A handsome stranger, named Bob, asks for a hand-out from Miss Todd, an older woman, and Laetitia, her young maid, setting up a series of tragicomedic changes in all their lives.

This is the storyline of Gian Carlo Menotti’s one-act opera “The Old Maid and the Thief,” which will be staged by the UCSB Music Department on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Feb. 10 through 12, at 8 p.m. Saturday also offers a 2 p.m. performance. All performances are in Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall.

Admission is $12/general, $7/students, with tickets available only at the door. The UCSB Music Box Office will open at 7:15 p.m., and on Saturday at 1:15 p.m.

“Typically for Menotti, the musical language is highly accessible, and contains some of the century’s most beautiful vocal writing,” says Patti Hopper, department publicist. The opera’s biggest hit is the aria, “Steal Me, Sweet Thief,” a favorite of many American sopranos, including Dawn Upshaw and Renée Fleming.

The production will be preceded by a talk by Derek Katz, assistant professor of musicology, who is known for his witty and insightful pre-concert lectures for Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Bard Festival. There will also be a special piano performance by Humberto Almeida, based on a theme from the opera.

Faculty members Heinz Blankenburg, stage director, and Jeffrey Schindler, musical director and conductor, contribute their talents; graduate student Molly Buzick is associate conductor; lighting and set design is by staff member Mark Somerfield; and costumes are by Julia Kermott, an undergraduate music major.

The opera, which is mostly double cast, features Charlene Chi and Parvaneh Givi as Miss Todd; Nichole Dechaine and Eve McPherson as Laetitia; Ashley Harrell and Lucy Jackson as Miss Pinkerton; Jackson Beaman and Nick Robertson as Bob; and Tom Hurd as the policeman.

“The Old Maid and the Thief’ premiered as a radio opera in April 1939,” notes Blankenburg, “then received its first stage performance in February 1941.

“An interesting aspect of the opera is the libretto, whose language bespeaks of the gentler, small- town America of that time. It was a time when a beggar felt free to ask for a handout, when doors were left unlocked, when ‘damn’ was an unmentionable word, and when eloping was a rare occurrence. This production takes us back to this period of American life in a small town.”