FULL SPEED DATING TONIGHT! (Michael Ching) Augusta GA 2025 AU Opera Theatre
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Speed Dating Tonight!
- Composer: Chin Michael
- Libretto: Michael Ching Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Maxwell Theatre, Augusta University, Georgia
- Recorded: March 22 & 23, 2025
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: see cast below
- Conductor:
- Orchestra: Andy Reid, PIANO
- Stage Director: Courtney Kalbacker
- Costume Designer:
- Lighting Designer: Alex Thomas
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Augusta University Music Department
- Date Published: 2025
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: yessubs, ensubs, gensubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
SPEED DATING TONIGHT! is what I call a “new numbers opera.” Much of traditional opera is based on musical numbers: arias, duets, ensembles, finales. SpDT! is similarly structured but with some twists. First connecting material such as recitative is minimized. As for the songs and ensembles themselves, most of the material is not gendered and not limited to one vocal type. Even the order of the pieces is up to the producer. The cast needn’t be based on a 50/50 gender balance. (It doesn’t need to be binary either.) In the over 100 productions the smallest cast has been four and the largest around fifty. The goal is to have one hundred options, with the idea being that you use only the material you want for your cast. Currently there are 91 options–I count a true duet as two options, for example, but a piece with only a couple of response lines, counts as one option.
The opera starts and ends with a frame and premise that isn’t varied. At a local pub, the bartender (B), server (M), Dating Coordinator (S or M), and busboy (mute or any voice) get ready for the event and greet the daters as they enter. We are introduced to two nervous characters (“I could just die”) and Dater #22 (B). He’s got a singing birthday card. The actual speed dating starts and the show ends when everyone has had their song, duet, or trio. There are a few subplots to hold the show together. The finale starts with the server commenting in a Brechtian manner about the event (“Daters are a lot like singers”). Dater #22, a failure so far, gives it one more try, and in a parody of the Pappageno/Pappagena duet, finally finds his true love, a fellow cell phone addict. The daters exit and the bartender and server decide to go have a coffee. Alone, the busboy, dances with their broom.
Michael Ching
“Opening Scene – Speed Dating Tonight”…………..Dillon Deaguero,
………………………..Beatrice Jackson, Emma Kelley, Eli Greene, and the Ensemble
“Realtor/Getting Married” …………………………………..Dominique Bauer Brown
“Wildlife Rehabilitator”…………………………………………………….Kayleigh Brigola
“Campaign Consultant”………………………………………………Dalilah Velez Bonilla
“Lurking”…………………………………………………………………………………Andy Nelson
“I’ve Always Liked This Bar”……………………………………………………Daniel Berry
“Order Up”………………………………………..Beatrice Jackson and Dillon Deaguero
“Social Media Celebrity”…Dalilah Velez Bonilla, Andy Nelson/Jamal Bogan*
“Coordinator Song”……………………………………………………………Beatrice Jackson
“Toaster Duet”……………………………………..Eli Greene and Dalilah Velez Bonilla
“Origamist”…………………………………………………………………………..Aubrey Carroll
“Break in the Action” …………………………………………………………Beatrice Jackson
“Shirt!”…………………………………………………..Dillon Deaguero and Jamal Bogan*
“Lives at Home”………………………………………………………………….Kayleigh Brigola
“Someone for Me”………………………………………………………………………..Ensemble
“And Never Share the Spring” …………………….Dillon Deaguero/Jamal Bogan*
“I Want to Be Beautiful to You”………………………Andy Nelson with Ensemble
“Soulmate” ……………………………………………………………………………..Emma Kelley
“The Dilemma of Daters (and Singers)”……………………………Beatrice Jackson
“Food Truck Duet”……………………..Dominique Bauer Brown and Daniel Berry
“Bow Tie Duet”………………………………………………Aubrey Carroll and Eli Greene
“Fragile Heart/Waiting for Too Long Duet”..Emma Kelley and Andy Nelson
“If Not Now, When?”……………………………………………………………………Ensemble
“Thank you for Coming!”…………………………………………………………….Ensemble