The last time Professor Vincent Liotta worked the Ruth N. Halls Theatre, he was directing a musical, presenting Jerry Bock's She Loves You as part of the Summer Music Festival in 2004. He returns to the Theatre and Drama Center to offer a pre-show talk about A Chorus Line at 3:00 P.M., Friday, April 14, titled “Behind the Line—Not Just Another ‘Reality' Show.”

Vince Liotta is an accomplished director of operas, operettas, and musicals. He has taught at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of Washington in Seattle. At the Jacobs School of Music, he heads the program in opera stage directing, where he teaches stage directing, acting, and operatic literature. He is a co-founder of the Utah Festival Opera and has directed at Chicago Lyric Opera, San Franciso Opera, Houston Grand Opera, the Los Angeles Music Center, Vienna Staatsoper and Canadian Opera. He has directed a number of world premieres: Coyote Tales (Mollicone), a new version of Greenwillow (Frank Loesser), and Too Many Sopranos (Penhorwood). His most recent production was last month's world premiere of Ned Rorem's operatic adaptation of Thornton Wilder's Our Town at the Musical Arts Center. Other recent IU Opera productions include McTeague (Bolcom), The Ghosts of Versailles (Corigliano), Falstaff (Verdi), and The Rake's Progress (Stravinsy). His original works for musical theatre include a new libretto for Victor Herbert's operetta Naughty Marietta and Viva Verdi, a biographical evening about the life and work of Guiseppe Verdi. This summer, Professor Liotta will return to the Brevard Music Center to direct The Merry Widow and Cosi fan tutte.

His reflections on Michael Bennet, Marvin Hamlisch, & company's ground-breaking musical will be based on Professor Liotta's wide experience as a director, music educator, and theatre professional. Join us Friday, as Vincent Liotta takes us “Behind the Line” and into the world of A Chorus Line .

How to Find Us