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Resident Professional Company of The College of Wooster Freedlander Theatre
TABLE OF CONTENTS Welcome..........................................................................5 Annual Fund Donors...................................................6 Endowment Gifts........................................................10 The James F. Stuart Legacy.................................... 11 An Interview with Julie Wright Costa...............14 Our Mission................................................................... 18
Everything. Right where you need it.®
South Pacific...............................................................20 Cast, Musical Numbers, Argument, & Background
• Refreshed lobby and fitness facilities • The Garden Grille & Bar • Heated indoor pool, whirlpool • Guestrooms feature microwave oven, refrigerator and Keurig® Brewer.
Girl Crazy...................................................................... 24 Cast, Musical Numbers, Argument, & Background Into the Woods........................................................... 28 Cast, Musical Numbers, Argument, & Background
959 Dover Road, Wooster, OH 44691 330-202-7701 www.wooster.hgi.com
The Pirates of Penzance......................................... 32 Cast, Musical Numbers, Argument, & Background Music in the Air.......................................................... 36 Cast, Musical Numbers, Argument, & Background
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The Devil’s Rider........................................................40 Cast, Musical Numbers, Argument, & Background Perchance to Dream.................................................44 Cast, Musical Numbers, Argument, & Background Festival Artistic and Technical Team................ 48 Festival Cast................................................................ 56 Festival Orchestra.....................................................64 Festival Technical and Artistic Staff.................. 70 OLO “Lagniappe”...................................................... 77 The College of Wooster......................................... 78 Dining, Accommodations & Shopping.............80 Recordings Available................................................ 81 Complete Repertoire............................................... 82 Acknowledgments.................................................... 84 Ticket Information & Prices................................... 85 2019 Schedule............................................................ 86 “God Save the Queen”.......................... Back Cover
We love having you here. • Cloud Nine – the Hampton Bed experience • Guestrooms feature mini-refrigerator, microwave & coffeemaker • On the House® hot breakfast • Heated indoor pool & all new JumpStart® fitness center 4253 Burbank Road, Wooster, Ohio 44691 330-345-4424 • www.wooster.hamptoninn.com
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Out of respect to the performers, the use of cell phones, cameras, or any other electronic device is prohibited in the theater. We ask that you please turn all these devices off completely for the duration of the performance, so that you and those around you can enjoy the show.
Both Hotels are 2015 TripAdvisor Circle of Excellence Winners! ohiolightopera.org
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Box Office: 330.263.2345
THE OHIO LIGHT OPERA WELCOME Dear Friends of Ohio Light Opera,
Steven A. Daigle Artistic Director
Laura Neill Executive Director
Julie Wright Costa Associate Artistic Director
J. Lynn Thompson Music Director
After 40 seasons, we have much to celebrate! As America’s Premier Lyric Theater Festival, Ohio Light Opera continues its journey in producing, preserving, promoting, and performing the very best—both known gems and forgotten masterpieces—in operetta and traditional musical theater. With 146 titles representing 52 composers, 300 productions, 2700 performances, and three-quarters of a million audience members, OLO remains unmatched in its quest to serve this musical art form. We are acutely aware that this service to our mission—in which we all share pride—would not have been possible without you, our patrons. For this … we thank you! The 2019 season presents shows of some of the most noteworthy lyricists and composers of the lyric theater canon: Rodgers and Hammerstein, the Gershwin brothers, Sondheim, Gilbert and Sullivan, Kern and Hammerstein, Kálmán, and Novello. We are also offering, once the company is in full repertory, a special week titled OLO Lagniappe! It is something “extra” for our patrons, in appreciation of your 40 years of support. You can read more about it on page 77 of this program. Our 41st season offers our audience a wide variety of titles, with engaging stories and musical styles that are sure to make you sentimental, laugh, hum along, and want to come back to see and hear all seven shows. Most importantly, through a historical musical journey, whimsical dialogue, satirical plots, memorable melodies, rousing choruses, lovable characters, and full orchestrations, our festival season offers a chance for patrons to escape, be entertained, be amused, and discover the intimate environment of Wooster and Freedlander Theatre. We look forward to welcoming you to the College of Wooster campus this summer as OLO embarks on its fifth decade of entertaining our devoted patrons and supporters. See you soon! Warm regards,
Artistic Director
Steven Byess
Associate Music Director
Wilson Southerland Conductor
Executive Director
THE OHIO LIGHT OPERA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Michael Miller, Chair Steven A. Daigle, Artistic Director and Vice Chair Marlene Kanipe, Treasurer, ex officio Nan Miller, Secretary Jayne Churchmack Ronald Holtman Ambassador John Ong Sara L. Patton John Schambach Richard N. Seaman Laura M. Neill, Executive Director
Honorary Members Bill & Marilyn Blanchard Lois Freedlander Jean W. Knorr Boyd & Eloise Mackus Barbara Robinson
ohiolightopera.org
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THE OHIO LIGHT OPERA 2019 ANNUAL FUND We are grateful for the generosity of the following donors to the 2019 Ohio Light Opera Annual Fund.
Lord Chancellors ($10,000 and above) Brad Bennett Norman K. Keller Live Publishing Company Michael & Nan Miller
Burton D. Morgan Foundation The Hon. & Mrs. John D. Ong John L. Power & Edith Dus-Garden
Seaman Corporation Dee & Mary Vaidya
Ralph R. & Grace B. Jones Foundation David Knapp Bitsy & Joe Loewenstein
J. D. & Arlene Milliken Sara L. Patton Tim & Jenny Smucker Mary Alice Streeter
Marilyn Cooper, in memory of David Cooper Clarence & Connie Drennon
Glen & Lisa Grumbling Michael & Linda Kennedy Chuck & Dawn McCaghy
Jean Knorr & Family, in memory of Frank Knorr Dick & Mimi Lewellen Dwight & Christina McCawley Betty McNutt Richard R. Murphey, Jr., Richard R. Murphey, III, Michael S. Murphey, in memory of Frank Knorr Gordon F. Musch
John Schambach Geri Sherman Richard Springman & Pamela Elsass Janis & Gardnar Stevens Joe & Marlene Toot Andrea Traubner, in memory of Richard Traubner Lynn & Cyndy Willett Jean Wingate
Anonymous Michael Acree Mrs. Elsa G. Anderson Steven & Lisa Armstrong Bob Baer & Judy Cohen-Baer Robert F. Bendall Phil Bowers Robert & Virginia Cassady Jeffrey Chase & Gale Kramer Eugene L. Cox Tim Crump, in support of the Scene Shop Tom & Patsy Doak
Bill & Claudette Finke Marvin Fletcher Susan Frederick Robert Goss Joseph & Eleanor Hingtgen Stephen Miles Clark & Joyce Neill Allen & Jane Noble Jonathan F. Orser Robert Palmer Lee & Maria Parks David Patton, in memory of Maggie Patton
Jeff Perkins & Mary Stockton Ward Randol Stanley Ransom Kenneth Shafer Stephen & Cheryl Shapiro Dr. Sigel G. & Mrs. Mabel V. Stocker Timothy Strope Mr. & Mrs. Frederick G. Stueber Miro & Maria Vida Wooster Hydrostatics, Inc. John & Linda Zimmermann
Peers or Peris ($350 to $599) Anonymous Mary L. Abbott Barbara Adams & Elaine Arnold Julius L. Amling Warren & Ellen Ashburn Julia & Bruce Bain Mike & Judy Berliner Sally Bernhardt Mr. & Mrs. Brian W. Bishop Bill & Pauline Bittner Dennis C. Bond Robert & Constance Bouchard Linda Bromund Lois Bruch
Ken & Polly Burns Dan B. & Elizabeth Candler & Frank L. Skillern Michael & Susan Clark J. Alan Crittenden Robert W. DeCoursey Tom & Judy Driskell John & Adriana Dryer Linda Earley Tom & Ann Engel Howard & Terry Epstein Robert & Lori Everett Jon & Mary Fancher Jane Fondiller Phyllis Gallo
Richard & Sally Gillmore Mya L. Gosling Dave & Pam Grant Mary Ann Grumbling Ray & Marge Gunther Louise E. Hamel Alicia & Ivan Handwerk Lee Helsby & Thomas Donnan Roger & Sheila Hollenbaugh Edward & Pamela Jajko, in memory of Costi & Henrietta Baramki Byron & Sue Kentner Richard LeSueur Stan & Joan Levy Joan C. Long
Mikados ($5,000 to $9,999) Anonymous Lois Freedlander Ron & Prue Holtman
Sorcerers ($2,500 to $4,999) Briggs Financial David & Carol Briggs
Pirate Kings ($1,250 to $2,499) Certified Angus Beef Terry & Evan Buck Joe & Mary Dulle Ann Fox Stan & Diane Hales Martha Hancock Jim & Mary Anne Jicha Bruce Kinsel
Englishmen ($600 to $1,249)
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Box Office: 330.263.2345
W. Berry Lyons & Anne E. Carey Dr. & Mrs. John R. Madison Beverly McCall William R. McGraw Bob McInnes The Mersol Family Randall & Karen Moore Mr. & Mrs. Roy Moore Dr. & Mrs. Paul Morton Gary Nemeth & Gail Jones-Nemeth Mr. & Mrs Jeffrey M. Nicholls Gunther & Dorothy Piepke David Porter & Margaret Poutasse Dr. Frank W. Quillen & Nathalie Trent
Egidijus & Vida Radvenis Jodie & Linn Raney Mr. Bunn Rhea Byron & Carol Rose Prof. Alan Miles Ruben & Judge Betty Willis Ruben Dr. & Mrs. Martin Saltzman Isaiah & Kalina Schloneger, in loving memory of Tori Bowers A.V. Shirk & Debora Bittaker Mark Silbersack Roger Simmons Bob & Susan Slagle Jim Smith
Jean Soper Mr. & Mrs. Vernon Sponseller Talia Starr Larry & Carol Stewart Sheldon & Rebecca Taft J. Lynn & Adelia Thompson Dr. Bonnie Thurston Lucy I. Weller Ted & Sandy Wiese Tom Woodward Julie & Jerry Yaffee J. Rufener & J. Young
Yeomen ($250 to $349) Allen & Cheryl Adair Robert C. Anderson Mr. & Mrs. Gilbert Aumiller Barbara Barna Walter & Elva Bixler Glenn & Jenny Brown Robert Burger Bill & Janet Burkholder Marian Taylor Cropp Ruth & Paul Crowley Charles L. Cureton Donald F. & Emily A. Curie David Dalrymple Mrs. Herbert C. Douglas Dee Durbin
Mr. & Mrs. William H. Edgerton N. Harmelink LeRoy & Ruth Haynes Thomas Jorgensen Grace Chamberlin Kelly Rolland & Anne King Henry & Patricia Kurdziel Sheila Kuzman Charles & Connie Lepold Anne R. Lewellen Michael & Kelly Lukuch Judy Penn Mallonn Julie A. Mennes Elizabeth Mitchell, in memory of Joan Strope Dr. Michael Nichols, in memory of Susan Davis Nichols
Mark W. Ohnmacht Stephen Orphanos David & Karolyn Rice, in honor of Laura Neill Allan K. Rodd John & Nancy MarĂa Schuesselin Ken & Rita Schuesselin Monica Smolka Mr. & Mrs. Howard Strauch Judy Van Wie Karl R. Warner David & Luisa Westfall Linda R. Wilcox John E. Wilkinson Dorothy Zellers
Flowers of Progress ($125 to $249) Richard C. Anderson Anonymous Shirley M. Ashby Mr. & Mrs. Jack Balogh Greg & Linda Barbu Bill & Joyce Belknap Irving R. Berger Sandra S. Bowen Alison Brown, in memory of Mag. Siegmund Haider Mrs. Stephen M. Brown Raymond C. Burke Richard & Susanne Campbell Mr. & Mrs. Lucien Case Kathy & Gerry Chapman Arthur Chester Margaret Chorney Wendell & Ruth Cole Suzanne & Joseph Colucci Peter & Sue Danford Anthony & Sarah Efremoff David & Marilyn Elk Harold C. Elliott John & Toby Emerson Dr. Charles & Mrs. Carol Faiman Dr. Ron Fleming Suzanne Fligiel Gerald & Mary Fuerst Hope Gertler Frank & Linda Gollinger
Estelle Green Carolyn Griffeth & Rusty Cowden, in honor of Laura Neill William & Nancy Hachtel Malinda Heineking, in memory of Janice M. Ladd Douglas M. & Suzanne R. Hicks Mr. & Mrs. Richard Hillson Ira Hinden, M.D. & Stefani Koorhan Hinden Karen Hollo, in memory of Elaine Bielniak Katherine M. Hull John & Liz Jarvey Mr. & Mrs. Richard D. Johnson Willard H. Johnson Mike & Penny Kinter Vicki Kirsch Mary Knox Mrs. R. J. Linderman Bitsy & Joe Loewenstein, in memory of Phil Martinez Kriss Ann Loughman Oliver & Pat Lugibihl Larry & Kathy Mast Dr. & Mrs. John McMahon Mr. & Mrs. Richard Middaugh Marc Miller Dayton & Emily Neill, in honor of Patricia Ann Kramer David & Pam Oliver
Joanne Poderis David Pozorski & Anna Romanski Betty Raber Mary Rawlings Barbara S. Robinson Patricia A. Rodgers & David H. Cullis Chris Saylor John & Rebecca Schmidt Mr. & Mrs. Sanford Schwartz Rose Ella Sears Ruth Severiens Mark Shalonis Wes & Connie Shilling Hiram Lee Smith, in memory of G. Michael Darling Kent & Judy Smith Charles Sommerville Terry Sosnowski George Spencer Phil & Karen Steiger John & Phyllis Strine Marion M. Sutton Joseph Tatnall & Daniel Colburn David Tovey Larry Wallerstein Richard & Jane Ward Robert Weppler David C. Wolfe Robert & Diane Yates Elizabeth A. Young
The Ohio Light Opera Annual Fund provides essential financing for each OLO season, and we are grateful for the loyal support of so many donors through the years. If you want to help ensure that the unique mission of The Ohio Light Opera continues, we ask that you make a gift to the 2019 Ohio Light Opera Fund. Please contact: Laura Neill at 330-263-2090, lneill@wooster. edu for information on how to make a gift to The Ohio Light Opera Annual Fund. The donor list includes gifts received prior to June 6th. Please let us know if your name has been inadvertently omitted or incorrectly listed.
ohiolightopera.org
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Memorial Gifts in Memory of Elsa G. Anderson Elsa G. Anderson brought beauty and grace to the world through her appreciation of opera and refined home cooking. She expressed to so many her abiding love of family as well as the Ohio Light Opera. We are truly grateful. The following patrons have given gifts to the Ohio Light Opera in memory of the life of our faithful patron, Elsa. Dick & Mimi Lewellen • Bob Baer & Judy Cohen-Baer • Sandy McIlvaine
The Ohio Light Opera would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Wayne County Community Foundation for its 2019 grant supporting a College of Wooster Applied Methods and Research Experience (AMRE) project analyzing sales software, social media marketing, and creating a new economic impact study. The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence, and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans. The Ohio Arts Council is committed to the economic, educational, and cultural development of the state. The Council believes the arts should be shared by the people of Ohio. The arts arise from public, individual, and organizational efforts. The OAC supports and encourages these efforts.
Corporate Matching Gifts Ely Lily Foundation
Emerson
Production Sponsors The Ohio Light Opera appreciates the generous support from the following corporations, foundations, and individuals who have helped underwrite production costs for the 2019 season: Brad Bennett David & Carol Briggs Briggs Financial Lois Freedlander Ron & Prue Holtman Ralph & Grace Jones Foundation Norman K. Keller
David Knapp Bitsy & Joe Loewenstein Michael & Nan Miller J.D. & Arlene Milliken The Burton D. Morgan Foundation Ambassador & Mrs. John Ong Sara L. Patton
John L. Power & Edith Dus-Garden Seaman Corporation Tim & Jenny Smucker Mary Alice Streeter Dee & Mary Vaidya
www.unitedtitanium.com | 3450 Old Airport Road, Wooster, Ohio | (330) 264-2111
Gasche House Bed & Breakfast 330-264-8231 | 340 N. Bever St. | Wooster OH 44691 | gaschehousebandb.com
Innkeepers Genevieve & Bill Welcome You! 8
Box Office: 330.263.2345
Wooster Country Club invites you to visit and experience a rich tradition of fine service and relaxing recreation. Casual dining in a Country Club atmosphere. Tues-Sat 11am-9pm Reservations are required.
1251 Oak Hill Road 330.263.1890 www.woostercountryclub.com
Celebrate
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HORTICULTURE
SECREST ARBORETUM
Open Daily Dawn to Dusk 330.263.3761 | WWW.SECREST.OSU.EDU
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A wee bit of Ireland in downtown Wooster 116 S. Market Street, Wooster, Ohio 44691 ohiolightopera.org
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THE OHIO LIGHT OPERA ENDOWMENT The Ohio Light Opera Endowment was established in 1993 by a generous gift from founding Artistic Director James F. Stuart. Additional gifts have helped ensure the current and future financial stability of the Company. A restricted fund in The College of Wooster’s endowment, the Ohio Light Opera Endowment is managed professionally and provides support for a portion of annual OLO expenses. We encourage you to consider making a gift or estate commitment to the Ohio Light Opera Endowment. Please contact Laura Neill at 330-263-2090, lneill@wooster.edu to receive information on how to make an endowment gift.
The Brian Woods Award Fourteen years ago, the company lost one of its most talented and supportive young company members. Tenor Brian Woods exemplified in so many ways the best that the Ohio Light Opera has to offer. He was a devoted and enthusiastic supporter of this company’s unique mission. Brian’s love for operetta extended far beyond this company. As a performer and educator, he gave selfless hours to bringing his love for operetta into the hearts of thousands of patrons and to many students. As part of his legacy, the company (along with his widow, Jessie Wright Martin) established an endowment in his honor. As part of this endowment, each year a company member is presented the Brian Woods Award. This is given to a returning company member who exemplifies some of the qualities that made Brian a champion for this company and the lyric theater art form. A few years ago, it was decided that in the future the award would be vetted by past award winners who are presently in residency (five performers), along with key artistic and administrative personnel. Although the majority of awards have been given to singers in the past, any company member may receive the award. Past Recipients of The Brian Woods Award: ’07 Peter Nathan Foltz—singer ’08 Todd Strange—singer ’09 Stephen Carr—stage director ’10 Boyd Mackus—singer
’11 Ted Christopher—singer and stage director ’12 Nathan Brian—singer ’13 Benjamin Krumreig—singer ’14 Stephen Faulk—singer
’15 Eric Andries—coach/accompanist ’16 Jacob Allen—performer/director ’17 John Schuesselin—trumpet and orchestra personnel manager ’18 Katie Humphrey—stage manager
The 2019 recipient of the Brian Woods Award:
Mark Snyder-Schulte Mark wrote the following on June 4: Last evening I found out that I was the 13th recipient of the Brian Woods Award from The Ohio Light Opera. This is such a special honor to me. I had the privilege of working with Brian my first summer at OLO 15 years ago. He truly was an amazing man. I was head of wardrobe and at the end of the summer it was evident that Brian would not be able to complete the season. When Josh Kohl went on for Brian in The Violet of Montmartre, I was asked by Steven Daigle to cover Josh’s role as Blume. I met the cast in the rehearsal room at 10 in the morning and we rehearsed. We then had to find a tuxedo to fit me. I wore a vest that Maestro J. Lynn Thompson had donated, and at 2 o’clock, the announcement was made and the show started. It was a very emotional show. At the end I remember being greeted by James Stuart, The Ohio Light Opera’s founding artistic director, in the back hallway and he told me what a good job I did. Over the course of the next several months, we lost both Brian and Doc. I am so honored, humbled, and proud to have received this special award. A circle has been completed; the first show I worked on at OLO was South Pacific and the first show this season is South Pacific. Thank you to everyone that I have had the pleasure to work with over the last 15 years. OLO holds a very special place in my heart. I am truly blessed.
10 Box Office: 330.263.2345
TAKING LIGHT OPERA SERIOUSLY!
THE LEGACY OF OLO FOUNDER
S JAMES F. STUART S
“I had long realized that operetta requires no less a commitment to quality than does grand opera, both in front of and behind the curtain. My objective from the beginning with OLO was to return artistic integrity to operetta. Through coaching on the importance of taking light opera seriously, the company has nurtured an audience that has itself gained a new appreciation for a once seemingly moribund art form.” James F. Stuart
James F. Stuart Founding Artistic Director 1928-2005
When James Stuart, in 1979, began The Ohio Light Opera at The College of Wooster, he had already built a successful career as a musical and theatrical educator, producer, director, and performing artist. Born in Baton Rouge in 1928, he studied at LSU and earned a doctor of musical arts degree at the Eastman School of Music. For seven seasons, he performed the principal tenor roles with Dorothy Raedler’s American Savoyards and the Martyn Green Gilbert and Sullivan Company. Over several decades, he appeared with opera companies in New York, Boston, Cleveland, Chautauqua, Atlanta, and New Orleans. He sang the Husband in the world premiere of Raffaelo de Banfield’s Lord Byron’s Love Letter, opposite Patricia Neway, and performed the title role in the American premiere of Rameau’s Platée. Among the distinguished musical artists with whom Stuart performed are singers Beverly Sills, Joan Sutherland, Richard Tucker, and Robert Merrill; and conductors Franz Allers, Richard Bonynge, Boris Goldovsky, Louis Lane, Julius Rudel, and Robert Shaw. Under Stuart’s vision and guidance, The Ohio Light Opera evolved into the nation’s premier venue for the presentation of both the masterworks and forgotten gems of the lyric theater repertoire. His translations for the Company include those for Auber’s Fra Diavolo, Lecocq’s La fille de Madame Angot, Hahn’s Ciboulette, Kálmán’s Die Bajadere and Der Zigeunerprimás, Strauss’ Der lustige Krieg, and Offenbach’s Monsieur Choufleuri. In recognition of his contributions to lyric theater, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by The College of Wooster, and was invested in the College of Fellows of the American Theatre in a ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Stuart was further honored by his inclusion in several standard biographical works: Dictionary of International Biography, International Who’s Who in Music, Who’s Who in America, and International Who’s Who of Intellectuals. James Stuart in The Gondoliers, 1996
S To make a lasting gift to The Ohio Light Opera, contact Executive Director Laura Neill at 330-263-2090.
ohiolightopera.org
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2O19 BLOSSOM MUSIC FESTIVAL SSU UM MM M EER R H HO OM M EE O O FF TTH H EE C CLLEE V VEE LL A AN ND DO OR RC CH H EE SSTTR RA A
JUNE SATURDAY JUN JUN
JUN 30 7:30 7:30 29 JUN
THE THE SORCERER’S SORCERER’S STONE STONE
The TheCleveland ClevelandOrchestra Orchestra Justin JustinFreer, Freer,conductor conductor The Theclassic classicfirst firstfilm filmininthe theseries seriesshown shownininHD HD on onthe thebig bigscreen screen — —with withthe thescore scoreperformed performedlive liveby byThe TheCleveland ClevelandOrchestra. Orchestra. Harry HarryPotter Pottercharacters, characters,names, names,and andrelated relatedindicia indiciaare are©©&&TMTM Warner WarnerBros BrosEntertainment EntertainmentInc. Inc. Harry HarryPotter PotterPublishing PublishingRights Rights©©JKR JKR(s19). (s19).
FOURTH OF JULY 38
JUL
PM
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Blossom Festival Band Loras John Schissel, conductor
Blossom Festival Band Loras John Schissel, conductor
SCHISSEL
SALUTE TO AMERICA
5 JUL 6
Fri 8 PM Sat 8 PM RHAPSODY IN BLUE
PM
SALUTE TO AMERICA
JUL
JU
The Cleveland Orchestra Roderick Cox, conductor Aaron Diehl, piano
DIEHL
JUL
THURSDAY
SCHISSEL
WEDNESDAY
PM PM
AATT TT HH EE M M OO VV II EE S: S: HH AA RR RR YY PP OO TT TT EE RR
Musical works by Bernstein, Gershwin, Stravinsky, and Tchaikovsky.
SATURDAY
13 8
PM
TCHAIKOVSKY’S FOURTH SYMPHONY The Cleveland Orchestra Jahja Ling, conductor Conrad Tao, piano
LING
JUL
Musical works by Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, and Tchaikovsky.
20 8
PM
BRUCH’S VIOLIN CONCERTO The Cleveland Orchestra Klaus Mäkelä, conductor Daniel Lozakovich, violin Musical works by Kodály and Bruch, as well as Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony.
JUL
27 7
LOZAKOVICH
JUL
PM
ELGAR’S ENIGMA VARIATIONS The Cleveland Orchestra Bramwell Tovey, conductor Gautier Capuçon, cello with Kent Blossom Orchestra Vinay Parameswaran, conductor
CAPUÇON
Blossom Music Center has provided an inviting and gracious summer home for The Cleveland Orchestra since it opened in 1968. Located just north of Akron, Ohio, and about 25 miles south of Cleveland, Blossom is situated on 200 acres of rolling hills surrounded by the Cuyahoga Valley SEASON SPONSOR National Park. Its beautiful outdoor setting is an integral part of the Blossom experi ence — and unrivaled among America’s summer music festival parks for the clear sightlines from across Blossom’s expansive Lawn and the superb acoustics and architectural beauty of the Blossom Pavilion. Come early to savor the summer weather. Bring your own picnic, or purchase from a variety of onsite options available, including a wide selection of wines, spirits, and beers. For an eighth summer, The Cleveland Orchestra is offering free Lawn tickets to young people ages 17 and under for all Blos som Festival concerts. Two “under 18s” will be admitted with each paid adult admission — an initiative of The Cleveland Orch estra’s Center for Future Audiences, endowed by the Maltz Fam ily Foundation to expand new audiences for symphonic music.
Including music by Mendelssohn, Ravel, and Saint-Saëns.
TICKETS:
800-686-1141
== features features fireworks, fireworks, weather weather permitting permitting
AUGUST
AND SUNDAY SUNDAY AND
SATURDAY
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BEETHOVEN’S EMPEROR CONCERTO The Cleveland Orchestra Andrey Boreyko, conductor Francesco Piemontesi, piano
LY
Musical works by Beethoven and Zemlinsky.
7 Sun 7
AUG
10 8
AUG
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BRAHMS FIRST SYMPHONY
PM
PETER AND PAUL
The Cleveland Orchestra Asher Fisch, conductor Jung-Min Amy Lee, violin
The Cleveland Orchestra Lucas Richman, conductor with Peter Yarrow, vocalist Noel Paul Stookey, vocalist
Musical works by Liszt, Barber, and Brahms.
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BRIAN WILSON CELEBRATES PET SOUNDS Blossom Festival Orchestra Lucas Richman, conductor with Brian Wilson Al Jardine Blondie Chaplin
LEE
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PIEMONTESI
AUG
SUNDAY
Greatest hits from Peter, Paul, and Mary’s songbook.
AUG
17 8
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SYMPHONIC DANCES
JOHNSON CANO
SUNDAY
The Cleveland Orchestra Vinay Parameswaran, conductor Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano
Musical works by Ives, Bernstein, and Rachmaninoff.
AUG
24 8
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SOUTH PACIFIC
JUL
21 7
The Cleveland Orchestra Andy Einhorn, conductor with stage direction by Victoria Bussert
PM
ROMERO
ROMERO PLAYS RODRIGO The Cleveland Orchestra Pablo Heras-Casado, conductor Pepe Romero, guitar Musical works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Rodrigo, and Debussy.
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s classic Broadway show presented in concert, in collaboration with Baldwin Wallace University’s Music Theatre Program.
