Morningside Opera's production of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas focuses on the opera's most iconic moment, Dido's "Remember me, but not my fate," to explore notions of fame, memory, and public opinion in modern celebrity culture. In an age where social media defines public personae, whose fate can ever really be forgotten? Virgil's hero is recast as a Vice presidentlal hopeful, Troy Aeneas, with Dido Carthage as his secret super-starlet paramour. Belinda, Dido's publicist, sees the romance as a chance to bump Dido's ratings. The SourceHeiress, a bitter celebrity blogger who hates "all in prosp'rous state," tears the couple apart by manipulating public opinion as if by magic, leaving Dido only one tragic possibility for escape.

Orchestra: SIREN Baroque
Theatrical Director: Annie Holt
Musical Director: Kelly Savage
Production Stage Management: Michael Joseph Ormond
Lighting Design: Amanda Clegg Lyon
Video Design: Noah Arjomand
Starring David Baldwin, Jonathan Morales, Brittany Palmer, Yungee Rhie, AnnMarie Sandy, Michael Shaw, Brett Umlauf, and Amber Youell