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Flora L. Thornton Opera Program Presents "The Elixir of Love"

The Flora L. Thornton Opera Program will present Gaetano Donizetti's comic opera "The Elixir of Love" (L'elisir d'amore), sung in Italian with English supertitles, at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday and Saturday, Feb. 21 and 23, at Smothers Theatre, Malibu.  

In this reimagining of Donizetti's classic opera, the story about a love-struck youth who procures a "magic" potion to gain the affection of a young woman is transported to pre-World War II California citrus country.

Henry Price directs the Pepperdine student cast, which is backed by the Pepperdine University Orchestra under the baton of Tony Cason.

"Audiences should expect to be thoroughly and delightfully entertained by a light romantic comedy," Price enthuses. "The music is warm and witty and makes one feel as if one is actually in sunny Italy–or, in this case, Southern California in 1940."

A generous gift from the late Flora L. Thornton has enabled the University to enhance considerably the quality of its opera productions, its summer European opera studies workshops in Heidelberg, and its arts outreach programs. Recent productions include Die Fledermaus, Little Women, The Bartered Bride, The Marriage of Figaro, Cosi fan tutte, and La Boheme.

Alumni from the all-undergraduate program have gone on to some of the nation's finest graduate schools, conservatories, and professional young artist programs.

Tickets, priced at $15 for the public, $10 for Pepperdine students, and $12 for Pepperdine faculty and staff, are available by calling the Pepperdine Center for the Arts Box Office at (310) 506-4522. Tickets for the general public are also available through Ticketmaster at (800) 982-2787.

For more information, visit the Center for the Arts Web site.