LABOR DAY WEEKEND FRIDAY
JUL
28 7
AUG
PM
SATURDAY
30 AUG 31
ARETHA: QUEEN OF SOUL
A T T H E M O V I E S: S T A R W A R S
The Cleveland Orchestra Lucas Waldin, conductor Capathia Jenkins, vocalist Ryan Shaw, vocalist
The Cleveland Orchestra Sarah Hicks, conductor
SEP
1 7:30
PM
JENKINS
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
An evening devoted to the artistry and greatest hits of Aretha Franklin.
TICKETS:
The classic sequel film shown in HD on the big screen — with the score performed live by The Cleveland Orchestra. Presentation licensed by Disney Concerts in association with 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm Ltd, and Warner/Chappell Music.
clevelandorchestra.com
SUNDAY
An Interview with Julie Wright Costa This summer, associate artistic director Julie Wright Costa celebrates her 29th season with Ohio Light Opera. As a performer, director, and administrator, she has played a major part in the growth of the company and in the continuing elevation of its performance and production standards. OLO program editors sat down with Julie in early June for a question and answer session.
Q: Among OLO’s 146-show repertoire, is there a role that you did not perform that you wish you did? Most definitely, yes! That would be Hannah in The Merry Widow—the show and role that “got away.” Every time it was done, I was either somewhere else or more than occupied in other roles. But I did, at least, have a chance to direct the OLO production in 2011.
Q: Among your dozens of OLO lead roles, be- Q: Is there a show, in either operetta or musiginning with Nadina in 1988’s The Chocolate cal theater, that OLO has not produced that you Soldier, is there one that you would love to have would love to see on the Freedlander stage? an opportunity to reprise? This season, OLO is producing a Sondheim work Being a soprano, I can’t just pick one, so I have [Into the Woods] for the first time. I don’t know identified three: Sarah Millick (Sari) in Bitter when he might cycle around again, but I am a Sweet, Sylva Varescu in The Gypsy Princess, and very big fan of A Little Night Music. The work Guenevere in Camelot. I love the book and music has a real operetta feel and I think it would be of Bitter Sweet and had sung the role in OLO’s a wonderful show to do here. I would also love 1993 production. In 1998, Doc [OLO founder to see Viktor Jacobi’s Sybil, a marvelous work James Stuart] programmed the show for a second unlike anything we have done at OLO. And it time after I returned to the company from a two- would be great, I think, for OLO to program anyear absence. I was blown away, honored, and other zarzuela. I’m a big fan of La Tabernera del incredibly moved when he told me that he would Puerto by Pablo Sorozábal. It’s three acts, long, never cast anyone else in that role. It is a show and requires a superlative tenor, so I’m not sure that I would love to see again at OLO—it would that it would be the right fit. But I sure love it! be great fun to direct it this time. The Gypsy Princess from 1993 holds very special memories for Q: For the past many seasons, you have been me as it was the first full OLO production that responsible for OLO auditioning and casting. Steve Daigle directed. Steve and I grew up togeth- The repertoire requires up front that performers er at OLO—to take on a leading role under his be “triple-threat”—singing, acting, and dancing. direction was an experience that I will never for- But what other qualities do you seek, and how get. OLO baritone Dennis Jesse was my longtime difficult is it to discern these qualities during a partner in “operetta crime.” The opportunity to ten-minute audition slot? sing Sylva opposite his Edwin made for some pret- We ask each auditionee to present—in addition ty special memories. Camelot—what an amazing to a brief monologue—two arias, one from opshow! Guenevere—what an amazing role! It is, eretta or musical comedy and one from the tradramatically, perhaps my favorite role to date, es- ditional repertoire. Apart from assessing singing pecially given the opportunity in 2000 to sing with technique, communication skills, and level of the amazing Boyd Mackus as King Arthur. 14 Box Office: 330.263.2345
dance or movement experience, the first thing I look for is an artist who exhibits both passion in their music-making and a sense of self-awareness—that they know who they are. The more self-aware they are as an artist, the greater the likelihood that they will make a good company member. The audition should reveal their artistic investment in the song and its delivery, and not just a sense that they are in a competition. As it’s a long summer at OLO, collegiality is very important. I try to “chat up” each potential artist, picking up on something interesting in their resume, a special skill, or a shared colleague in the business. It sends a very positive message if they convey some sense of excitement in being there, or a knowledge of the company, its repertoire, and its mission. Q: With live theater, the “unexpected” is expected. Can you relate for us a few of the harrowing or hilarious moments that you have witnessed on the OLO stage? There are a few that I can’t talk about— maybe when I write my memoirs. But one that does come to mind occurred during the 2001 Carousel when the fire alarm went off—not once, but twice. It was at one of the most pivotal moments in the show, toward the end when Billy is up in heaven. We all had to evacuate the building, but the parking lot was being renovated and was all torn to pieces. As we were all standing there in costume in the rubble, a patron, smoking a cigarette, came up to me and said: “Well, hey, how’s it going tonight?” Another incident occurred in 1989 during The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein. We were heading into the famous “sabre song,” during which Capt. Nepomuc presents the weapon to the Grand Duchess. Before entering, he was goofing around with the sabre offstage and smashed it into the prop table—it broke down into a nubbin. As we all were singing “Here is the sabre, the sabre, the sabre,” he walked onstage with this tiny stub of a sword that we had to pass from person to person. To hide our hysterics, we all had to turn our backs to the audience, which itself was convulsed with laughter.
Q: Beginning with Utopia Limited in 2000, you have directed 25 OLO productions—The Brigands, The Island of Tulipatan, and Primrose, to name just a few. What lured you into directing? Did your vast experience as a performer impact your directing style? I’ve always been fascinated by the “lens” of a director. When I was very young, my mom loved to watch vintage movies. I recall, one Christmas when I was young, asking her for a book on old-time Hollywood directors. I do have a distinct memory of how I got into directing here at OLO. A bunch of us were sitting on the back porch of what is now the Gault Admissions Center. Steve Daigle, who had previously asked me to direct some small scenes and dialogue, hinted that he saw the seeds of a really fine director in me. My first response was “Whaaat?” When he proceeded to offer me a full directing assignment for the following season, I was honored to accept. As an actor and singer, I approach directing very much through that lens, but find that it can also present challenges. As a performer, your focus is on how your character fits into the larger work and relates to others on stage. As a director, you must be invested in all the show elements—from the performers to the orchestra to the production team. It took me a while to learn how to take myself out of it as an actor and put myself in as a team member. Because of the opportunities I’ve had to work within the concentrated OLO production schedule, I can go anywhere to direct and feel comfortable. I was so thrilled, in 2017 at OLO, to direct Gershwin’s Primrose, one of the productions of which I am most proud. As it had not been staged anywhere in almost a century, I had nothing to draw on except my research, my performance team, and my designers. It was the freest I’ve ever felt as a director. I offer heartfelt thanks to James Stuart, Steven Daigle, Laura Neill, Michael and Nan Miller, my incredible colleagues, and, of course, our wonderful patrons. And, as always, I extend my appreciation for the support of John, Freddie, and Rose. ohiolightopera.org 15
Babes in Arms
Cloclo
The Pajama Game
Candide
Candide
Fifty Million Frenchmen
Cloclo
La Périchole
Babes in Arms
Iolanthe
16 Box Office: 330.263.2345
Fifty Million Frenchmen
The Pajama Game
The Pajama Game
Iolanthe
La PĂŠrichole
Fifty Million Frenchmen
Cloclo
Candide
2018 season photos by Matt Dilyard. Cloclo photos by Bill Thornhill.
Babes in Arms
ohiolightopera.org 17
AMERICA’S PREMIER LYRIC THEATER FESTIVAL
La Périchole, OLO 2018
OUR MISSION For forty seasons, The Ohio Light Opera has dedicated itself to the exploration and production of the best of traditional operetta and musical theater. Founded by James Stuart as a Gilbert and Sullivan repertory summer festival, the company has grown to encompass all forms in the light opera canon. This includes the complete Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire, as well as the recognized treasures from the Viennese, French, Hungarian, German, British, and American repertoire. In recent years, the company has expanded its offerings to include traditional musical theater— rare musical gems as well as popular works that are nevertheless being produced less often today. Composers represented include Berlin, Bernstein, Bock and Harnick, Gershwin, Kern, Leigh, Lerner and Loewe, Loesser, Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Rodgers and Hart, Styne, Sondheim, and Willson. Along with this unique mission, the company also reconstructs and produces those rare operetta titles of artistic value that were popular in their own times but have long since been forgotten. The historical performance practices of each work premiered are delicately balanced with the resources of a stateof-the-art theater and engaging and entertaining performance values. Each summer, between
seven and nine titles are presented in a revolving format of approximately 60 performances over an eight-week period. Nearly 20,000 patrons each season see productions in The College of Wooster’s intimate Freedlander Theatre. Over 120 company members from around the United States are selected each year to become a part of our residency program. The 40 performing artists who make up the vocal ensemble are chosen for their abilities to perform and work at the highest level in all disciplines demanded by the company’s specialized repertoire: singing, acting, and dancing. With 146 titles produced, over 300 productions, and 750,000 patrons watching, The Ohio Light Opera has become the forerunner in promoting the lyric theater genre. The company’s contribution to the preservation and promotion of traditional lyric theater has received recognition in prominent national and international publications and its work is frequently cited by leading scholars of operetta and light opera. In residency on The College of Wooster campus, the summer festival offers a country setting with an inviting community that is proud of the unique service this company has given to its many patrons and to the art form.
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THE OHIO LIGHT OPERA 2019 FESTIVAL COMPANY* Administrative/ Front Of House Staff Emily Anderson Gabby Angeles-Paredes Meredith Bruch Imogen Campbell Hendricks Lin Holmberg Kate Joseph Sandy McIlvaine Emily Neill Henry Perkins Alex Swiger
Kelly Curtin Benjamin Dutton Vincent Gover Jocelyn Hansen Hannah Holmes Hilary Koolhoven Abby Kurth Teryn Kuzma Joelle Lachance Boyd Mackus George Marn Ivana Martinic Spiro Matsos Tim McGowan Artistic Director Garrett Medlock Steven A. Daigle Chelsea Miller Assistant Choreographer/ Emily Neill Michelle Pedersen Dance Captain Elizabeth Perkins Sarah Best Charles Austin Piper Assistant Costume Spencer Reese Designers Tanya Roberts Jennifer Ammons Austin Rubinoski Hannah Smith Lauren Nash Silberstein Aidan Smerud Assistant Costume Shop Alan Smith Manager Mark Snyder-Schulte Ryann Corbett Sadie Spivey Assistant Director Yvonne Trobe Ian Silverman Adam Wells Kyle Yampiro Assistant Lighting Designer Charge Artist/Scenic Riley Woods Designer Kiah Kayser Assistant Scenic Designer Ryan Douglass Choreographer Spencer Reese Assistant Sound Designers Conductor Sarah Calvert Wilson Southerland Tyler Quinn Costume Designers Assistant Stage Managers Myron Elliott Burkett Horrigan Anne Medlock Christopher Tucker Costume Shop Manager Assistant Technical John Catlos Director Crafts Jessica Gilliard Hannah Compton Associate Artistic Director Deck Chief Julie Wright Costa Cari Kamper Associate Music Director Draper Steven Byess Michelle Pettit Carpenters Electrician/Swing Alliance Akins Carpenters Anna Biggerstaff Rachel Aho Dustin Green Joseph Messana Alec Walsh Cast Jacob Allen Emily Anderson Logan Barat Brad Baron Sarah Best Kelvin Boateng Diego Roberts Buceta Ted Christopher Annachristi Cordes Julie Wright Costa
Executive Director Laura Neill First Hand Bethany Sassen Master Carpenter Alex Houston Master Electrician Jameson Gresens
Music Director J. Lynn Thompson Orchestra Concertmaster Alex Urbina Assistant Concertmaster Tatiana Zueva Bassoon Spencer Wilson Cello Imjeong Choi Emily Grissing Clarinet Jeffrey Anderson Laura Chalmers Charlotte Kies Double Bass Mitchell Reiner-Coffey Flute Laura Kellogg Schuyler Thornton Harp Grace Roepke Horn Sam Himes Elena Varon Oboe Bridget Long Kelley Tracz Percussion Sarah Jayne Gartin Thomas Roblee Saxophone Will England Trombone Peter Gooch Will Horner Trumpet Jesse Gibens Donald McEwan John Schuesselin Viola David Berghoff Teresa Bloemer Violin Diana Farah Namjoo Oh Emory Rosenow Beth Uhimchuk Alistair Watson
Production Assistant Austin Carter Michael Dean Jacob Gooch Maya Rickard Production Manager/ Resident Lighting Designer Daniel Huston Production Stage Manager Abby Schneck Props Artisans Tara Bentley Madisen Fraiser Sarabeth Spector Props Master Sidney Martin Rehearsal Accompanist Eric Andries Resident Costume Designer Charlene Gross Resident Lighting Designer Brittany Shemuga Resident Scenic Designer Daniel Hobbs Shop Foreman Alex Clark Sound Designer Christopher Plummer Spot Operators Meredith Bruch Juliet Freed Madison Helms Matthew Lorentz Victoria McCaslin Anna Nacci Lexi Snoddy Catherine Strong Anneliese Wagoner Stage Manager Helen Rooker Stitchers Joseph Anello Mia Kardotzke Megan Morris Meredith Prouty-Due Technical Director Stephen Tomlin
Orchestra Personnel Manager John Schuesselin
Wardrobe Megan Dickel Leah Moore
Painters Karissa Hodge Seth Howard Chyna Mayer
Wardrobe Master Mark Snyder-Schulte
Principal Guest Director Ted Christopher
* Listed alphabetically by job position.
Wigs Emily Santiago
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SOUTH PACIFIC (1949) Music by............................................................... Richard Rodgers Lyrics by.................................................... Oscar Hammerstein II Book by............... Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan Based on “Tales of the South Pacific” by James Michener
Conductor........................................................ J. Lynn Thompson Stage Director............................................................. Jacob Allen Choreographer...................................................... Spencer Reese Set Designer.............................................................. Daniel Hobbs Costume Designer................................................ Anne Medlock Lighting Designer..........................................Brittany Shemuga Sound Designer.......................................Christopher Plummer Ensign Nellie Forbush, a nurse from Arkansas..................................... .................................................................... Sarah Best* Jocelyn Hansen** Emile de Becque, an expatriate French plantation owner................ ...................................................................... Aidan Smerud* Brad Baron** Ngana, his daughter.................................................... Isabella Rodeman Jerome, his son................................................................. Grayson Griffith Henri, his native servant....................................................Spencer Reese Marcel...........................................................................................Logan Barat Bloody Mary, a Tonkinese trader............................Michelle Pedersen Liat, her daughter............................................. Lauren Nash Silberstein Luther Billis...............................................................................Kyle Yampiro Stewpot, carpenter’s mate second class..................... Tim McGowan Professor.............................................................................Garrett Medlock Lt. Joseph Cable, USMC................. Alan Smith* Benjamin Dutton** Capt. George Brackett, U.S. Navy.............................. Ted Christopher Cmdr. William Harbison, U.S. Navy ...............................Vincent Gover Lt. Buzz Adams......................................................................... Adam Wells Yeoman Herbert Quale................................................ Austin Rubinoski Radio Operator Bob McCaffrey.....................................Spencer Reese Seabees Morton Wise....................................................................Kelvin Boateng Richard West.....................................................Diego Roberts Buceta Sailors Tom O’Brien......................................................................... George Marn James Hayes........................................................................Charles Piper Shore Patrolman..................................................................... George Marn Lt. Genevieve Marshall, lead nurse......................... Hilary Koolhoven Ensign Dinah Murphy.......................................................Hannah Holmes Ensign Janet MacGregor........................................................ Abby Kurth Ensigns Connie Walewska............................................................Tanya Roberts Bessie Noonan......................................................................... Emily Neill Rita Adams.....................................................................Joelle Lachance Lisa Minelli.......................................................................... Ivana Martinic Pamela Whitmore............................................................ Chelsea Miller Sue Yaeger............................................................................Sadie Spivey Cora MacRae..........................................................................Kelly Curtin
BRAND GUIDELINES
This production of South Pacific has been partially underwritten by gifts from:
Illustration by Daniel Hobbs
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Ensemble Logan Barat, Kelvin Boateng, Diego Roberts Buceta, Annachristi Cordes, Kelly Curtin, Hilary Koolhoven, Abby Kurth, Teryn Kuzma, Joelle Lachance, George Marn, Ivana Martinic, Tim McGowan, Garrett Medlock, Chelsea Miller, Emily Neill, Charles Piper, Spencer Reese, Tanya Roberts, Austin Rubinoski, Sadie Spivey, Adam Wells, Kyle Yampiro * 6/15, 6/22, 7/6, 7/20, 7/27, 8/4 ** 6/19, 6/28, 7/12, 7/23, 8/1, 8/9
SETTING
The action of the play takes place on two islands in the South Pacific during World War II. There is a week’s lapse of time between the two acts.
MUSICAL NUMBERS Overture ACT I Dites-Moi.................................................................................................................................................. Ngana, Jerome A Cockeyed Optimist..............................................................................................................................................Nellie Twin Soliloquies........................................................................................................................................... Nellie, Emile Some Enchanted Evening......................................................................................................................................Emile Bloody Mary...................................................................................................................................................................Men There Is Nothin’ Like a Dame...................................................................................................................................Men Bali Ha’i.......................................................................................................................................................................... Mary I’m Gonna Wash that Man Right Out-a My Hair................................................................ Nellie, Nurses, Girls Some Enchanted Evening (reprise)..................................................................................................... Nellie, Emile I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy.......................................................................................... Nellie, Girls, Nurses Bali Ha’i (reprise)..........................................................................................................................................French Girls Younger than Springtime...................................................................................................................................... Cable I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy (reprise)...................................................................................... Nellie, Emile This Is How It Feels..................................................................................................................................... Nellie, Emile Finale.............................................................................................................................................................................Emile 15-minute intermission ACT II Entr’acte Happy Talk.................................................................................................................................................................... Mary Honey Bun.......................................................................................................................................Nellie, Billis, Chorus You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught....................................................................................................... Cable, Emile This Nearly Was Mine..............................................................................................................................................Emile Finale Ultimo.................................................................................................................Nellie, Ngana, Jerome, Emile
S “If you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?” S ohiolightopera.org 21
ARGUMENT
ACT I: French planter Emile de Becque, involved in a killing back home, has fled and settled on a Pacific island. American nurse Nellie Forbush, seeking adventure away from her Arkansas upbringing, finds herself stationed in the same remote location. They hit it off immediately and wonder to themselves what a life together might mean. Sailor and entrepreneur-wannabee Luther Billis finds himself no match for the crafty Tonkinese peddler Bloody Mary, who has the island market cornered. She kicks into high gear when a handsome American, Lt. Joe Cable, arrives on the island to oversee an intelligence operation. With the goal of finding a welladvantaged husband for her beautiful daughter Liat, she lures Cable to Bali Ha’i, a neighboring islet off-limits to all but officers and locals. The young couple fall instantly in love. Back across the water, Nellie learns from Emile that he has two children—by a now-deceased Polynesian mother. Her inborn prejudices rise up and, although she tries to deny them to herself, she can’t, as she dashes away. ACT II: Emile learns from Billis that Nellie has applied for a transfer to another island. Mary, meanwhile, pleads with Cable that he marry Liat—she assures the pair that only happiness awaits them. Unable to shake his own racial preconceptions, he refuses Mary’s offer, admitting that one is not born harboring prejudice, but that it is taught by those pushing their own agendas. With a change of heart, Cable decides, if he should survive the war, that he will not go back to America, but rather return to the island and everything he cares about. Feeling that his own happiness has been ripped from under him, Emile wonders what do next. When Cable requests that the planter join him on a secret military mission behind enemy lines, Emile accepts and the pair depart. Days pass—through their contributions, the tide of war has turned in favor of the Americans. A radio contact assures Nellie that Emile is still alive, but there is bad news: Lt. Cable has been killed. When, through the radio receiver, the sound of enemy aircraft is heard and contact abruptly ceases, Nellie, who has done some soul-searching of her own, holds out little hope …
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BACKGROUND
James Michener’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Tales of the South Pacific (1947) consists of 19 stories that chronicle the violence as well as the tedium of war, the beauty of tropical islands and their often brutal weather, and the interactions of natives, French plantation owners, and American military personnel. There is no single plot line, although there are recurring characters and a unifying narrative voice. Joshua Logan and Leland Hayward, seeing theatrical possibilities in Michener’s book, acquired the stage rights. They then approached Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, who agreed to write a musical based on Tales and also to co-produce it with Logan and Hayward. Hammerstein, assisted by Logan, drew on “Fo’ Dolla” for the story of Lt. Cable’s infatuation with Liat, Bloody Mary’s daughter. This became the counterpoint to the romance between nurse Nellie Forbush and plantation owner Emile de Becque, who appear in “Our Heroine.” Comic relief was provided by Luther Billis, the wheeler-dealer Seabee in “A Boar’s Tooth.” Hammerstein invented the episode of Lt. Cable’s and Emile’s hazardous mission. He also omitted Michener’s darker overtones. Ezio Pinza, recently retired from the Metropolitan Opera, was signed for Emile, and Mary Martin, then touring in Annie Get Your Gun, for Nellie. Martin was initially alarmed at the prospect of singing with an operatic basso, but Rodgers assured her that there would be no duets and made a virtue out of necessity by creating the moving “Twin Soliloquies” for the falling-in-love scene. The premiere at the Majestic Theater on April 7, 1949 launched a run of 1925 performances and was hailed in the New York Times by Brooks Atkinson as “a tenderly beautiful idyll of genuine people inexplicably tossed together in a strange corner of the world.” Pinza’s magnificent voice and sex appeal persuaded middle-aged audience members that it was never too late for “enchanted evenings.” Unused to the strain of eight performances a week, however, Pinza frequently absented himself during the run. Mary Martin, as Meryle Secrest observes in her Rodgers biography, made Nellie Forbush, “with her coltish high spirits, flashing smile, and polka-dot allure, cheerful and uncomplicated ... the perfect musical comedy heroine.” South Pacific earned Rodgers and Hammerstein the Pulitzer Prize for
drama, but there are two discordant notes in the otherwise triumphant history of the show. Rodgers denied co-author credit to Logan, whose help Hammerstein gratefully acknowledged. His name appeared in smaller print in the program, he received no royalties from the book, had no share in the copyright, and was overlooked by the Pulitzer judges. Although Rodgers insisted that “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” was not a message song, but was written because Lt. Cable needed a song at that particular point, it offended reactionaries. In 1953 Georgia legislators denounced it as Moscow-inspired propaganda. The 1958 Twentieth Century-Fox movie version dropped it for fear of diminished box office returns in the South. Adapted from the original of Raymond McCall
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ohiolightopera.org 23
GIRL CRAZY
P R E M I E R E
(1930)
Music by..............................................................George Gershwin Lyrics by.......................................................................Ira Gershwin Book by.................................. Guy Bolton and John McGowan Conductor...................................................................Steven Byess Stage Director....................................................Steven A. Daigle Choreographer...................................................... Spencer Reese Set Designer................................................................. Kiah Kayser Costume Designer................................................... Myron Elliott Lighting Designer..................................................Daniel Huston Sound Designer.......................................Christopher Plummer Assistant Director ..................................................Ian Silverman Danny Churchill, New York playboy.............................Spencer Reese Molly Gray, postmistress.................................................Hannah Holmes Pete, proprietor of the Custer House............................... Adam Wells Lank Sanders, town bully..................................................Aidan Smerud Gieber Goldfarb, taxi driver from New York................Kyle Yampiro Flora James........................................................................Joelle Lachance Patsy West................................................................................... Abby Kurth Kate Fothergill, entertainer.............................................Yvonne Trobe Slick Fothergill, her husband, a professional gambler....................... ..........................................................................................................Brad Baron Sam Mason....................................................................................Alan Smith Tess Parker.................................................................................Sadie Spivey Jake Howell.............................................................................. George Marn D’Errico, hotel proprietor....................................................Charles Piper Lariat Joe..............................................................................Kelvin Boateng Sergeant of Police...................................................................Logan Barat Waiter/Clerk.................................................................... Austin Rubinoski The Foursome...................................................................Garrett Medlock .................................................................................................... Tim McGowan ....................................................................................Diego Roberts Buceta ....................................................................................................Vincent Gover Ensemble Logan Barat, Kelvin Boateng, Diego Roberts Buceta, Annachristi Cordes, Vincent Gover, Jocelyn Hansen, Hilary Koolhoven, Abby Kurth, Teryn Kuzma, Joelle Lachance, George Marn, Ivana Martinic, Tim McGowan, Garrett Medlock, Emily Neill, Michelle Pedersen, Charles Piper, Austin Rubinoski, Sadie Spivey, Adam Wells
This production of Girl Crazy has been partially underwritten by gifts from:
Norman K. Keller Ambassador & Mrs. John Ong Sara L. Patton Dee & Mary Vaidya Illustration by Daniel Hobbs
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SETTING ACT I Scene Scene Scene Scene Scene
1................................................................................Exterior of the Custer House … Custerville, Arizona 2..................................................................................................................................................... The dude ranch 3.................................................................................................................... “Giebers” election headquarters 4............................................................................................................... Outside the Custerville post office 5.............................................................................................................................. Barroom at the dude ranch
15-minute intermission Act II Scene 1............................................................................................................. Hotel Los Palmas … San Luz, Mexico Scene 2........................................................................................................................ The railroad station … San Luz Scene 3..................................................................................................................................... Outside the dude ranch
MUSICAL NUMBERS Overture ACT I Bidin’ My Time.......................................................................................................................................... The Foursome The Lonesome Cowboy....................................................................................................The Foursome, Cowboys Could You Use Me?.....................................................................................................................................Danny, Molly Bidin’ My Time (reprise)....................................................................................................................... The Foursome Bronco Busters................................................................................................................................Dudeens, Cowboys Barbary Coast............................................................................................................................. Patsy, Tess, Ensemble Embraceable You........................................................................................................................................Danny, Molly Finaletto.......................................................................................................................................... Gieber, Slick, Chorus Bidin’ My Time (reprise)....................................................................................................................... The Foursome Embraceable You (reprise)......................................................................................................................Danny, Molly Sam and Delilah..................................................................................................................................... Kate, Ensemble I Got Rhythm..................................................................................................................................Kate, The Foursome Finale I........................................................................................................................................ Kate, Danny, Ensemble 15-minute intermission ACT II Entr’acte....................................................................................................................................................................... Voice Land of the Gay Caballero........................................................................................................................... Boys, Girls Solo Dance Specialty But Not for Me............................................................................................................................................ Molly, Gieber Treat Me Rough............................................................................................................................................................ Slick Boy! What Love Has Done to Me!......................................................................................................................... Kate When It’s Cactus Time in Arizona................................................................................................... Molly, Cowboys Finale II..................................................................................................................................................................Ensemble
S “I got music … who could ask for anything more?” S
ohiolightopera.org 25
ARGUMENT
ACT I: Without a female resident for the past half century, there is not much to do in Custerville, Arizona—the men talk of napping and biding their time. They are surprised to see an automobile and even more amazed when a snappily-dressed, tennis-racket-toting man arrives in town. He is Danny Churchill, a New York playboy whose father has sent his son by taxi to his Arizona ranch to “cure” him of his pleasure-seeking ways. The resourceful, evercomical taxi driver Gieber, not quite attuned to the ways of the West, is accused of shooting the sheriff and badmouthing the local hotel, but thinks that this is all one big movie set and that the townsfolk are actors. When Danny meets the local (but from out-of-town) postmistress Molly, he goes to work immediately, both proposing himself as her ideal mate and announcing his plans to set up, on his father’s property, a “dude ranch,” replete with New York-style cocktails, dancing girls, and gambling. His new enterprise is managed by the ever-quarreling saloon singer Kate Fothergill and her gambler husband Slick. No sooner has Danny proposed to Molly than his back-home rival-in-love Sam arrives at the ranch, wins a quick $6000 in gambling, and begins romancing Danny’s girl. The jealous Danny, continually trying to juggle his love for Molly and his playboy antics, tries to convince her to join him at the races across the Mexican border. She refuses and heads off with Sam. ACT II: At the Hotel Los Palmas in San Luz, Mexico, Kate and Slick are up to their normal marital bickering. Meanwhile, Custerville ruffians Pete and Lank have arrived at the inn in pursuit of Sam’s winnings, which they eventually manage to secure via a bop on the head. Molly, there with Sam, finally realizes that she really loves Danny, but his cool reception leaves her with little hope; she pours out her heart to Gieber, who tries to cheer her up. Upon learning, to her great dismay, that Sam has audaciously registered the two of them at the hotel as “man and wife,” Molly redoubles her effort to win back Danny, especially after learning that he is suspected of robbing Sam and is the subject of a manhunt. As usual … Gieber to the rescue!
