The Old Song and Dance

Victor Herbert, Composer

OK, well, the song, anyway.

I was chatting today with a good friend of mine, Tom Petiet, whom I had met through the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce (he and I are both in the Ambassadors group together). In his day-job, Tom is the designer and illustrator extraordinaire behind Concept Studio, a local commercial arts services firm. In his free time, though (and I do mean all of his free time), he is the managing director of Ann Arbor's Comic Opera Guild.

It turns out that the COG has a production next weekend. For anyone who's been a part of a stage production, you know that things are pretty much at their craziest right now. Tom did take some time, though to let me know what was going on. I thought I would let everyone know the details, just in case any of you might be interested.

They're performing a concert presentation of "The Fortune Teller" by Victor Herbert (the same composer who brought us "Babes in Toyland"). They'll be holding the shows on February 8th and 9th at 8pm both nights. The venue is a little outside of Ann Arbor, but well within reason, as they'll be at the The Village Theater, 50400 Cherry Hill Road in Canton, MI. You can check out the theater website for purchasing tickets. Tom said that the shows will very likely sell out, so if you are interested, you might want to pre-order now.

I'm not an aficionado of light opera (though I do enjoy it), but apparently this is a pretty special showing as, according to the COG website, this will be the first time in over a half a century that any group has performed this work in its entirety. I guess it's pretty unusual for classics like this to be revived. So, if you are in the mood for music, fun, and comedy, be sure to check out "The Fortune Teller" next weekend.

So, what was the last stage performance you attended? When was that?