The University of Idaho Argonaut

Washington State University’s Opera Workshop will perform “Naughty Marietta” and introduce the American public to accessible opera.
“In other countries, every town has an opera house and all the common people go to the opera,” said Julie Wieck, director of WSU’s Opera Workshop and associate professor in the School of Music.

Wieck said she wants to demystify opera, breaking away from the perception that opera is an exclusive art form only for the elite.
“It was time to do an American opera, a style we’d never done before,” Wieck said.
The Opera Workshop will present Victor Herbert’s operetta “Naughty Marietta” on Friday and Saturday in Bryan Hall Theatre.
“Naughty Marietta” is a sentimentally romantic comedy, Wieck said.

A story about pirates, captains, quadroon mistresses and a runaway contessa named Marietta, the operetta is uniquely its own.
It is set in New Orleans at the time of the Louisiana Purchase.
Part of the beauty of this operetta is the music.

“It has a lush orchestration that shows off our orchestra,” Wieck said. “(The music) is beautifully lush, romantic music … schmaltzy even.”
Karina Brazas, WSU vocal performance junior, plays the role of Contessa Marietta d’Altena, a spunky young woman who has run away from her noble European family by disguising herself as a “casquette girl” sent by the King of France to the French settlement of New Orleans.

“The operetta is really over the top in its plot, but at the same time it takes itself seriously,” Brazas said.
Brazas said that American opera is not as well recognized of a genre, in part because America does not have the deep musical history that places like
Europe do.

“Americans view opera as inaccessible,” Brazas said. “The average American audience is not exposed to opera.”
Brazas spent a semester abroad and was surprised to find opera so available, common and inexpensive.
However, America is building up a musical history with newer operas taking on more serious plots.
“New operas are about actual issues like corporal punishment,” Brazas said.

Wieck said that often in Europe operas are performed in vernacular, meaning the language native to the region.
WSU’s Opera Workshop has performed several operatic works in English when they were originally written in Italian or other
languages.

“Singing in the vernacular makes it more accessible to the audience,” Wieck said.
Wieck said some people have the perception that opera is boring.
“Instead, it’s wonderful, exciting stories set to music,” Wieck said.

“Naughty Marietta” brings together a diverse cast of students, which Wieck said aids in spreading awareness about opera and adds an extra element.
“They’re from different departments — maybe they’re coming to rehearsals after a long afternoon spent in a lab,” Wieck said. “Non-music majors bring in an
excitement.”