26 Box Office: 330.263.2345
BACKGROUND
In a series of groundbreaking musicals—framed by such hits as Lady, Be Good! (1924), Oh, Kay! (1926), and Funny Face (1927)—George and Ira Gershwin established jazz as the preeminent musical language of Broadway. Often featuring Fred and Adele Astaire, their shows found equal success in London’s West End. Add to that the popularity of George’s Rhapsody in Blue (1924), Concerto in F (1925), and An American in Paris (1928) and it is easy to see why the Gershwin name, to this day, so epitomizes the Roaring Twenties. Toward the end of the decade, however, faced with tough Broadway competition from Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hart, and Cole Porter, it looked as if the Gershwin star might be fading. The brothers’ 1927 Strike Up the Band had closed in Philadelphia before reaching Broadway, Treasure Girl (1928) had been a 68-performance flop, and their 1929 Show Girl garnered less than stellar reviews for the composer: “Main trouble appears to be music and the lack of it in a popular way” (Variety); “Handicapped by the weakness of the Gershwin score” (Billboard); and “Mr. Gershwin’s spray of notes does not result in a first-rate score.” (New York Times). But … false alarm! In 1930, the revised version of Strike Up the Band ran almost 200 performances on Broadway and, later that year, Girl Crazy, racking up 272 performances, sported a score with more hit standards than any Gershwin musical: “Embraceable You,” “But Not for Me,” “I Got Rhythm,” “Sam and Delilah,” “Bidin’ My Time,” and “Could You Use Me?” Historically, it represented not only a “comeback” for George and Ira, but also the launching of two stars. Playing the postmistress Molly was Ginger Rogers, whose next Broadway musical appearance was as the 1965 replacement for Carol Channing in Hello, Dolly! but who, in between, achieved film immortality as Fred Astaire’s dancing partner. Assuming the role of Kate was Ethel Merman, who also took over the role of Dolly, but in between became, in many people’s eyes, the “undisputed first lady of the musical comedy stage.” Rarely, for a Broadway show, do we hear much about the musicians in the pit. But, in the case of Girl Crazy, we can hardly ignore the mind-boggling array, including Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey, Gene Krupa, “Red” Nichols, and Jack Teagarden. Although London never saw a production of the
show, Hollywood did incorporate musical and dramatic elements of the work in three films: Girl Crazy (1932), with the same plotline but only three songs; Girl Crazy (1943), a Judy Garland/ Mickey Rooney vehicle that abandoned the plot but used seven songs; and the 1965 Where the Boys Meet the Girls, starring Connie Francis and Harve Presnell and employing the barest semblance of the plot along with four songs. On February 10, 1992, Broadway saw the opening of Crazy for You, “The New Gershwin Musical Comedy,” but based heavily on the storyline and songs of Girl Crazy. Its 1622-performance run injected new energy into a Broadway that had become increasingly dependent on British imports. Michael D. Miller
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INTO THE WOODS
P R E M I E R E
(1987)
Music and Lyrics by.....................................Stephen Sondheim Book by...................................................................... James Lapine Originally Directed on Broadway by James Lapine Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick Original Broadway Production by Heidi Landesman, Rocco Landesman, Rick Steiner, M. Anthony Fisher, Frederic H. Mayerson, and Jujamcyn Theaters Originally Produced by the Old Globe Theater, San Diego, CA
Conductor........................................................ J. Lynn Thompson Stage Director....................................................Steven A. Daigle Choreographer...................................................... Spencer Reese Set Designer.............................................................. Daniel Hobbs Costume Designer................................................ Anne Medlock Lighting Designer..........................................Brittany Shemuga Sound Designer.......................................Christopher Plummer Assistant Director ..................................................Ian Silverman Narrator/The Mysterious Man...................................... Ted Christopher Cinderella..................................... Hilary Koolhoven* Chelsea Miller** Cinderella’s Father.................................................................Charles Piper Cinderella’s Mother.......................................... Lauren Nash Silberstein Cinderella’s Stepmother.................................................Jocelyn Hansen Florinda, Cinderella’s stepsister........................................... Abby Kurth Lucinda, Cinderella’s stepsister..................................Joelle Lachance Jack, a simpleton.................................. Spencer Reese* Alan Smith** Jack’s Mother................................................................Julie Wright Costa Little Red Ridinghood...........................................................Sadie Spivey Wolf.................................................................................................Brad Baron Red Ridinghood’s Grandmother............................Michelle Pedersen The Baker..................................................Jacob Allen* Kyle Yampiro** The Baker’s Wife.................................... Sarah Best* Tanya Roberts** The Witch..........................................Yvonne Trobe* Hannah Holmes** Rapunzel.................................................................................. Ivana Martinic Rapunzel’s Prince.................................................................Aidan Smerud Cinderella’s Prince......................................................... Benjamin Dutton The Prince’s Steward................................................... Garrett Medlock Sleeping Beauty........................................................................Kelly Curtin Snow White..................................................................... Elizabeth Perkins Giantess........................................................................ Elizabeth Pedersen Understudy for Jack: Garrett Medlock Understudy for Jack’s Mother: Michelle Pedersen * 6/27, 7/6, 7/19, 7/30, 8/6 ** 6/29, 7/13, 7/26, 8/1, 8/9 INTO THE WOODS Is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.MTIShows.com
28 Box Office: 330.263.2345
This production of Into the Woods has been partially underwritten by gifts from:
Brad Bennett J.D. & Arlene Milliken Tim & Jenny Smucker Illustration by Daniel Hobbs
SETTING
Time.......................................................................................................................................................Once upon a time Place......................................................................................................................................................A far-off kingdom
MUSICAL NUMBERS ACT I Opening............................................................................................................................................................... Ensemble Cinderella at the Grave.........................................................................................Cinderella, Cinderella’s Mother Hello, Little Girl.............................................................................................................Little Red Ridinghood, Wolf I Guess This Is Goodbye...........................................................................................................................................Jack Maybe They’re Magic...................................................................................................................Baker’s Wife, Baker Rapunzel............................................................................................................................................................... Rapunzel Baker’s Reprise......................................................................................................................................................... Baker I Know Things Now.................................................................................................................Little Red Ridinghood A Very Nice Prince............................................................................................................... Cinderella, Baker’s Wife First Midnight.................................................................................................................................................... Ensemble Giants in the Sky..........................................................................................................................................................Jack Agony............................................................................................................ Cinderella’s Prince, Rapunzel’s Prince A Very Nice Prince (reprise)............................................................................................ Cinderella, Baker’s Wife It Takes Two.....................................................................................................................................Baker’s Wife, Baker Second Midnight.............................................................................................................................................. Ensemble Stay with Me......................................................................................................................................... Witch, Rapunzel On the Steps of the Palace...........................................................................................................................Cinderella Finale.................................................................................................................................................................... Ensemble 15-minute intermission ACT II Opening............................................................................................................................................................... Ensemble Agony (reprise).......................................................................................... Rapunzel’s Prince, Cinderella’s Prince Witch’s Lament......................................................................................................................................................... Witch Any Moment.......................................................................................................... Cinderella’s Prince, Baker’s Wife Moments in the Woods.............................................................................................................................Baker’s Wife Your Fault...................................................................... Jack, Baker, Little Red Ridinghood, Witch, Cinderella Last Midnight........................................................................................Witch, Cinderella, Little Red Ridinghood No More...................................................................................................................................... Baker, Mysterious Man No One Is Alone....................................................................... Cinderella, Little Red Ridinghood, Baker, Jack Finale.................................................................................................................................................................... Ensemble
S “The greatest prize can often lie at the end of the thorniest path.” S ohiolightopera.org 29
ARGUMENT
ACT I: With prompting from the Narrator, fairy tale characters reveal their wishes—more important to them than anything: Cinderella longs to go to the King’s Festival; Jack wants his cow to give milk; and the Baker and his wife yearn for a child. But their thoughts are immediately diverted: Cinderella’s stepmother and stepsisters mock her; Jack’s mother laments her son’s foolishness; and Little Red Ridinghood requests bread and pastries before heading into the woods to visit her sick grandmother. The Baker’s neighbor, an ugly witch, stops by and relates to the couple the story of how, many years before, she had caught the Baker’s father stealing special beans from her garden. As retribution, the witch not only kidnapped and hid the couple’s newborn daughter Rapunzel, but placed on their descendents a curse of childlessness. Meanwhile, Jack’s mother, in order to make ends meet, has sent her son off to sell the cow, and Cinderella’s family has left for the festival without her. The witch offers to the Baker and his wife an opportunity to break the spell: they must bring to her a cow as white as milk, Red Ridinghood’s cape, Rapunzel’s hair, and Cinderella’s slipper. After finding six beans in his father’s hunting jacket, the Baker, with his wife, head into the woods to fulfill the witch’s request. They are joined by Jack and his mother on their way to sell the cow, and Cinderella on her way to seek solace at her mother’s grave. After a long series of adventures, encounters, and revelations, all seems to end well: the Baker’s wife is pregnant, the Prince has located Cinderella, Jack is reunited with his cow, Rapunzel is freed, and even the witch has been rendered beautiful. Everyone revels in the joy and satsifaction in seeing his or her most cherished dreams realized. ACT II: This harmony, however, is short-lived, as discord among the characters begins to permeate their lives. As the Baker is squabbling with his wife, their home caves in. Jack’s mother, angry over a past episode, refuses to assist the Baker in his time of need. Red Ridinghood must move in with her grandmother, because her home also was destroyed. Both Cinderella’s prince and Rapunzel’s prince are having problems with their mates—the former has become infatuated instead with Sleeping Beauty, the latter with Snow White. More trouble brewing … the wife of 30 Box Office: 330.263.2345
the giant that Jack had previously killed comes to seek revenge. Before she is through, the Narrator, Jack’s mother, Rapunzel, and the Baker’s wife become fatal victims of her wrath. The Baker blames Jack for his wife’s death, but Jack blames the Baker for giving him the beans, which, he claims, precipitated the unfolding tragedies. Cinderella joins with Jack, Red Ridinghood, and the Baker in planning an attack against the giant. Eventually … the drama comes to an end, but with no shortage of lessons learned!
BACKGROUND
In the second volume, Look, I Made a Hat, of his collected lyrics, Stephen Sondheim relates the story of how he and librettist James Lapine came up with the idea of a musical based on the intertwined lives of characters drawn from classic fairy tales. The pair, some years before, had approached famed producer Norman Lear with an idea for a TV special in which sitcom characters (Archie and Edith, Ralph and Alice, …) were involved in a car accident, which was investigated by characters (Joe Friday, Cagney and Lacey, …) from police dramas, who transport them to hospitals where they are treated by characters (Dr. Kildare, Marcus Welby, …) from medical shows. The idea went nowhere—Sondheim and Lapine, without a script, wanted only to market the idea; Lear wanted only to read the script. But some time later, in their discussions, they hit on the idea of replacing the TV characters with those drawn primarily from the folk tales of the Brothers Grimm. Both composer and librettist had a keen interest in psychology and were motivated, in establishing the focus of their musical, by the book The Uses of Enchantment by the noted, but controversial, Viennese child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim. This motivation took the form not of an emulation of Bettelheim’s thesis that fairy tales were good for children because of their “happily ever after” endings, but rather of a rejection of this premise—such endings, on the contrary, engender in children false expectations. Both Lapine and Sondheim were intrigued by the universality of the characters and their tribulations: most cultures in the world, if not directly familiar with the Grimm stories, have at least their own parallel versions. Sondheim credits Lapine with inventing the characters of the Baker and his wife, who, despite living in
a fairy-tale forest and time, really symbolize a typical urban American couple. Into the Woods began its stage life as a 1986 workshop reading at Playwrights Horizons in Manhattan, followed by a 50-performance run at San Diego’s Old Globe Theater. With significant revisions and some cast changes, including now Bernadette Peters as The Witch, the show opened at Broadway’s Martin Beck Theatre on November 5, 1987 for 765 performances, up to that time the second-longest-running Sondheim show (after A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum). The musical score for Into the Woods remains one of the composer’s most engaging and accessible, fully capturing—side by side—the comedy, irony, romance, and tragedy of the storyline: two princes comically agonize as they lust over Rapunzel and Cinderella (“Agony”); Cinderella’s Prince slickly tries to seduce the Baker’s wife (“Any Moment”); Jack has a whole new perspective on life after escaping from the Giant (“Giants in the Sky”); and The Witch issues an eleventh-hour warning in an accelerated sweeping waltz (“The Last Midnight”). In carving out, over more than 60 years, a remarkable career in American musical theater, Stephen Sondheim has embraced, with steadfast conviction, the ideals of creativity, innovation, and deviation from the norm. With Into the Woods, the Ohio Light Opera is proud to introduce this master into its repertoire with a show that fully epitomizes this quest.
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THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE or THE SLAVE OF DUTY (1879)
Music by...................................................................Arthur Sullivan Libretto by............................................................. William Gilbert Conductors...................................................... J. Lynn Thompson ........................................................and Wilson Southerland Stage Director.....................................................Ted Christopher Choreographer...................................................... Spencer Reese Set Designer....................................................... Charles Murdock Costume Designer......................................... Jennifer Ammons Lighting Designer..................................................Daniel Huston Sound Designer...........................................................Tyler Quinn Assistant Director ..................................................Ian Silverman Major-General Stanley.......................................................... Boyd Mackus The Pirate King.......................................Brad Baron* Aidan Smerud** Samuel........................................................................................ George Marn Frederic.................................................... Alan Smith* Spencer Reese** Sergeant of Police........................................................... Ted Christopher Mabel........................................................ Chelsea Miller* Kelly Curtin** Edith............................................................................................... Abby Kurth Kate............................................................................................Yvonne Trobe Isabel............................................................................................Sadie Spivey Ruth........................................................................................Hannah Holmes Ensemble Logan Barat, Kelvin Boateng, Diego Roberts Buceta, Annachristi Cordes, Benjamin Dutton, Vincent Gover, Hilary Koolhoven, Abby Kurth, Teryn Kuzma, Joelle Lachance, George Marn, Tim McGowan, Garrett Medlock, Emily Neill, Charles Piper, Austin Rubinoski, Lauren Nash Silberstein, Mark Snyder-Schulte, Sadie Spivey, Yvonne Trobe, Adam Wells Understudy Understudy Understudy Understudy
for for for for
Major-General Stanley: Vincent Gover Frederic: Logan Barat Frederic: Tim McGowan Mabel: Sadie Spivey
* 7/3, 7/10, 7/18, 8/2 ** 7/7, 7/12, 7/26, 8/10
This production of The Pirates of Penzance has been partially underwritten by gifts from:
Lois Freedlander Ralph R. & Grace B. Jones Foundation David Knapp Illustration by Daniel Hobbs
32 Box Office: 330.263.2345
SETTING
Act I....................................................................................................A rocky sea-shore on the coast of Cornwall Act II.............................................................................................................................A ruined chapel by moonlight
MUSICAL NUMBERS Overture ACT I Pour, Oh Pour the Pirate Sherry...................................................................................................... Pirates, Samuel When Frederic Was a Little Lad........................................................................................................................... Ruth Oh, Better Far to Live and Die..................................................................................................Pirate King, Pirates Oh, False One, You Have Deceived Me!.......................................................................................... Frederic, Ruth Climbing over Rocky Mountain......................................................................................................Girls, Edith, Kate Stop, Ladies, Pray! A Man!............................................................................................Frederic, Girls, Edith, Kate Oh, Is There Not One Maiden Breast?................................................................................Frederic, Girls, Mabel Poor Wandering One!..................................................................................................................................Mabel, Girls What Ought We to Do?....................................................................................................................Edith, Kate, Girls How Beautifully Blue the Sky................................................................................................Girls, Mabel, Frederic Stay, We Must Not Lose Our Senses................................................................................Frederic, Girls, Pirates Here’s A First-Rate Opportunity........................................................................................................... Pirates, Girls Hold, Monsters!..............................................................................Mabel, Samuel, Girls, Major-General, Pirates I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General............................................ Major-General, Girls, Pirates Finale: Oh, Men of Dark and Dismal Fate................................................................................................ Ensemble 15-minute intermission ACT II Oh, Dry the Glist’ning Tear........................................................................................................................Girls, Mabel Then, Frederic, Let Your Escort Lion-Hearted.......................................................... Major-General, Frederic When the Foeman Bares His Steel................ Sergeant, Police, Mabel, Edith, Girls, Kate,Major-General Now for the Pirates’ Lair...............................................................................................Frederic, Pirate King, Ruth When You Had Left Our Pirate Fold........................................................................Ruth, Frederic, Pirate King Away, Away! My Heart’s on Fire...............................................................................Ruth, Pirate King, Frederic All Is Prepared........................................................................................................................................Mabel, Frederic Stay, Frederic, Stay...............................................................................................................................Mabel, Frederic No, I Am Brave!...................................................................................................................... Mabel, Sergeant, Police When a Felon’s Not Engaged in His Employment................................................................. Sergeant, Police A Rollicking Band of Pirates We................................................................................... Pirates, Sergeant, Police With Cat-Like Tread...............................................................................................................Pirates, Police, Samuel Hush, Hush! Not a Word..................................................................... Frederic, Pirates, Police, Major-General Sighing Softly to the River.............................................................................................Major-General, Ensemble Finale: Poor Wandering Ones! (reprise)....................................................................................Mabel, Ensemble
S “Fair days will shine … take heart.” S
ohiolightopera.org 33
ARGUMENT
Because his hard-of-hearing nursemaid Ruth misunderstood his father’s request that his son become an apprentice to a pilot, Frederic has spent his childhood years as apprentice to a pirate. He will soon come of age and, although he dearly loves his shipmates, finds their profession atrocious and will devote his adult life to their extermination. Although he has never seen a woman other than Ruth, he has a hard time believing that he couldn’t do better with someone thirty years younger. He finds that someone in Mabel, the daughter of Major-General Stanley. Just as Frederic is about to lead a mission to bring down the pirates, it is revealed that, because he was born on February 29, he is really only five years old and must remain loyal to the pirates, much to the dismay of Mabel, whose father is under siege by the pirate crew. Only when the local police request that the pirates yield in the name of Queen Victoria do we learn the true background of the swashbucklers.
BACKGROUND
The Pirates of Penzance originated as part of the strategy devised by Gilbert, Sullivan, and D’Oyly Carte to retaliate against unauthorized American productions of H.M.S. Pinafore. Resolving to bring their own Pinafore company to New York—confident that it would drive shabby imitations off the market—the trio also planned to give the premiere of a new comic opera, thereby trying to establish a legal claim for its royalties in this country. Before departing for New York, Sullivan had completed sketches for the first act, but on arrival discovered that he had left them at home. Rehearsals began while he was completing the second act and reconstructing the first in a series of all-nighters. He did not finish the overture until 5:00 a.m. the day of the premiere; Gilbert, among others, assisted in the copying of parts. The first performance at W.T. Ford’s Fifth Avenue Theatre on December 31, 1879 was a grand success. Sullivan wrote to his mother: “The laughter and applause continued through the whole piece until the very end, and then there were thunder calls for Gilbert
34 Box Office: 330.263.2345
and myself.” The day before, on December 30, 1879, a bizarre production of Pirates had been mounted at the Royal Bijou Theatre in Paignton, Devonshire to establish the British copyright. A touring Pinafore company managed by Helen Lenoir (who later married Carte), using an incomplete version, Pinafore costumes, and piano accompaniment, gave what the poster misleadingly proclaimed as the first performance “in any country.” The young Richard Mansfield, later to star in Old Heidelberg, played the Major-General. Carte’s New York production of Pinafore had disappointing box office returns (perhaps the Pinafore mania that had swept the country had peaked), but Pirates was a winner. While the show was still running at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, Carte organized three touring companies; Sullivan conducted the opening nights in Philadelphia, Newark, and Buffalo. The Third Company performed in Cleveland, Akron, and Columbus in May 1880. Wooster audiences first heard it in a town-grown production at the City Opera House in February 1890. Gilbert and Sullivan returned to England in March 1880 and immediately began rehearsals for the London premiere, which took place at the Opera Comique on April 3, with a revised overture and act-two finale (a reprise of “Poor Wand’ring One” replaced a variation of the Major-General’s patter song heard in New York). The audience demanded encores of nearly every number, and the partners were called before the curtain at the end of each act. Like H.M.S. Pinafore and The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance has undergone a variety of adaptations over the years. Kevin Kline and Linda Ronstadt romped through a tongue-in-cheek version in 1980 that ran for 787 performances, the longest run ever of a G & S operetta. In 2006, a Yiddish-language Pirates in New York City had the gang requesting not pirate sherry, but bagels and seltzer. That same year, at Connecticut’s Goodspeed Opera House, a free-wheeling production that shamelessly stole from Pirates of the Caribbean had a Pirate King who seemed “to be dipped in Depp,” according to Variety. Adapted from the original of Raymond McCall
2019+20 SEASON
AKRON SYMPHON Y ORCHESTRA SAT / SEPTEMBER 21
RUSSIAN RHAPSODY SAT / OCTOBER 19
SYMPHONIC SHAKESPEARE SAT / NOVEMBER 16
THE FOUR SEASONS FRI / DECEMBER 13
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS SAT / JANUARY 18
MAHLER FIFTH SAT / FEBRUARY 8
GOSPEL MEETS SYMPHONY SAT / FEBRUARY 22
MOZART REQUIEM SAT / MARCH 28
APPALACHIAN SPRING: MADE IN AMERICA SAT / MAY 16
SYMPHONIC DANCES All concerts will be held at EJ Thomas Hall unless noted.
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MUSIC IN THE AIR
P R E M I E R E
(1932)
Music by....................................................................... Jerome Kern Book and Lyrics by................................ Oscar Hammerstein II Conductor..................................................... Wilson Southerland Stage Director....................................................Steven A. Daigle Choreographer...................................................... Spencer Reese Set Designer................................................................. Kiah Kayser Costume Designer................................................ Anne Medlock Lighting Designer..........................................Brittany Shemuga Sound Designer....................................................... Sarah Calvert Assistant Director ..................................................Ian Silverman Cornelius, a bird-seller......................................................... Boyd Mackus Frieda Hatzfeld, an operetta star...................................Tanya Roberts Bruno Mahler, playwright........................................................Brad Baron Sieglinde Lessing, young singer........................................Sadie Spivey Dr. Walther Lessing, her composer/music teacher father ................................................................................................ Ted Christopher Karl Reder, her lyricist/schoolteacher friend................. Adam Wells Ernst Weber, publisher......................................................Spencer Reese Herr Direktor Kirschner, producer......................................Jacob Allen Lili Kirschner, wife of the producer............................Hannah Holmes Herman, little boy.......................................................... Lincoln McMullen Tila, little girl........................................................................... Lauren Brown Burgomaster........................................................................Kelvin Boateng Pflugfelder, hotel proprietor............................................ Tim McGowan Frau Pflugfelder................................................................Joelle Lachance Widow Schriemann.....................................................Michelle Pedersen Father Joch, priest......................................................... Austin Rubinoski Hans, goatherd............................................................... Elizabeth Perkins Uppmann, music director..............................................Garrett Medlock Marthe, secretary of Ernst..........................................Hilary Koolhoven Hulde, bubble dancer................................................................ Sarah Best Waitress................................................................................... Ivana Martinic Animal Trainer......................................................................... George Marn Zoo Attendant.......................................................................Vincent Gover Sophie....................................................................................... Chelsea Miller Assistant Stage Manager............................................ Benjamin Dutton Anna, Frieda’s maid..................................................................Kelly Curtin Baum, lawyer...........................................................................Charles Piper Heinrich, postman................................................Diego Roberts Buceta Town Crier................................................................................. George Marn Ensemble Emily Anderson, Logan Barat, Sarah Best, Kelvin Boateng, Diego Roberts Buceta, Annachristi Cordes, Kelly Curtin, Benjamin Dutton, Vincent Gover, Jocelyn Hansen, Hilary Koolhoven, Teryn Kuzma, Joelle Lachance, George Marn, Ivana Martinic, Tim McGowan, Garrett Medlock, Chelsea Miller, Michelle Pedersen, Charles Piper, Austin Rubinoski, Lauren Nash Silberstein
This production of Music in the Air has been partially underwritten by gifts from:
Mary Alice Streeter Edith Dus-Garden & John L. Power Illustration by Daniel Hobbs
36 Box Office: 330.263.2345
SETTING Time
1932
ACT I Scene Scene Scene Scene
1: Leit Motif............................................................... Dr. Walther Lessing’s home … Edendorf, Bavaria 2: Etude................................................................................... Karl Reder’s classroom … two weeks later 3: Pastoral........................................................ Stony Brook, on the road to Munich … that afternoon 4: Impromptu............................................................. Ernst Weber’s office, Munich … three days later
Act II Scene Scene Scene Scene Scene Scene Scene
1: Sonata.....................................................................................................................The zoo … later that day 2: Nocturne................................................. Frieda’s suite, Four Seasons Hotel, Munich … that night 3: Caprice...................................................................... Sieglinde’s room in her hotel … later that night 4: Rhapsody.............................................................................. A star dressing room … four weeks later 5: Intermezzo.................................................................. A stage and orchestra pit … a few hours later 6: Humoresque........................................................................ The star dressing room … one hour later 7: Rondo...........................................................................................................Edendorf … three weeks later
MUSICAL NUMBERS ACT I Hold Your Head Up High...................................................................................................................................Children Melodies of May...................................................................................................................................................... Chorus I’ve Told Ev’ry Little Star (introduction)......................................................................... Sieglinde, Karl, Chorus Prayer........................................................................................................................................... Karl, Sieglinde, Chorus There’s A Hill Beyond a Hill................................................................................................................................ Chorus And Love Was Born.......................................................................................... Cornelius, Sieglinde, Karl, Chorus I Am So Eager...........................................................................................................................................................Frieda I’ve Told Ev’ry Little Star.......................................................................................................................Sieglinde, Karl Give Me Some Paper/I’m Alone..............................................................................Bruno, Frieda, Ernst, Chorus Finaletto..................................................................................................................................................................... Marthe 15-minute intermission ACT II Entr’acte Opening (Zoo Scene)................................................................................................... Cornelius, Sieglinde, Bruno One More Dance....................................................................................................................................................... Bruno Episode of the Swing............................................................................................... Bruno, Sieglinde, Frieda, Karl Night Flies By............................................................................................................................................ Frieda, Bruno, I’ve Told Ev’ry Little Star (reprise)...............................................................................................................Sieglinde I’m Alone (reprise)...................................................................................................................................................Frieda When The Spring Is in the Air...............................................................................Lilli, Bruno, Sieglinde, Chorus In Egern on the Tegern See........................................................................................................................................Lilli The Song Is You........................................................................................................................................................ Bruno I’m Alone (reprise).................................................................................................................................... Frieda, Bruno The Song Is You (reprise)...................................................................................................................... Frieda, Bruno We Belong Together................................................................... Karl, Cornelius, Sophie, Sieglinde, Ensemble
S “The music is sweet. The words are true. The song is you.” S
ohiolightopera.org 37
ARGUMENT
ACT I: Walther Lessing, school music master in the quaint Bavarian town of Edendorf, has composed a new song for which his daughter Sieglinde’s shy boyfriend Karl has provided the words. Feeling that this might be his chance to expose the world—outside Edendorf—to his music, he sets out on foot with the young couple toward Munich and a visit to his old school friend, and music publisher, Ernst Weber. Weber shows little interest in the piece; his attention is focused on an upcoming operetta written by respected playwright Bruno Mahler and starring the local soprano favorite Frieda Hatzfeld. She and Bruno are embroiled in a tempestuous love affair and spend more time arguing than working on the show. After sending Bruno packing for the day, Frieda turns her charms toward the country boy Karl. When Sieglinde auditions the new song for Bruno, he is delighted—not so much with the tune, but rather with her. Frieda is outraged when Bruno proposes a role for Sieglinde in the new operetta. Wanting to eliminate the competition, the cunning Frieda informs Bruno that she is moving out of the apartment that they share—Karl will escort her to her new hotel accommodations. Bruno, not to be left high and dry, invites Sieglinde to tea, as Ernst and Walther are left to reminisce about their earlier days in Munich. ACT II: Sieglinde, visiting the zoo with Bruno, is counseled by a bird-seller that she and Karl are country folk, and that they are best limiting their time in the city. After Sieglinde diffuses an attempt by Bruno to make a pass at her, they run into Karl and Frieda, who, to Frieda’s dismay, have been spending their time only sightseeing. Bruno and Frieda renew their bickering and, when he tells her that he has rewritten the operetta’s big song and will give it to the baritone, she declares that she is walking out of the show and will go to Berlin to fulfill a film offer. Before departing from her hotel, she cautions Karl that Bruno is just using Sieglinde and has just one thing on his mind. When Bruno proposes that Sieglinde assume Frieda’s part in the show, Karl tries to dissuade her. When Sieglinde becomes indignant at his refusal to support her, they quarrel and he storms out … on his way back to Munich? … or maybe Berlin? As opening night approaches, it becomes clear to all that the show is headed for failure and that Sieglinde is not cut out for the 38 Box Office: 330.263.2345
stage. But who is going to tell her? … and what happens to the show? … and where is Karl?
