NELO's 9th season featured a world premiere, an evening of great silliness by Offenbach, and our 9th summer concert series.

The season got underway with the premiere of Heart and Soul: A New Frank Loesser Revue in February. Constructed by Artistic Director Mark Morgan, the show featured dozens of songs by Loesser including such standards as Baby It's Cold Outside, Inchworm, Guys and Dolls, and many more. The show was structured around Susan Loesser's account of her father's life and career A Most Remarkable Fella. It was a moving and insightful evening into this pillar of the Great American Songbook as seen through the eyes of his daughter.

Our season continued with an evening of Offenbach, including a semi-staged performance of his one act operetta The Isle of Tulipatan. Low comedy at its best (or worst) created a hilarious evening for all. The challenge for the cast was to see if they could crack each other up on stage each night.

Our Summer Concert Series returned with our best summer of concerts yet. Dozens of professional singers from all over the area participated and provided some extraordinary performances of everything from opera to cabaret. 12 talented high school kids participated in our Rising Stars program and presented a new revue that they created called Camp: It's In Tents!

We look forward to our 10th anniversary in 2012 and hope you'll join us for more great operetta and early American musical theatre!