The Maryland Opera Studio’s production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, hosted by The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, enchanted crowds on Friday and Sunday with its innovative, updated take on the German Shakespeare adaptation. 

Maryland Opera Studio — which is comprised of graduate and undergraduate students — staged the production as a part of its degree program and performance ensemble at this university. Graduate students were featured singers, while other students, including some undergraduates, supported in the chorus.

The show’s design team was composed of graduate students from the theatre, dance and performance studies school with music provided by graduate and undergraduate orchestra members. 

“It’s a great learning opportunity to work with the master’s students and see how they tackle being in big roles in an opera,” said senior English and music composition major Aidan Wilbur, who was featured in the chorus.

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The opera tells the story of Frau Fluth and Frau Reich, two women who receive identical love letters from the philanderous, drunken knight Sir John Falstaff. With the help of their husbands, the wives scheme to get back at Falstaff and restore order to Windsor. At the same time, Frau Reich’s daughter and her lover struggle to join together against all odds.

Cast members performed the show nearly entirely in German with subtitles projected onto the screen, apart from English spoken elements in the libretto.

Although the original opera is set in Germany in the 19th century, the Maryland Opera Studio’s production was cleverly updated to the 1960s. Performers pranced around in Chuck Taylors, lounged in garish yellow living rooms and created makeshift disguises from classic suburbanite Christmas decorations pulled from a cardboard box.

The set design mainly stays true to its roots, but integrates alluring lighting techniques, including a sea of floating lanterns and forest chandeliers seemingly suspended midair.

The tale’s light humor elicited laughter from the crowd, often from the physical comedy of the performers or the relatable foibles between the married lovers. Performers hid behind bushes, fought with flowers and were dumped into icy rivers. 

Even more than four centuries after Shakespeare’s original conception of the play, its empowering material still feels fresh.

“This is my second time seeing it, so I thought it was even funnier than the first,” sophomore psychology and vocal performance major Isabel Marcus said.

In one scene, Herr Reich and Frau Reich push their daughter, Anna, to marry an affluent man of their choosing. Instead, she asserts herself and makes it clear that she will marry who she chooses to marry, regardless of their wealth.

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In another moment, Frau Fluth’s husband, Herr Fluth, bursts into his home followed by the residents of Windsor with allegations that his wife is having an affair. Finding no proof to back his claims, he stands alone as the entire town cries out “Tyrant! Tyrant! Tyrant!” and mocks his jealousy.

For senior vocal performance major and chorus member Grace Null, the ultimate reward was performing to an audience full of her peers. 

“We can finally do all the hard work … for someone, and I find that really gratifying,”  she said.

The Merry Wives of Windsor runs at The Clarice until Saturday.

CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to better reflect that the members of the Maryland Opera Studio chorus were not only undergraduate students.