Seasonal delights @ Ohio Light Opera

Seasonal delights @ Ohio Light Opera
Kings, queens & classics reign supreme

Although the season was chosen well in advance of the Royal Wedding announcement last year, one could think of serendipity at work behind the scenes. There are kings and queens nearly everywhere!

Beginning with perhaps the best-loved musical king who ever lived – in Camelot – by name of Arthur. Actually that is the season opener this year at Ohio Light Opera in Wooster. Long-time favorite (and former Clevelander) Ted Christopher returns to sing the role of Arthur as he did eleven years ago, when that same Camelot of Lerner and Loewe was the very first American musical ever to grace the stage of OLO. It established the custom so well that at least one work from the repertoire of American Musical Theater has been presented every year since.

Actually, this year there are two such works on the schedule, including the aforementioned Camelot. You’ll no doubt find it hard to believe, but this year marks the very first appearance of music by Cole Porter! It’s his 1935 Jubilee! Featured are such standards as “Begin the Beguine” etc. etc.

Other favorites are The Merry Widow and The Pirates of Penzance, while newcomers include The Fortune Teller by Victor Herbert and Madame Pompadour by Leo Fall. An unusual triple-play will feature three one-acts: Evening Wind by Offenbach, Cox and Box by Sullivan (with libretto by Burnand), and Trial by Jury by Gilbert and Sullivan.

Among the returning actor/singers are veterans Associate Artistic Director Julie Wright Costa, Boyd Mackus and Nicholas Wuehrmann. Karla Hughes, David Kelleher-Flight, Gary Moss, Mark Robert Snyder and Raina Thorne, all of whom have appeared in previous seasons, will help to guide this year’s list of newcomers to OLO.

If you’ve been paying attention to OLO in recent years, you’ll notice the pattern established by founder James Stuart (the beloved “Doc” who brought OLO to Wooster some 32 years ago.) First, of course, there must be a “big” work by Gilbert & Sullivan (and perhaps a lesser-known one, as well); a Viennese confection by one of the Strauss family, or perhaps Lehar—or maybe Oskar Strauss, Kalmán, or, as in this year, Leo Fall. There should also be a classic American operetta such as Student Prince, or maybe something by Victor Herbert, Jerome Kern or as in last year’s smash success – El Capitan by John Philip Sousa.

In recent years, a “big” American musical theater work has also been performed to great success. Last year it was Kismet as well as Gypsy; this year it is Camelot. There really is something for everyone! The Fortune Teller was one of Victor Herbert’s early successes. According to Artistic Director Steven Daigle, “Madame Pompadour is a singer’s show, while Jubilee! sent everyone to the dancing master for some brush up work. It’s a dancer’s dream.”

The season usually ends in early-mid August, and most of the brain trust take a well-deserved break. That doesn’t mean they aren’t all busily thinking, however. By the end of September, a list of some 20-21 “possibles” will be whittled down to the necessary 7 or 8 or 9, when there are one-acts to make up a full bill. Auditions begin in November, with most of them under the watchful eye and ear of Associate Artistic Director Julie Wright Costa, now in her 21st season with OLO. She says, “We receive perhaps 500 applications and actually hear about 250 people during the audition process, narrowing the group down to roughly 30 singers.” These newcomers will round out the final corps of 38-42 singers. Generally, about 1/3 of the previous year’s singers return. Some singers double in production positions, as well. (For instance, Mark Snyder is wardrobe master; Ted Christopher and Nick Wuehrmann also direct.) Selecting the right singers isn’t an easy task when the parts range from ingenue to dramatic soprano, to hoofer or character roles.

During this process, Daigle also assembles his artistic staff, most of them returnees, as well. By January, contracts are offered to the chosen performers. “The most important thing for the ensemble to learn is ‘time management’. We do seven shows over eight weeks, in rotating rep. The main function, established by James ‘Doc’ Stuart, has always been training young artists. There is no other program quite like it anywhere in the world.”

As you might expect, they’ve all become rather technologically proficient. Daigle says, “Many of our meetings are by Skype and conference calls. We also have a Google intranet.” They “meet” in this fashion five times between September and December, and five more times in the spring. From mid-May to the end of August, meetings are held at the OLO facility in Wooster. And then they start up all over again! For next season.

For Ted Christopher, Wooster and OLO are almost a second home. Growing up in Shaker Heights, he first came here in 1986 or so as part of the audience for Countess Maritza and Utopia Unlimited. He was in the Young Artists Program at CIM and also studied at Interlochen, where he first met his future teacher, Beverly Rinaldi. He first sang for Doc Stuart in 1986, but the timing wasn’t exactly right then. “Doc was a fantastic teacher,” he says. “He offered me (and the rest of us younger folks) excellent career guidance.”

