Some Spanish heat

Nothing warms me up faster than some regional theater. Nothing. So escape this freezing winter weather and take a trip (well, kind of…) to Spain with the players of OperaHub as they present Spanish Sirens. Featuring Ravel’s 1911 one-act opera, L’Heure Espagnole, this performance also includes excerpts from Carmen. Set in Toledo, Spain, L’Heure Espagnole details the adventures of a clockmaker’s flirtatious wife, as well as her gentlemen callers, during her husband’s afternoon away. Founded in 2007, OperaHub gives a fresh, professional, and personal interpretation of opera by local talent to the greater Boston area. I’ve seen a past performance and, trust me, they can sing. I had the chance to take a few shots of the cast of OperaHub as they ran their performance of their upcoming show, Spanish Sirens, during rehearsal at BU’s College of Fine Arts (855 Commonwealth Ave) recently. I spoke with Brittany Duncan of OperaHub about her experiences with the show and the cast.

“Spanish Sirens evolved as a production when we were thinking about shows to include in our AMBITION season (‘08-’09). Jordan Rodu and I were familiar with L’Heure Espagnole already — in fact, I was pretty intimately acquainted with it as an intern at Berkshire Opera Company. Because of the central character of a strong female driven to get what she wants (in this case, sex) we thought it was a great fit for the theme — and decided to pair it with excerpts from Carmen instead of the more traditional approach of pairing it with another one-act opera because both operas are set in Spain and written by French composers. Carmen is another driven, exotic female character who lives by her own moral code – similar in many ways to Concepcion, the wife in L’Heure Espagnole.”

“We’re really excited about this show because not only do we have a fantastic cast, but we’ll also be presenting the OperaHub debuts of an extremely talented creative team. Accompaniment will be provided by two pianos in order to best capture the lush texture & clock-like elements of Ravel’s luscious score. And, as befits an opera performed in a small space, stage director James O’Leary has really focused on creating detailed, individualized performances by the five-person cast. The staging is really physical and funny — I’ve had a bit of difficulty adjusting to playing the role of a seductress (it’s not my usual shtick) but I have to say I’m starting to enjoy it! And the rest of the cast is just fantastic; it’s been a treat working with them.”

“We started music rehearsals back in November, but only began staging on January 3rd , so it’s been a bit of a rush putting all the staging together in less than two weeks! But I think audiences will be pleasantly surprised – not only is L’Heure Espagnole a wonderful, hysterical, and rarely-performed gem of an opera, but where else could you hear it in a 50-seat theater – and for free?”

Running just about an hour, even the coolest jocks could sit through this one. Performances of Spanish Sirens will be held at The Factory Theater at 791 Tremont St.. See it Friday, the 23rd at 8:00 p.m., Saturday the 24th at 8:00 p.m. or Sunday the 25th at 2:00 p.m.. Best of all-all the shows are free! You can reserve seats in advance by emailing tickets@operahub.org with your name, phone number, requested performance date, and number of seats. For more information be sure to visit http://www.operahub.org/.