Opera Off Broadway at the Opera Factory Studio

By WILLIAM DART

With 79 young singers turning up for auditions, it's little wonder that Opera Factory launched the new year with this natty double bill of Gluck's The Cadi Outwitted and Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief.

Gluck's tuneful singspiel might have been subtitled "Figaro in Constantinople" and was jolly good fun, played in a Turkish palace fashioned from a multitude of strategically placed drapes.

There was energetic singing and solid musicianship all round, with Ben Milsom's leering Cadi standing out dramatically as Sian O'Gorman's Zelmira did on the musical side.

Back in the late 1930s, radio was a powerful medium in the United States, attracting some of the most creative minds around. Orson Welles let The War of the Worlds loose on a gullible public in 1938; the following year saw Menotti's so-called grotesque opera in 14 scenes.

The Old Maid and the Thief is prime opera buffa. The foolish Miss Todd, the old maid of the title, falls into a life of crime to appease a handsome young stranger who has turned up on her doorstep, only to have her amatory hopes dashed by a duplicitous maid.

Taking a cue from the original radio presentation, Sally Sloman staged it in the studio, complete with free-standing microphones and two smooth young men in the background announcing scenes and providing sound effects, from clip-clop shoes to feverish tea pouring. The singers pouted and preened between their numbers, slipping in and out of character while the indefatigable pianist, Rosemary Barnes, had the chance to strut on in her Sunday best and kvetch along with the rest of them.

A nice concept this, with sharp performances. John Leightley's Bob was an affable cad and Rebecca Samuel the classic servant-with-attitude. Emma Sloman and Victoria Rainbow as the Misses Pinkerton and Todd not only had their characters down to the last camp flutter and grimace, but they did Menotti's gorgeous music proud as well.

An evening that so easily combines elegance and belly laughs is rare. With the season running until Saturday, and this cast playing on the 19th, 21st and 22nd, don't miss it.