Press Releases:

2009-2010 Season

10.14.09
New England Light Opera Releases CD of Hit Original Show

09.01.09
New England Light Opera Announces Season of Music Hall Favorites

09.30.09
New England Light Opera Brings Victor Herbert Favorites to Life

More News:

2008-2009 Season

NELO Wraps Up Its Biggest Season Ever!

With 4 productions, 2 world premieres, and performances in 12 towns, this was our biggest year yet!  The season got started with a bang last summer with our Summer Concert Series. The six week series had the best, most varied concerts we’ve had to date. Many thanks to the 40+ performers who donated their time and talent for the series (our major fundraiser of the year.) We can’t wait to see/hear this year’s!

Our sixth season featured two brand new shows created by NELO Artistic Director Mark  Morgan. The first, our major production of the year, was Yes, Yes, Jeanette! A Musical Fantasy on Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. This full production starred Jean Danton (Jeanette), Sara Ann Mitchell (Screen Jeanette) and Mark Morgan (Nelson Eddy), and was directed by NELO regular Peter A Carey. Using a 1957 interview that Jeanette and her husband Gene Raymond did with Edward R Murrow for CBS’s Person to Person show, Yes, Yes, Jeanette traced Jeanette’s career and her screen partnership with Nelson Eddy. Musical numbers from many of their films were recreated including Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life, Indian Love Call, and Wanting You. The show received great acclaim from audiences and critics alike. After the closing performance we were treated to a talkback session between the audience, show creator Mark Morgan, and MacDonald scholar Edward Baron Turk.

The second premiere of the year, The Roaring 20’s, was a new musical revue set in Boston’s (now demolished) Gaiety Theatre.  With songs, stories, and vaudeville sketches, The Roaring 20’s traced the arc of this tumultuous decade. The expert cast included NELO regular Brian De Lorenzo, along with newcomers Liane Grasso and Valeska Cambron. The show was directed by Michael Byrne. It was received enthusiastically in 7 different towns and will be made available for touring next season.

Our sixth season also featured tours of two of our popular revue shows: Night and Day: A Cole Porter Celebration and Fascinatin’ Rhythm: A George Gershwin Revue. The shows played theaters and churches throughout the area, with a sold out performances at The Firehouse Center for the Arts in Newburyport and the West End Theatre in Gloucester.