Opera Club to feature comic productions May 2 and 3

Everyone is invited to watch Johann Strauss’ comedy “The Gypsy Baron” on Monday, May 2, at 1:30 p.m. in Clubhouse 3, Room 2. Opera Club member Eleonore Johnson encourages all to refresh their memories about Viennese waltzes and delightful Hungarian czardas dancing while viewing some romantic shenanigans.

Act 1 introduces the townspeople of Timisoara, Hungary, including fortune teller Czipra and wealthy pig farmer Zsupan, who has a beautiful daughter, Arsena. To this setting arrives Sandor Barinkay, who has recently inherited his uncle’s revered but slightly rundown castle. When Barinkay has his fortune told, he learns he will discover a treasure and marry a faithful wife. To ingratiate himself with the townsfolk, he suggests he will marry Arsena. However, Arsena’s heart is already committed to Ottokar, who is digging for the alleged buried treasure, so she refuses Barinkay, claiming he is not sufficiently aristocratic. Nevertheless, the townspeople like Barinkay and elect him chief of the gypsies, giving him the title of baron.

In Act 2, viewers learn Czipra also has a daughter, Saffi, whose good looks attract Barinkay and who, in a dream, has found the location of the treasure. Barinkay then pursues Saffi, much to the disappointment of Zsupan, who had hoped to gain a reputable son-in-law, only to discover that Saffi’s father is also a noble, a Hungarian pasha. But then Barinkay’s friend, Col. Peter Homonnay, arrives to enlist Barinkay and Zsupan for military service, and they are both sent to battle in Spain.

Act 3 brings the return of Barinkay and Zsupan as heroes bestowed with military honors, so the townspeople celebrate with the joyful marriages of Berinkay to Saffi and Arsena to Ottokar.

On Tuesday, May 3, at 1:30 p.m. in Clubhouse 3, Room 2, club member Gary Hart will introduce Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance.” In Act 1, a young Frederic has been apprenticed to a pirate king by his nurse Ruth, who, being hard of hearing, misunderstood and heard he was the ship’s “pilot.” The band of pirates encounters a major general’s daughters, one of whom, Mabel, takes a shine to Frederic.

In Act 2, the pirate king and Ruth discover that since Frederic was born on Feb. 29, which occurs every four years, he will only be emancipated after 84 years, when he has his 21st birthday. As the pirates plan to pursue the daughters of the major general, the police demand their release in the queen’s name. However, Ruth proclaims the pirates are noblemen who have gone wrong, and the major general marries off his daughters to the pirates of Penzance.

Both presentations are free; there will be no other dues collected. For more information, contact club President Beverly Emus at (562) 296-5586 or beverly90740@ gmail.com. —Sylvan Von Burg