The famously ludicrous plot of Verdi’s Il trovatore—the usual soprano/tenor/baritone love triangle, complicated by a babies-switched-at-birth plot twist—made it a favorite satirical target for Gilbert and Sullivan and the Marx Brothers. Playing it straight, though, is Puget Sound Concert Opera, giving a stripped-down performance tonight (in Italian) with piano accompaniment by Jay Rozendaal and an accomplished cast whose resumes include lots of gigs with Northwest community orchestras and smaller opera companies. It’s not the sort of opera for which your full enjoyment of the music requires seeing a medieval castle painted on canvas anyway. Generally, the only thing on a Trovatore audience’s mind is whether the tenor will attempt the high C at the end of “Di quella pira.” Gethsemane Lutheran Church, 911 Stewart St., www.pugetsoundconcertopera.org. $10-$15. 7 p.m. GAVIN BORCHERT

Sat., Jan. 19, 7 p.m., 2008