After five days, four nights, 1,128 miles, three hotels, four states, four theatrical performances, six ancient Native American earthworks, and more … we’re home from our mini-vacation. The catalyst for the trip was our third visit to the Ohio Light Opera Company in Wooster, Ohio, which we decided to bookend with stops at archeological sites such as Serpent Mound and Newark Earthworks.

We first went to the Ohio Light Opera in 2012, and after skipping a year, returned in 2014. What brings us back whenever our schedules and finances will allow isn’t just the professionalism of the productions, but the rarity of the shows they choose to mount. One year, for example, they put on a 1912 operetta which hadn’t been staged anywhere in the world since a 1921 Hungarian-language production in Manhattan!

Here are the four shows we managed to catch out of the seven they put on this season, which I share in the event you’d like to head out to Wooster yourself, as the 2015 season doesn’t end until August 8.

Friederike

We started with a Thursday matinee of the 1928 Franz Lehár operetta about the early life of writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, focussing on his romance with a parson’s daughter named Friederike. I’m glad this was the production of the four with which we started, because it meant everything went uphill from there. Nothing against the OLO—they did as good a job as anyone could—but Friederike was (apologies to the Lehár lovers out there) the one show I felt to be intriguing for educational purposes only.

Not only was the book quite creaky, but the hagiography of its protagonist grew annoying. The idea Friederike would be OK with being abandoned because Goethe was such a genius that he belonged to the world instead of her alone was too much to swallow. We’re glad we saw it, but the book didn’t stand the test of time, which meant I was engaged intellectually but not emotionally. That doesn’t, however, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t see the OLO staging of it. After all, if not there, where?

Ruddigore

In contrast to Friederike, the 1887 Gilbert and Sullivan operetta Ruddigore (which we saw Thursday night) didn’t seem dated at all. It was a delight! Not only was the story of a baronet cursed to commit a crime a day or else die horribly pure entertainment from the first moments (believe me, it was, even though that brief synopsis makes it sound heavier than it is) and the cast uniformly excellent, Ruddigore also planted an earworm which I’ve been unable to shake off to this day.

One Touch of Venus

For our Friday matinee, we moved forward a few decades to 1943 with One Touch of Venus, with music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ogden Nash, and a book by Nash and S.J. Perelman. Not having seen it staged before, I was unaware that the original musical was nothing like the movie (starring Robert Walker and Ava Gardner) which followed.

The art critic whose statue of Venus comes to life was swapped out for a department-store mogul in a similar situation, and some of Weill’s music was replaced by Ann Ronell, who though she was the wife of the producer was an accomplished composer in her own right, having been been responsible for, among other things, “Who’s Afraid Of the Big Bad Wolf,” which she co-wrote.

Nash’s wordplay and Perelman’s snappy patter kept us laughing, and it was good to hear the classic song “I’m a Stranger Here Myself” in context.

Oh, Kay!

Friday night we backtracked a couple of decades to 1926 for this George and Ira Gershwin musical, with additional lyrics by Howard Dietz (due to Ira’s emergency appendectomy), and a book by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse.

Farce ensues when a newlywed returns to his Long Island home, which was being used by rum-runners to run their business during his absence, and by his discovery that his former marriage wasn’t annulled after all, which nullifies his current marriage. Many cases of mistaken identify follow, plus two (to me) familiar songs—”Someone to Watch Over Me” and “Do Do Do.”

That’s not all—the OLO also mounted productions of Can-Can, Brigadoon, and The Yeomen of the Guard this season. But unfortunately, our posteriors were only up for four of their offerings. Maybe by next year we’ll have increased our stamina so we’ll be able to catch seven musicals across four days rather than four over two days.

As I wrote above, though, it’s not too late for you to see all seven. Why not check out ticket availability right now?