and shows off on tne man
dolin nowand then. Drummer Peele
Wimberley and keyboardist Steve
Potak complete the lineup.
Prior to the concert, a 3 p.m.
mect-and-grcct autograph party for
The Connells will be held at the
downtown Twisters, followed by a
pre- and post-party at WC’s, 1228
PSt.
An altcmativeCanadian group,
13 Engines, signed to Atlantic
Records, kicks off the concert at 7
p.m. Tickets are available for
$12.50 at the door.
—Jill O'Brien
Play takes viewer to new world
theater
review
By Ann Stack
Staff Reporter
“The Empty Plough,” written and
directed by Kevin Lawler, is a mysti
cal, mythical play about three friends
and their strange journey from one
world to another.
Lawler, a co-founder of the Blue
Bam Theatre in Omaha, uses an un
derlying sense of symbol ism and irony
that runs throughout the play, lending
itself to a different interpretation for
every viewer.
The play begins in the desolate
squalor and filth of an old, decaying
inner city.
The three main characters—Fran
the embellisher, Fern thedrcamcrand
Vem the cynic—are doing their best
tosurvive when two spirits take notice
of them.
These spirits of “the other world,”
Lillian and her grandfather Joseph,
watch the trio and decide to help them
escape their reality.
Lillian takes human form and is
discovered drowning by Fran. The
three think she is magical and revive
her. Lillian helps them unlock their
secret yearn ings for freedom from their
situation.
She urges them to flee the city, and
the three construct a ship from the
trash around them and set off on a
voyage across a mist-covered prairie.
The ship, as Lillian explains, is
“something that carries you from one
world to another and keeps you from
sinking.”
In the city, Fran, Fern and Vcm
were sinking, having nothing but their
dreams to keep them afloat.
Guided by dream symbols and the
stars overhead, they vcnturcout across
the prairie with no know ledgeofwherc
they’re going or when they’llget there.
As food and water run out, the
characters must look within them
selves to survive, each handling the
situation differently.
Out of the three, one remains on
the voyage, and twomovcon todifTer
ent realms.
James Mehsling/DN
The message of the play seems to
be that all people must find the strength
to make their own way through what
ever journey they encounter.
Staged in the Lied Center’s Johnny
Carson Theater, “The Empty Plough”
will run Thursday through Sunday,
with evening performances at 8 p.m.,
a Saturday matinee at 4 p.m. and
evening performance at 8 p.m., and a
Sunday matinee at 4 p.m. Regular
tickets are $14; tickets are $7 for
students and children. Advanced res
ervations are strongly recommended.