I’d heard from several people that the design work for “Galileo Galilei” was spectacular.
I visited with costume designer Trent Pcenicni and with Costume Shop Manager Amy Amy Holroyd last Thursday – at least 15 students were at work on costumes when I stopped by. Renderings of the many costumes covered part of one wall.
And I stepped inside Aycock Auditorium, while a team of lighting specialists and interns worked on the lights. I saw the set in Aycock. It is impressive.
Professor Randy McMullen, the set designer, explained the opera takes you backwards in time throughout Galileo’s life – and the dominant staircase on stage correspondingly pivots counter-clockwise by the end of the 90-minute opera. The juxtapositions of heaven/earth and also of scientific learning / church teachings influenced the design. (See conceptual drawing of the set, in visual).
Professor Ken White is the lighting designer. “This was a world where the only light was the light that came in through the windows during the day, and the light that was provided by candles and lanterns at night,” White says.
Now that I’ve seen some of the design, I’m eager to hear the music. Should all make for quite a memorable evening.
Next week, CW will run a preview piece on the production, directed by Professor David Holley. But if you plan to attend, go ahead and get tickets now.
Performances will be April 16 and 17 at 7:30 p.m. and April 19 at 2 p.m.
Purchase tickets at 272-0160, online here or at the Triad Stage Box Office.
Reposted from Campus Weekly