Culture
Stuart’s To Host “Love Letters” Performance This Valentine’s Day
< < Back to stuarts-host-love-letters-performance-valentines-dayValentine’s Day is looming. Every year (when you remember it), you try to give your sweetheart something that really says, “I love you” and will be appreciated and long remembered.
And every year, what you actually come up with is vaguely disappointing and not particularly memorable.
So if you’re looking for a bit of inspiration, “An Afternoon of Romantic Delights” at Stuart’s Opera House on Feb. 14 might be just the answer.
A staged reading of A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters, directed by Karen Chan and starring Ruth Borovicka and Jim Parsons, will be accompanied by champagne, chocolate truffles and chocolate-covered strawberries during the intermission.
The play follows the lives of two people by means of their correspondence from their first meeting in the second grade through the next 50 years. Although both were born in the northeast to wealth and position, their lives go forward in quite opposite directions.
Studious Andrew loves to write letters, while artistically gifted Melissa hates to write letters and can hardly even stand to read them. We in the audience become voyeurs, glimpsing through their correspondence the often spiky relationship between Andy and Melissa that deepens as they marry other people and experience disappointments and triumphs in their careers.
Music will be provided by the Tree Lined Roads string ensemble, featuring Elizabeth Miller (piano), Kelly Leon (1st violin), Wen Zhang (2nd violin), Jeff Crisler (viola), Elaine Selby (viola), Amy Abercrombie (cello), Suzanne Ragg (flute) and Celeste Parsons (vocal).
The audience will be seated on the stage with the actors and musicians for this special event, so admission is limited to 60 tickets. Single tickets are $30 and tickets for couples are $50. All proceeds benefit Stuart’s Opera House. Visit www.stuartsoperahouse.org for details.
Listen to “The Love Letters Waltz”, performed by Celeste Parsons with guitar accompaniment by Jeff Crisler, written by Celeste for this production of “Love Letters”.
