"Rope" by the HRDC promises edge of your seat thrills at the Loeb Ex

Kramer and music director Matthew A. Aucoin ‘12 deal with this tangle of relationships in much the same way that most directors have since 1784, but with one outstanding exception: they translated the opera themselves.

The musical follows rebellious genius Melchior Gabor and his newly pubescent friends as they learn about the facts of life, in defiance of an adult society in late 19th-century Germany which attempts to keep them in the dark.

This production will attempt to toe the line between the source material’s ridiculous, lighthearted aspects and dark, twisted plot progression without deviating into camp.

This Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club production, directed by Allen J. MacLeod ’14, takes a sparse, character-focused look at such unsettled thematic questions through the lens of a rapidly disintegrating relationship.

The Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players reinvent the duo's classic play with a bold change of setting.

“Besides being super campy and fun and silly, this play is also smart and Harvard students can relate to the characters during their discovery of the implications of the drive for success. There is definitely a dark side to the spelling bee,” says Susanna B. Wolk ’14.

The Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC) will move this play onto the modern stage while preserving the style of the original work—right down to the proper length of the actors’ pauses in dialogue—in its new production.