Multitalented conductor Stasyna, who is San Diego Opera’s resident conductor and chorus master, led the symphony with vigor and style, then moved to the piano to serve as solo accompanist for several songs.
Stasyna has been on the conducting rosters of the New York City and Boston Lyric Operas. He conducts with vigorous authority. The orchestra opened the concert with a fleet reading of the bubbly overture from The Marriage of Figaro and later returned for a regal-sounding "Polonaise" from Eugene Onegin.
Timothy Nelson’s clever direction is jam-packed with creativity and scenic eye candy designed by Tim Wallace that keeps the audience engaged throughout the production’s three hours. Ingrid Helton’s lush costumes set the story in a picture-perfect 1950s America, where the men gamble over their women’s virtue in a locker room, then disguise themselves as mustachioed silver screen-style cowboys.