BACKGROUND
Composer Jerome Kern and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II were hardly artistic strangers when they teamed to create Music in the Air, the longest-running Broadway musical of 1932. They had already collaborated on three show successes of the 1920s—Sunny, Show Boat, and Sweet Adeline—and would join again, in the 1930s, on Kern’s last three musicals: Three Sisters, Gentlemen Unafraid, and Very Warm for May. Whereas Kern was coming off a hit show— 1931’s The Cat and the Fiddle—Hammerstein had suffered through four recent Broadway flops and an artistically stifling tenure in Hollywood. When he returned to New York, he began working on a new script centered around the Tin Pan Alley publishing business. When Kern joined in, he suggested that it would be best to relocate the story—to a place far removed from anything that might remind Broadway audiences of their Depression-induced woes. Kern had begun his career writing songs for interpolation into imported German-language operettas, and Hammerstein had already provided lyrics to Broadway operettas by Friml, Romberg, and Kálmán. Thus, it was quite natural that they opted for an operetta-style show set in Bavaria. Their first choice for show producer was legendary theatrical impresario Florenz Ziegfeld. When “Flo” passed away, still months before the opening, Jerry and Oscar turned to movie palace promoter A. C. Blumenthal, who accepted under three conditions: (1) the show’s title be changed from Karl and Sieglinde; (2) production costs be kept under $100,000; and (3) his wife and famed Ziegfeld chorus girl, Peggy Fears, be credited as producer, since he was an unknown on Broadway. Music in the Air opened, in its out-of-town tryout, in Philadelphia on October 17, 1932. Among the notables in the cast were Walter Slezak (son of famed Wagnerian heldentenor Leo Slezak, and later the villainous Clock King in the Batman TV series), Al Shean (of the famed Gallagher and Shean vaudeville team), Reinald Werrenrath (who sang in Pagliacci at the MET with Caruso), Katherine Carrington (soon-to-be wife of Broadway composer Arthur Schwartz), and Vivian Vance (of future I Love Lucy fame). Scenery was by legendary Broadway designer
Joseph Urban, and orchestrations were by Robert Russell Bennett, who did the honors for more than 100 Broadway musicals, including 12 shows by Kern and this season’s South Pacific and Girl Crazy. Reviews, almost unanimously positive, were capped by that of noted Philadelphia critic Arthur B. Waters: “In Music in the Air, there is not one … superfluous tune—not even an extra bar of music…. Kern has thrown the idea of “set arias” in the ash-heap … the musical sequence and the dramatic action … are welded in perfect harmony.” The response to the show was no less ecstatic when it opened on Broadway on
November 8, the very day Franklin Roosevelt was elected to his first presidential term. Kern’s musical score—as for virtually all his more than 40 musicals—is a delight from beginning to end. “I’ve Told Ev’ry Little Star” came to him after hearing a bird (Cape Cod sparrow) chirping; “Melodies of May” was inspired by Beethoven’s Piano Sonata, Op. 2, No. 3; “The Song is You” is wrapped in a comic scene that belies its exquisiteness; “In Egern on the Tegern See” is one of the composer’s most sublime creations … and on and on! Michael D. Miller
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THE DEVIL’S RIDER
P R E M I E R E
(Der Teufelsreiter) (1932)
Music by............................................................ Emmerich Kálmán Original German Libretto by..................... Rudolph Schanzer ..............................................................................and Ernst Welisch English Translation by.....................................Steven A. Daigle Conductor...................................................................Steven Byess Stage Director....................................................Steven A. Daigle Choreographer...................................................... Spencer Reese Set Designer.............................................................. Daniel Hobbs Costume Designer......................................... Jennifer Ammons Lighting Designer..........................................Brittany Shemuga Sound Designer....................................................... Sarah Calvert Assistant Director ..................................................Ian Silverman Empress Carolina Pia, consort of Emperor Ferdinand of Austria...............Yvonne Trobe Cavalry Captain Count Sándor................................. Benjamin Dutton Prince Metternich................................................................... Boyd Mackus Leontine, his daughter.......................................................Tanya Roberts Prince Honorius of Monaco................................................Kyle Yampiro Prince Karl, his son.............................................................. Tim McGowan Superintendent Sedlnitzky....................................................Jacob Allen Pfleiderer, vigilante..............................................................Aidan Smerud Anina Miramonti, his daughter, a dancer........................Sadie Spivey Sophie von Zinzendorf, Sándor’s cousin..........................Kelly Curtin Officers of the Regiment of the “Seventh Hussars” Major Count Balothy..................................................Garrett Medlock Cavalry Captain Count Kinsky......................................Charles Piper Lieutenant von Woyna...................................................... Adam Wells Hungarian Magnates Count Batthyány..................................................................Logan Barat Count Réty................................................................................Alan Smith Baron Eötvös.....................................................................Vincent Gover Magistrate Count Erdödy................................................Kelvin Boateng Janos, batman.......................................................Diego Roberts Buceta Ferencz, batman..................................................................... George Marn Chief Bench Judge.................................................................Spiro Matsos Austrian Magistrate...................................................... Austin Rubinoski Ensemble Jacob Allen, Emily Anderson, Logan Barat, Sarah Best, Kelvin Boateng, Diego Roberts Buceta, Annachristi Cordes, Vincent Gover, Jocelyn Hansen, Abby Kurth, Teryn Kuzma, Joelle Lachance, George Marn, Ivana Martinic, Spiro Matsos, Garrett Medlock, Michelle Pedersen, Elizabeth Perkins, Charles Piper, Austin Rubinoski, Lauren Nash Silberstein, Aidan Smerud, Alan Smith, Adam Wells
40 Box Office: 330.263.2345
This production of The Devil’s Rider has been partially underwritten by gifts from:
Michael & Nan Miller Bitsy & Joe Loewenstein Illustration by Daniel Hobbs
SETTING
Time................................................................................................................................. First half of the 19th century Act I.............................................................. Imperial Court Riding School in Vienna during a riders’ festival Act II........................................................................................... Palace garden of the old Bratislava royal castle Act III................................................................................................... Ball at the country house hall of Bratislava
MUSICAL NUMBERS Prelude ACT I Trumpets Call to Battle........................................................................................................................................Chorus We Lead the Charge.......................................................................................................... Sándor, Balothy, Officers Free the Passion Within.......................................................................................................................................Sándor Vienna Maiden................................................................................................................... Leontine, Sophie, Women The Apple Tree................................................................................................................................................ Anina, Karl Don’t You Want to Know More about Me?...............................................................................Sándor, Leontine Kiss Me!........................................................................................................................................................... Karl, Women Finale..................................................................................................................................................................... Ensemble ACT II Entr’acte Who Has the Cash Today?....................................................................................................................Honorius, Karl You’re My Golden Ray of Sun........................................................................................................ Leontine, Sophie Don’t Shut Your Window, Dear.....................................................................................................Leontine, Sándor In Old Vienna, The Party Never Ends..................................................................................Anina, Honorius, Karl Love, I’ll Be True to the End............................................................................................................Leontine, Sándor Sweeter than the Sweetest Sweet........................................................................................................... Anina, Karl Finale..................................................................................................................................................................... Ensemble ACT III Entr’acte Grand Palotás de la Reine I Will Die.....................................................................................................................................................................Sándor You Got the Features................................................................................................................Anina, Honorius, Karl Finale Ultimo...................................................................................................................................................... Ensemble
S “In the stars it’s written … we’re smitten … and starting today.”
S ohiolightopera.org 41
ARGUMENT
ACT I: When Prince Karl of Monaco has second thoughts about riding an uncooperative horse in a quadrille at Vienna’s Spanish Riding School, Hussar officers sing the praises of one of their own riders: Hungarian cavalry captain Count Sándor, known as the “Devil’s Rider.” He arrives singing the virtues of a girl he has just seen in the crowd, promising that she will one day become his wife. His comrades tell him to forget it: she is the daughter Leontine of Austrian Prince Metternich, who wants her to marry Prince Karl. But Karl is enamored of ballet dancer Anina, who returns his feelings, but has no idea of his royal title. Metternich and Leontine arrive in search of the rider who, earlier that day in the Prater, blatantly jumped the carriage that held both Leontine and the Empress. Leontine, who pretends not to recognize the “villain” in a lineup, has already fallen for Sándor, but will not admit it to anyone. Much to Metternich’s dismay, Sándor has joined up with some Hungarian comrades in presenting the Empress with a petition outlining the sorrows of the Hungarian nation. She is immediately smitten with him and announces a conciliatory visit to Hungary. An irate Metternich, harboring anti-Hungarian sentiments and still fuming over the riding incident, sentences Sándor to three months in Spielberg prison. Leontine and Sándor vow their eternal love as he is led off. ACT II: In Pressburg (then part of Hungary, but today known as Bratislava, Slovakia), Metternich agrees to a plan to shield the empress from the Hungarian delegation by passing off disguised Austrians as Hungarians. Karl’s father, Prince Honorius of Monaco, has lost most everything at gambling and pleads with his son to marry the rich Leontine—the young prince hesitates. Meanwhile, Sándor, on leave from prison for 24 hours, has hurried to Pressburg to ask Leontine for her hand. He crosses paths with the Empress, who thinks that he has returned for her sake. When Honorius has his son Karl introduce Anina to him, the old gentleman himself falls under the spell of the bewitching girl. Leontine makes Sándor promise to keep away from politics and never again scheme against her father. But when he exposes the delegation impersonation to the Empress, Leontine is outraged and runs out on him—how dare he betray her father. And, to add to Sándor’s woes, when the Empress finally 42 Box Office: 330.263.2345
learns that his love has been directed at Leontine and not her, she orders him back to prison. ACT III: Prince Honorius appoints Anina a countess; she is always to accompany him in the future. The empress, meanwhile, is daydreaming about a fling with Sándor, but believes him still back in prison at Spielberg. But the “Devil’s Rider” is at it again. Acting as courier, he delivers to the empress a mysterious note written by her husband, the emperor. When Sándor admits to the great chasm that exists between their ranks, and she learns from his cousin Sophie that his love is really directed at Leontine and not her, they begin to see that there is no future for them. Things don’t seem to be going any better when Sándor comes face-to-face with Metternich and Leontine comes to bid him a final farewell …
BACKGROUND
“With his two latest operettas … Kálmán has become the most successful operetta composer in the world. And perhaps the best, too. The gigantic struggle waged between him and his Viennese colleagues Franz Lehár and Oscar Straus … has ended in Kálmán’s favor. There is not another operetta composer, either in America or in Europe, whose melodies are so popular as his, whose plays are such universal successes as his. For let us not forget that while even the most successful of American composers are known only in the Anglo-Saxon countries … Kálmán’s melodies are played and hummed on the Continent, in Madagascar, and in Batavia … as well as in America and in England.” For many operetta lovers, these words, penned 92 years ago in a New York newspaper, ring just as true today. He is the most performed operetta composer in the world—from Budapest to Toronto, from Tokyo to Moscow, from Chicago to Tel Aviv, from Tallinn to Wooster. With OLO’s production this season of The Devil’s Rider (Der Teufelsreiter), the company’s 13th Kálmán title and an American premiere, audiences will experience a fascinating work that, although it received little international exposure following its 1932 Vienna premiere, nevertheless showcases the composer at his most musically international and adventuresome. Replete with waltzes, marches, foxtrots, tangos, and a saxophone-infused, rhumba-rhythmed trio, the scintillating score is topped off by the justly famous and frenzied “Grand Palotás de la Reine.”
330-262-3333 The Devil’s Rider was the last of Kálmán’s www.oldejaolrestaurant.com shows to premiere in Vienna—the political Olde Jaol Steakh climate drove him to Zurich for his next work Available oneventually Open Table (Monday-Saturday 4:30pm Olde Jaol Steakhouse and Tavern (Empress Josephine) and to America. 215 N. W
The show also marked the first time since 215 N. Walnut Street Wooster, O 1920 that the composer had not teamed with Wooster, Ohio 44691 librettists Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald 330-26 330-262-3333 on a Viennese stage work. Together they had www.oldejaolr penned The Bayadere, Countess Maritza, The www.oldejaolrestaurant.com Available4:30pm-9pm) on Open Table (M Available on Open Table (Monday-Saturday Circus Princess, The Duchess of Chicago, and The Violet of Montmartre—successes that had secured Kálmán’s top position in Viennese operetta circles. When both librettists, following Violet, took on writing assignments with other composers, Kálmán felt betrayed and terminated their collaboration. He turned to Berlin-based librettists Rudolf Schanzer and Ernst Welisch, Seafood,Seafood, Pasta, Chicken, Lamb Chicken, Lamb who had long operetta resumés, working with Steaks, Steaks, Pasta, Our History the likes of Oscar Straus, Leo Fall, and Jean The Olde Jaol facility was built in 1865, and was claimed to be the finest sheriff facility of its kind. 215 N. Walnut Street Steaks, Seafood, Pa Gilbert. In the new work, the pair tended to avoid In 1977 the Wayne County Sheriff’s department was relocated across the street to a new facility. Wooster, Ohio 44691 History sentimentality, which had so Subsequently, characterized the oldthe jail was registered as aOur historical landmark in 1980 and in 1995 The Olde The Olde Jaol facility in 1865, and was 330-262-3333 Jaolfocused Restaurant instead was given life. We have an excellent reputation for qualitywas andbuilt service. Brammer-Grünwald scripts, and In 1977 the Wayne County Sheriff’s on irony, puns, and innuendo. Accustomed to www.oldejaolrestaurant.com department Subsequently, the old jail was registered as a histo composers who wrote music to fit their words, Available onwas Open Table Jaol Restaurant given life. We have an excelle they were caught somewhat off-guard and unable (Monday-Saturday 4:30pm-9pm) to fully adapt to Kálmán’s more sentimental music, which was written first. No expense was spared in mounting the initial production Proud Sponsor of at the Theater an der Wien, which featured The Ohio Light Opera lavish Hollywood-style sets and featured theater manager Hubert Marischka (the original Tassilo in Countess Maritza) as Sándor and German film star Lil Dagover as the Empress.
Steaks, Seafood, Pasta, Chicken, Lamb
History Olde Jaol facility was built in 1865, and was claimed to be the finest sheriff 77 the Wayne County Sheriff’s department was relocated across the street equently, the old jail was registered as a historical landmark in 1980 and in Restaurant was given life. We have an excellent reputation for quality and s
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ohiolightopera.org 43
PERCHANCE TO DREAM
P R E M I E R E
(1945)
Music, Lyrics, and Book by.....................................Ivor Novello Conductor...................................................................Steven Byess Stage Director....................................................Steven A. Daigle Choreographer...................................................... Spencer Reese Set Designer.............................................................. Daniel Hobbs Costume Designer.............................................. Charlene Gross Lighting Designer..................................................Daniel Huston Sound Designer...........................................................Tyler Quinn Assistant Director ..................................................Ian Silverman Lydia/Veronica/Iris..................................................................... Sarah Best Ernestine/Mrs. Bridport......................................................Yvonne Trobe Melinda/Melanie/Melody.................................................. Chelsea Miller Mazelli/The Vicar....................................................................Kyle Yampiro Lady Charlotte Fayre, Sir Graham’s aunt...........Julie Wright Costa Sir Graham Rodney/Valentine/Bay....................................Jacob Allen William Fayre/Bill................................................................. Tim McGowan Miss Alice Connors, chorus-mistress of Valentine’s choir ....................................................................................................Tanya Roberts Friends of Melanie Amelia Bridport.....................................................................Kelly Curtin Vivien Luton..............................................................Michelle Pedersen Lucy Luton......................................................................... Ivana Martinic Lavinia.............................................................. Lauren Nash Silberstein Latitia.........................................................................Annachristi Cordes Sophia...............................................................................Jocelyn Hansen Elizabeth.......................................................................Hilary Koolhoven Caroline.................................................................................... Abby Kurth Friends of Sir Graham Susan Pell............................................................................. Teryn Kuzma Edgar Pell..................................................................... Benjamin Dutton Sir Amyas Wendell..........................................................Vincent Gover Lord Failsham............................................................. Austin Rubinoski Thomas....................................................................Diego Roberts Buceta Aiken, his butler...................................................................... George Marn Ensemble Logan Barat, Kelvin Boateng, Diego Roberts Buceta, Annachristi Cordes, Kelly Curtin, Benjamin Dutton, Vincent Gover, Jocelyn Hansen, Hilary Koolhoven, Abby Kurth, Teryn Kuzma, George Marn, Ivana Martinic, Michelle Pedersen, Tanya Roberts, Austin Rubinoski, Lauren Nash Silberstein, Adam Wells, Kyle Yampiro Understudy for Lydia/Veronica/Iris: Hilary Koolhoven Understudy for Lady Charlotte: Michelle Pedersen
This production of Perchance to Dream has been partially underwritten by gifts from:
BRIGGS FINANCIAL GROUP Wealth Advisory Services
David & Carol Briggs Ron & Prue Holtman Illustration
44 Box Office: 330.263.2345
by Daniel Hobbs
SETTING
Place....................................... Huntersmoon Mansion ACT I:........................................................ Regency 1818 Scene 1..................The Hall of Huntersmoon … 1818 Scene 2............................... The same … a week later Scene 3...... Melinda’s bedroom … the same night Scene 4.........Outside the house … the next night
Act II:............................. Victorian 1843 and Modern Scene 1.................................................. The Hall … 1843 Scene 2...................................The Victorian wedding Scene 3...............................................Three years later Scene 4............................................Three weeks later Scene 5................................................. The same night Scene 6....................................................Next morning Scene 7............. The Hall of Huntersmoon … 1930s
MUSICAL NUMBERS Overture ACT I When the Gentlemen Get Together.......................................................................... Mazelli, Ernestine, Chorus Love Is My Reason.................................................................................................................................................... Lydia I Go to Help Poor.................................................................................................................................Lydia Ernestine My Lady Lies Beneath the Ground.................................................................................................................. Mazelli A Lady Went to Market Fair...................................................... Lydia, Ernestine, Mazelli, Edgar, Sir Graham When I Curtsied to the King............................................................................................................................ Melinda Highwayman Love........................................................................................................................... Ernestine, Chorus The Triumphs of Spring: Singing Ballet................................................................................................... Ensemble ACT II Entr’acte Autumn Lullaby......................................................................................................................................................Chorus A Woman’s Heart............................................................................................................................................... Veronica We’ll Gather Lilacs.................................................................................................................Veronica, Mrs. Bridport The Victorian Wedding/This Is the Wish for You.........................Chorus, Mrs. Bridport, Vicar, Veronica The Glo-Glo.............................................................................................................................................................Melanie The Elopement...............................................................................................................................Mrs. Bridport, Vicar The Glo-Glo (reprise)...........................................................................................................................................Melanie We’ll Gather Lilacs (reprise)........................................................................................................................... Veronica Windsor Choir Music..........................................................................................................Contralto, Soprano, Girls A Woman’s Heart (reprise)......................................................................................................................................... Iris Finale.................................................................................................................................................................... Ensemble
S “Love is my reason for living. Love is my reason for giving.” S
ohiolightopera.org 45
ARGUMENT
ACT I (1818): At a society dinner at Sir Graham Rodney’s mansion Huntersmoon, his mistress Lydia fearfully awaits his return—the famous highwayman “Frenchy” is reported to be in the neighborhood. Rodney arrives, safe and in good spirits, despite learning that his fearsome Aunt Charlotte Fayre, her unpleasant nephew William, and daughter Melinda will soon be dropping in for a visit. Charlotte and William, basking in money, have had their eye on taking control of the mansion, but the poverty-stricken Rodney has refused to relinquish it. He flaunts his disdain for the trio by making a wager with his friend Sir Amyas Wendell that he can seduce Melinda. Lydia, realizing that either her heart will be broken or Rodney will lose money he doesn’t have, knows that she should just leave him once and for all, but her heart says no. Charlotte and family appear and report that enroute they were robbed—most certainly by Frenchy—of the famous Fayre necklace that Melinda was safeguarding. When Rodney and Melinda first meet, there is an instant romantic connection and a strange feeling of recognition and destiny. He promises her that the necklace will be recovered by her 21st birthday the next week. And he has a plan to accomplish this … ACT II: Scenes 1-6 (1843): Huntersmoon is now in the hands of William’s son Valentine, a musician and choral master. Lydia’s gentle daughter Veronica (Graham’s love child) applies for a position in the chorus and immediately attracts the attention of Valentine, who hires her on. The couple are soon married. Three years later, Veronica’s ebullient and risqué school chum Melanie, who happens to be Graham’s niece, arrives for an extended visit and eventually sets her sights on Valentine. Aunt Charlotte senses trouble and vows to remove Melanie from the mansion following Valentine’s upcoming command performance at Windsor Castle. But when Charlotte and Veronica head off for a doctor’s visit in London, Melanie makes her move on Valentine. In spite of his wife and everything else, he is drawn passionately to her by some strange impulse from the past and future. The next day, Veronica returns from London with some exciting news for her husband, which she will withhold from him until he returns from his performance in Windsor … 46 Box Office: 330.263.2345
ACT II: Scene 7 (1930s): The mansion is still in the hands of the descendents of the Rodneys and Fayres. The owner is Bay, the grandchild of Valentine and Veronica. The walls of the house are decorated with portraits of Bay’s ancestral family, including Melinda and Melanie, who bear a strong resemblance to Bay’s recent bride Melody. Bay reminds her how they first met, drawn together by the same force of destiny that had united his family members in the past. Melody, happy but sleepy, heads off to bed. But then … some “visitors” arrive …
BACKGROUND
Between June and September of 1944, Welshborn composer/playwright/actor Ivor Novello led a company of actors through Belgium and France with the express mission of entertaining British troops on the front line. Their vehicle was the play Love from a Stranger, based on a 1924 Agatha Christie short story. Novello assumed the leading role—that of the charming homicidal maniac Bruce Lovell. At the end of each show, according to his biographer Peter Noble, Novello would plop himself at a piano and regale the soldiers with an hour’s worth of his own music, beginning always with his World War I hit “Keep the Home Fires Burning” and including a piece that he had recently penned, but which had not yet been heard in London. He had purportedly composed the tune, later provided a lyric and titled “We’ll Gather Lilacs,” after his friends Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne had praised the lilac trees in the garden of his country home, Red Roofs, outside of London. Novello had long considered writing a multi-generational romantic musical spread over more than a century. His good friend, famed theater critic James Agate, recommended against it, but Novello’s intuition won out and Perchance to Dream—with title purloined from Shakespeare’s Hamlet—opened at the Hippodrome on April 21, 1945 and ran for 1020 performances. It was the longest unbroken run for any Novello musical and would have racked up many more showings if the composer had not interrupted the run to take the work on tour to South Africa. The musical totally resonated with a British public that had endured almost six years of war and craved a chance to nostalgically and romantically escape—at least for a few hours—the horrors of recent events. When VE Day was proclaimed less than three
weeks after the premiere, the show took on an air356 of unbridled celebration. N. Market Street, Wooster, Ohio For all his shows over the previous decade— beginning with {330} his first262.4085 great success Glamorous stay@marketstreetinnwooster.com Night and continuing through Careless Rapture, Crest of the Wave, The Dancing Years, and Arc www.marketstreetinnwooster.com de Triomphe—Novello wrote the music and book, but relied on Christopher Hassall for lyrics. With his librettist off at war, he took on all three tasks, as he would do again for his next show. Novello, who had assumed the male lead role in all the above works, save Arc de Triomphe, cast himself as the protagonist in each of the three generations in Perchance to Dream. And, as he did not sing, this show, as for all previous ones in which he starred, proved a feast for sopranos and mezzos. Aside from the incomparable “We’ll Gather Lilacs,” introduced in the show as a duet of Veronica and Mrs. Bridport, song highlights include the slow waltz “Love Is My Reason,” the Edwardian-styled “The Night When I Curtsied to the King,” the contralto waltz “Highwayman Love,” and the highly upbeat “Glo-Glo.” Ivor Novello, who virtually single-handedly brought the unabashed romantic musical back to life on the British stage, passed away at 2:15 A.M. on March 6, 1951, at the age of 58—just hours after performing in the title role of his long-running, and perhaps crowning achievement, King’s Rhapsody.
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ohiolightopera.org 47
FESTIVAL ARTISTIC AND TECHNICAL TEAM Listed alphabetically … respectful of the ensemble spirit that has characterized OLO since its founding.
JACOB ALLEN, stage director/tenor, returns for a 12th season with OLO as director of South Pacific, and is further joyed to be performing again this year after a long hiatus. Past OLO directing credits include The Pajama Game, Brigadoon, My Fair Lady, The King and I, Guys and Dolls, and 2011’s “Triple Bill.” OLO veterans may remember Jacob as Frosch in Die Fledermaus, Hale Underwood in Oh, Lady! Lady!!, Mordred in Camelot, The Prince in Jubilee, Horace Gripps in The Cabaret Girl, Benny in The Desert Song, and Jimmy Jack John Bondy in The Duchess of Chicago. Jacob, a native of Oxford, ME, serves as associate professor and director of the musical theater program at the University of Memphis. He holds performance degrees in acting and voice from Lawrence University in Appleton, WI, and his graduate degree in stage direction from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied under OLO artistic director Steven Daigle. As a director and performer, Jacob has worked extensively throughout the Midwest and New England; recent productions include The Wedding Singer, West Side Story, Oklahoma!, Titanic, Chess, Fiddler on the Roof, Children of Eden, The Phantom of the Opera, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Bat Boy, The Winter’s Tale, and She Loves Me. As a teacher, he is fascinated by the challenges faced by young singers in their development as theatrical performers, and is dedicated to the integration of acting and singing. JENNIFER AMMONS, costume designer, currently resides in Memphis, after completing her MFA in 2018. She is returning to OLO for her third year, after designing Iolanthe and Cloclo last season, and assisting on The Pajama Game, Fifty Million Frenchmen, and La Périchole. This year, she designed The Gondoliers for Memphis Light Opera Company and Albert Herring for the University of Memphis Opera Department. Designs for the University include: The Servant of Two Masters, Nine, Measure for Measure, Empires of Eternal Void, and Bull. Jennifer also worked as the assistant costume designer for The Magic Flute at the U of M Opera Department, and for Two Gentlemen of Verona, Julius Caesar, and The Romeo and Juliet Project at Tennessee Shakespeare Company, while also serving as the wardrobe head for its production of Macbeth. Other Memphis-area designs include Elephant’s Graveyard at Voices of the South and Pinkalicious for New Day Children’s Theatre.
