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Opera Night Out: Bellini’s The Capulets & the Montagues and post-show fête at Bossa Nova

Let the opera lover in you come out of the closet! This Friday, share your flair for opera and musical theater at “Opera Night Out."

Pittsburgh Opera's GLBT community event kicks off at 8 p.m., with a performance of Vincenzo Bellini’s bel canto opera, The Capulets & the Montagues at the Benedum Center, and culminates with a post-show fête hosted by opera fanatics Nachum Golan and Steven Hough at Downtown hotspot Bossa Nova.

Start your night with a convention-bending role-reversing production of an age-old family drama. International opera stars Vivica Genaux and Laura Claycomb are sure to ignite the stage as star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Giulietta.

In a reversal of an age-old theatrical custom in which men and boys played women’s roles, the composer wrote the part of teenage Romeo for a mezzo-soprano. A common operatic practice until the 20th century, so-called “trouser roles” were meant to give opera-goers the impression of an unchanged male voice. But in an era when an exposed ankle could elicit comment, the sight of a woman in pants became a guilty pleasure. Add in the implications of cross-dressing, and you’ve got a near on-stage scandal.

You won’t want to miss Genaux’s “almost inhuman gift for vocal pyrotechnics” as the world-class star sings opposite Claycomb, hailed for her “Botticellian looks” and a voice “that caresses every note."

Pittsburgh Opera music director Antony Walker conducts the pre-Shakespearean version of a classic tragedy, in which Tenor Arthur Espiritu plays Tebaldo, the third protagonist in a doomed love triangle.

The $55 package includes a fab seat to the performance and admission to the reception. For tickets, go here or call 412-281-0912 x240.