Boston University Fringe Festival

A celebration of unconventional opera and theater repertoire, the Boston University Fringe Festival brings together artists and audiences for a unique experience, presented by the School of Music’s Opera Institute and the School of Theatre. Sharon Daniels, Director of Opera Programs at Boston University and founder of the BU Fringe Festival, presents operas with minimal sets and costumes, bringing artists and audience members together in an intimate performance space.

Arthur Miller’s Playing for Time tells the story of the female prisoners of Auschwitz who survived by playing in the concentration camp’s all-female orchestra. Based on the memoir of survivor Fania Fenelon, the work was orginally written as a television play in 1980, then later adapted for the stage. The Auschwitz orchestra consisted of musicians with a wide range of skills, including Alma Rose, a distinguished violinist and leader of the orchestra; Fenelon, a Parisian singer; and cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch. In the play, the women do whatever they can to survive, while facing tremendous moral stuggles as they perform the music they love, which their Nazi captors use as work marches for the camp prisoners and entertainment for themselves.Full length play with music.

Friday, October 13, 8:00pm
Saturday, October 14, 8:00pm
Sunday, October 15, 7:00pm
Friday, October 20, 8:30pm
Saturday, October 21, 8:00pm
Thursday, October 26, 7:30pm
Saturday, October 28, 2:00pm

Every Good Boy Deserves Favour is a collaborative piece written by Tom Stoppard with music by Andre Previn. In a Soviet asylum in 1977, two men – both named Alexander Ivanov – share a cell. While “Ivanov” is a genuine mental patient who conducts an imaginary orchestra throughout the play, “Alexander” has been institutionalized because of his unacceptable political views. Alexander, willing to die for his beliefs, expresses “I have no symptoms, I have opinions,” only to be countered with, “Your opinions are your symptoms,” by his doctor. To earn his freedom, Alexander must conform to the views of the government and admit his “mental illness.” This production is part of the Boston Gulag Project, presented in association with the National Park Service, Amnesty International USA, Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian Eurasian Studies, Boston College, and the Boston University Art Gallery.Full length play with chamber orchestra.

Friday, October 20, 8:00pm
Saturday, October 21, 8:00pm
Sunday, October 22, 2:00pm

The Boston University Fringe Festival will also feature two short operas. Set in Spain in 1874, Jules Massenet’s La Navarraise traces a woman’s tragic quest to be reunited with her lover amidst cruel social constraints and the ravages of war. This powerful story is suppported by Massanet’s exciting score. Renowned countertenor Drew Minter will serve as guest director for these six performances.One-act opera.

Friday, October 20, 6:00pm
Saturday, October 21, 6:00pm
Friday, October 27, 8:00pm
Sunday, October 29, 2:00pm
Saturday, November 4, 8:00pm
Sunday, November 5, 7:00pm
Boston Univeristy Theatre, Stewart Lane and Bonnie Comley Studio 210

Jorge Martin’s Before Night Falls is based on the memoir of gay Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas. The opera follows Arenas’s life as a rebel fighter during the Cuban revolution, his miraculous escape from Castro’s regime, and his battle with AIDS in the 1980s. Composer Jorge Martin will be in residence to oversee this premiere staging of Act II of his full length oprea. Directed by New York City Opera Director Beth Greenberg.

Saturday, October 28, 8:00pm
Sunday, October 29, 7:00pm
Thursday, November 2, 7:30pm
Friday, November 3, 6:00pm
Friday, November 3, 8:00pm
Saturday, November 4, 6:00pm
Boston Univeristy Theatre, Stewart Lane and Bonnie Comley Studio 210

The Festival will also incorporate an international element under the leadership of Metropolitan Opera baritone and Boston University alumnus Haijing Fu. Fu will present singers from the International Music Center at Shenyang Conservatory of Music for a special performance of excerpts from Jin Xiang’s contemporary Chinese Opera The Savage Land, followed by a conversation with the artists.

Sunday, November 5, 2:00pm
Boston Univeristy Theatre, Stewart Lane and Bonnie Comley Studio 210