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ERIC ANDRIES, rehearsal accompanist, is pleased to return to Ohio Light Opera for an eleventh year. He has a wide range of musical experience in several genres. Over the past few years, he has been the rehearsal pianist for several opera companies, including Omaha Opera, Des Moines Opera, Amarillo Opera, Shreveport Opera, Mobile Opera, Syracuse Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Ashlawn Music Festival, and Opera Idaho. Eric has been the musical director for touring educational opera troupes with Opera Iowa, Portland Opera, and Nashville Opera. In addition, he is an avid jazz pianist and has worked with Princess Cruise Line as piano player for the showband. He was also the keyboardist/arranger for a local salsa music group that was featured at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Eric has been band leader and pianist for several musical shows as well. A native of Baton Rouge, he holds degrees from LSU in piano performance and has studied abroad in France and Austria. STEVEN BYESS, associate music director, is celebrating his 21st season with OLO, where he has conducted over 80 productions and 21 audio and video recordings. He is renowned for his versatility, multi-faceted presence on the podium, passion for music education, and his devotion to promoting a lifelong love and enthusiasm for music and the arts. Equally adept with symphonic, opera, operetta, music theater, and ballet repertoire, Maestro Byess is also the music director of the Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra (Oregon), the North Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, and the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Byess has been a frequent conductor at the Pine Mountain Music Festival in Michigan, conducting productions of Le tragédie de Carmen (Bizet/Brook), a highly acclaimed production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, collaborating with the composer’s daughter Jamie Bernstein as consultant, and Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. He has recently conducted productions of La bohème and a critically acclaimed production of Robert Ward’s The Crucible at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Madama Butterfly with Greensboro Opera, Carmen with Emerald City Opera (Colorado), The Tender Land, H.M.S. Pinafore, and The Pirates of Penzance with Intermountain Opera (Montana), and Street Scene and The Pirates of Penzance with the Eastman School of Music Opera Theatre. In addition to over 60 symphonic performances
in the 2019-20 season, Maestro Byess will conduct ballet productions of The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty, and will collaborate with composer Ricky Ian Gordon in a production of his opera “27.” He is a conductor for the Carnegie Hall Weill Music Institute Link Up orchestra education concerts, performing for over 80,000 children in multiple U.S. communities since 2013. He and his wife Sara, who is a composer, are proud seasonal residents of Wooster. His daughter Julianna was a member of the OLO cast for several seasons before serving as assistant concertmaster in the orchestra, and his daughter Avani was born in Wooster during the 2015 summer festival. TED CHRISTOPHER, baritone/principal guest director, saw his first OLO performance in 1982, and it was love at first sight. This season marks his 21st with the company as a performer and director. Favorite roles over the years include Arthur (Camelot), Billy (Carousel), Danilo (The Merry Widow), The King (The King and I), Harold Hill (The Music Man), Florestan (Véronique), Villon (The Vagabond King), and, of course, anything by Gilbert and Sullivan (at OLO, he has performed the complete canon, save one). In 2005 he began directing at OLO, while continuing as a performer. Some notable productions include The Student Prince (2007), The Fortune Teller (2011), Blossom Time (2012), The Desert Song (2008), Die Fledermaus (2005 and 2014), H.M.S. Pinafore (2006), and Oh, Kay! (2015). This season, Ted will perform Capt. George Brackett (South Pacific), Narrator/Mysterious Man (Into The Woods), Sergeant of Police (The Pirates of Penzance), Dr. Walther Lessing (Music in the Air), and he will direct The Pirates of Penzance. In the off-season, he sings, directs, and teaches. In opera, he has appeared throughout the United States and Canada in repertoire ranging from the Baroque to the 21st century. In concert, he has sung at some of the major concert halls of the world, including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, the Rudolfinum (Prague), and the Schauspielhaus (Berlin). Ted has directed productions with companies throughout the United States, including Rochester Lyric Opera, Opera Louisiane, Atlanta Lyric Theatre, and Cincinnati Opera-on-Tour. He currently serves on the faculty of Pennsylvania State University, where he is artistic director of Penn State Opera Theatre. Previous faculty appointments include the University of Memphis and the Eastman School of Music. As always, he is grateful to the College of Wooster and the community at large for the generosity and gracious welcome they extend to him and the entire troupe every summer.
ALEX CLARK, shop foreman, is pleased to return to OLO for a second season. Originally from Texas, with a BFA from Texas State University, he has been working around the world building sets and loading in for cruise ships for Royal Caribbean. JULIE WRIGHT COSTA, associate artistic director, is held in high regard as an interpreter and director of operetta, singing numerous leading roles nationally. Julie is honored to celebrate her 29th season with the Ohio Light Opera and delighted to return to the Wooster community, her second home. With OLO, she has sung in over 100 different productions, performed over 70 roles, and directed more than 20 season titles. Having staged Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I, and Sondheim’s Into the Woods for the Western Plains Opera Company, she is delighted to return to Minot to direct Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel in January of 2020. She also directed Hansel and Gretel for Opera Louisiane last fall; over 2200 students from the greater Baton Rouge area attended the three performances. Recent solo performances include the role of Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore with Opera Louisiane, the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with the Salt Lake Symphony, and soloist with the Utah Chamber Artists. In November of 2019, Julie will premiere a song set commissioned by the Salt Lake Symphony and composed by her husband John Costa. During OLO’s 41st festival season, Julie will perform the role of Jack’s Mother in Into the Woods and Lady Charlotte in Perchance to Dream. In charge of the casting process for OLO, Julie traveled to seven cities, auditioning over 300 singers from across the country throughout November and December. Career highlights include performances with the opera companies of Nevada, Chautauqua, Cleveland, Michigan, Carolina, and Utah, as well as performances with the symphonies of Charlotte, Illinois, Utah, and Detroit. Favorite performances include leading roles in productions of La Bohème, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, The Turn of the Screw, Bitter Sweet, La Rondine, Countess Maritza, Giuditta, Camelot, Carousel, and the title role in Hello, Dolly! As a director, she has staged productions for the Moab Music Festival, Nevada Opera, Opera Southwest, The Eastman School of Music, The University of Utah, and ohiolightopera.org 49
The Ohio Light Opera, among others. She can be heard on compact disc recordings for the Newport Classic, Albany Records, and Operetta Archives labels. Julie resides in Salt Lake City with her husband, composer John Vasconcelos Costa, and their dachshunds, Freddie and Rose. She is a tenured professor of voice and voice area head at the University of Utah School of Music. STEVEN A. DAIGLE, artistic director, is professor of opera and head of the Eastman Opera Theatre program at The Eastman School of Music. He has served as part of the artistic staff for more than 300 lyric theater productions, along with calling over 400 professional operatic performances as a production stage manager. Daigle’s experience as a stage director encompasses over 150 titles and a wide range of lyric theater repertoire: Madama Butterfly, Our Town, Manon, Silk Stockings, Serse, Passion, La Traviata, Zip! Goes A Million, To Hell and Back, Il Trovatore, Don Giovanni, Oh, Lady! Lady!!, Carmen, La Rondine, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Norma, Dialogues of the Carmelites, Susannah, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Claudia Legare, La finta giardiniera, Il turco in Italia, Così fan tutte, Transformations, La bohème, Suor Angelica, The Tender Land, Porgy and Bess, L’elisir d’amore, and Pelléas et Mélisande, among others. Productions include collaborations with legendary Broadway composer Charles Strouse, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Robert Ward, Carlisle Floyd, Jake Heggie, Gene Shear, and conductors Louis Lane, Robert Spano, and Evan Whallon. Reviews and articles of Daigle’s work have been published in Opera News, Opera London, American Record Guide, Gramophone, Fanfare, Classical Singer, and Opera Now. As a champion of early American operetta and musical theater, he continues to pursue the preservation of the art form, and has received critical acclaim for his commitment to research, reconstruct, and produce neglected musicals of early Broadway. With Ohio Light Opera, he served as stage manager, assistant director, and general manager under the guidance of company founder James Stuart, and in 1999 was appointed artistic director. His first year with the company was in 1990. At OLO he has called over 300 performances as a stage manager, served on the technical or artistic staff for over 150 productions, and directed over 80 titles, including many American premieres in original versions: Lehár’s Der Zarewitsch (The Zarevitch), Künneke’s Der Vetter aus Dingsda (The Cousin from Batavia), and Kálmán’s Der Zigeunerprimás (Sari), 50 Box Office: 330.263.2345
Ein Herbstmanöver (Autumn Maneuvers), Das Veilchen vom Montmartre (The Violet of Montmartre), Der gute Kamerad (A Soldier’s Promise), Marinka, Die Faschingsfee (Miss Springtime), and Der kleine König (The Little King). As artistic director, he has created five performance translations for Kálmán operettas, expanded OLO offerings to include traditional musicals (including those of Kern, Gershwin, Porter, Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, Lerner and Loewe, and Rodgers and Hammerstein), and introduced over 50 new titles to the company’s vast and unique repertoire, including works of Benatzky and Stolz, Bock and Harnick, Friml, Leigh, Loesser, Schubert and Berté, Sousa, Styne and Sondheim, and Willson. Daigle has also supervised OLO’s highly acclaimed series of CD and DVD recordings on the Newport Classic, Operetta Archives, and Albany Records labels, including historical reconstructions and world-premiere recordings of Friml’s The Firefly, Romberg’s Maytime, Herbert’s Naughty Marietta, Sweethearts, and Dream City and the Magic Knight, Kern’s The Cabaret Girl, and six operettas of Emmerich Kálmán. The company’s unique mission and service to the traditional lyric art form (Viennese, French, and German operetta; Edwardian musicals and Gilbert and Sullivan; early American operetta and musical theater) has been recognized internationally through scholarly publications. Steve served on the faculty of Kent State University, and as assistant director and acting director of the Opera Theater program at the Oberlin Conservatory. In the summer of 1998, he served on the faculty of the Oberlin in Italy program in Urbania, Italy. In September 2003, The Ohio Light Opera was given an Award of Achievement by Northern Ohio Live for its role in preserving operetta for the past 25 years. In the spring of 2006 he received the Outstanding Alumnus award from Southeastern Louisiana University. From 2009-13 he served as chair of the voice and opera department at the Eastman School of Music. Future directing engagements include Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd for Eastman Opera Theatre. In May of 2015, Steve received the Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester. JESSICA GILLIARD, assistant technical director, is very excited to be experiencing her second season with OLO. She has achieved her master of fine arts degree at San Diego State University and is celebrating this achievement with her OLO family.
CHARLENE ALEXIS GROSS, resident costume designer, has designed, since 2005, over 50 productions for Ohio Light Opera. Favorites include The Duchess of Chicago, Call Me Madam, Madame Pompadour, Pride and Prejudice, Of Thee I Sing, The Mikado, and The Dancing Years. Select national designs include Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Playhouse, Florida Repertory Theatre, Ingenuity Festival, and The Gamesters’ at the Sands Casino, Atlantic City. NYC designs include the Flea, Rattelstick Theatre, Perry Street Theatre, NYC Fringe Festival, Joyce SoHo, Symphony Space, and Kunnigham Studios. Dance designs include GroundWorks (a new one is premiering at Cain Park this summer), the Yard (Martha’s Vineyard), West Wave Dance Festival, and NBC Nightly News. Notable Broadway and London West End assistant costume design credits include the Pulitzer Prize-winning Top Dog/ Under Dog (Emilio Sosa, costume designer) and A Class Act (Carrie Robbins, costume designer). Off-Broadway and regional work include Seattle Repertory, Guthrie, NY Public Theater, New York Shakespeare Festival, Manhattan Theatre Company, Berkshire Theatre Festival, and the Classic Stage Company. Educational design credits include the the Juilliard School, Columbia University, NYU, Ashland University, Baldwin Wallace, University of Memphis, and The College of Wooster. Charlene is an assistant professor of theater at Penn State University, as costume design faculty for the BFA and MFA programs.
seasons include Candide, Iolanthe, Cloclo, Primrose, Countess Maritza, and The Mikado. In 2016 he was also in the chorus of Have a Heart. A native Ohioian, Daniel graduated from Mount Union College before receiving his MFA in lighting design from Michigan State University. A freelance lighting designer based in New York City, he is the resident lighting designer with the Annabella Gonzalez Dance Theatre (NYC). Some of Daniel’s recent lighting designs include Into the Woods at Western Plains Opera (ND), Little Women and Three Sisters at Ashland University (OH), Silent Sky at Williamston Theatre (MI), and SEX! with The Dirty Blonde Productions (NYC). The past two years, Daniel has worked and taught at Montclair State University in New Jersey. For the past several years, he has also had the opportunity of working with Spaeth Design on the Christmas windows at Lord & Taylor, Bloomingdales, and Tiffany’s in New York City.
ALEX HOUSTON, master carpenter
theater and dance from The College of Wooster. After the season ends, she will finish her MFA in properties design at University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
KIAH KAYSER, charge artist/scenic designer, is a freelance scenic designer, originally hailing from Minnesota. Her recent design credits include: Fun Home (Hollins University), Junie B Jones is Not a Crook, Madagascar (Circuit Playhouse), Girl Crazy, Candide, La Périchole (Ohio Light Opera), As Is, Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (Regeneration Theatre), A Piece of My Heart (Onomatopoeia Theatre), It’s a Wonderful Life (TheatreSquared). She received her MFA in scenic design form University of Arkansas. In addition to her design work, Kiah has also worked as a scenic artist for DANIEL HOBBS, resident scenic designer, is Irish Repertory Theatre, Infinite Scenic, Variety a scenic and costume designer and the current 57, Repertory Theatre of Iowa, Prairie Repertory visiting professor of scenic design for the College Theatre, and Cedar Rapids Opera. of Wooster. He is excited to return for his fifth SIDNEY MARTIN, props master, is pleased to season with the Ohio Light Opera, designing be returning for her fourth season, after being a for South Pacific, Into the Woods, The Devil’s props artisan and scenic artist at OLO. Notable Rider, and Perchance to Dream. Past shows with to her young career, she recently spent a year at OLO include titles such as The Pajama Game, Actors Theatre of Louisville, where she worked Anything Goes, The Student Prince, and One on the Humana Festival. Prior, she was prop Touch of Venus. His recent credits include 45 master for Il Trittico and La bohème at the Utah Plays for 45 Presidents for NextStop Theatre Festival Opera. She also had fun as an artisan at in Washington DC, Three Sisters at Ashland the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia and the University, and The Tibetan Book of the Dead at Great Lakes Theatre Festival in Cleveland in the Eastman School of Music. two short years since she graduated with a BA in DANIEL HUSTON, production manager/ resident lighting designer, is excited to be returning for his ninth season with the Ohio Light Opera. This summer he will be lighting Girl Crazy, The Pirates of Penzance, and Perchance to Dream, in addition to his responsibilities as production manager. Some of his previous lighting designs for OLO over the past four
ANNE MEDLOCK, costume designer, who will be working on South Pacific, Into the Woods, and Music in the Air, is associate professor of costume design at West Texas A&M University, where she has designed and taught since ohiolightopera.org 51
earning her MFA from Kent State University. The Ohio Light Opera was her first summer stock experience after her freshman year at the College of Wooster, and she is thrilled to be back designing. She has designed a diverse multitude of plays and musicals, including Spring Awakening, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Luna Gale, 9 to 5: The Musical, A Flea in Her Ear, Footloose: The Musical, Jane Eyre: The Musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, and The Importance of Being Earnest. She has designed in Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, and Ohio. Please visit her website at annemedlock.com. CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, sound designer, created the sound programs at Michigan Technological University, which combine fundamental engineering and artistic course work with applied sound creation. He has long been a practicing sound designer, with theater designs at regional theaters and in New York, sound design for independent films, and PBS specials. In that work, he has been keenly interested in how immersive sound and room acoustics can bypass our conscious awareness and impact our underlying emotional state. This work includes the way an electroacoustic system can help an opera singer touch an audience with their voice to how the acoustics of a room change the classroom dynamics of a pre-school. Recently, Christopher has been exploring the power of soundscapes through a National Endowment for The Arts funded project, “Listening to Parks.” This project takes images and ambisonic recordings of the National Parks surrounding Lake Superior and creates a virtual retreat where the park experiences are shared through an immersive installation using eleven speakers and six screens. New programs continue to be developed for this system, most recently, “Shell Shocked,” a virtual experience of World War I warfare as part of the Copper Country’s remembrance of the 100-year anniversary of the Armistice
choreographer. After performing Billy Crocker in Anything Goes (OLO 2017) and Don Lockwood in Singin’ in the Rain (Westfield Theatre Group), Spencer recently tackled a third dream role, Georg Nowack in She Loves Me with UConn Opera Theatre. The countdown continues with the exciting collection of shoes he will step into onstage this summer (though nothing compared to his own dress shoe collection). He is thrilled to work on his third production of The Pirates of Penzance (and finally celebrate Frederic’s 21st birthday). He will sing his second Gershwin lead in Girl Crazy (after his ‘fidgety feet’ made their debut in Oh, Kay!, OLO 2015), and take his second trip up the beanstalk as Jack in Into the Woods (the first being a full decade ago at Asnuntuck Community College). And he will finally be performing in his first full production of a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical with South Pacific (how did it take this long?). When not performing or teaching, Spencer enjoys visiting Walt Disney World, making quick-witted puns, being immensely grateful for everyone who helped him get here, and absentmindedly tap dancing in the grocery store.
JOHN SCHUESSELIN, trumpet/orchestra personnel manager, is returning for his 34th season with the Ohio Light Opera. Since 1999, John has been on the faculty of the University of Mississippi, where he teaches trumpet and performs with the University of Mississippi Faculty Brass Quintet. He earned degrees in trumpet performance from the Eastman School of Music, Kent State University, and LSU. His orchestral experience includes performing with the North Mississippi Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta, Memphis Symphony, Meridian Symphony, New World Symphony, and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. He has presented at the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities in Honolulu, the College Music Society’s Southern Regional Conference in MemSPENCER REESE, choreographer/tenor, is phis, and the College Music Society’s National delighted to celebrate a countdown of milestones Conference in Richmond, VA. The Schuesselin this summer at Ohio Light Opera. He is ecstatic family is excited to spend another summer with to return for a sixth consecutive season to his the friendly faces of OLO. home away from home. He recently completed BRITTANY SHEMUGA, resident lighting his fifth year of graduate school, earning his designer, is excited to return to OLO for her DMA in voice at the University of Connecticut. fifth season. Her recent designs include last He is now officially Dr. Reese. He also holds season’s The Pajama Game, Babes in Arms, Fifty a master’s degree in stage directing from the Million Frenchmen, and La Périchole. She also Eastman School of Music, where he was a designs at various theaters in the Washington, student of Steven Daigle. While OLO’s 40th DC area, where she currently resides, including anniversary season was a dream (or a dream for Second City, Mosaic Theater of DC, and ballet, to say the least), Spencer is very excited Nextstop. Brittany has assisted on numerous to embark on his fourth season as the company’s productions, including Fish in the Dark on 52 Box Office: 330.263.2345
Broadway and Mary Poppins at Olney Theatre Center. Originally from Akron, Brittany received her MFA in lighting from the University of Maryland. IAN SILVERMAN, assistant director, is thrilled to be making his debut with OLO. He is currently pursuing his MM in opera stage directing at the Eastman School of Music. Ian has worked with the Brevard Music Center, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, OnSite Opera, and the Prototype Festival. Most recently, he led a cast of 96 as the associate director for Carmen with Opera Naples. He is excited to spend the summer working on OLO’s diverse repertoire, as he is committed to blending the lines between opera and musical theater throughout his career. This coming year, Ian is directing John Davies’ Little Red’s Most Unusual Day, as part of the Rochester Fringe Festival, and a double bill of Salieri’s Prima la musica e poi le parole and Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor with Eastman Opera Theater. Special thanks to Steven Daigle for putting up with me both at school and here at OLO. MARK ROBERT SNYDER-SCHULTE, wardrobe master/tenor, is thrilled to be celebrating his 16th year with the Ohio Light Opera. He will be seen this summer as a pirate in The Pirates of Penzance. Over the years, he has worked wardrobe for 109 titles, performed in 41 titles, and designed The Student Prince in 2017. He can be heard on several OLO recordings, Der Vogelhändler, Miss Springtime, El Capitan, and Dream City and the Magic Knight, and seen on OLO videos of Dream City and the Magic Knight and Have a Heart. He works as an assistant designer for The University of Akron, and is a member of the Akron Canton Stage Hands Union, I.A.T.S.E. Local 48 and Cleveland Wardrobe Union, I.A.T.S.E Local 883. Mark is honored, humbled, and proud to be this year’s recipient of The Brian Woods Award. WILSON SOUTHERLAND, conductor, is in demand throughout the United States, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. He made his conducting debut to high acclaim with Philip Glass’ Les enfants terribles at North Carolina Opera in 2012, and was the principal conductor for Eastman Opera Theater’s production of She Loves Me in 2013. After first appearing as rehearsal pianist at OLO from 2006-08, Wilson has since traveled the world: he served as pianist, coach, assistant conductor, and recitalist at Opera Africa in Pretoria, South Africa, the New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv, Les Azuriales Opera in France, AIMS Graz in Austria, Si parla, Si canta in Italy, and The Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman.
He was one of 24 singer/pianist duos worldwide chosen to compete in the Wigmore Hall International Art Song Competition in London. Stateside, Wilson was a principal coach for Seattle Opera’s Young Artist Program, as well as an associate conductor/pianist at Opera Omaha, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Birmingham, Opera Memphis, Spoleto USA, and the Mark Morris Dance Group. For six years, Wilson was the senior coach and primary pianist under Lorin Maazel at the Castleton Festival, and he went on to accompany the esteemed conductor-violinist in recital at the Kennedy Center. A former faculty member of Vanderbilt University, Wilson was chosen to perform on Juilliard’s Vocal Arts Honors Recital in Alice Tully Hall. He ushered in the 2014-15 season as associate conductor, head coach, and language specialist for La Rondine at The New Israeli Opera, featuring Angela Gheorghiu. In the fall of 2015 he joined the faculty of the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa as the first faculty opera coach in the university’s 184-year history. Among his coaching and performing duties, he also conducted Sondheim’s A Little Night Music for the UA Opera Theatre. In 2016 Wilson joined the faculty of the Eastman School of Music as assistant professor of opera, where he conducted the revised world premiere of Jake Heggie’s Out of Darkness in 2017. As of 2018, Wilson is the interim artistic director of the Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus, alongside his duties at Eastman. He holds degrees in piano from Vanderbilt University and The Juilliard School. J. LYNN THOMPSON, music director, has a successful career that includes more than 40 years as conductor, artistic leader, recording artist, performer, and educator. This is Thompson’s 30th season with The Ohio Light Opera, for which he will have led over 1000 performances of more than 120 different productions, including two world premieres and several American premieres. Additionally, Thompson and OLO have recorded 18 full-length CDs on the Newport Classic and Albany Records labels. In 2007, Thompson was named Artistic Director Emeritus of Atlanta Lyric Theatre, a company he assisted in founding in 1980 and for which he has served as music director, conductor, and artistic director. He has collaborated with conductors Louis Lane and Robert Spano; singers Michael Hume, Peter Harrower, and Victoria Mallory; and pianist Paul Ford, accompanist for Stephen Sondheim for over 20 years. Composers Robert Wright and George Forrest consulted on Thompson’s 1998 production of Kismet in Atlanta, and he worked closely with the Kurt ohiolightopera.org 53
Weill Foundation in the remounting of the rarely performed The Firebrand of Florence with OLO in 1999. Thompson has served as principal guest conductor with Pensacola Opera and as guest conductor with the Akron Symphony, Theatre of the Stars in Atlanta, Empire State Orchestra in Schenectady, and recently made his Virginia Symphony debut conducting the works of Drew Gasparini. J. Lynn and his wife Adelia, along with their two golden retrievers, Buck and Maggie, currently reside in Newport News, VA, where, at Christopher Newport University, he serves as director for the University Orchestra and music director for Theatre CNU and Opera CNU. This season at OLO, Mr. Thompson conducts South Pacific, Into The Woods, The Pirates of Penzance, and the annual July 4th Pops concert.
STEPHEN TOMLIN, technical director, is joining Ohio Light Opera for his third consecutive season as a member of the technical direction team. Stephen recently received his MFA from University of Memphis in technical direction. He has also just accepted the position of assistant professor of technical direction at the University of New Mexico, beginning in the fall. Originally from central Texas, he received his BFA from Texas State University under the tutelage of Shane Smith and Dwight Marcus. As well as working with the technical direction team for the 2017 and 2018 seasons of Ohio Light Opera, he has also recently technically-directed Shaming Jane Doe, The Servant of Two Masters, Nine, The Sparrow, and Empires of Eternal Void. RILEY WOODS, assistant lighting designer, is back for a second season at OLO. Riley is from North Manchester, IN, has a BA in theater from Goshen College, and is currently working on an MFA in lighting and projection design at Temple University in Philadelphia. In the upcoming season at Temple, Riley will design lighting for the opera The Elixir of Love and the play The Country Wife. Previous favorite lighting designs include Fabulation, or the Reeducation of Undine; Kindertransport; Julius Caesar; Legally Blonde; Godspell; and Eurydice. This is Riley’s first time as a lighting assistant, and he is excited to work so closely with both of the lighting designers this season.
