One more day!

Don Pasquale is a classic opera by Donizetti, and this production is a Filipinized version in terms of set, actors/singers and costume design. Of course, the words are still in Italian...so that's good for the language students!

Saw the first showing of this opera last week--for the final thesis production of my friend Gabi Francisco (the lady in red above)--and the voices were really great! I could close my eyes and listen, but I would miss the actions! Even if I didn't understand Italian, I understood the story through the gestures--proving that action is a language all on its own.

I'm no music major so forgive my lack of musical knowledge; but I write. From what little Italian I know, I think Donizetti as writer can be funny, using puns for names like Etcetera (the pastor who married Don Pasquale and Norina) and Malatesta (the doctor with the crazy idea). (I'm sure it would be whooping fun if I knew Italian.) Maybe if a Filipino poet and composer would adapt this opera in our beautiful language, it would gain a bigger audience--it's got the comedy we all love, mixed with a refreshingly classical style in music that is always buona for the testa.

Come and see our Opera for a Cause! Tickets to Don Pasquale will still be sold tomorrow at the booth by the UP College of Engineering Theater at P350! Don't forget, April 4, 2008, 6pm. See you there!