Spring Opera: Speed Dating Tonight!

Single Tickets will go on sale Monday, January 26th. 

PURCHASE TICKETS

Tickets: $25 adults, $20 students/seniors, $5 Rider University students with Valid ID. Reserve tickets for Rider University faculty, staff, and students online with a Rider Key login. 
A processing fee of $2 is added to the cost of each adult, senior, and non-Rider student/child ticket.

Box Office: 609-896-7775

Welcome to Speed Dating Tonight!, a fast-paced, funny, and unexpectedly touching “new numbers opera” by Michael Ching that captures the awkward, hopeful, and deeply human experience of looking for love. Set in a local pub, the story unfolds as a group of daters gathers for a night of rapid-fire connections—each one expressed through a short musical number that ranges from quirky to poignant to downright hilarious.

The opera’s structure is flexible and modular, with more than 90 solos, duets, and ensembles that can be mixed, matched, and reordered to fit any cast size, voice type, or gender identity. With minimal traditional recitative and an open-ended cast composition, no two performances are ever the same. Audiences will meet a wide range of characters—from the painfully shy to the overconfident, the romantic idealist to the cell phone addict—each offering a window into the messy beauty of human connection.

Anchored by a clever framing device featuring a bartender, server, dating coordinator, and even a dancing busboy, Speed Dating Tonight! is as much about community and self-discovery as it is about romance. As the evening unfolds, stories intertwine, expectations are subverted, and one surprising love story rises above the rest—reminding us that sometimes, the most unlikely matches can be the most meaningful.

Michael Ching, composer and librettist
Based on a concept by Dean Anthony

Susan S. Ashbaker, music director
Rose Freeman, stage director

Speed Dating Tonight! was originally commissioned and produced by the Janiec Opera with piano. An orchestration was commissioned and premiered by the Microscopic Opera.