Jacobs School of Music faculty member Timothy Noble says, "there were two shows that I wanted to do but never had the opportunity. They were The Most Happy Fella and Carousel."
"Actually, Tony from Frank Loesser's musical is closer to the kind of guy that I am, so I'm glad to have the chance to play him."
Tim has had along career with more than forty-four years of professional performance.
His early work was in musicals and American popular song. Tim didn't see his first opera until he came to IU at the age of thirty-two.
Since then he's had a very successful and distinguished career in opera, but he's never avoided either musicals or popular song.
Although Tim has always had good diction in his opera roles, he found Tony's broken English a real challenge.
"Actually, I've been practicing around the house and trying it out on my wife," he said. "Sometimes, she can understand it and sometimes she can't, so that's a help."
Tim is especially pleased with the way rehearsals have been going.
He says that like him, many of the students come to the school with good familiarity with musicals like "Cats" and "Phantom..."
He's also impressed with the level of acting that he's seeing. "Audiences are going to be pleasantly surprised."
Noble says that this is his last stage role, "I've had a good run," he says.
"And, you know, one of the things I really like about preparing for this production is that I get to come home from the theater to sleep in my own bed."
The Indiana University's Opera Theater's production of Frank Loesser's "The Most Happy Fella" plays Fridays and Saturdays April 10-11 and 17-18 in a production conducted by Constantine Kitsopoulos with stage direction by Vincent Liotta.
Timothy Noble will sing the role of Tony on the 10th and the 18th.