Arts Performing Arts

Wortham Center Presents The Opera Locos April 3

The Opera Locos. Photo by Lighuen Desanto

Five eccentric opera singers take the stage Sunday, April 3, at 7 p.m. in Diana Wortham Theatre for an unforgettable evening of physical comedy featuring repertoire from the greatest composers of their genre. The Opera Locos takes some of the most well-known operatic hits, including music from The Magic Flute, The Barber of Seville, La Traviata and Turandot and combines them with a bit of clownery and well-known rock and pop classics.

“This will be the first time our audiences experience Opera Locos,” says Wortham Arts’ managing director Rae Geoffrey. “The group’s promotional materials intrigued us immediately.”

Throughout the performance, this eclectic ensemble reveals their hidden passions, personalities and desires, many of which bring about unpredictable and often side-splitting consequences. This fresh and original take on opera brings a new perspective, while, at the same time, maintaining the international high standards for technique and artistic discipline.

“Frequently larger than life, opera can be an inaccessible art form to some patrons,” says Geoffrey. “Opera Locos breaks down those barriers by adding comedy and physicality to entice and explain the classics and keep the audience laughing the whole time.”

The company behind The Opera Locos, Yllana, was founded in 1991 in Madrid, Spain. Its five founding members—Juan Francisco Ramos, Marcos Ottone, David Ottone, Joseph O’Curneen and Fidel Fernández—created the company as a vessel for comedy and physical theater, but it has since grown and evolved to include a wide range of diverse projects in the cultural sphere. With celebrated performances and rave reviews in more than 300 cities throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America, The Opera Locos comes to North America for the first time in 2022.

Wortham Center for the Performing Arts is located at 18 Biltmore Avenue in downtown Asheville. To learn more or purchase tickets, visit WorthamArts.org or call 828.257.4530.

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