Catholic University’s Hartke Theatre

My friend and I saw Merchant of Venice last Sunday’s (27 Apr) matinée performance. What an amazing production, with exquisite costuming, angelic singing, and world-​class acting. The main characters were incredible, «living» true and compelling commitments in their roles. The audience was in-​the-​moment during each and every scene. The stage set of the Rialto was perfect! Bravi tutti!
The only comment I would like to add… meant constructively… is that the Italians kiss on the right cheek first vs the left cheek. This is unique to Italy, and one of the customs I absolutely embraced when I lived there.
I look forward to attending another performance at the Hartke! Molto grazie!

My interest was piqued when my mom told me about a professional-​quality performance here of… Chicago? Cabaret? something with a C… The point is, my very own Tiger Mother called a performance at the Catholic University theatre by Catholic University students «professional-​quality,» and that’s usually not something she’ll say about actual professional productions. So when Madame Butterfly rolled around, I was eager to check it out. (Too bad for the husband that his buddies asked him to go to the bar to watch a game, and he had to respond, «I can’t. I’m seeing ‘Madame Butterfly.’»)
For what I believe were $ 10 tickets (discounted from already bottom-​dollar prices because we were guests of an alumnus), we also enjoyed a pre-​show champagne reception (an alumni perk again). And when I say enjoyed, I mean arrived about five minutes before it ended, chugged a couple glasses of champagne and choked down several sizeable hunks of cheese. Ideal! The show itself was excellent. The singers were indeed professional quality, with fantastic control, tone, projection and passion from all the leads. The best hint of it being a student production was the fact that Madame Butterfly seemed to loosen up by the second act — she was noticeably more expressive, in terms of her acting, during the second half, making for a much more engaging rest of the show.
The seats were comfortable enough, the floor significantly sloped to give everyone a good view. My favorite attribute: the orchestra pit is higher than usual so you have almost a full view of the musicians. There was a violinist guy in the second row who was totally getting into it — at one point, as he pulled his bow through a crucial scene, he shook his head disapprovingly while frowning disgustedly at the jerkwad acts of B.F. Pinkerton he must have known were unfolding behind him. Right on.
If you groove on the occasional opera — or play, or musical, or probably a bunch of other stuff — you should know about what they’ve got going here. It’s the poor man’s Kennedy Center.