Songbird

About

Songbird is a new adaptation of Jacques Offenbach’s operetta La Périchole, commissioned by The Glimmerglass Festival for its 2021 season. The production relocates the action to 1920s New Orleans during Mardi Gras, with a fresh musical arrangement and orchestration by James Lowe for jazz-band ensemble, evoking the sounds of Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton. Presented outdoors as part of the Glimmerglass on the Grass initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic, it blends English and French dialogue and lyrics in a translation by Kelley Rourke. The staging embraces the vibrant, gritty atmosphere of a New Orleans speakeasy, shifting from traditional operetta style to a jazz-inflected theatrical experience.