UW Opera Workshop presents an unadulterated extraction of Adina’s and Nemorino’s love arc from Gaetano Donizetti’s spirited opera buffa, L’elisir d’amore. UW graduate and undergraduate soloists hand off the roles of Nemorino and Adina in successive pairs as each scene unfolds in this rom-com styling directed by Kelly Kitchens, musical direction by Andrew Romanick, and framed by an effervescent chorus of voice majors and non-majors. Will Nemorino’s spirits infuse Adina with requited affection, or will he finally have to put a cork in it?
Director Biographies
Andrew Romanick performs in the Seattle area and beyond as a collaborative pianist and opera coach. On faculty at the University of Washington School of Music, he instructs Opera Workshop and Collaborative Piano. This year Romanick has performed and premiered with soprano Carrie Henneman Shaw a number of pieces in Seattle and St. Paul by contemporary composers: Linda Tutas Haugen, Kate Soper, Jocelyn Hagen, Juliana Hall, and Karen P. Thomas. In January, Romanick also contributed to the reconstruction and performance by UW Opera of Joseph Haydn's Philemon and Baucis, or Jupiter comes to Earth. Previous professional performances have taken place virtually with Seattle soprano Chérie Hughes in the Barcelona Festival of Song; with Broadway and Metropolitan Opera Baritone Zachary James in the Hoku concert series in Kona, Hawaii; in the Canto Opera Festival in Louisville, Kentucky; in the Music in the Marche Opera Festival in Mondavio and Fano, Italy; and solo in the Gijón Piano Festival in Spain. Romanick earned his Doctorate of Musical Arts from University of Washington in 2018 in the studio of Robin McCabe.
Kelly Kitchens is professional director, actor, and arts educator based out of Seattle, Washington.
Her honors include: three-time nominated and two-time recipient of the Gregory Falls Award for Outstanding Director; winner of the Broadway World Critics Picks for Best Direction of a Play; two time winner of Seattle Theater Writers award for Best Direction of a Play; Broadway World nominee for Best Direction of a Musical; named Best Director by the Seattle Weekly Readers Poll; named in Seattle Magazine’s inaugural list of “Top 20 Most Talented People in Seattle”; and a nominee for the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Mayor's Arts Award.
Some past projects include: directing Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and for Kentucky Opera; directing the NYC workshop of Esther, a new dance musical; directing the US Premier of Meek (Denizen Theater, NY); stage directing O+E, a new adaptation of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (Seattle Opera); stage directing The Tender Land (Seattle Opera Academy); directing The Light in the Piazza (Showtunes Theatre Company); directing The Thanksgiving Play, Hand to God (Gregory Award recipient for Outstanding Production), Ironbound (Gregory Award nominee for Outstanding Production), Grounded, On Clover Road, The Other Place, Christmastown (Seattle Public Theater); directing Medea, As You Like It, and The Tempest and performing the roles of Jaques in As You Like It and Kate in The Taming of the Shrew (Seattle Shakespeare Company); directing Pride and Prejudice (THEATERWORKS, Colorado); adapting and directing She's Come Undone (Book-It Repertory Theatre).
Some upcoming projects include directing Orfeo ed Euridice for Kentucky Opera in collaboration with the Louisville Ballet as well as directing productions for The University of Washington and Book-It Repertory Theatre.
Kelly is a Guest Lecturer in vocal performance at the University of Washington, a member of Actor's Equity Association, and a member of The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Kelly earned her B.A. from Vanderbilt University and her M.F.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.