Positively Philadelphia: A 'Fringe' Opera In A Center City Hideaway

By Lauren Lipton

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — –

(Voice of tenor singing)

That's Michael A. Lienhard, the founder and producer of the Philadelphia Opera Collective, which starts a new production next weekend.

(Michael A. Lienhard, founder of the Philadelphia Opera Collective, visits KYW Newsradio studios. Photo by Ed Fischer)

—-

"We are producing an opera which we wrote, called By You That Made Me Frankenstein.," he tells Positively Philadelphia.  "It'll focus on the summer that Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein."

The American opera, performed in English, will take place at the Franklin Inn Club, on South Camac Street in Center City.

"The Franklin Inn Club is Philadelphia's oldest private writers' club," Lienhard explains.  "It's really quite beautiful. You're in a parlor with fireplaces and squashy armchairs.  We'll be serving wine and beer.  Very, very small, very intimate.  You could reach out and touch the opera singers if you wanted to.  I wouldn't recommend it, but you could do it!"

He says their aim is to get everyone interested in opera.

"We really like when someone comes to one of our productions and says, 'I've never seen an opera before — that was great!' "

The production is part of the Philadelphia Fringe arts festival.   It runs from  Friday, September 12th, through Sunday, September 21st.  Performances are at 8pm.

You can purchase tickets by clicking here.

Hear the extended interview in this CBS Philly podcast (runs 9:12)...

And, for this week, that's "Positively Philadelphia!"

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