Opera Omaha: The Rake’s Progress at Orpheum Theatre

Opera Omaha is known all around for their breath-taking operatic performances, wowing audiences season after season.

The 2024/2025 season will be no different. With the highly acclaimed production team at the helm and under the passion, heartfelt authenticity, and unassailable integrity of world-renowned conductor Steven White’s musicianship, “The Rake’s Progress” is set to stun audiences in a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The stellar cast features the acclaimed tenor Adrian Kramer as Tom, bass-baritone Craig Colclough as Nick Shadow, soprano Liv Redpath as Anne Trulove, as well as Maggie Gawrysiak, Rehanna Telwell, Calvin Griffin, and Brian Jeffers.

“For idle hearts and hands and minds, the Devil finds work to do.”

The young heir, Tom Rakewell, enticed by the promise of wealth and pleasure, deserts his beloved Anne Trulove in exchange for the delights of pleasure in the company of the suspicious Nick Shadow. After several misadventures initiated by the devious Nick Shadow, leading to Tom’s decline and fall, Tom finds himself in Bedlam, a hospital for the insane at that time situated in the city of London.

“The Rake’s Progress” is loosely based upon eight satirical paintings and engravings by William Hogarth. With the marvelously poetic libretto by W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman, Igor Stravinsky finished the work in 1951 with its premiere in November 1951 at the Teatro La Fenise in Venice. The opera, with set and costume design by David Hockney, was famously staged at the 1975 Glyndebourne Festival Opera, with 2025 marking the 50th anniversary.

“The Rake’s Progress” marks the end of Igor Stravinsky's neoclassical period. Alongside emotional sincerity placed against irony, black humor relying on a feeling of easy suavity, and phenomenal angular music giving off an exceptional chill, the opera contains numerous references to Greek mythology and the operas of Mozart, Handel, and others. While “The Rake’s Progress” keeps an audience on their toes, it is also superb, masterful, and opera at its best.

The stunning 2,600-seat Orpheum Theatre is one of Omaha’s oldest performing arts centres – and with that comes style, breath-taking architecture, comfort, and spectacular productions. Seating is spread across five areas: the orchestral floor, the grand tier, the balcony, the gallery, and the special boxes. Whatever your preference, you are guaranteed a truly exceptional experience at the opera!