BY KAREN BOSSICK
Love music?
You may want to consider coming in from out of the cold and spending the day in the theatres on Saturday.
Sun Valley Opera and the Metropolitan Big Wood Cinemas in Hailey will present The Met: Live in HD presentation of “Adriana Lecouvreur” at 10:55 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 12. Tickets are $16, available at the theatre.
Then it will present “The King and I” featuring Kelli O’Hara at 7 p.m. Saturday evening at the Argyros Performing Arts Center in Ketchum.
Soprano Anna Netrebko will join the ranks of Renata Tebaldi, Montserrat Caballe and Renata Scotto when she takes on the title role of the French actress who dazzled 18th century audiences with her on-and-offstage passion.
Tenor Piotr Beczala will play her lover Maurizio.
The cast also features mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili and baritone Ambrogio Maestri, along with conductor Gianandrea Noseda.
Sir David McVicar will set the action in a working replica of a Baroque theater, which the Guardian praised as “sumptuously designed” when it premiered at the Royal Opera House in London
“Adriana Lecouvreur” was largely dismissed by experts from its premiere to the present day. But it’s cherished by fans for the dramatic possibilities its lead roles provide. Based on a play by Eugene Scribe and featuring music by Francesco Cilea, it was inspired by the real-life intrigues of Lecouvreur and the legendary soldier Maurice of Saxony.
The title character in this four-hour production, in particular, is a quintessential diva role.
“The King and I: From the London Palladium” is a lavish musical featuring Kelli O’Hara, Ken Watanabe and Ruthie Ann Miles.
The fifth musical written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, it is based on Margaret Landon’s novel “Anna and the King of Siam.” That book was derived from the memoirs of a British school teacher hired as governess to the children of the King of Siam in the early 1860s as part of his efforts to modernize his country.
They bash heads at first and then become fond of one another, although it’s a love to which neither can admit.
Kelli O’Hara sang in Sun Valley on behalf of the Sun Valley Opera just before heading to London to take on this role.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under, available at the Argyros box office and online at www.theargyros.org.