Trouble in Tahiti - Mid Wales Opera - November at Pontio

Music and Libretto: Leonard Bernstein
Chamber Arrangement by Bernard Yannotta

Music Director: Jonathan Lyness
Director/Designer: Richard Studer

Bernstein’s one act opera is an exquisite dissection of the great American Dream, through the eyes of Sam and Dinah in their 1950’s Pastel house and white picket fence marriage. A Jazz ‘scat’ trio provides a running commentary as the couple avoid the realities of their relationship. For Sam it’s gym buddies and work, for Dinah trips to her therapist and the glorious technicolour escapism of Hollywood – can their ‘dream marriage’ survive?

Performed in Yannotta’s chamber arrangement for seven instrumentalists, with a cast of five led by MWO’s Music Director from the piano, the opera forms the first half of the evening, with the second half celebrating American opera and musical theatre, with a theme of The American Dream, featuring all the performers.

26 November 2025