UW Opera Theatre stages Die Fledermaus for first time in a decade

A free comic opera with two principal casts, the Laramie Civic Chorus and a full campus production team will fill the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts concert hall with one of Johann Strauss II’s most recognizable works. UW Opera Theatre will stage Die Fledermaus, also known as The Revenge of the Bat, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 8, and Saturday, May 9, in a return the university says is its first opera theatre staging of this kind in more than a decade.

The timing gives Albany County residents an unusually easy night out: no ticket cost, no travel beyond campus and no barrier to trying a performance that is built around lively melodies, comic misunderstandings and eccentric characters. For anyone who has never attended opera, Die Fledermaus is among the most approachable entry points because it plays more like a sparkling farce than a heavy drama, drawing on the playful style that made Viennese operetta a fixture of European popular culture.

University officials identified Magdalena Wór as stage director, with pianist Gyejun Baek and chorusmaster O’Neil Jones also part of the production. The mix of student performers and community singers gives the show a local footprint that reaches beyond the music department, with the Laramie Civic Chorus joining the cast onstage. That collaboration has long been a hallmark of university arts in Laramie, where campus productions often double as community events.

The announcement landed as the academic year heads into its final stretch, giving families, faculty and arts supporters a chance to plan before commencement week crowds take over the university calendar. For downtown businesses and campus venues, a free production in the Buchanan Center also serves as a reminder that the arts remain one of the most visible ways the university and town intersect. In a city where many cultural outings come with a price tag, a no-cost operetta from Strauss offers a rare chance to hear a major work in a familiar place, with a cast large enough to make the occasion feel special.