This month, Sweet Briar College’s opera workshop and musical theater techniques classes will join forces for a production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Trial by Jury.” The comic opera is part of an evening of entertainment that also will include songs performed by students in the College’s musical theater class.

Opera workshop students will perform “Trial by Jury” on April 25 and 26.The event will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 25 and 26 in Murchison Lane Auditorium at Babcock Fine Arts Center. Admission is free.

“Musical Theatre Showcase” will open the program, with students singing songs from “The King and I,” “Chicago,” “Annie Get Your Gun” and “A Chorus Line,” among other shows. “Trial by Jury” will follow.

“This has to be the first time in American history that the theater and music departments get along!” opera instructor Marcia Jones Thom joked.

On a more serious note, music department chair Nick Ross said the College’s music and theater departments have a “history of good collaborations,” including the “Soldier’s Tale” project two years ago and the Bachelor of Fine Arts program “where collaboration between the departments is essential.”

Loretta Wittman, who teaches the musical theater class, said, although many college’s have music and theater programs that “act as very separate entities … we are collaborating for the benefit of our students.

“All but two of my students are in opera workshop and even those two will probably be walk-on parts in ‘Trial by Jury.’ This made the crossover between the two projects very important. Marcia and I feel that the collaboration makes for both a stronger theater and music department.”

Wittman describes the musical theater class as one that “helps students develop the ability to choose vocal material [and] to study the material from an acting, vocal and movement prospective in order to prepare it for a musical theatre performance.

“The Musical Theatre Showcase allows students to share the work of their semester with an audience.”

“Trial by Jury” is one of 14 comic operas written by the Victorian-era team of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. The 45-minute opera tells the story of a jilted bride who sues her ex-fiancé. “[It] is a hilarious comedy and typical of the style of Gilbert and Sullivan,” Thom said.

In addition to 15 Sweet Briar students, the all-female cast includes two Randolph College students, Catherine McCord, daughter of SBC music professor Rebecca McCord, and Yelena Billias, daughter of accompanist Anna Billias.

Because “Trial by Jury” is set in a court of law, Thom and Sweet Briar’s career services director Wayne Stark thought it appropriate to add a legal component, particularly for Sweet Briar’s pre-law students.

Prior to the Saturday performance, at 6:30 p.m., there will be a wine and cheese “meet and greet” in the Murchison Lane lobby with local law professionals and alumna who are working in the legal profession.

“This mix and mingle and exciting theatrical show and operetta will be a great time for the local legal community, pre-law students, alumnae and others who enjoy fun performances to get together for some networking and fun,” Stark said.

Stark and retired judge and visiting professor of government Larry Janow will co-host the event.

For more information, contact Thom at mthom@sbc.edu or 381-6221.