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CHAUTAUQUA OPERA COMPANY 2019
Rossini/Sterbini
Il BARBIERE di SIVIGLIA
July 5, 8 & 25 • Norton Hall Romano/Belcher/Nisticò Osgood/Smith Belcher
Mozart/Guerrerio (adap. da Ponte)
¡Figaro! (90210) June 28 & 30; July 7, 14 & 26 Norton Hall Parodi/Einhorn
Corigliano/Hoffman
The GHOSTS of VERSAILLES
July 27 • Amphitheater Lynch/Romano/Belcher Nisticò/Osgood/Kazaras
Entire Beaumarchais Trilogy ONE TIME ONLY: July 25–27, 2019 OPERA.CHQ.ORG
C H A U TA U Q U A I N S T I T U T I O N • C H A U TA U Q U A , N Y ohiolightopera.org 55
FESTIVAL CAST EMILY ANDERSON, mezzosoprano/house management, is ecstatic to be returning for a third season to the Ohio Light Opera’s lobby as a front-ofhouse manager, and overjoyed to be meeting the stage for the first time, acting in ensemble roles in both Music in the Air and The Devil’s Rider. Emily just graduated from The College of Wooster in May with a bachelor’s degree in English, and is overwhelmed by the prospect of “adult life,” but incredibly excited to see where the next adventure leads.
na Most), Don Pedro (Béatrice et Bénédict), Leporello (Don Giovanni), Don Quixote (Man of La Mancha), Harapha (Samson), and Bunthorne (Patience). But OLO audiences may best remember him as Fred Graham (Kiss Me, Kate), Jeff Douglas (Brigadoon), Whitelaw Savory (One Touch of Venus), Wilfred Shadbolt (The Yeomen of the Guard), and Nathan Detroit (Guys and Dolls). His voice is featured as Moritz von Schwind on the Albany Records recording of OLO’s Blossom Time. Brad is also a writer and his plays have been produced around the country. His play Last Ditch Playlist was presented as part of the Capital Fringe and Philadelphia FringeArts Festivals, and had an Off-Off-Broadway run in LOGAN BARAT, tenor, New York City at Theaterlab. www.brad-baron. hails from Dawson, MN and com @BaronAsInRed received his bachelor of music SARAH BEST, mezzo-soprano, degree in vocal performance from is known for her crazy faces Concordia College in Moorhead, and physical comedy and is MN. During his undergraduate often remembered at OLO for career, he sang the roles of Alfred playing characters like Freakette in Die Fledermaus and Frederick (The Lady of the Slipper), Mad Trumper in the musical Chess. He was also a Margaret (Ruddigore), Morgan member of the Concordia College Concert Choir, Le Fay (A Connecticut Yankee), under the direction of René Clausen. He sang in the Fargo-Moorhead Opera Chorus, and in the and Eva Standing (Jubilee). However, beyond fall of 2017 placed first in the North Dakota/ zany characters, Sarah’s stage experience covers Manitoba District Metropolitan Opera Council traditional opera, sacred music, contemporary Auditions. Currently, Logan is a graduate works, and American musical theater. Her teaching assistant at Wichita State University, versatility as a singer and actress has led to studying voice with Michael Sylvester while numerous creative projects with organizations pursuing a master’s degree in opera performance. throughout New York City and Washington, Recently, Logan was seen in Wichita State’s DC, and in venues like Carnegie Hall, Radio City, production of Gianni Schicchi, portraying the and Symphony Space. Favorite roles include: role of Rinuccio, and as Sam Kaplan in its fall Marian Paroo (The Music Man), Maria Ziegler production of Street Scene. Logan is looking (The Dancing Years), Guenevere (Camelot), and forward to being part of Ohio Light Opera’s 41st Venus (One Touch of Venus). This season’s roles season and hopes that you enjoy these fantastic at OLO include: Ensign Nellie Forbush (South Pacific), The Baker’s Wife (Into the Woods), and shows. Lydia/Veronica/Iris (Perchance to Dream). A BRAD BARON, bass- graduate of the University of Maryland (MM) baritone, returns to OLO for his and Mansfield University (BM), Sarah will fourth season as Emile de Becque begin her studies towards her doctorate at the (South Pacific), Slick Fothergill University of Michigan this fall. And while she (Girl Crazy), The Wolf (Into the may be “as corny as Kansas in August,” or often Woods), The Pirate King (The get lost in “moments in the woods,” Sarah is Pirates of Penzance), and Bruno happy to celebrate “some enchanted evenings” Mahler (Music in the Air). Prior as she performs in her ninth season with OLO. to this season with OLO, Brad sailed the high seas from Italy to New Zealand while singing KELVIN BOATENG, baritone, is excited to aboard the Azamara Quest, where he premiered participate in his first season with OLO. Kelvin original cabarets alongside fellow OLO veteran is a rising senior at Vanderbilt University’s Blair Tanya Roberts. Selected favorite roles include School of Music, studying vocal performance Sweeney Todd (Sweeney Todd), Bedro (Veselohra and history. Recent performances include 56 Box Office: 330.263.2345
Baron Thundertentronck/Father Bernard/Ragotski in Candide with Vanderbilt Opera Theatre, Un carciere in Tosca with Festival Lyrique-en-mer, and in concert as a baritone soloist in Mozart’s Requiem in D Minor and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Vanderbilt University Chorale and Symphony. He has also recently covered roles like Il Conte Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro with Vanderbilt Opera Theatre and Vicomte Cascada in The Merry Widow with Opera Project Columbus. He looks forward to returning to Vanderbilt Opera Theatre to perform the role of Sir Thomas Bertram in Mansfield Park and complete his BM. Kelvin is originally from Columbus, and is a student of OLO alum Tyler Nelson. DIEGO ROBERTS BUCETA, tenor, is new to OLO and excited to be here this summer. He hails from Seattle and is currently getting his BM in voice performance at the University of Michigan. He was recently in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Leaf Coneybear) and A Streetcar Named Desire (Doctor). He currently studies with Stephen West. ANNACHRISTI CORDES, mezzo/soprano, is excited to be performing in her first season at OLO. Recent favorite roles include Bonnie in Anything Goes, Mayzie la Bird in Seussical the Musical, and Edith in The Pirates of Penzance. She was also recently in her college’s Commencement Eve Pops performance of My Fair Lady in concert, in which she got to show off her highest kicks. Hailing from Tupper Lake, NY, she attends school at SUNY Fredonia in Fredonia, NY, where she is earning her BFA in musical theater. Annachristi will be returning in the fall for her senior year at Fredonia, where she will continue as a student of Daniel Ihasz. KELLY CURTIN, soprano, is known for her comedic timing and keen acting abilities, as well as her vocal acrobatics. She is delighted to bring one of her favorite G & S ladies to the Ohio Light Opera this season in The Pirates of Penzance. Her most recent appearances include the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute at Shreveport
Opera, Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore with Opéra Louisiane, Tisbe in Piramo e Tisbe with the Little Opera Theater of New York, Zerlina in Don Giovanni at St. Pete Opera, and the title character in Franz von Suppé’s rarely performed (in the United States) Die schöne Galathée with Bel Cantanti Opera. Most recently, she returned to St. Pete Opera for Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica, before settling in Wooster for the summer. Next season she makes her role debut as Marie in La Fille du Régiment with St. Pete Opera. More information about Ms. Curtin is available at www.kellycurtin.com. BENJAMIN DUTTON, baritone, is excited to be performing as Lt. Joseph Cable in South Pacific, Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods, and Cavalry Captain Count Sándor in The Devil’s Rider. This is his second season with Ohio Light Opera. He previously performed at the College Light Opera Company in Massachusetts, where he played several roles, including The Red Shadow in The Desert Song, Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls, and Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. There, he received the WISE Foundation Emerging Artist of the Year and the STAGE Foundation Baritone of the Year awards in 2016 and 2017, respectively. In 2017, he became its first annual Kurt Weill/Lotte Lenya Sponsored Artist. Benjamin completed his MM in vocal performance this year at the University of Delaware. VINCENT GOVER, baritone, from Clarksville, MD, is known for his comic portrayals in opera and musical theater, including a turn in 2018 as Dr. Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia at Opera in the Ozarks. In winter 2019 he was an apprentice artist at Sarasota Opera, performing the Third Slave in Die Zauberflöte, and joined Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre for the world premiere of Michael Ching’s 8 Woods and a Van. He later appeared as the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury with Landlocked Opera in Kansas City, to which he will return in the fall to sing Somarone in Béatrice et Bénédict. Additionally a composer, he is currently pursuing a DMA in composition at the University of Missouri—Kansas City, and has had works premiered in New York, Washington, DC, Baltimore, Dallas, and Kansas City.
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JOCELYN HANSEN, soprano, is elated to be making her OLO debut. She is equally at home in the realms of opera and musical theater. Jocelyn spent the fall of 2018 as Manuelita in Offenbach’s Pépito with The Dallas Opera, while simultaneously moonlighting as Katherine Plumber in Newsies. Ms. Hansen was an apprentice artist with Des Moines Metro Opera, where she covered the role of Mrs. Nordstrom in A Little Night Music. She is also an alumna of College Light Opera Company, for which she performed the roles of Elsie Maynard in The Yeomen of the Guard, Babette in Beauty and the Beast, and Diana Deveraux in Of Thee I Sing. Other recent roles include Liesl von Trapp in The Sound of Music, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Morgana in Alcina, and Sister Constance in Dialogues of the Carmelites. A Texan transplant of Midwestern origin, Jocelyn is a teaching fellow for the University of North Texas and received a BM from Iowa State University and an MM from Michigan State University. Jocelyn will spend the 2019-20 school year as an outreach artist with The Dallas Opera, but her free time will be spent fawning over her two Siberian huskies.
College in 2014 and her master of music from the University of Utah in 2016. She is currently a member of the adjunct voice faculty at her undergraduate alma mater, and has enjoyed four seasons in the chorus at Utah Opera. Previous roles with OLO include Phyllis in Iolanthe, Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, Bonnie in Anything Goes, Peep-Bo in The Mikado, and Pauline in La vie parisienne. Some of Hilary’s other favorite roles have been Ilia in Idomeneo, Rosita in Un mari à la porte, the title role in La Cenerentola, and Margaret in The Light in the Piazza. In her spare time, she enjoys reading exceptionally large books, playing video games, and cooking. www.hilarykoolhoven.com
HILARY KOOLHOVEN, soprano, is delighted to return for her fourth season with OLO, this year playing Cinderella in Into the Woods, Marthe in Music in the Air, and Lt. Genevieve Marshall in South Pacific. A native of Salt Lake City, she received her bachelor of arts from Westminster
thrilled to be joining OLO this season as a young artist and ensemble member.
ABBY KURTH, mezzo-soprano, is excited to be returning to OLO for a second summer as a young artist. Hailing from Bettendorf, IA, she is a recent graduate from the University of NebraskaLincoln. Favorite roles at UNL include the title role in Violet, Pisandro/Love/Juno in The Return of Ulysses, and Amy’s spirit in Adamo’s Little Women. Other favorite roles include Alice Nutting/Edwin HANNAH KURTH HOLMES, Drood in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Charity mezzo-soprano, is delighted to in Sweet Charity, and Coricopat in Cats. When return for a sixth summer at OLO not on the stage, Abby has a passion for singing (and a second summer with her jazz, attending concerts of any musical genre, beloved sister Abby). You may and experimenting in the kitchen. remember her from previous TERYN KUZMA, soprano, seasons as The Old Woman in recently graduated from the Candide, May DeVere in Fifty University of Connecticut with a Million Frenchmen, Bianca in Kiss Me, Kate, and BM in vocal performance under Molly in One Touch of Venus. A native Iowan, the instruction of Constance Hannah holds a BM from the University of Rock. At UConn, she participated Nebraska–Lincoln and an MM from the Eastman in songfests, honors recitals, School of Music. She lives with her husband and several opera productions, Paul (himself an OLO alum) in NYC, where she including its most recent productions of Dido performs regularly with the New York Gilbert & and Aeneas as Belinda, She Loves Me as a Sullivan Players and the St. James Compostela costumer, and Cendrillon as a fairy sprite. Choir. She has also performed with the Victor Ms. Kuzma is also a member of the Women’s Herbert Renaissance Project, the American Bandura Ensemble of North America and an Symphony Orchestra, and the Friends of Mozart. accomplished Ukrainian bandura player. Last When not hustling as a freelancer, Hannah enjoys year, she attended the SongFest Program in Los exploring the city’s parks and cooking vegetarian Angeles as a young artist and won the 2018 delights. www.hannahmezzo.com UConn Aria/Concerto Competition. She is
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JOELLE LACHANCE, mezzo soprano, is thrilled to be returning to OLO after making her company debut as spunky best friend
Joyce Wheeler in Fifty Million Frenchmen. This season, she will be featured as Flora James in Girl Crazy, Lucinda in Into the Woods, and Ensign Rita Adams in South Pacific. Recent roles include a broom-making, candy-eating Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, an energetic First Spirit in The Magic Flute, and the warrior woman Clorinda in Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. She enjoys singing wherever she is given the chance, including a short run as Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte in Berlin. She was bitten by the opera bug, a decade ago, attending the Glimmerglass Festival in her hometown of Cooperstown, NY. Joelle received her BM and MS in music education from Nazareth College in Rochester, NY and an MM in historical performance from Boston University. She was a semi-finalist in the 2019 Harold Haugh Light Opera Vocal Competition and a finalist in the 2018 Barn Opera Vermont Vocal Competition. Joelle is a student of Constance Fee. When not singing anywhere and everywhere, she enjoys Marvel superhero movies, pub trivia nights, reading copious books, and spending time with her family. BOYD MACKUS, baritone, is celebrating his 32nd season this summer with Ohio Light Opera. Over this period, he has been involved in over 1300 performances on the Freedlander stage, including lead roles in shows ranging from American musicals (Camelot, South Pacific, Man of La Mancha, Of Thee I Sing) to European operettas (The Cousin from Batavia, Countess Maritza, White Horse Inn, Gypsy Love), and appearances—many in starring roles—in all 14 Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas. Mr. Mackus has performed over 90 leading opera and operetta roles throughout the United States and has been critically acclaimed from the concert hall to the operatic stage. Several of his recital projects have been recorded and distributed by National Public Radio. This past autumn, Boyd gave two recitals of Schubert’s Winterreise with internationally acclaimed accompanist John Wustman. He also returned to his alma mater, The University of Illinois, to perform as MajorGeneral Stanley with Sinfonia da Camera’s The Pirates of Penzance, with Nathan Gunn and former OLO favorite Dawn Harris, who directed the show. Mr. Mackus owns an international business in Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts, and also serves as artistic advisor
of Wade Artist Management in New York City. Boyd will be seen this summer as Major-General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance, Cornelius in Music in the Air, and Prince Metternich in The Devil’s Rider. GEORGE MARN, baritone, is making his Ohio Light Opera debut, playing Samuel in The Pirates of Penzance. He graduated from the College of Wooster in 2018, receiving his bachelor’s degree in theater with a double major in music, and studying under Carrie Culver. George has previously performed the roles of Harold Hill in The Music Man and Charlemagne in Pippin with The College Light Opera Company. At Wooster, he played John Proctor in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Orpheus in Eurydice. George is thrilled to be returning to Freedlander Theatre and the Wooster community this summer. He would like to thank his parents, Charlie and Kathleen, for their constant love and support. IVANA MARTINIC, soprano, is thrilled to be returning to OLO for a third season as Rapunzel in Into the Woods, as well as Ensign Lisa Minelli in South Pacific and Lucy in Perchance to Dream. Last summer at OLO, Ivana played Cunégonde in Candide and Frasquinella in La Périchole. Originally from Arizona, she received her BA from the Eastman School of Music in 2014 and obtained her MM in vocal performance from the University of Utah in 2017. While in Utah, she has been studying with her mentor, Julie Wright Costa. SPIRO MATSOS, tenor, Wooster’s escoffier, celebrates his 38th season with the Ohio Light Opera. Spiro has been recorded singing professionally in both his native Greece and in this country. OLO fans have learned to look forward to his carefully crafted comic cameos and to enjoy the food and atmosphere in his restaurant on Liberty Street in downtown Wooster. There the walls are covered with OLO production photographs from seasons past, and the booths are often occupied by company members. Spiro would like to dedicate this season to his family and his OLO family. You don’t have to be a superstar, just be a happy star.
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TIM McGOWAN, tenor is excited to be back at OLO. This season he will play the roles of Prince Karl in The Devil’s Rider, William Fayre in Perchance to Dream, and Pflugfelder in Music in the Air. He will also sing in the Quartet in Girl Crazy and the ensemble in The Pirates of Penzance and South Pacific. He has previously performed with The Opera Institute at Boston University, Seagle Music Colony, The Palace Theatre (NH), Odyssey Opera, and Houghton Lyric Theatre. His favorite roles include the title role in Britten’s Albert Herring, the Unnamed Tenor in Philip Glass’ Hydrogen Jukebox, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, La théière in L’Enfant et les sortilèges, Enoch Snow in Carousel, and Peter in Babes in Arms, which he enjoyed doing last summer at OLO. Tim holds a master of music degree in voice performance from Boston University. GARRETT MEDLOCK, tenor, is ecstatic to be returning to Wooster for a third season at the Ohio Light Opera. Last season, Garrett crash-landed as Rene Flambeau in Babes in Arms, traveled the world as the Dutch Minister/ Sailor in Candide, and sang for his supper as Piquillo (cover) in La Périchole. A graduate of the University of Utah, Garrett has performed numerous operatic roles in Utah and at young artist programs around the United States and abroad. Favorite roles include Fenton in Falstaff (Lyrical Opera Theater), Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore (University of Utah), and Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola (MIOpera). Garrett is also a member of the Utah Opera Chorus and has appeared in recent productions of Bellini’s Norma, Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, and Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick. He is thrilled to be back on the Freedlander stage this season, appearing as the Prince’s Steward/Jack (understudy) in Into the Woods, Uppmann in Music in the Air, and Major Count Balothy in The Devil’s Rider.
A Little Night Music. In summer 2016, she joined the prestigious Chautauqua Opera, starring as Yum-Yum in Ned Canty’s acclaimed off-the-wall production of The Mikado. At Opera Memphis, Chelsea has taken on the roles of Gretel, Thérèse/ Tirésias (Les mamelles de Tirésias), Queen of the Night, and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance. This season she made her debut with Anchorage Opera, again in the role of Josephine. She holds a master’s degree from LSU and an artist diploma from the University of Memphis. Next season she will be debuting with Kentucky Opera, playing the role of Younger Alyce in Glory Denied. EMILY NEILL, mezzo-soprano, is delighted to return to the OLO stage as Ensign Bessie Noonan in South Pacific and as part of the ensemble in Girl Crazy and The Pirates of Penzance. Through her appearances in almost 20 OLO productions, Freedlander Theatre has become a second home to her— from early parts in Carousel (2001), Countess Maritza (2003), and Princess Ida (2007) through more recent roles in Miss Springtime (2012), Oh, Lady! Lady!! (2014), The Little Dutch Girl (2016), and The Dancing Years (2016). Emily is exceptionally grateful to all her OLO colleagues for the opportunities to learn and grow over these years. She is especially excited about revisiting South Pacific this summer, for back in OLO’s 2004 production, she played Emile’s young daughter Ngana. With 18 years of dance experience, Emily considers the Snow Queen in The Nutcracker and the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella as two of her favorite classical ballet roles. When not performing in the fall, Emily will be pursuing her master’s degree in industrial organizational psychology at Xavier University in Cincinnati. MICHELLE PEDERSEN, soprano, is proud to be joining The Ohio Light Opera in the role of Bloody Mary in South Pacific. Recent performance credits include Mimi in La bohème, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor. Michelle has a BA in both vocal performance and music education from Oregon State University, and an MM in vocal performance from the University of Utah.
CHELSEA MILLER, soprano, hails from Memphis, where she has performed over ten leading roles with the nationally acclaimed Opera Memphis. Most recently she appeared there, in the 2018-19 season, as Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore and The Soldier in Jerre Dye and Zack Redler’s The Falling and ELIZABETH PERKINS, mezzo-soprano, is the Rising. Last summer, Chelsea joined Des thrilled to be returning to OLO for her fifth Moines Metro Opera to sing Mrs. Nordstrom in season in Into the Woods (Snow White), Music in 60 Box Office: 330.263.2345
the Air (Hans, the goatherd), and The Devil’s Rider. OLO patrons may remember her from Iolanthe, Candide, Annie Get Your Gun (Nellie), The King and I (Louis), and Jubilee (Prince Rudolph). Her most recent credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Puck), Our Town (Emily Webb), The Wizard of Oz (Dorothy), and The Gondoliers (Fiametta). She is honored to be reunited with her OLO friends and mentors this summer. @the_e_perkins CHARLES AUSTIN PIPER, baritone, received his BM degree from Otterbein in 2017 and his MM from Kent State University. As a member of OLO’s young artist program, he is thrilled to be playing multiple roles this season: James Hayes in South Pacific, Hotel Proprietor in Girl Crazy, Cinderella’s Father in Into the Woods, chorus member in The Pirates of Penzance, Baum in Music in the Air, and Cavalry Captain Count Kinsky in The Devil’s Rider. Charles has performed various opera roles previous to OLO, including Count Robinson in Il matrimonio segreto, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, and Top in The Tender Land. In July of 2018, Charles traveled to Graz, Austria to be a part of the American Institute of Musical Studies; there he won the Harold Heiberg Liedersänger Preis for outstanding lieder performance. He recently won first place in the advanced men category of the Ohio NATS competition. Charles currently studies with Tim Culver. TANYA ROBERTS, soprano, returns for her fifth season as the Baker’s Wife (Into the Woods), Leontine (The Devil’s Rider), Frieda (Music in the Air), Alice (Perchance to Dream), and Connie (South Pacific). She hopes you remember her as the title role in Countess Maritza, Anna (The King and I), Lilli (Kiss Me, Kate), Eliza (My Fair Lady), Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus), and Dolly (Have a Heart). Tanya has performed over 70 opera, operetta, and musical theater roles worldwide. She has appeared with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Michigan Opera Theatre, Edmonton Opera, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Lyriqueen-Mer, Teatro Grattacielo, Long Island Opera, VHRP Live!, Cirque du Soleil, The Banff Centre, Charlottesville Opera, Sound of Austria, and the Tel Aviv Vocal Arts Festival, among many others. Tanya made her solo debut at Carnegie Hall
with the NYC Chamber Orchestra in Mozart’s Solemn Vespers, and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Bach’s Mass in b minor. Tanya spent the year traveling to over 30 countries with Azamara Club Cruises, performing in opera and theater cabarets, song recitals, and as Micaëla in Carmen. Tanya is a native of Toronto, graduate of McGill University, and resident of NYC. @tanya.c.roberts | www.tanya-roberts.com AUSTIN RUBINOSKI, tenor, is delighted to be taking part in his first season with OLO, as Yeoman Herbert Quale in South Pacific, Father Joch in Music in the Air, and Lord Failsham in Perchance to Dream. Austin, a native of Elyria, OH, recently graduated with a BFA in musical theater from Rockford University, where he took part in performance and technical opportunities. He previously had the privilege of performing the roles of Denny Varney in Life Could Be a Dream, Maximilian in Candide, Tommy Ross in Carrie: The Musical, Camille Chandebise in A Flea in Her Ear, and as a member of the ensemble in Carousel. Austin is grateful to be a part of the young artist program and the 41st season here at OLO. He wants to send all his love to Kaitlin, Mom, Dad, Ryan and his close loved ones—thank you for your support. LAUREN NASH SILBERSTEIN, soprano, recently graduated with a master of music from the Eastman School of Music and holds both a BS in business management and BM in vocal performance from Binghamton University. Performances with Eastman Opera Theatre include Soprano 1 in Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Tibetan Book of the Dead and Franca Naccarelli in The Light in the Piazza. With Opera Saratoga, Lauren has been seen as Second Spirit in Die Zauberflöte, and ensemble for The Mighty Casey and H.M.S. Pinafore. She portrayed the Dew Fairy in Tri-Cities Opera’s production of Hansel and Gretel. With TCO, Lauren also was a member of the ensemble of Sweeney Todd and La Traviata. She portrayed Yum-Yum in The Mikado with BU. Recent awards include The Mendelssohn Club’s Joel Dolven Scholarship Award in the Intermediate Division (2018) and first place in the NATS Eastern Region Conference in 2017 and 2014. She is ecstatic to be making her first appearance with OLO this summer.
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AIDAN SMERUD, bass-baritone, is excited to return to OLO for his second season. Originally from La Crosse, WI, Aidan is currently pursuing his DMA at the University of Houston and studying with Timothy Jones. This season, he will be seen as the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, Emile de Becque in South Pacific, Lank Sanders in Girl Crazy, Rapunzel’s Prince in Into the Woods, and Pfleiderer in The Devil’s Rider. Aidan last performed with OLO during the 2014 season as the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance and Frederick in Dream City and The Magic Knight. While attending the University of Houston, Aidan has performed some of his favorite roles as Rucker Lattimore in Cold Sassy Tree, Dr. Miracle in The Tales of Hoffmann, and the title role in Don Pasquale. Aidan recently directed La Crosse Community Theatre’s production of I Do! I Do! and is excited to direct his first opera in the near future with the University of Houston. ALAN PALMER SMITH, tenor, is pleased to be joining OLO for his first season as Lt. Cable in South Pacific, Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, Jack in Into The Woods, Sam Mason in Girl Crazy, and Count Réty in The Devil’s Rider. Alan is completing his DMA at The University of Utah under the tutelage of Seth Keeton. At the U, Alan has been involved in productions of Candide as the Governor and La Rondine as Prunier. A native of Portland, OR, Alan received his MM from Portland State University and studied with acclaimed baritone Richard Zeller. At PSU he performed the roles of Sam Kaplan and Daniel Buchanan in Street Scene, Lysander in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the Priest in Dialogues of the Carmelites. Alan is also a graduate of the Summer Vocology Institute and an NCVS trained vocologist. SADIE SPIVEY, soprano, is delighted to be returning for her second summer at OLO. Sadie is a senior at Penn State, where she is pursuing both a BM in voice performance and a BFA in acting. Favorite roles include Mayella in To Kill A Mockingbird, Medea in Argonautika, Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Alice in Alice in Concert (which she performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Featured roles this summer include Little Red 62 Box Office: 330.263.2345
Ridinghood in Into The Woods, Tess Parker in Girl Crazy, and Sieglinde in Music in the Air. YVONNE TROBE, soprano, is delighted to be returning to OLO for her third season as Kate Fothergill in Girl Crazy, The Witch in Into the Woods, Kate in The Pirates of Penzance, The Empress in The Devil’s Rider, and Ernestine in Perchance to Dream. This is Yvonne’s first season as a principal artist; audiences may recognize her from her past OLO performances as Melousine in Cloclo, Mrs. Gladys Caroll in Fifty Million Frenchmen, Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn in The Music Man, and Duchess Anastasia in The Student Prince. Recently, Yvonne made her operatic debut at Sarasota Opera, where she performed the role of Anna in Nabucco and received the Daniel R. Mandelker and Marlene N. Harris Award for an Outstanding Returning Artist. Yvonne has also performed the roles of Governess in The Turn of the Screw, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, the title role in Suor Angelica, and Emma Goldman in Ragtime. A native of Rochester, NY, Yvonne graduated with an MM from the Eastman School of Music as the Renée Fleming Endowment Scholarship recipient, and is currently a freelance opera singer, coffee enthusiast, and bread-making fiend. ADAM WELLS, baritone, is a 2018 graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he completed his master’s under the tutelage of American tenor Anthony Dean Griffey. Wells has performed a wide range of roles in 20th century operas and musicals, ranging from Paul in Glass’ Les enfants terribles or Demetrius in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to the title role in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. He received the 2016 Linda Candler Award for Outstanding Opera Student at the Janiec Opera Company, where he performed the role of the Young Soldier in the world premiere of Falling Angel by J. Mark Scearce. Wells is a 2013 YoungArts winner in classical voice and a 2019 South Carolina Metropolitan National Council district winner. Wells completed his bachelor’s degree at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. KYLE YAMPIRO, baritone, is delighted and grateful to return to OLO for a fourth season. A native of Long Island, he holds a DMA in voice performance, pedagogy, and literature with a singing health emphasis from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA and has served
on faculty at University of Memphis and Eastern Mennonite University, teaching musical theater, voice, and music history. Favorite OLO credits include Henry in Have a Heart, Bobinet in La vie parisienne, Mayor Shinn in The Music Man, Penizek in Countess Maritza, and stock gangsters Taxi Black in One Touch of Venus and First Gunman in Kiss Me, Kate. Since his last summer in Wooster, he worked as an actor/educator with Merry-Go-Round Youth Theatre in central New York, performed musical theater with The Winnipesaukee Playhouse in New Hampshire, Springer Opera House in Georgia, and Arizona Broadway Theatre, and moved back home to pursue acting full-time, making his NYC debut with the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players as Sergeant Meryll in The Yeomen of the Guard. In addition to acting and teaching, he remains active in the a cappella community as a reviewer for the Recorded A Cappella Review Board (RARB) and competition judge. www.kyleyampiro.com YOUTH CAST GRAYSON GRIFFITH is delighted to be making his debut with the Ohio Light Opera. Grayson is a straight-A student at Lakeview Intermediate in Stow, Ohio, where he performed the role of the King of Hearts in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, Jr. He will be in sixth grade in the fall. Grayson’s other acting experience includes the roles of Michael in Return to Neverland, Prince Charming in Sleeping Ugly, Sergeant Tibbs in 101 Dalmatians, and Little Pig in Humpty Dumpty as part of the Weathervane Playhouse Summer Theatre Academy. Grayson plays trombone in his school band and bass in his school orchestra, and he also sings in his church choir. ISABELLA RODEMAN is 11 years old. She loves all things about musical theater and is thrilled to be making her debut at The Ohio Light Opera. She was last seen playing Timone in The Lion King Jr. at Western Reserve Playhouse. Isabella is beyond thankful for this amazing opportunity.
