Pacific Opera Projects Presents 'Fra Diavolo,' Nov 7-9, 12 & 14-16

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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PACIFIC OPERA PROJECT PRESENTS
THE FIRST PRODUCTION OF AUBER’S FRA DIAVOLO
IN LOS ANGELES IN NEARLY 50 YEARS

Nov 7-9, 12; 14-16, 2025
The Highland Park Ebell, Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles, CA — Pacific Opera Project (POP) continues their ambitious 15th Anniversary Season with Auber’s Fra Diavolo on Friday, November 7, 2025 at 7:30PM; Saturday, November 8, 2025 at 7:30PM; Sunday, November 9, 2025 at 3PM; Wednesday, November 12, 2025 at 7:30PM; Friday, November 14, 2025 at 7:30PM; Saturday, November 14, 2025 at 3PM; and Sunday, September 16, 2025 at 3PM at the Highland Park Ebell in Los Angeles. Directed by POP Artistic Director Josh Shaw and conducted by Kyle Naig, the production will feature table seating with wine and charcuterie included. This production will be performed in English with projected supertitles, featuring a libretto edited and adapted by Shaw and Sarah Sturdevant.

An opéra comique in three acts, the original French version of Daniel Auber’s Fra Diavolo first premiered at the Salle Ventadour in Paris on January 28, 1830. While the original production received mixed reviews, Fra Diavolo became one of the most popular operas of the 19th century. Due to its popularity, Auber and his librettist, Eugène Scribe, prepared an Italian version that premiered in London sometime in 1857, and would eventually be performed in English and German as well. Fra Diavolo maintained its popularity into the early 20th century, as a New York Times review of a performance by The Society of 100 Percent American Singers in January 1919 described the opera as “the first and last real light opera,” and said that “this charming work of Auber still [appeals] to a wide public.” However, as with some opéra comiques, performances of Fra Diavolo became few and far-between sometime during the late-20th century— the last time Fra Diavolo was performed in Los Angeles was in 1979 by the now-defunct Euterpe Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

POP continues part of its artistic mission to revive formerly popular works in the opera canon with its upcoming production of Fra Diavolo. Artistic Director Josh Shaw states: “Fra Diavolo hits all the right notes for a POP production at the Highland Park Ebell — it is funny, light, and showcases fantastic music sung by young, up-and-coming singers. When I stumbled on the piece, it instantly struck me as something we should do. Audiences will have a laugh or two, be thoroughly impressed by the score, and discover a once-upon-a-time hit that they may never get the chance to hear live again.”

Very loosely based on the life of the real Fra Diavolo, the Itrani guerrilla leader Michele Pezza, Fra Diavolo takes a more vaudevillian, mischievous approach to the bandit and his endeavors. Zerlina, a young innkeeper’s daughter, wishes to marry Lorenzo, who is a penniless soldier. Due to Zerlina’s own poverty, her father wishes to marry her off to the wealthiest man in town. To provide a dowry for Zerlina, Lorenzo decides to hunt Fra Diavolo, an infamous bandit who just so happens to arrive at the inn of Zerlina’s father — incognito, of course. Diavolo concocts a plan to rob two rich English travelers. Though Lorenzo is only able to return a portion of what Diavolo steals from the travelers, he is rewarded with enough money to persuade Zerlina’s father to grant his blessing to their marriage. Intent on robbing the travelers once more, Diavolo hires two henchmen, Giacomo and Beppe. They manage to sneak into Zerlina’s bedroom and steal her dowry, preventing any wedding to Lorenzo. On her wedding day, Diavolo arranges for his henchmen to signal when Lorenzo and his soldiers have left. When Giacomo and Beppe are recognized by Zerlina, they are caught and give the signal, flushing out Diavolo. When all three are arrested, Zerlina is finally able to marry Lorenzo.

Cast members for Fra Diavolo include tenor Randall Bills (English National Opera, Oper Leipzig, Seattle Opera) as Fra Diavolo, soprano Sabrina Langois (Ojai Music Festival, Des Moines Metro Opera) as Zerlina, tenor James Stevens (Chautauqua Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera) as Lorenzo, mezzo-soprano Meagan Martin (LA Opera, Long Beach Opera) as Lady Pamela, bass-baritone Matthew Ian Welch (Opera San Luis Obispo, Opera á la Carte) as James George Hardcash, bass-baritone Errol-Wesley Shaw (Central City Opera, Sarasota Opera) as Matteo, bass-baritone Scott Levin (LA Opera, Opera Santa Barbara) as Giacomo, and tenor Krishna Ramen (Opera San José, JACCC’s The Camp) as Beppe.

General admission seating for Fra Diavolo ranges from $15-$35. Tables for two start at $95 and tables for four start at $180. All tables include a bottle of wine and a charcuterie board. Tickets can be purchased at pacificoperaproject.com.

