INDIANAPOLIS — Expect romance, intrigue and music in an exotic medieval setting when the University of Indianapolis Opera Theatre presents the Broadway classic Kismet: A Musical Arabian Night on Feb. 7 and 8.
Admission is free to both performances, which begin at 7:30 p.m. in the elegant Ruth Lilly Performance Hall of UIndy’s Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center, 1400 E. Hanna Ave.
UIndy’s biennial Opera Theatre production is a collaboration between the Departments of Music and Theatre. The cast of more than 20 includes Zach Cardwell as the Caliph of Baghdad; Elisabeth Kleinsmith as his love interest, Marsinah; Darrin Isaac as her father, the wily Poet; Glen Hall as the Wazir, a power-hungry official; Hannah Holmes as the Wazir’s beautiful wife, Lalume; Ron Dukes as the Imam; and Sean Manterfield as the Caliph’s adviser, Omar.
The Tony Award-winning musical, with book by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis, opened on Broadway in 1953 and has spawned many revivals as well as film and TV adaptations. Many of its songs, written by Robert Wright and George Forrest based on themes by Alexander Borodin, became hits in their own right, including “Stranger in Paradise,” “And This Is my Beloved” and “Baubles, Bangles and Beads.” Music for the show is provided by a live pit orchestra of student and professional musicians.