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2019 FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA
Alex Urbina concertmaster
Tatiana Zueva assistant concertmaster
Jeffrey Anderson clarinet
David Berghoff viola
Teresa Bloemer viola
Laura Chalmers clarinet
Imjeong Choi cello
Will England saxophone
Diana Farah violin
Sarah Jayne Gartin percussion
Jesse Gibens trumpet
Peter Gooch trombone
Emily Grissing cello
Sam Himes horn
Will Horner trombone
Laura Kellogg flute
Charlotte Kies clarinet
Bridget Long oboe
Donald McEwan trumpet
Namjoo Oh violin
Mitchell Reiner-Coffey double bass
Thomas Roblee percussion
Grace Roepke harp
Emory Rosenow violin
John Schuesselin trumpet
Schuyler Thornton flute
Kelley Tracz oboe
Beth Uhimchuk violin
Elena Varon horn
Alistair Watson violin
Spencer Wilson bassoon
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ALEX URBINA, concertmaster, is a current Ph.D. student and assistant director of the Oxford String Project at the University of Mississippi. This is his debut as concertmaster of the OLO orchestra. As a violinist, he has appeared with the Chandler Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburg Chamber Music Festival, Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, Mobile Opera, Mobile Symphony, Naches Opera, Meridian Symphony, Mississippi Symphony, and the San Pedro Sula Camerata, among others. He has also held the concertmaster chair position with The San Pedro Sula Chamber Orchestra and The Honduran Symphony Orchestra, and served as assistant concertmaster of the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra. He is a current member of the Starkville Symphony Orchestra and concertmaster of the LOU Symphony Orchestra. He has worked with artists such as Jean-Pierre Rampal, Itzhak Perlman, YoYo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Alexandre Brussilovsky, Placido Domingo, and Leonard Slatkin. Alex is a native of San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
Rice and Rami Solomonow at DePaul. He was the violist of Quartet Fuoco, which won the gold medal in the junior division of the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and has been featured on WFMT’s Introductions, WDAV, and on NPR’s From the Top.
JEFFREY ANDERSON, clarinet, is pleased to be returning to the OLO pit orchestra for a sixth season. While serving there, he has played clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, and piano. Jeffrey is a music instructor at Allen Community College in Iola, KS, where he wears many hats teaching music classes, giving applied lessons, and directing ensembles. This past fall, Allen presented the musical Mamma Mia!, for which Jeffrey served as music director. He received his DMA in clarinet performance with a cognate in piano performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He received his master’s in clarinet performance from Bowling Green State University and his bachelor’s in music education from Michigan State University. Favorite shows of past OLO seasons include Dream City and the Magic Knight, Ruddigore, and Kiss Me, Kate. jeffreyandersonmusic.com
music and science at Vanier CEGEP in Montreal with Zaven Zakarian. She then went on to do her bachelor’s in music at McGill University with Alain Desgagne, and was then fortunate enough to study with her personal hero, James Campbell, and then with Eli Eban for her masters and her doctorate at Indiana University, where she served as the assistant instructor. Laura is currently finishing her dissertation while freelancing and teaching in the Chicago area.
TERESA BLOEMER, viola, hails from Boston, where she is pursuing a master’s in viola performance at Boston University. An active freelancer, she has performed with many varied ensembles, including the Fort Smith Symphony, the Dallas Chamber Orchestra, and the Odysseus Chamber Orchestra. For the past two summers, she has attended the Brevard Music Festival, where she performed masterworks under the batons of Keith Lockhart, JoAnn Falletta, and other notable conductors. In 2015 she was selected to perform in the Castleton Festival Orchestra under the direction of Rafael Payare and Fabio Luisi. She currently studies with Michelle LaCourse and Hye Min Choi. Other teachers and mentors include Susan Dubois, TATIANA ZUEVA, assistant concertmaster, is Daphne Gerling, Cynthia Roberts, Lisa Boyko, excited for her fourth season with OLO. She is an and Matthias Maurer. alumna of St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia LAURA CHALMERS, clarinet, is excited and just finished her DMA degree at Michigan to be returning for a fifth season at OLO. State University. She plays in several orchestras in She is a Montreal native. Despite numerous Michigan, including Kalamazoo Symphony Or- interventions, Laura decided that she wanted chestra, West Michigan Symphony, and Traverse nothing more than to be an orchestral clarinetist, Symphony. a decision that lead her to study a double DEC in
DAVID BERGHOFF, viola, returns for his second season with OLO. He is a 2018 graduate of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where he performed in the symphony, chamber, and opera orchestras. A Chicagoan, David has studied principally under James Dunham at
IMJEONG CHOI, cello, is a South Korean and was a member of the Seoul Metropolitan Youth Orchestra, and a substitute for the Jeonju City Symphony Orchestra and Mostly Philharmonic Orchestra. She has music festival experience and, in 2018, participated in the MSU summer Study Abroad program in Todi, Italy, which included a performance. She has toured in Hong Kong, China, Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan as a member of the Asian Youth Orchestra. In the United States, she has been a substitute in the Alma Symphony Orchestra and Jackson Symphony Orchestra. Since 2018, Choi has been a member of the Midland Symphony Orchestra. Currently, she is pursuing her master of music performance degree at Michigan State University ohiolightopera.org 65
College of Music, where she studies with Suren include music composition, golf, and camping. Bagratuni. Peter has performed with the College of Wooster Jazz Ensemble, the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble, WILL ENGLAND, saxophone and the Eastman Trombone Choir. His future DIANA FARAH, violin, is thrilled to be returning aspirations lie in the field of education, while reto OLO for a second season. She has finished maining an active performer. Currently, Peter is a her master’s program in performance with freelance jazz and classical musician in northeast Stephen Redfield at the University of Southern Ohio. His past instructors include Joseph Duchi, Mississippi. She worked with the Mississippi Larry Zalkind, Scott Garlock, Ken Holzworth, Symphony and the Gulf Coast Symphony. In July Dan Adams, Doug Bennett, and Mark Kellogg. of 2017, she was invited to teach and perform at the Guaranda Music Festival in Ecuador. A EMILY GRISSING, cello, is thrilled to be native of Brazil, Diana studied with Pedro Della returning for her fourth season with OLO. Emily Role in the São Paulo State School of Music, and was captivated by live classical professional became a member of important orchestras in the orchestral music at age two, and immediately state of São Paulo. Today, Diana continues her dove into a life dedicated to in-depth study and studies at Oklahoma State University with Laura performance of music. While other children Talbott Clark, a fellow musician playing with the played in sandboxes, Emily practiced piano, composed music, listened to opera, jazz, and Tulsa Symphony Orchestra. more. She has studied cello, conducting, free SARAH JAYNE GARTIN, percussion, is improv, flute, voice, viola, double bass, musical ecstatic to be joining OLO for its 41st season as a theater, music theory, early music, and more, fourth-year orchestra member. Sarah holds a BM while establishing herself as an accomplished, (performance) from The Florida State University collaborative musician. Currently based in and an MM (performance) from The Eastman Winston-Salem, NC, she is a cellist in the School of Music, where she had the privilege Winston-Salem and Greensboro Symphonies, of studying with John Parks IV and Michael and is a freelance (sub) cellist with other regional Burritt. Since moving home to San Antonio, orchestras. Emily has participated in prestigious TX in 2015, Sarah has performed with the San music festivals, including the Aspen Music Antonio Symphony, Mid-Texas Symphony, Festival, the National Repertory Orchestra, Midland-Odessa Symphony Orchestra, Abilene the Eastern Music Festival, and the National Philharmonic, and The Public Theater. She is Orchestral Institute. Close to Emily’s heart is currently the adjunct percussion instructor at sharing music with others through performance, Trinity University and the associate director mentoring, and teaching of percussive studies at Brennan High School. When she isn’t gigging or teaching, Sarah spends SAM HIMES, horn, is thrilled to begin his first time with her family, her dog Emma, going to season with the Ohio Light Opera orchestra. live concerts, consuming large amounts of coffee, Originally from Fort Worth, Sam decided to further his musical career and his extreme winand exercising. ter survival skills at the University of Michigan, JESSE GIBENS, trumpet, is a senior trumpet where he will begin his junior year as a French performance major at the University of Missis- horn performance and music education major sippi and a native of Ripley, MS. Before attend- this fall. Sam has enjoyed performing with the ing the University of Mississippi, Jesse performed University of Michigan bands and orchestras, at Carnegie Hall with the Honors Performance as well as serving as substitute third horn in the Series. Presently, Jesse performs in the principal Adrian Symphony. However, he has met his closchair with the University of Mississippi Wind est friends and greatest performing colleagues Ensemble, LOU Orchestra, and Mississippians among the formation of the Aurora Winds Jazz Ensemble, and is also the second trumpet in Woodwind Quintet in 2018, premiering two new the University Faculty Brass Quintet. Jesse is the works by UM composers at the Midwest Compresident of the University of Mississippi’s chap- posers Symposium. Sam has begun experimentter of Phi Mu Alpha. ing with jazz improvisation, free improvisation, PETER GOOCH, trombone, is thrilled to be re- composing, and arranging in his free time. Outturning to OLO for his fifth season. A native of side of horn, his interests include running, meetWooster and graduate of Wooster High School, ing new people, winning at Mario Party, and Peter recently graduated as a music education watching Die Hard on repeat. major from The Ohio State University, where he WILL HORNER, trombone, is a multifaceted studied with John Gruber. Some of Peter’s hobbies trombonist from Grove City, OH, returning to 66 Box Office: 330.263.2345
OLO for his second season. Playing anything from lead jazz trombone to orchestral bass trombone, he has had the opportunity to perform all over the world, most notably as soloist with the Tatabánya Big Band (Hungary), soloist for the Escuela Ernesto Ramos Antonini in Yauco, Puerto Rico, ORF Radio “Europatag” Artist for 2016, member of Eddie Luis und Die Gnadenlosen (Austria), and touring with Wessell “Warmdaddy” Anderson in Peru. This fall he will be attending LSU as a GA in the school of music. Will stays busy writing, arranging, recording, and playing with plenty of local bands and projects in the Athens and greater Columbus area. LAURA KELLOGG, flute, is delighted to be returning to OLO for a sixth season. Laura lives in Macomb, MI and is the flute instructor at Marshall Music in Troy and Oakland University Community Music. As a freelancer, Laura has performed with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Jackson Symphony Orchestra, Fort Smith Symphony, Cimarron Opera, and the Salomon Chamber Orchestra. Preceding her seasons with OLO, Laura attended the Chautauqua Music Festival in New York for two summers. Laura has a DMA from the University of Oklahoma, a master’s degree in flute performance from Wright State University, and a bachelor’s degree in flute performance from Michigan State University. Laura is currently pursuing her music education teaching certificate from Oakland University. Her flute mentors are Richard Sherman, Christopher Chaffee, Valerie Watts, and Amanda Blaikie. www.laurakelloggflutist.com CHARLOTTE KIES clarinet, returns this summer for her third season with OLO. During the year, Charlotte teaches clarinet and music theory at Lee University in Cleveland, TN, and performs with the Huntsville and Chattanooga Symphony Orchestras. Charlotte is most excited to participate in this season’s production of South Pacific, the first musical in which she ever performed. Charlotte earned her BM from Indiana University, her MM from Carnegie Mellon University, and her DMA from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. When she is not playing her clarinet, you will likely find Charlotte on her bicycle, exploring Wooster at full speed.
performed with the Conservatory’s symphony, ballet, and opera orchestras, as well as the baroque ensemble and wind ensemble. In March, Bridget, along with other members of a wind quartet, was a guest artist at the Experiencing Villa-Lobos festival at Virginia Commonwealth University. In the fall, Bridget will be returning to her home state to attend the University of Washington in Seattle, where she will study with Seattle Symphony principal oboist Mary Lynch. DONALD McEWAN, trumpet, is performing with the OLO orchestra for his second season. Donald is a freelance musician in the North Carolina area. He is a member of the 208th Army Reserve Band, and frequently performs as a substitute musician with the Asheville Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Greensboro Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony, Richmond Symphony, and Salisbury Symphony. He received his bachelor’s degree from the Oberlin Conservatory, and his master’s degree from UNC-Greensboro. NAMJOO OH, violin, is a South Korean violinist. At age 16, she was accepted to the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Austria as the youngest student under Paul Roczek. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees under him and also received a postgraduate diploma at the Mozarteum University under Pierre Amoyal. Currently, Oh is pursuing a DMA in violin performance at Michigan State University under Dmitri Berlinsky. In 2017, she was a soloist with the Camerata Michigan ensemble and in 2018 won second prize in the third Ho Chi Minh City international competition. Currently, she is a member of Midland Symphony Orchestra and a concertmaster of MSU Symphony Orchestra. MITCHELL REINER-COFFEY, double bass, hails from Columbus, OH. Having started playing the bass at the age of ten, Mitchell has performed with many ensembles across three continents. A recent graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he received his bachelor’s degree in music performance, Mitchell studied with three Cleveland Orchestra members: Scott Dixon (section bass), Derek Zadinsky (section bass), and Maximilian Dimoff (principal bass). When Mitchell is not playing bass, he enjoys spending time with his nephew Kurt.
THOMAS ROBLEE, percussion, is in his eighth year as instructor of percussion and first year as tour coordinator at The College of Wooster. BRIDGET LONG, oboe, is excited to be here for After completing degrees from SUNY Fredonia her first season with the Ohio Light Opera. Bridget and The University of Akron, he has been just completed her bachelor of music degree in performing with OLO for 12 seasons. Thomas oboe performance at the Boston Conservatory, is timpanist of the Tuscarawas Philharmonic where she studied with Amanda Hardy. She has and has performed with the Akron, Ashland, ohiolightopera.org 67
and Wooster Symphony Orchestras. He has performed concerti with orchestras on marimba, timpani, and steel pans. Thomas continuously presents clinics and performances of traditional African music on gyil (Ghanaian xylophone) and drums. When not performing, he enjoys downhill skiing, adventure races, and traveling. Thomas and his wife Rene welcomed their first child, Oliver, in April 2018. GRACE ROEPKE, harp, has earned distinction as a successful solo performer and competitor around the country. Most recently, Ms. Roepke made history by becoming the first harpist to receive both the grand prize and first prize among all instrumentalists at the Friends of the Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist Competition. She will subsequently make her solo debut with the Minnesota Orchestra in a subscription concert series during the 2020-21 season. In addition to her success as a solo performer, Ms. Roepke is also an active orchestral musician. She is currently in her first season as principal harp with the Ohio Light Opera, and has appeared as guest principal harp with the Firelands Symphony, BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, and the St. Cloud Civic Orchestra. Ms. Roepke received her bachelor’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with world renowned solo artist Yolanda Kondonassis.
several articles on pedagogy in Flute Talk and The Instrumentalist, and is on faculty at Mason Gross Extension Division. Raised in Allentown, NJ, Schuyler earned her BM in performance and BA in government from Lawrence University and Conservatory of Music, her MM in performance from James Madison University, and is pursuing her DMA in performance under the tutelage of Bart Feller at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts. www.schuylerthornton.com
KELLEY TRACZ, oboe, is very excited to be part of the Ohio Light Opera orchestra this summer. Currently based in Greensboro, NC, she is pursuing her DMA and serves as teaching assistant for the oboe studio at UNCG. Kelley has performed with numerous orchestras across the country, including New World Symphony, Brevard Festival Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, and Quad City Symphony. An equally passionate educator, her students have been selected as members of the Texas All-State ensembles, and have been accepted to schools of music such as Eastman, UT Austin, SMU, and UMKC. Kelley received her MM in oboe from the University of Minnesota and her BM in oboe at Kansas State University. She has studied extensively with Andrew Parker, John Snow, Ashley Barret, and Nora Lewis. Kelley likes to spend her time away from the oboe hanging with EMORY ROSENOW, violin, is happy to be her cat Freddie, watching bad reality TV, and joining OLO for a sixth season. A native of cooking tasty vegetarian food. Kansas, she holds performance degrees from BETH UHIMCHUK, violin, is honored to be Kansas State and Oklahoma State Universities, playing her second season with the Ohio Light and recently completed additional studies at Opera. She has her master’s in violin performance Cleveland State with Takako Masame. In addition from the University of North Texas and her to various university and pit orchestras, she has bachelor’s in violin performance and musicology played with Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Opera from the University of Cincinnati. Beth has Project Columbus, and the Tulsa Symphony, as performed with orchestras across the country, well as numerous chamber ensembles. When most recently as section violinist in the Orchestra Emory isn’t playing violin, she enjoys reading, of Indian Hill in Indian Hill, MA, and with the pit knitting, taking care of an increasing number orchestras of The Arlington Friends of the Drama of houseplants, and attempts to get her cat Mr. and The Concord Players, in Arlington, MA Butters to exercise (with increasing success). She and Concord, MA, respectively. She has studied currently resides in Columbus, where she gigs at numerous festivals, including the National and teaches. Orchestral Institute, Green Mountain Chamber SCHUYLER THORNTON, flute, is elated to Music Festival, and Wintergreen Summer join the orchestra at OLO. She was principal Performance Institute. Beth recently moved from flute and orchestra manager at The College Light Boston to Cincinnati with her husband. There, Opera Company for the past four seasons, and they are working as freelance performers as they has performed as principal flute with Rockbridge prepare for and take orchestral auditions. Symphony, Waynesboro Symphony, Sewanee Music Festival, Rutgers Opera Theatre, and Southern Virginia Opera. She was a featured performer at the New York and Wisconsin Flute Fairs, and serves as treasurer of the New Jersey Flute Society. An active teacher, she has published 68 Box Office: 330.263.2345
ELENA VARON, horn, is a Rochester, NY native currently studying horn performance with W. Peter Kurau at the Eastman School of Music (BM 2021). Elena frequently performs with the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra, Eastman Wind Orchestra, and the Eastman Horn Choir,
as well as with her wind quintet, the Meraki Winds. In July 2018, she traveled to Cesena, Italy to participate in the soundSCAPE International New Music Festival, where she collaborated with composers and premiered exciting new works. Furthermore, she was awarded the Howard Hanson Scholarship from the Eastman School of Music and the Semper Fidelis Music Award from the United States Marines in 2017. In her free time, Elena enjoys watching movies and creating art. ALISTAIR WATSON, violin, is happy to be returning for his second season in the OLO pit orchestra. Born in Australia, he moved to the United States in 2002. Alistair studied violin performance at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, received his bachelor’s degree at Wichita State University, and his MM at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. He then spent a year of free study in Boston. Alistair is section violin for Richmond Sympho-
ny in Indiana and for Symphony of Northwest Arkansas. He and his violinist wife Beth Uhimchuk now reside in Cincinnati. In his spare time, Alistair loves to spend time with his family, go surfing, and garden. SPENCER WILSON, bassoon, is excited to be returning to OLO for his third season. Originally from Chesapeake, VA, Spencer currently resides in Dallas as a freelance musician and lesson teacher. During his time in the metroplex, he has performed with such groups as the Dallas Winds, the Rapides Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra of New Spain, among others. Spencer serves as the adjunct professor of bassoon at Mountain View College, as well as private lesson staff for five school districts in north Texas. Along with these duties, he has worked closely with the bassoon studio at the University of Texas at Arlington as a regular guest clinician and events organizer. Spencer is a student of Susan Barber and William Ludwig.
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FESTIVAL TECHNICAL AND ARTISTIC STAFF SCENE SHOP AND STAGE CREW ALLIANCE AKINS, carpenter, is excited to work for OLO for the first time. She is currently working on her BA in theater at the University of Arkansas, where she has been doing work study for the past year. Her past credits include master carpenter for She Kills Monsters, and carpenter for Macbeth, Top Girls, Clybourne Park, and Topdog/Underdog. She has also worked as properties assistant for She Kills Monsters and Topdog/Underdog. When she graduates, Alliance plans to do everything she can in the theater. She wants to be well-rounded and do carpentry, as well as costume-creating and prop-making.
Silent Sky, and Murder for Two.
MICHAEL DEAN, production assistant, is excited to be joining OLO for the first time. Michael is a rising junior, studying towards a BA in sociology and double minor in music and English from The College of Wooster. Along with coursework, Michael enjoys studying and playing the trumpet in many campus ensembles, such as the symphony orchestra, symphonic band, and jazz ensemble. Michael spent the past year working in the scene shop for the College, assisting in productions of The Tempest, The Normal Heart, and various other shows. During free time, Michael enjoys ANNA BIGGERSTAFF, carpenter, is excited watching videos on YouTube, noodling around for her first season with OLO. She is currently on different instruments, and writing when the pursuing a BFA in directing at Lipscomb inspiration hits. University in Nashville. She has been a foreman RYAN DOUGLASS, assistant scenic designer, in the university scene shop for the last three has just finished his first year as an MFA years. Favorite sets that she has worked on candidate in scenic design at the Penn State include those for Godspell, Silent Sky, and On University. Before that, Ryan was a high school the Verge. In addition to carpentry, she stage- theater teacher in Orlando for seven years. Ryan managed her first mainstage show, Silent Sky, received BAs in music and theater from the this past January. This upcoming season, she Florida State University. He also worked as a will be a producer for the Nashville company, performer at the Walt Disney World Resort for Second Stage Student Theatre, for which she seven years. will use her skills in carpentry, directing, and stage management. She would like to thank her JACOB GOOCH, production assistant, is professors Chelsea Flowers and Andy Bleiler for thrilled to be joining OLO for his first season. Jacob has been on crews across Wayne County their support. and Northeastern Ohio, including Summer AUSTIN CARTER, production assistant, is Stage Wooster, Wayne Center for the Arts excited to be working with OLO this summer. Ballet Company, and Ballet Wooster. Jacob will He expects to graduate from Blackburn College be heading down to Otterbein University in in the spring of 2020 with a degree in theater and Westerville, OH in the fall to pursue a degree a minor in business administration. He hopes to in theater design technology. He is a student of gain an immense amount of experience from OLO Todd Patterson and Brett Hiner. to help in his senior capstone project, which is being the assistant technical director of Bothwell DUSTIN GREEN, set carpenter, is very Auditorium. He has worked as a lighting and excited to take part in his first season at OLO. sound designer in Bothwell for the past three He is attending the University of Alabama at years. Austin performed as Pete in Blackburn’s Birmingham for a bachelor’s degree in theater premiere of Speaking in Tongues during the fall with a concentration in design/technology. He is of 2018. Hailing from South Beloit, IL, he hopes from Birmingham. to flee, after graduation, from the monotony that BURKETT HORRIGAN, assistant stage is the midwest. manager, is excited to be working with OLO RYANN CORBETT, assistant costume shop for the first time. She is currently a student manager, is excited to start her first season at Montclair State University in Montclair, here at OLO. Originally from Los Angeles, she NJ, studying stage management and lighting. graduated from Wittenberg University in 2016. Professionally, she has worked as a production During the year, she is the costume shop manager assistant on Easter Bonnet 2019 and Red Bucket at Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, MA, Follies 2018, both BC/EFA events, and at the where she has worked on shows like The Royale, Minskoff and New Amsterdam Theatres in 70 Box Office: 330.263.2345
NYC. She has also served as the production stage manager at the Bergen Performing Arts Center for its productions, over the past three years, of A Christmas Carol, Beauty and The Beast, West Side Story, and Les Misérables. Select educational credits at MSU include production stage manager for a new workshop musical, Cold Turkey, programmer/board op for Worksa-Foot 2018, and assistant stage manager for The Full Monty, Danceworks 2018, and Worksa-Foot 2017. CARI KAMPER, deck chief, is excited for her third season with OLO, following her final year with the University of Cincinnati CollegeConservatory of Music. Some of her favorite projects from her collegiate and high school years include 16 functional Kabuki drape drops, building Grease Lightning, a whole forest of Truffula trees for Seussical, and her first two technical directing experiences in the Cohen Family Studio Theater this year. However, the most fun show experience she’s had so far would still have to be American Idiot in her freshman year of college, because she loves the music of Green Day, and her duties as prop drug handler never failed to be entertaining. Her other interests include hiking, urban exploration, playing video games, collecting candles, and trying new foods. She would not be where she is today without JR Simons, and she hopes everyone has a delightful summer of theater. MAYA RICKARD, production assistant HELEN ROOKER, stage manager, is a College of Wooster graduate and returning OLO stage manager. Her recent work includes serving as instrument tech for Once as well as electrics intern at Northern Stage in Vermont, where she grew up. She will be returning to the state at the
end of the summer as resident assistant master electrician and assistant director for Million Dollar Quartet with Northern Stage. She is thrilled to be coming back to the Ohio Light Opera this year to stage manage Girl Crazy and Music in the Air. BETHANY SASSEN, first hand, is excited to be here for her first season at OLO. She graduated in 2016 from Carthage College with a degree in costume design. Since then, she has been working all over the Midwest in everything costumes. She is excited to learn more and grow at OLO. ABBY SCHNECK, production stage manager, is joining the OLO team for the first time this year. Recent productions include Downstairs (Dorset Theatre Festival in Vermont), Let The Right One In (The Hippodrome State Theatre in Florida), Peter and The Starcatcher and Sense and Sensibility (The Lyric Theatre in Utah), The Secret Garden and The Addams Family (Northern Michigan University), as well as work for The Cumberland Theatre in Maryland. Abby holds a bachelor’s degree in theater stage management from Northern Michigan University and is currently traveling across the United States stage managing for multiple companies. CHRISTOPHER TUCKER, assistant stage manager, is excited to be returning to the OLO team. He has been working on theater productions both on and off stage for nine years, and has been stage managing for three. Favorite shows he’s worked on include Anything Goes, Quilters, and Little Shop of Horrors. He is a fresh graduate from The University of Mount Union, studying theater technology and design, and hopes to continue working in theater, and not have to return to customer service.
Explore the impact first ladies have made on the political and cultural lives of our nation.
Admission $7 adult | $6 Senior | $5 Child
Home Of
Includes: l Self-guided tour of the Education and Research Center exhibits l Guided tour of the home of First Lady Ida Saxton McKinley l Free parking
Museum Hours
May - October - Monday - Sunday 9AM - 4PM November - April - Friday & Saturday 9AM - 4PM First Ladies National Historic Site | National Park Service Located in downtown Canton | 205 Market Avenue South Canton OH 44702 | firstladies.org | 330.452.0876
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SCENIC ARTISTS KARISSA HODGE, scenic painter, is excited to be working at OLO for the first time this season. She is currently pursuing a BFA in scenic art, props, and stage design at The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Recently, Karissa had the opportunity to be assistant scenic designer for The Hunchback of Notre Dame and designer for Die Fledermaus at CCM. She would like to thank her family, professors, and friends for supporting her aspirations.
and was recently the scenic charge artist for its production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Seth is excited for his first season with The Ohio Light Opera.
CHYNA MAYER, scenic painter, is a student at the University of Arkansas, working toward a BA in theater with a tech and design emphasis. She is from Broken Arrow, OK and hopes to be a scenic designer by the time she graduates in 2021. Chyna performed for many years before falling in love with tech. She was the first to play Lady Donna SETH HOWARD, scenic painter, is a rising in Rise at the University of Arkansas. She played junior at The University of Cincinnati College- Abigail Williams in The Crucible and Miss Prism Conservatory of Music. There he is studying in The Importance of Being Earnest at Broken stage design, props, and scenic art with a focus Arrow High School. She’s been wardrobe head, in scenic design. Seth has assumed many roles spot operator, and deck crew at the university. for productions at CCM, such as assistant She works in the scene shop doing carpentry, scenic designer and props master. He has been painting, and making props. This is her first a scenic painter for many productions there summer at OLO, and she is thrilled to be here.