CALENDAR EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:
PACIFIC OPERA PROJECTS PRESENTS FRA DIAVOLO
Who: Pacific Opera Project
When: Friday, November 7, 2025 at 7:30PM; Saturday, November 8, 2025 at 7:30PM; Sunday, November 9, 2025 at 3PM; Wednesday, November 12, 2025 at 7:30PM; Friday, November 14, 2025 at 7:30PM; Saturday, November 14, 2025 at 3PM; Sunday, November 16, 2025 at 3PM
Where: The Highland Park Ebell; 131 S. Avenue 57, Los Angeles, CA 90042
Cast: Randall Bills as Fra Diavolo, Sabrina Langois as Zerlina, James Stevens as Lorenzo, Meagan Martin as Pamela, Matthew Ian Welch as James George Hardcash, Errol Shaw as Matteo, Scott Levin as Giacomo, and Krishna Ramen as Beppe
Creative Team: Josh Shaw, director/designer; Kyle Naig, music director; Hailey Springer, costumer; Ben Beckman, chorus master

About Pacific Opera Project
Recently named amongst the Best of Classical Music in 2024 by the LA Times, Los Angeles’s Pacific Opera Project (POP) reimagines opera as an affordable adventure, by making unforgettable, entertaining performances accessible for all. A mobile opera company, POP has presented over 66 productions in more than 20 venues, reaching over 60,000 audience members. LA Magazine writes, “If you think you hate opera, you’ve probably never seen a Pacific Opera Project show.” POP’s regularly sold-out performances take place in a variety of venues that celebrate LA’s Northeast and Downtown communities, including outdoor museums and cemeteries, small clubs, amphitheaters, and warehouses. LA Weekly named POP the “Best Opera Company in Los Angeles” in 2018, writing, “making opera cool, affordable, accessible and enticing to young audiences is easier said than done. It’s also something every opera company in the country is trying desperately to do… [POP] is not trying desperately to be hip. It just is.” The LA Times recently named POP amongst the “Best of 2024” in classical music.

Known for unforgettable reimaginings of familiar operas, POP’s innovative productions have included the fan-favorite and critically acclaimed productions Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio set as an episode of Star Trek; a “fan-tastic” (LA Daily News) Harajuku-themed Mikado; #Superflute, a Magic Flute inspired by 1990s video games, called “one of the freshest takes on Mozart’s 1791 classic I have come across” (Operawire); and many more. POP’s signature take on Puccini’s La bohème, “AKA The Hipsters,” set in modern-day Los Angeles, has become a holiday tradition, returning year after year to sold-out audiences and called “riotous” (LA Weekly) and “an undeniably fun night at the theater that should not be missed” (Stage Raw).

During the pandemic, POP presented a revolutionary drive-in production of COVID fan tutte and the U.S. staged premieres of two Gluck operas, about which Opera Magazine wrote, “Despite this plague year of postponements, POP has refused to bow to the pandemic or its restrictions… There is surely no opera company in this Covid-ravaged country with a better average for 2020.” In April 2021, the LA Times noted that POP produced “the first major musical or theatrical event in Los Angeles County in nearly 14 months.” To this day, POP offers free live-streamed and archived performances that are available online to audiences around the world, garnering over 337,000 lifetime views.

In 2024, POP remounted its groundbreaking bilingual Japanese/English Madama Butterfly ???? performed in Little Tokyo’s JACCC Aratani Theatre. The LA Times hailed the production as “revisionist and enlightening,” continuing, “The singers… are believable and stunning. The tragedy has a kind of inevitability that feels more Mishima than the maudlin Italian original… Pacific Opera Project has a triumph on its hands.”

In addition to reimagining familiar favorites, POP is known for presenting undiscovered and forgotten gems, updated for modern audiences. POP presented the 2018 West Coast premiere of Giacomo Rossini’s rarely performed 1816 opera, La gazzetta “The Newspaper.” Opera Today raved about the premiere, writing “Director Josh Shaw has invested the proceedings with enough good comic ideas for at least three productions. Mr. Shaw has fashioned a take-no-prisoners approach to the staging, which was rife with clever touches… Pacific Opera Project has evidently hit on a winning formula for a night out, serving up food, drink, and an operatic discovery in equal measure.”

In 2024, POP presented the modern US premiere of Antonio Cagnoni’s bel canto meta-comedy, Don Bucefalo. Updated to the 1960s, the site-specific production was set and presented in Highland Park’s Garibaldina Society, recently featured in the LA Times for its family-style pasta dinners and Italian retro charm. To date, POP has presented four U.S. premieres, two world premieres, and three LA premieres.

POP’s Education & Community Engagement Department was established in 2021 to support ABIDE (Accessibility, Belonging, Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity), by offering free engagement events and serving students in in-school and summer education programs. POP’s in-school programs are provided at no cost to Title I schools.

Learn more at www.pacificoperaproject.com.

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