Helen Tintes-Schuermann; special guest Ann Benson, daughter of Lanny Palmer; and Claire Griffith as the Armfeldt women in A Little Night Music Photos by Sidney Palmer

Friday and Saturday, March 31 and April 1 at 7:30 pm, The Columbia College Department of Music is presenting two one-act operas at Cottingham Theatre. The evening of opera will open with Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's comic opera Il Sergreto di Susanna with Columbian comedic opera singer Gerald Floyd in the role of the bumbling butler. Amelia Rollings sings the title role of Suzanne with guest artist Kyle Collins as her explosive husband who catches his wife not with the lover he suspected from smelling smoke on clothing, but with a cigarette.

Also featured will be Puccini's tragic Suor Angelica for which Jennifer Pratt sings the demanding title role and Sarah Rosebrock as her intractable aunt, Princess Royal. Tickets may be purchased at the door.

USC Opera's director, Columbian Ellen Schlaefer, chose Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music as that company's last opera of the year. Expecting a groundswell of public interest, the director has added an extra performance to the spring staging April 7 through 9. Friday and Saturday's evening performances will be at 7:30 pm; Sunday's matinee will begin at 3 pm, all at Keenan Theatre on Pinebelt Road. For ticket information, call 777-0058.

(l) Lanny Palmer as Desiree in A Little Night Music at Town Theatre in 1977 Schlaefer said choosing Sondheim's 1973 long-running Broadway work, memorable for songs such as Send in the Clowns , provides opportunities for a variety of voices. Schlaefer also has expanded the appeal of the production casting well-known Columbia singers in strategic roles. Special Guest Ann Benson will sing a role her mother, Lanny Palmer, performed at Town Theatre more than a quarter century ago.

Columbians Helen Tintes-Schuermann and Stan Gwynn, along with Claire Griffith, round out a cast replete with USC opera students.

Jennifer Pratt (r) as Sister Angelica and Sarah Rosebrock as the Princess Royal in Puccinii's Suor Angelica(Sister Angelica) Photos by Sidney Palmer