Really Spicy Opera is a non-profit performing arts organization that produces live opera and musicals in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. RSO is a professional opera company that operated in Boston from 2006-2013; it has been based in the Twin Cities since 2014. Its programming includes a mix of new musicals and new operas, with occasional classic musicals and operas. It is a member of

Opera America __NOTOC__ Opera America, styled OPERA America, is a New York-based service organization promoting the creation, presentation, and enjoyment of opera in the United States. Almost all professional opera companies and some semi-professional companies i ...

and the only opera company in Minnesota with a primary focus on new operas and musicals. The company celebrated its 10th anniversary in June 2016 with a performance of the three-act Italian opera, ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play ''Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had cont ...

'', composed by

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

, at the Capri Theater in Minneapolis.Appelbaum, Hanne. '"Fascinating, Striking ''Rigoletto''.". ''Twin Cities Arts Reader'', June 4, 2016. RSO also toured across the United States and Canada in 2017-2019, was an ensemble in residence at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2018, and performed in France in 2020.

About

Really Spicy Opera has staged more than one dozen world premieres of musical works for the stage, including Aaron Krerowicz's ''Simple Gifts: A Copland Opera'', Julia Smith's ''The Here and Now: Love in the 21st Century'', and Leanna Kirchoff's ''The Clever Artifice of Harriet and Margaret''.Minnesota Fringe Festival. "The Clever Artifice of Harriet and Margaret." ''The Clever Artifice of Harriet and Margaret'', an adaptation of Alice Gerstenberg's play ''Overtones'', was the winner of the National Opera Association's 2012-2014 Chamber Opera Composition Competition.Considine, Basil. "Opera minus the high costs and testosterone." ''Twin Cities Daily Planet'', January 24, 2015. Its 2017 tour of ''Game of Thrones: The Musical'' was named one of the top highlights of the 2017 Tampa International Fringe Festival by ''Creative Loafing''. RSO appears regularly at festivals, concerts, and symposia. The company toured France in January 2020, giving the first-ever modern performances of

André Grétry André Ernest Modeste Grétry (; baptised 11 February 1741; died 24 September 1813) was a composer from the Prince-Bishopric of Liège (present-day Belgium), who worked from 1767 onwards in France and took French nationality. He is most famous ...

's ''Émilie, ou la belle esclave'' at the

Bibliothèque Nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

and th
Fondation des États-Unis

Recent history

The company staged the world premiere of ''Game of Thrones: The Musical'' at the 2016 Minnesota Fringe Festival, winning the ''Twin Cities Arts Readers Best of Fringe and Critic's Pick awards. In 2017, Really Spicy Opera embarked on a series of national and international Fringe Circuit tours, including performances of ''Game of Thrones: The Musical'' on the Hawaii Fringe Festival Circuit (including the O'ahu and

Maui Fringe Festival The Maui Fringe Festival is an annual alternative theatre festival held in Wailuku, on the island of Maui. This Hawaii festival is part of the Hawai'i Fringe Festival circuit, in conjunction with the annual O'ahu Fringe Festival. The event is orga ...

s), the Tampa Fringe Festival, and appearances at the Orlando and Montreal Fringe Festivals. The company also performed in Nashville, Tennessee during its spring tours. RSO has achieved both critical and commercial success: ''Game of Thrones: The Musical'' was the best-selling show at its venue at the 2017 O'ahu Fringe Festival and the best-selling show overall of the 2017 Tampa International Fringe. Its world premiere of ''A Pickle'' by Deborah Yarchun completely sold out at the 2017 Minnesota Fringe Festival and was certified as the best-selling show of the festival by capacity. Its show PolySHAMory was praised by the

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

, received the Technician's Pick award at the 2018 Tampa International Fringe Festival, and was named a "Don't Miss" show by Montreal Rampage in 2019.

Leadership

Really Spicy Opera has been led since its inception by founder Basil Considine, who serves as the producing Artistic Director.

