Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
    Date: 1/10/01
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple   98

Editors: Please note local interest
SLU OPERA-MUSIC THEATRE PROGRAM TO PRESENT "DIE FLEDERMAUS"
     HAMMOND -- The Southeastern Louisiana University Opera-Music Theatre Program
has chosen Johann Strauss' beloved comic operetta "Die Fledermaus" as its first production of
2001.
     "Die Fledermaus" will be performed February 14-17 at Southeastern's Pottle Music
Building Auditorium. The production will be led by the team of director Larry Gray, producer
Scharmal Schrock, conductor Charles Effler, set designer Steve Schepker, lighting designer Pete
Pfeil and choreographer Martie Fellom.
     "Die Fledermaus" ("The Bat"), which will be performed in English, overflows with
instantly memorable tunes and lyrics, irrepressibly funny characters and colorful scenes of late
19th century Vienna. The plot revolves around the elaborate scheme of Dr. Falke (David
Louviere of Baton Rouge) to get even with Eisenstein (Krassen Karagiozov of Hammond), a
married womanizer, for abandoning him in a park after a costume party. When Falke, who'd had
too much to drink, awoke the next morning still dressed in his bat costume, he found himself the
center of attention of a jeering crowd.
     Out for revenge, Falke takes Eisenstein, who should have reported to jail for a minor
offense, to a masked ball given by Prince Orlofsky, a role shared by Daveda Karanas of
Mandeville and Amanda Taver of Prairieville. There, the unsuspecting victim meets his maid,
Adele (Summer Grest of Hammond) and his masked wife, Rosalinda (Lara Tillotson of Dallas,
Texas), as well as the prison warden Frank (Kyle Jones of Bogalusa). Frank has arrested
Rosalinda's former lover, egotistical tenor Alfred (James Roberts of Hammond), after finding
Alfred dining cozily with Rosalinda and mistaking him for Eisenstein.
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DIE FLEDERMAUS   Add One
     Complications come to a climax when all gather at the jail after the masked ball and
Falke discloses to an astonished Eisenstein that all the night's harassments have been merely the
"bat's revenge."
     The cast also includes Ryan Lockhard of Hammond as Dr. Blind and Angelica Logiudice
of Slidell as Sally. Members of Southeastern's Concert Choir form the chorus.
     Tickets for "Die Fledermaus" are $10 general admission, $5 for senior citizens, non-SLU
students and Southeastern faculty and staff. Southeastern students are admitted free with their
university I.D.
     For additional information, call the Southeastern Department of Music and Dramatic
Arts, 504-549-2184.
                             -SLU-
Press release available online at www.selu.edu/NewsEvents/PublicInfoOffice/newsp01.htm