As the Bijou Theatre’s red curtain closed on the University of Tennessee Opera Theatre’s performance of two one-act comic operas this past weekend, one had the distinct feeling that this was not a closing at all, but a new opening—a new beginning. New, of course, was stage director James Kenon Mitchell, marking his first production with UTOT. And, as one expects in the turnover in a university opera training program, there were bright new faces and voices joining more familiar ones that are at the beginning of music careers.
The two works on the bill, Gioachino Rossini’s 1810 La cambiale di matrimonio (The Marriage Contract) and Gian Carlo Menotti’s 1936 Amelia al ballo (Amelia Goes to the Ball), made for an interesting pair, each offering different vocal demands for the singers and different styles and pacing for conductor Kevin Class and the UTOT orchestra. Each was the first mature opera by their respective composers. As has been UTOT’s usual practice, the operas were double cast (in some cases triple cast) and split over the four performances. This reviewer attended the Friday evening and Sunday afternoon performances.
Up first was the Rossini, its presence on the bill offering a particular stylistic vocal discipline that would grow with the composer’s huge body of works. Dramatically, the work also revealed a singer’s ability to project classic comedy through lyrics. In the Friday evening performance, one was immediately drawn to Falynn Davis and her role of Clarina, the maid—a great example of making a secondary role sparkle. Matching Davis’ Clarina was an excellent baritone Kyle Foster as the seemingly exasperated clerk Norton. Evan Schettler turned in a marvelous Tobia Mill, managing the harumphing character with a lot of vocal maturity. Foster and Schettler, both strong voices, sang all four performances.
Roles Rossini left a bit under-developed were Fanny (soprano Allie Thompson), the subject of the contract, and Edoardo (tenor Sean Whitson). Nevertheless, each managed to communicate clarity and resigned youth, something easier said than done.
Baritone Oliver Hassell was an engaging Slook, given a comic strangeness thanks to odd wardrobe and props. Was that really a stuffed raccoon?
In the afternoon performances, soprano Lindsay Dove gave her character of Fanny an appropriate sweetness. Nicole Dayton was charmingly bouncy in the role of Clarina, Tanner Smith was Fanny’s lover Edoardo. Deshawn Stevens’ Slook took a definite turn toward real comedy, as well as benefitting from a substantial voice.
After intermission came Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amelia al ballo, a deliciously attractive work that rides throughout on a wave of comic irony. Like most of the roles in this UTOT production, the title role of Amelia was double cast, but due to illness, all four performances were sung by soprano Meghan Cluskey. Although singing a role four times in three days presents challenges of stamina and focus, Ms. Cluskey was clearly able to meet those challenges and accomplish what was needed, her vocal power apparently not waning as far as the audience was concerned. Equally important to the opera’s premise itself, her character’s resolute desire to go to the ball—no matter what transpired—never wavered and made her “version of the crime” a truly comic denouement.
Although the character of socialite Amelia dominates that premise, the comic development and pacing of the remaining—admittedly shallow—characters guide the story: Amelia’s husband (il Marito), her friend (L’amica), her lover (l’amante), and the police commissioner (il Commissario).
In the Friday evening performance, Evan Schettler caught his breath from his performance in the Rossini to handle the role of the cuckolded husband. Oliver Hassell sang the role in the afternoon cast. The role of the lover, l’amante is by its very nature two dimensional, but was given an explanation of lost love by Adam Funderberg and Esteban Cano. The police commissioner was sung by Deshawn Stevens and Kyle Foster, the latter bringing a surprising twist to the character. Amelia’s stylish, but impatient friend was sung by Emme Griffith and Jordie Lawless.
Kudos go to Kevin Class and the UTOT orchestra for their own stamina and successful leap from early 19th Century sparkle to 20th Century irony and Menotti’s textures.
Next for UTOT at the Bijou Theatre is Leoš Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen—April 24-26, 2026.
