First Night at the Opera + Edges

First Night at the Opera/Edges is this year’s Department of Music annual stage production. It’s a wrap-around, very “meta” show that begins with faculty composer Giancarlo Aquilanti’s one-act opera, followed by Edges, a song cycle by popular musical theater composers Pasek and Paul (Dear Evan Hansen, La La Land). First Night is about audience members arriving for the premiere of a new opera; that “opera” turns out to be Edges, which is performed by those same audience members. Full of sparkling music and truthful emotions pertinent to humans of all ages, this show promises to be an especially moving experience.