(bright band music) - Lyrical Opera Theater presents La Traviata: A Tale of Love, Sacrifice, and Redemption.

Lynette Owens is here with Miriam Costa-Jackson to share a preview of this timeless tale.

Thank you so much for being here.

- Thank you, Liz.

- Thank you.

- So take me to the scene.

We're talking about the glittering backdrop of 19th century Paris.

What is the show about and what are the audience gonna see when they come into the theater?

- This is one of the most beloved operas in the whole entire repertoire for a reason.

It's got a story that people can relate to.

It's a very human story about a courtesan who makes a very personal sacrifice of love for another woman, for this other woman's happiness.

And it's got beautiful music.

We'll have beautiful scenery, gorgeous costumes.

Our audience will experience lavish parties, and they'll walk away having laughed and cried and remembering, having something that they'll remember the rest of their lives.

- Oh, I love that.

And you are a part of the production, you're gonna be on stage.

What is it like to kind of embody that, to put those glittering costumes on and kind of step into this world?

- Well, it's extraordinarily fun, first and foremost.

I think we've all loved to, the idea of getting dressed up and acting and being somebody different.

But it's extremely hard because this is a devastatingly sad story.

So, what will be great though is to share that with the audience and really, we'll go through a lot of emotions together, happiness and sadness, and all that's in between.

- [Lynette] Yeah.

- And there's beauty in, in that as, as well, sharing that experience together.

What would you say to someone who's like, "Ah, opera, I've never been.

I'm not sure if I, I should go."

- This is an opera that longtime opera goers love to go to over and over again, as well as somebody who's never been to the opera before.

And we are singing it in Italian, but we at Lyrical Opera Theater make our opera accessible with English supertitle translation so everybody can follow along with this story.

- Oh, making me excited about it already.

Thank you so much for stopping by.

If you would like to check out this opera, we've got the information for you on the screen.

It's happening at the Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center, September 12th, 16th, 18th, and the 20th.

That's La Traviata is the opera.

Just head to lyricaloperatheater.com for more information.

I'm Liz Adeola, and thank you for watching Contact.

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