Christopher started at Vanderbilt, but moved to The Curtis Institute. Another move took him to The Juilliard School, and a few years later, The Eastman School of Music, where he earned his Ph.D. Now, as the Director of Opera at Penn State in State College, PA, he has less time to perform, but OLO provides that opportunity.

His first full program at OLO was the summer of 1997, where one of his roles was Grosvenor in Patience, as Steve Daigle directed. Ted has returned most years since then; he met his wife here, and they’re now parents of two girls and a boy. Plus, there are many close friends in the company and the community.

In 2000, Camelot was the first American musical staged at OLO; Ted was Arthur, and Julie Wright Costa was Guenevere. This year, Julie is Morgan Le Fey. Daigle directed that production, too, so it’s really old home days during rehearsals. Ted is once again Arthur. He’s also the King in Jubilee!, the Sergeant in Pirates of Penzance, and Cox in Cox and Box. He’s also directing The Fortune Teller, set in 1890, with music by Victor Herbert.

This is Julie’s 21st season at OLO; during the school year, she’s chair of the voice department at the University of Utah’s School of Music.

Last year, Julie was Rose in Gypsy – a huge role vastly different from anything she’d done previously. “Thank you, Rose,” she says with a big grin. “The repercussions were so positive! I learned not to be afraid. To go beyond your usual boundaries. I had to go way beyond my comfort zone, and it was all good. You can’t let that stop you! This year, it’s a joy to be a part of energetic, more comedic fare.”

Julie is the Queen in Jubilee!, an early work by Cole Porter. “It’s a zany comedy, with some of his most gorgeous songs: ‘Begin the Beguine,’ ‘Just One of Those Things,’ and the unforgettable ‘The Kling-Kling Bird in the Divi-Divi Tree.'” There’s little resemblance to his most famous musical Kiss Me Kate; this one has a more operatic feel. It has a lot of watery effects, with one character being a take-off on Johnny Weismuller, then at the height of his success. Julie is also a Polish countess in Madame Pompadour, and is directing The Merry Widow in Doc Stuart’s translation.

The latter half of the 19th Century was the boom time for operetta in the European capitals, with the Strauss family, leading the way. In England, it was Gilbert & Sullivan whose works delighted audiences everywhere. Of course, it didn’t take long for America to join in. Victor Herbert was the leader of this group. His The Only Girl was one of the Princess Theater Shows, and started the ball rolling. Along came Sigmund Romberg, Jerome Kern and John Philip Sousa, among others. Director Daigle intends to highlight them all in the coming years.

The unusual triple bill of Evening Wind by Offenbach, Cox and Box (music by Sullivan, libretto by Burnand) and Trial by Jury from Gilbert & Sullivan will close out the season with music and merriment.

The 33rd season of Ohio Light Opera is presented at Freedlander Theatre on the campus of The College of Wooster. It’s very easy to get there from almost anywhere, and the town will welcome you with an assortment of great restaurants and inviting bed-n-breakfast or hotel accommodations. A wide variety of information including ticket availability may be found at the website: http://OhioLightOpera.org. Or you may call 330.263.2345. You won’t regret it, but be advised OLO is highly addictive! Shows run through Sat 8/13.

 

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz, who writes: My most recently published book is Ardenwycke Unveiled (e-book and trade paper). Cerridwen has another contemporary romance from me, But Not For Love, currently available only as an e-book, but perhaps will be in print later this year. I hope to soon get around to completing some of the 30+ incomplete books in my computer!

Actually, I’ve just re-issued my very first published book (from Berkley in NY 1993) Secret Shores which is available now in print, plus print and as a Kindle.

By the way, Cerridwen has also accepted two of my short stories in their Scintillating Samples (complimentary reads) area: Song of the Swan and Unexpected Comfort. I love photography as well, as you can see here. I teach writing workshops and sometimes do editing or ghostwriting on a free-lance basis. But over and above everything else, there’s always been the writing. I can’t imagine my life without it.

And now, after more than a few requests, I’ve started a blog about writing. You can find it here.

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3 Responses to “Seasonal delights @ Ohio Light Opera”

  1. Always enjoy Kelly’s writing about music. Very informative article here. Please keep writing them!

  2. Sharron Larkin

    It is a well written piece, and I love the picture of Guenevere. She is beautiful and the picture speaks a thousand words. Raina Thorne is my daughter.

  3. Roger & Gloria larkin

    Guenevere, who is our lovely niece Raina Thorne, looks very beautiful. This is one of my favorite operas. I have always emphasized with Arthur that the very forces within his people destroyed his dream. Roger & Gloria Larkin.

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