UNCSA presents Pergolesi's comedic masterpiece 'Lo frate 'nnamorato'

The A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute at UNCSA presents Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s comedic masterpiece "Lo frate 'nnamorato,” or “The Brother in Love,” which portrays a web of fluctuating fortunes and mistaken identities later this month.

Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 24, and Friday, April 26; and at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 28, at Agnes de Mille Theatre on the UNCSA campus, 1533 S. Main St. Tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for non-UNCSA students with I.D. online or by calling the box office at 336-721-1945.

"Lo frate 'nnamorato” originally opened on Sept. 27, 1732, in Naples, Italy, and enjoyed a successful run, until a severe earthquake closed all the theaters in the area.

Fletcher Artistic Director Steven LaCosse is the stage director for the production and is setting the opera in the 1950s, “in Capodimonte, Italy, which was famous at the time for its porcelain,” LaCosse said.

"Lo frate 'nnamorato” is Baroque style and moving into the early Classical period.

“It’s a style we haven’t done for a while,” LaCosse said. “We try to expose our students to all different styles of opera. ‘Lo frate 'nnamorato’ is rarely performed in the U.S. but it’s still performed often in Italy.

“It’s a silly plot with lots of opportunities for beautiful singing, and comic and serious acting,” LaCosse continued.

David Maize, a tenor and a Fletcher Opera Fellow, sings the title role of Ascanio and says that his character is troubled.

“To get to the core of Ascanio, you have to understand his relationship with everybody else,” Maize said. “He was a young man picked up off the street by Marcaniello, whose once-powerful house has declined. Marcaniello’s son, Don Pietro, spends all his father’s money traveling to Paris to keep up with the latest styles.”

To make his life even harder, Ascanio is in a love quadrangle. Two of the women in love with him, Nina and Nena, are his sisters but they don’t know it. The wealthy Don Carlo, the sisters’ uncle, is pursuing Luggrezia, the third woman in love with Ascanio.

“Ascanio is trying to stave off his stepsisters who are madly in love with him,” Maize said. “And he’s trying to keep Marcaniello’s finances from falling apart. All the young people have to make advantageous marriages for their family fortunes to be saved.”

Intrigues, heartaches, and even a duel ensue, as these relationships untangle themselves and, as a comedy, the show happily ends in at least one marriage.

“Ascanio, and to some degree, Luggrezia, are the only serious characters,” Maize said. “Ascanio is worried, melancholy and serious, while all the other characters are silly. Don Pietro is foppish. There’s a grumpy old man. You’ve got all these funny characters and then you’ve got Ascanio and Luggrezia, who are clutching their pearls.”

Maize takes his inspiration for Ascanio’s self-dramatization from his own teenage years.

“Looking back, as an angsty teen, sitting in my car and trying to figure things out, I felt my emotions very strongly,” Maize said. “I may have made things more dramatic than they really were.”

Maize relishes the opportunity to develop these elements of Ascanio’s character by examining the music.

“You can pick apart what the characters’ motivations are by diving into the music,” he said. “No matter the piece, no matter the composer, there is always something important for us to learn about how music has evolved. It’s always a learning experience for performer and audience.

“While Pergolesi’s composing style is not as complicated as some who came after him, the music that Ascanio sings makes his emotionality clear,” Maize concluded.

The cast for “Lo frate 'nnamorato” includes Fletcher Opera Fellows Danielle Romano as Cardella; Kevin Spooner as Don Pietro; Toby Bradford as Carlo; Callie Iliff  as Nina; Claire Griffin as Nena; Robbie Raso as Marcaniello; David Maize and School of Music voice student Jackson Ray as Ascanio; Jillian Griffey and Carolyn Orr as Vanella; and School of Music voice student Olivia Grocott as Luggrezia.

From the School of Design and Production, the scenic designer is Mrinali P. Thanwani, the lighting designer is Stephen Smart, the wig and makeup designer is Bo King, the technical director is Jamie Martinsen, the scenic paint charge is Gamma Lister, the properties director is Emma Gold Anderson, the production stage manager is Olivia Kurima, the costume designer is Nikki Harada and the production manager is Lani Skelley Yeatts.

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