Cast of the updated version of the Merry Wives of Windsor

While USC’s opera company was rehearsing roles of the original desperate housewives, the ladies of ABC–TV’s Desperate Housewives were accepting their Golden Globe Awards for Best Comedy Series.

Shakespeare created the Merry Wives of Windsor , the original desperate housewives, centuries ago. Marc Cherry’s inventive but dark characters were created this century.

USC Opera will bring the bourgeois comedy about housewives, The Merry Wives of Windsor , to the stage February 4 at 7:30 pm and February 6 at 3 pm at Keenan Theatre, 3455 Pine Belt Road.

For USC Opera Director Ellen Schlaefer, the inspiration was a pair of desperate housewives from 20th century TV. Lucy and Ethel from I Love Lucy schemed and connived in ways that reminded Schlaefer of Alice Ford and Meg Page, two of the merry wives of Windsor. Ford and Page, however, are in Windsor, CT, and it’s 1952.

Marc Rattray, the bass–baritone plays the infamous Falstaff. He is the music director of both the Lexington Youth Chorale and St. Andrews Presbyterian Church.

Costumer Janet Kile has worked with pictures of the late Lucille Ball’s wardrobe and with Andy Mills, who designed the sets. The chorus includes a carhop, milkman, and a Fuller Brush salesman, all characters of the mid–20th century.

For ticket information call 777-5369.