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Pine Mountain Music Festival Presents Lee Hoiby's The Italian Lesson

Jul. 03, 2014

Pine Mountain Music Festival Presents Lee Hoiby's <em>The Italian Lesson</em>

On July 29, the Pine Mountain Music Festival presents Lee Hoiby’s hilarious theatrical tour de force, The Italian Lesson, at the Crystal Theatre in Crystal Falls, Michigan.  

Based on American actress and dramatist Ruth Draper’s most popular character sketch, Hoiby’s monodrama is scored for female voice and ensemble, and features a libretto by Mark Shulgasser. The work, presented in ten scenes, premiered in 1982 at The Newport Music Festival in Rhode Island. Joshua Major directs mezzo-soprano Susan Nicely in the Pine Mountain Music Festival production. 

The Italian Lesson offers a glimpse into the busy life of Mrs. Clancy, a formidable 1920s era New York City, Park Avenue-matron. While studying Dante’s Inferno, Mrs. Clancy’s day includes: planning a dinner menu (with the help of servants); gossiping with friends; intervening in her children’s spats; scheduling riding lessons; booking dentist’s appointments and dance classes; taking in a new puppy; ordering a lampshade, getting her nails done and much more. Hoiby observed: 

Mrs. Clancy is always involved in a live conversation. There is nothing stylized about her and she never clowns. Her behavior is always realistic, and the listener is invited to imagine the other characters on stage; not only that, but to deduce what they are saying.

Subsequent performances of The Italian Lesson follow on July 30 at the Reynolds Recital Hall in Marquette, MI and on August 1 at the Calumet Theatre in Calumet, MI.

Details on the performances can be found at www.pmmf.org.

For more information on Lee Hoiby, please visit www.schott-music.com.

Lee Hoiby
The Italian Lesson (1982)
Libretto (Eng) by Mark Shulgasser, after texts by Ruth Draper
for soprano or mezzo-soprano and ensemble
1.1.1.1-1.0.0.0-hp.pno-str
43’

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