We weren't quite sure what to expect. We were familiar with the 200-seat Tusten Theatre in Narrowsburg, and we were pretty sure that it couldn't really accomodate an opera. The stage is quite small and there isn't even an orchestra pit. What's more, the tickets for the Delaware Valley Opera 's production of Mozart's Don Giovanni — a tragicomical chronicle of the last few days of archetypal sexual compulsive Don Juan — were only $25 a seat, which seemed frighteningly low for a three-hour opera with eight solo roles, chorus, and orchestra. Yesterday afternoon we discovered how it's done: The small Delaware Valley Chamber Orchestra — two violins, viola, cello, bass, French horn, bassoon, clarinet, oboe, flute, and timpani — occupied the space between the stage and the first row of center seats. DVO Director Jim Blanton conducted from behind a synthesizer set to a harpsichord program for the recitativi. The sets were minimal but otherwise it was complete authentic Read More...