The Gondoliers produced and performed by the cast of TEXAS Outdoor Musical

I have been to a few big city productions of different operas.  I didn't know what to expect from one produced here.  But WOW, I know I wasn't expecting to be entertained like I was.  These kids are amazing in talent of voice and acting!  The first thing that kind of threw me is it is not opera but an operetta.  I had to look it up to know the difference and to save you the trouble:   

Operetta (noun) (music) A lighter version of opera with a frivolous story and spoken dialogue.

One of the things I love about plays and musicals is the set and set designs.  Often, they are very minimalistic.  This allows and helps production, but it also is a challenge to create enough to help the story but be functional.  This operetta was no different in the set was very simple but very functional.  The costumes were perfect. One side note that I kind of got a chuckle out of was every one wore tennis shoes!  

Next year whatever extra performances TEXAS does, I will be at them all.  Sadly, the theater was only about half full and it was such an amazing work.

If you have seen TEXAS, you probably recognize this guy and have chuckled at his jokes as he MC's the play.  But let me tell you, I have seen him in the Tempest, the Gondoliers and TEXAS, he has one of the most amazing voices of any one I know.  I am expecting great things from Caleb Martinez.  But that is the thing about all these entertainers.  They are not just good; they are world class talented. 

People regularly ask me when they find out I create my art with a camera, why I call by business Jim Livingston ART and not photography.  I don't do photography for hire.  No weddings or portraits or headshots.  I create and sell art.  Part of that is doing performance photography.  My goal (and it's debatable if it is accomplished or not) isn't to show you what I saw, but to show you what I felt.  And I do that with a lot of visual tools.    For this production I was trying to create that classical feel but maintain the comedy befitting the play so a bit of exaggeration of the colors and glow. 

It was hard to get a bad photo.  These actors and actresses did such an amazing job of presenting their emotional content, I pretty much just showed up.  Although there is a lot that went into the edits of these images, it was just to match the magic of the play and performance.

At times I found myself just watching and enjoying the performance and would have to remind myself to get back to work.  Every single person in the play was perfect but two of them just seemed to have so much magic.  I hope they perform together in the future:  Trent Mostly and Choloe Ridolfo caused me to laugh and stop shooting regularly.  They play off one another in such natural comedy.

I almost feel guilty with the next edits.  Trent did such a good job at being a comedy villain, I wanted to preserve the flourish and drama of his character and exaggerate it a bit.

Fate spins and turns a bad situation into gold as true love finds home in the ending.

I have so many great images of the night choosing a few is hard.  But here is the whole cast: 

Oh, quick shout out to Ep Simmons, musician extraordinary. 

And to Robert Cardwell Music Director 

 And of course, Director Cloyce Kuhnert