Repertoire

Really Spicy Opera specializes in world premieres of new musicals and operas, which form the vast majority of its repertory. Some works that it premiered, such as '' The Clever Artifice of Harriet and Margaret'', have entered the new opera repertory. The company occasionally produces classic musicals and operas, including Verdi's ''

'' in 2016 and Jason Robert Brown's ''

The Last Five Years ''The Last Five Years'' is a musical written by Jason Robert Brown. It premiered at Chicago's Northlight Theatre in 2001 and was then produced Off-Broadway in March 2002. Since then it has had numerous productions both in the United States and ...

'' in 2017. '' The Frat Party'', which was staged by the company in 2014, was named a semi-finalist in

The American Prize The American Prize is a set of annual nonprofit national competitions in the performing arts which recognizes and rewards commercial and noncommercial recorded performances of classical music in the United States based on submitted applications. T ...

's 2017 composition competition for theatre. According to ''Arts National'', Really Spicy Opera follows the programming model of a 17th-century touring French opera company.

Venues

Like many itinerant companies in the Twin Cities, RSO has no permanent home. It has performed at Minnesotan venues including main stages such as the Capri Theater, the Ritz Theater, the now-defunct New Century Theater; area churches; and Bryant-Lake Bowl's Cabaret Theater.

Music and theatre education

Founder Basil Considine was named to ''Musical America'' Magazine's Top 30: Movers & Shapers list for 2018 in partial recognition for the company's outreach programs.

Aria Institute

In July 2020, Really Spicy Opera launched an online opera writing training programming for composers and librettists called The Aria Institute. The Aria Institute is co-directed by Anne Wieben, Basil Considine, and Tess Altiveros, with a schedule and programming supports designed to engage more women in writing opera.

Recent mainstage productions

* '' Émilie, ou la belle esclave'' (2020) by André Grétry * '' PolySHAMory'' (2018, 2019; multiple stagings) by

Kate Robards Kate name may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer * Lauren Kate (born 1981), American autho ...

* ''

The Princess Pirate Party Musical ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (2018) by Basil Considine * ''

A Pickle A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

'' (2018) by Deborah Yarchun * ''

Amahl and the Night Visitors ''Amahl and the Night Visitors'' is an opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti with an original English libretto by the composer.Menotti, Gian-Carlo: ''Amahl and the Night Visitors (piano-vocal score)'', G. Schirmer, Inc., 1997. It was commission ...

'' (2017) by

Gian Carlo Menotti Gian Carlo Menotti (, ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept h ...

* ''

'' (2017; multiple stagings) by Deborah Yarchun * ''

Ain't that Rich The word "ain't" is a contraction for ''am not'', ''is not'', ''are not'', ''has not'', ''have not'' in the common English language vernacular. In some dialects ''ain't'' is also used as a contraction of ''do not'', ''does not'' and ''did not''. ...

'' (2017) by

* ''

'' (2017) by

Jason Robert Brown Jason Robert Brown (born June 20, 1970) is an American musical theatre composer, lyricist, and playwright. Brown's music sensibility fuses pop-rock stylings with theatrical lyrics. He is the recipient of three Tony Awards for his work on ''Parad ...

* '' Game of Thrones: The Musical'' (2017; multiple stagings) by Basil Considine * '' Game of Thrones: The Musical'' (2016) by Basil Considine * ''

'' (2016) by

* '' The Clever Artifice of Harriet and Margaret'' (2015) by

Leanna Kirchoff Leanna may refer to: People * Leanna Brodie, Canadian actress and playwright * Leanna Carriere-Wellwood, Canadian pole vaulter and heptathlete * Leanna Crawford, American singer-songwriter * Leanna Creel, American actress Fictional characters ...

* '' The Frat Party'' (2014) by Basil Considine

References

{{authority control Minnesota opera companies Arts organizations based in Minneapolis Music organizations based in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Minnesota Musical groups established in 2006 2006 establishments in Minnesota