COSTUMES AND WARDROBE JOSEPH ANELLO, stitcher/wardrobe, is excited for his first season with the Ohio Light Opera. He is heading into his junior year at Montclair State University, where he will receive his BFA in costume design and technology, as well as his makeup artistry certification with Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. Previously, he has worked on Guys and Dolls as a hair and makeup assistant, and designed the costumes for the dance piece Our Better Angels. In addition, he was the wardrobe head for New Works Initiative Daughters of the Rebellion. Joe is a student of Debra Otte and Judith Evans. JOHN CATLOS, costume shop manager, is in his first season at OLO. He works at The University of Akron as a production assistant, costuming for the School of Dance, Theatre, and Arts Administration, and in the Opera Theatre Program. John is a wardrobe specialist with I.A.T.S.E. Local 48. He also serves as vicepresident and music worship chair at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Tallmadge, OH, and is the choir director at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Cuyahoga Falls, OH. John lives in Akron with his partner Jasen and their three dogs: Sasha, Lily, and Allie. Thank you to Mark, Dan, and Laura for giving me this opportunity
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HANNAH COMPTON, craftsperson, is currently pursuing a graduate degree in costume design at Temple University in Philadelphia. Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, she earned her bachelor’s degree from Knox College. After graduating, she enjoyed designing imaginative shows, including James and the Giant Peach and The Lion King with local park districts. At Temple, Hannah most recently designed costumes for Lynn Nottage’s Fabulation (or the Re-Education of Undine) and is looking forward to her thesis project, Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People. When not designing, she enjoys other crafty pursuits, including knitting, embroidery, and mask making. Hannah is thrilled to be crafting with OLO this summer. MEGAN DICKEL, wardrobe crew, is pleased to be working with OLO for the first time. She graduated from UW-Madison in 2017 with a BA in costume design and currently works as wardrobe supervisor/assistant costume designer for the Children’s Theater of Madison. Her Madison costume design credits include Gruesome Playground Injuries (Madison Theatre Guild), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Strollers Theatre), and original works by local playwrights with Mercury Players Theatre. Thanks to her family and boyfriend Joe for all their support.
MYRON ELLIOTT-CISNEROS, costume designer, returns to OLO to design costumes for Girl Crazy. Previous OLO designs include The Pajama Game, Annie Get Your Gun, and Bluebeard. Chicago credits include Small Mouth Sounds, An Evening at the Talk House, 3C, The Nether, Pilgrim’s Progress, In a Garden, and The Opponent (A Red Orchid Theatre, ensemble member); The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, To Kill a Mockingbird (Steppenwolf for Young Adults); Oblivion, Ski Dubai, Honest, Sex with Strangers (Steppenwolf First Look); Dental Society Midwinter Meeting (16th Street/ Theatre on the Lake); Eclipsed (Northlight Theatre); I Do! I Do!, Phantom (Theatre at the Center); Speech & Debate (American Theatre Company). Collaborations include productions with Walkabout Theatre, Children’s Theatre of Madison, Stages St. Louis, Concert Dance Inc, Cincinnati Playhouse, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Aurora University, College of Wooster, and Berkshire Theatre Festival. Myron is an assistant professor at University of Illinois at Chicago, and a proud member of United Scenic Artists. MIA KARDOTZKE, stitcher
production Title and Deed. When she’s not living in the costume shop, you can find her consuming several cups of coffee at the on-campus café and embroidering everything with open fabric. MICHELLE PETTIT, draper, recently graduated with an MFA in costume technology from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She worked as a stitcher at Ohio Light Opera during the summers of 2017 and 2018, and is excited to be returning this season as a draper. Michelle graduated from Wittenberg University in 2016 with a BA in theater. Previously, she worked as a stitcher apprentice at the Black Hills Playhouse. Michelle is from Dublin, OH and was introduced to theater costuming by her family and the theater program at Dublin Jerome High School. MEREDITH PROUTY-DUE stitcher, is originally from Huntingtown, MS. She is persuing her BFA in costume design at Rutgers University and is thrilled to be part of OLO. This is her first season with the company. EMILY SANTIAGO, wigs, has just graduated with a BA from the University of Illinois at Chicago, with an emphasis in wig and makeup design, as well as performance, Italian, and costume design. She was also the recipient of the UIC award at this year’s Michael Merritt Awards. Recently, Emily worked as the associate costume designer for UIC’s production of Rome Sweet Rome, as well as doing hair and makeup for the entire 2018-19 season. Emily is pleased to be returning to OLO for another season and is looking forward to her future post-college endeavours.
LEAH MOORE, wardrobe run crew, is from Rochester, NY, with a BFA in theater design and production from Niagara University. Favorite credits include: Cinderella, Greater Tuna, A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Singin’ in the Rain, A Comedy of Tenors, First Date, Bring It On: The Musical, Mother Hicks, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, and 9 to 5: The Musical. This is her first summer HANNAH SMITH, assistant costume designer, is at Ohio Light Opera. excited to be returning to OLO for a third season MEGAN MORRIS, stitcher, just completed her in the costume shop. She graduated from The sophomore year at Gustavus Adolphus College College of Wooster in 2019 with a BA in theater in St. Peter, MN. She is studying theater, with and dance. Hannah worked as a stitcher and a focus in costume design and technology, and in wardrobe all throughout her undergraduate intends on minoring in both arts administration career at Wooster, as well as working as an and studio art. In the fall of 2018, she designed intern Off-Broadway in New York City on the the costumes for a black box production show Downtown Race Riot. This will be her of Buried Child, and in spring of 2019 she first summer on the design side of costumes, as worked alongside her instructor and mentor, she started out as a stitcher her first two OLO Larissa McConnell, in a costume design for the seasons.
BOOKS IN STOCK
HOT LUNCH SERVED DAILY 11am-2pm
used & rare books
Seasonal and sustainable foods and crafts from more than 150 Ohio farmers, bakers, chefs, and artists. 140 South Walnut Street
LocalRootsWooster.com
ohiolightopera.org 73
PROPERTIES TARA BENTLEY, props artisan
native and looks forward to returning to her dear friends, the alligators and mosquitos, for a brief MADISEN FRAISER, props artisan, is relieved break at the end of this season. to be employed at the Ohio Light Opera this summer, not only because it’s a job but because SARABETH SPECTOR, props artisan, is excited it’s a really cool job. She is a rising sophomore to join OLO for her first summer stock season. at the University of Cincinnati College- Some of her previous credits include New Play Conservatory of Music, pursuing a BFA in stage Workshop: Mad Moon (assistant scenic designer) design and props. In previous years, Madisen with Emerson Stage, Champagne (props master) has worked on productions at the Southeastern with 6NewPlays, and Batboy: The Musical (props Summer Theater Institute, including Catch Me If master, stage manager) with Young People’s Teen You Can and Tuck Everlasting. At CCM, she was Musical Theater Company. Originally from New the props master for the acting department’s lab York, Sarabeth considers San Francisco home. show Men on Boats and the dance department’s Pursuing a BFA at Emerson in Boston brings the production of Cinderella. Madisen is a Florida bicoastal experience full circle. ELECTRICS & SOUND RACHEL AHO, electrician, is currently pursuing a BFA in design at Michigan State University. This is her first season with OLO, and she is excited to see where the experience takes her. After the summer season, she will return to MSU to complete her senior year, and later pursue an MFA in lighting design. SARAH CALVERT, assistant sound designer, is a sound design major and music composition minor at Michigan Technological University. Sarah has great appreciation for the performing and visual arts. She has worked on a wide range of projects, but theater holds a special place in her heart. Sarah is the president of the SoundGirls student chapter at Michigan Tech. She helped establish it earlier this year and looks forward to seeing it become a strong, positive presence at her university. After graduation, she plans on pursuing careers in all types of entertainment. She will be applying to graduate school for her MFA, so that she can teach at the college level. Sarah wants to be able to pass on her knowledge and passion for audio and the performing/visual arts, and to represent a positive advising presence to her future students, like the guidance that she has received at Michigan Tech.
He is a native of Charleston, SC and a graduate of the College of Charleston. Jameson is a current MFA student at the University of Memphis, where he studies lighting and sound design. He is excited to a part of such a talented and driven production team JOSEPH MESSANA, electrician, is working for the first time at OLO and he is thrilled to be a part of the team. He is currently a student at Montclair State University, getting his BFA in production and design, with a focus in lighting design and technology. At MSU, he has served as assistant master electrician for Guys and Dolls, assistant lighting designer for Dance Collage 2019, and electrician for many other productions. Outside of school, Joey started his professional work as an electrician for Broadway Bares, a Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS event.
TYLER QUINN, assistant sound designer, has spent the past four years at Michigan Technological University pursuing a BA in sound design with a minor in music composition. During his education, he has received two certificates of merit from KCACTF in music composition for Fires in the Mirror and Agnes of God. Outside of his education, Tyler has designed sound for JAMESON GRESENS, master electrician, is several shows at Whitehall, MI’s Howmet Playthrilled to be joining OLO for its 2019 season. house.
Celebrating Life’s Stories
®
Learn more at LifeCareHospice.org | 800.884.6547 74 Box Office: 330.263.2345
Serving Ashland, Holmes, Medina, and Wayne Counties
ADMINISTRATIVE/FRONT OF HOUSE STAFF GABBY ANGELES-PAREDES, box office assistant, is delighted to be working in the box office and the orchestra this summer. A North Carolina native, she is a rising fifth-year student at The College of Wooster. She has a BA in music, with a focus in music theory, and plans to complete her BM in horn performance this fall. Besides music, Gabby is passionate about Jeopardy!, Italian food, and her beagle, Dart.
hopes you enjoy your time in Wooster. Imogen studies under Cynthia Warren.
MEREDITH BRUCH, front of house, is delighted to return for her seventh season with the Ohio Light Opera. She is a native of Ohio and began her dance training in ballet at the age of three, later studying modern dance. In 2017 she was awarded an APEX Fellowship, allowing her to attend American Dance Festival, where she studied under world-renowned artists and broadened her dance training. She is a graduate of the College of Wooster with a BA in theater and dance and a minor in geology. Bruch is currently earning her MA in contemporary dance at Case Western Reserve University. On top of working with OLO this summer, she is a yoga instructor at the YMCA, assistant choreographer for the dream ballet section in Oklahoma!, presented by Summer Stage Wooster, and will be attending the American Dance Festival in Cleveland and the Dance USA conference.
KATE JOSEPH, box office assistant, is pleased as punch to be joining The Ohio Light Opera for her first summer. Along with working yearround in the box office, she also studies theater and English at the College of Wooster. She is very passionate about theater and coffee, and is excited to pursue a career in the arts.
IMOGEN CAMPBELL HENDRICKS, box office assistant, is delighted to be working with The Ohio Light Opera in her third season. A music and English double-major at The College of Wooster, she plays principal oboe in the Wooster Symphony Orchestra and reads a lot of books, spending her little free time thinking about her dogs, Mr. Bingley and Georgiana Darcy. She looks forward to the 2019 season and
LIN HOLMBERG, house management, is currently a student at the College of Wooster and very excited to be involved with the Ohio Light Opera for the first time this summer. Approaching the third year in a bachelor of music education program, Lin hopes to become a high school chorus director after graduation.
SANDY McILVAINE, front of house, is grateful to be a part of Ohio Light Opera since 1998, serving in various roles as part of the yearround staff. Sandy and her husband John live in Smithville. She considers all of the wonderful patrons she has met over the years as friends and looks forward to seeing them each summer. ALEXANDRA SWIGER, box office manager, is delighted to be returning for her seventh year with OLO. Alex is a graduate of Ohio University, where she studied communications and worked with the athletic department marketing office. As a year-round employee of the College of Wooster/OLO, she gets the fantastic benefit of interacting with patrons for more than just the summer, as well as enjoying the returning faces of both patrons and company year after year. Alex lives in Massillon with her husband and children (both of the human and fur varieties).
Advertise with The Ohio Light Opera Call Ruth Krise 330-714-2704
ohiolightopera.org 75
Babes in Arms
Fifty Million Frenchmen
Iolanthe
The Pajama Game
Candide
Cloclo
Open for Dinner Tuesday – Saturday 3 p.m. - 9 p.m. (Closed Sunday & Monday)
Specializing in greek food & pizza 154 W. Liberty • Wooster • (330) 264-8800 Show your tickets or mention The Ohio Light Opera to your server, and 10% of your purchase will be donated to OLO (applies to dinner or purchase of Matsos’ Greek Salad Dressings). Offer good 6/15 - 8/10, 2019
76 Box Office: 330.263.2345
OLO Lagniappe July 30 - August 3 Lagniappe - lan'yap – something given as a bonus or extra gift.
A
s the title suggests and in appreciation of 40 years of audience support, the Ohio Light Opera will be providing its OLO family with a week of special events. From July 30th to August 3rd, the company will be presenting lectures, musical concerts, and videos—all celebrating our 41st festival season and our unique mission. In the true spirit of a festival, these extra events make a wonderful addition to a week during which patrons can see and hear all seven shows! All Lagniappe events are free and available to patrons on a first-come, first-served basis. No ticket is required for these events. Please call 330-263-2345 for more information.
Special Events JULY 31-AUGUST 3 – LECTURES Enjoy four days of lectures given by OLO company members and a few special guests. The focus of these talks will be on the repertoire in the 2019 season. JULY 30 – “WITHOUT WORDS” CONCERT Spotlighting our OLO orchestra, this concert features orchestral medleys from operettas and musicals of some of lyric theater’s most beloved composers. Drawn from shows that might very well pop into the OLO repertoire in the near future, these arrangements typically include all the tunes from the work—a great chance to hear a mini-version of the show. Among the composers represented are Ivan Caryll, Rudolf Friml, George Gershwin, Herbert Stothart, Jerome Kern, Lionel Monckton, Robert Planquette, and Sigmund Romberg. AUGUST 1 – “SONGS FROM THE CUTTING-ROOM FLOOR” CONCERT The path from conception to opening night of an operetta or musical was typically a long one, with songs reworked, reassigned, deleted, or added to fit the evolving demands of the show and its stars. This two-hour concert, presented by members of the OLO cast with piano accompaniment, will feature discussion and performance of songs that were originally cut from or added to shows of this season’s repertoire as well as shows from past seasons. JULY 31 AND AUGUST 2 – TREASURES FROM THE “MERRY VIDEO VAULTS” Two full-morning sessions will be devoted to operetta and musical theater on video. The first will feature clips from past OLO seasons, ranging from the 1980s to the present. If you saw last year’s presentation (or even if you didn’t), you won’t want to miss this one—all new material. The second session will offer a surprise feature film presentation! TUESDAY JULY 30
WEDNESDAY JULY 31
THURSDAY AUGUST 1
FRIDAY AUGUST 2
10 a.m. 11:45 a.m.
TREASURES FROM THE “MERRY VIDEO VAULTS”
SONGS FROM THE CUTTING-ROOM FLOOR
TREASURES FROM THE “MERRY VIDEO VAULTS”
1 p.m.
LECTURE
LECTURE
LECTURE
PERCHANCE TO DREAM*
INTO THE WOODS*
THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE*
PERCHANCE TO DREAM*
LECTURE
LECTURE
LECTURE
LECTURE
MUSIC IN THE AIR*
SOUTH PACIFIC*
GIRL CRAZY*
THE DEVIL’S RIDER*
2 p.m.
INTO THE WOODS*
6:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m.
“WITHOUT WORDS” CONCERT
SATURDAY AUGUST 3
*Indicates a paid performance. Please call the box office to purchase your tickets. ohiolightopera.org 77
THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER The College of Wooster is America’s premier college for mentored undergraduate research. Since 2002, U.S. News & World Report has asked college presidents and deans which colleges provide the best undergraduate research opportunities and senior capstone experiences. Only two have made both lists every year: Wooster and Princeton. The presidents and deans also ranked Wooster seventh among all liberal arts colleges where “the faculty has an unusually strong commitment to undergraduate teaching.” Founded in 1866, Wooster enrolls approximately 2,000 students, who choose from more than 50 academic programs in the sciences, humanities, business and the arts. Wooster offers an excellent, comprehensive liberal arts education, culminating in a rigorous senior project, in which each student works one-on-one with a faculty mentor to conceive, organize and complete a significant research project on a topic of the student’s own choosing. Through this distinctive program, every Wooster student develops abilities valued by employers and graduate schools alike: initiative, selfconfidence, independent judgment, creative problem solving, and strong written and oral communication skills. Almost a third of Wooster’s students play intercollegiate athletics, a third perform in at least one musical group, and a quarter are involved in theater and the arts. Notable Wooster alumni include award-
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winning filmmakers Duncan Jones ’95, director of Source Code and Moon, and J.C. Chandor ’96, writer and director of Margin Call and All Is Lost; Jennifer Haverkamp ’79, director of the Environmental Defense Fund’s international climate program; Donald Kohn ’64, former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve; Laurie Kosanovich ’94, general counsel for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; and Sangram Sisodia ’77, director of the Center for Molecular Neurobiology at the University of Chicago.
Experience international Lyric Theater classics in the charming atmosphere of Wooster, Ohio “Renowned summer festivals within driving distance once didn’t seem so far away. Shaw and Stratford in Canada, and even Ravinia in Chicago, remain magnets for those who are high on theater and music .... It’s a relief to know that a day trip to seek artistic replenishment need not crush the budget. One of the most reasonable and delightful destinations is Wooster, where The Ohio Light Opera is in its 30th season of operetta merriment.” Donald Rosenberg, The Plain Dealer
“It’s nothing less than remarkable that ... [The Ohio Light Opera] singers and instrumentalists gather from around the country to arrange a seasonal platter of rotating repertory — Viennese operetta, Gilbert & Sullivan shows, classic American musicals — that these indefatigable performers serve with style through the months of June, July and August.” Elaine Guregian, The Beacon Journal
ohiolightopera.org 79
DINING, ACCOMMODATIONS & SHOPPING Dining
Porthouse Theater........................ 330-672-3884
BayLobsters Cafe & Fish Market.......................... 330-601-1200
Secrest Arboretum........................ 330-263-3761
Broken Rocks Café & Bakery...... 330-263-2949 City Square Steakhouse................ 330-262-2489
Wayne County Convention and Visitors Bureau................... 330-264-1800
The Henry Station........................ 330-264-2226
Wooster Country Club................. 330-263-1890
Matsos......................................... 330-264-8800
Shopping
Olde Jaol Steakhouse & Tavern.................................. 330-262-3333 Pine Tree Barn.............................. 330-264-1014 Quince Bakery & Cafe................. 330-816-0233 TJ’s Restaurants........................... 330-264-6263 Tulipan Hungarian Pastry and Coffee Shop........................ 330-264-8092 Accommodations Bed & Breakfast Black Squirrel Inn......................... 330-317-6627 Gasche House Bed & Breakfast.... 330-264-8231 Market Street Inn......................... 330-262-4085 Mirabelle Bed & Breakfast........... 330-264-6006 Cabins/Campgrounds
Wayne County Choral Union....... 330-249-1808
Books in Stock............................. 330-262-2665 Coblentz Chocolates.................... 800-338-9341 Everything Rubbermaid............... 330-264-7119 Friendtique................................... 330-262-2012 Graham and Burns....................... 330-804-0400 Local Roots ................................. 330-263-5336 Lynch’s Irish Imports.................... 330-601-0160 Motts Oils & More...................... 330-601-1645 Roomscapes................................. 330-262-1088 VHSource LLC............................. 917-815-8899 Wooster Chocolate Company....... 234-249-2462 Wooster Gift Corner.................... 330-264-6117 World Crafts................................ 330-857-0590
Meadow Lake Park...................... 330-435-6652
Services/Manufacturing
Hotel/Motel
Kendal at Oberlin......................... 800-548-9469
Best Western Wooster Hotel......... 330-264-7750
Life Care Services......................... 800-884-6547
Comfort Suites............................. 855-772-2577
Seaman Corporation.................... 330-262-1111
Coxon House............................... 330-465-3068
United Titanium........................... 330-264-2111
Hampton Inn Wooster................. 330-345-4424
WKSU.......................................... 330-672-3114
Hilton Garden Inn Wooster.......... 330-202-7701
Wooster Eye Center...................... 330-345-7200
Rodeway Inn................................ 330-262-5008
Banking/Financial
St. Paul Hotel............................... 330-601-1900
Briggs Financial Group................. 330-264-2811
Entertainment/Attractions
Commercial & Savings Bank........ 330-263-1955
Akron Symphony Orchestra......... 330-535-8131
Critchfield, Critchfield & Johnston, Ltd........................ 330-264-4444
Ashland Symphony...................... 419-289-5115 Chautauqua Opera....................... 716-357-6250 The Cleveland Orchestra.............. 216-231-7300 Meadow Lake Park...................... 330-435-6652 The National First Ladies’ Library .................................... 330-452-0876
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Edward Jones (Portage Rd.)......... 330-264-2168 Edward Jones (Riffel Rd.)............ 330-262-3572 Farmer’s Trust Company.............. 330-439-4495 Huntington Bank......................... 330-262-3676
GILBERT & SULLIVAN
H.M.S. Pinafore THE OHIO LIGHT OPERA J. Lynn Thompson CONDUCTOR
Steven Daigle ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
43 COMPLETE RECORDINGS
AVAILABLE ON CD
Tomás Bretón La Verbena de la Paloma
André Messager Véronique
Reginald De Koven Robin Hood
Lionel Monckton The Arcadians
Rudolf Friml The Vagabond King • The Firefly
Jacques Offenbach The Brigands • Bluebeard
Gilbert & Sullivan Utopia Limited • Patience • Princess Ida The Grand Duke • The Gondoliers The Mikado • Ruddigore • The Sorcerer The Yeomen of the Guard The Pirates of Penzance • H.M.S. Pinafore
Sigmund Romberg Maytime • Blossom Time
Victor Herbert Dream City and the Magic Knight Eileen • Mlle. Modiste Naughty Marietta • The Red Mill Sweethearts • The Fortune Teller Emmerich Kálmán The Bayadere • Sari • Autumn Maneuvers Countess Maritza • The Violet of Montmartre A Soldier’s Promise • Miss Springtime Jerome Kern The Cabaret Girl
Franz Schubert Das Dreimäderlhaus John Philip Sousa El Capitan Oscar Straus The Chocolate Soldier Johann Strauss A Night in Venice Carl Zeller Der Vogelhändler Compilations Gems from The Ohio Light Opera, Vol. 1 Gold and Silver
These recordings are mastered and adapted from our summer productions. Most are released as two-CD sets and are available in the lobby during the season and in finer book and music stores. Patrons may also call The Ohio Light Opera at 330-263-2345 to purchase compact discs or visit www.ohiolightopera.org to view CDs and to order online. Available on DVD: Kálmán: A Soldier’s Promise, Herbert: Mlle. Modiste, Kálmán: The Duchess of Chicago, Herbert: Dream City and the Magic Knight, Kálmán: The Little King, Kern: Have a Heart, Kálmán: The Little Dutch Girl. ohiolightopera.org 81
COMPLETE REPERTOIRE 1979-2019
THE OHIO LIGHT OPERA S STEVEN A. DAIGLE, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Richard Adler & Jerry Ross The Pajama Game...........................................’18 Daniel Auber Fra Diavolo.....................................................’88 Lindsay Warren Baker & Amanda Jacobs Pride & Prejudice............................................’06 Ralph Benatzky & Robert Stolz White Horse Inn..............................................’05 Irving Berlin Call Me Madam..............................................’14 Annie Get Your Gun.......................................’16 Leonard Bernstein Candide...........................................................’18 Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick Fiddler on the Roof.........................................’09 Tomás Bretón La verbena de la paloma.................................’99 Emmanuel Chabrier L’étoile.....................................................’91, ’08 Federico Chueca & Joaquín Valverde La gran vía......................................................’99 Noël Coward Bitter Sweet..............................................’93, ’98 Reginald De Koven Robin Hood....................................................’04 Leo Fall The Dollar Princess.........................................’95 Madame Pompadour.......................................’11 Rudolf Friml The Vagabond King..................................’87, ’04 Rose Marie......................................................’03 The Firefly.......................................................’06 Edward German Merrie England...............................................’84 Tom Jones.......................................................’92 George & Ira Gershwin Of Thee I Sing.................................................’09 Lady, Be Good!...............................................’13 Oh, Kay!.........................................................’15 Primrose..........................................................’17 Girl Crazy.......................................................’19 William Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan The Gondoliers....’79, ’82, ’85, ’88, ’92, ’96, ’01, ’06, ’13 H.M.S. Pinafore...’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83, ’84, ’85, ’87, ’90, ’93, ’98, ’02, ’06, ’09, ’13, ’17 Iolanthe...’79, ’81, ’84, ’87, ’91, ’98, ’05, ’10, ’18 The Mikado...’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’84, ’85, ’88, ’92, ’95, ’00, ’04, ’08, ’12, ’16 The Pirates of Penzance......’79, ’80, ’81, ’83, ’84, ’86, ’89, ’94, ’99, ’03, ’07, ’11, ’14, ’19 82 Box Office: 330.263.2345
Ruddigore......’79, ’82, ’85, ’88, ’95, ’02, ’09, ’15 Trial by Jury...’79, ’80, ’81, ’84, ’86, ’89, ’98, ’11 The Yeomen of the Guard.........’79, ’81, ’84, ’86, ’90, ’97, ’01, ’08, ’15 Patience.................’80, ’83, ’86, ’91, ’97, ’04, ’10 Princess Ida.........................’80, ’85, ’94, ’99, ’07 The Sorcerer.................’80, ’82, ’86, ’89, ’96, ’05 Utopia Limited.............’80, ’83, ’87, ’93, ’00, ’12 The Grand Duke...............................’81, ’95, ’03 Reynaldo Hahn Ciboulette........................................................’90 Victor Herbert Naughty Marietta ....................................’89, ’00 Eileen..............................................................’97 The Red Mill...................................................’01 Sweethearts.....................................................’02 Mlle. Modiste..................................................’09 The Fortune Teller...........................................’11 Dream City and The Magic Knight.....................’14 The Lady of the Slipper.....................................’17 Richard Heuberger The Opera Ball................................................’90 Emmerich Kálmán Countess Maritza................’85, ’89, ’94, ’03, ’17 The Gypsy Princess...........................’86, ’93, ’10 The Bayadere..................................................’98 Sari/Der Zigeunerprimás.................................’01 Autumn Maneuvers ........................................’02 The Violet of Montmartre...............................’04 A Soldier’s Promise/Der gute Kamerad............’05 The Duchess of Chicago..................................’07 Marinka: The Mayerling Story........................’08 Miss Springtime...............................................’12 The Little King................................................’14 The Little Dutch Girl......................................’16 The Devil’s Rider.............................................’19 Jerome Kern The Cabaret Girl.............................................’08 Oh, Lady! Lady!!............................................’14 Have a Heart...................................................’16 Music in the Air...............................................’19 Eduard Künneke The Cousin from Batavia.........................’00, ’02 Charles Lecocq Clairette/La fille de Madame Angot.................’89 Le petit duc.....................................................’00 Franz Lehár The Merry Widow................’83, ’90, ’96, ’04, ’11 The Count of Luxembourg................’88, ’97, ’10 The Land of Smiles...................................’90, ’03 Giuditta...........................................................’94
Gypsy Love.....................................................’95 The Czarevitch................................................’08 Friederike........................................................’15 Cloclo.............................................................’18 Mitch Leigh Man of La Mancha..........................................’05 Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe Camelot....................................................’00, ’11 Brigadoon................................................’02, ’15 My Fair Lady...........................................’03, ’14 Frank Loesser Guys and Dolls...............................................’12 André Messager Véronique........................................................’97 Karl Millöcker The Beggar Student..................................’87, ’96 Lionel Monckton The Arcadians.................................................’98 Otto Nicolai The Merry Wives of Windsor..........................’95 Ivor Novello The Dancing Years..........................................’16 Perchance to Dream........................................’19 Jacques Offenbach The Brigands.....................................’83, ’92, ’03 La Périchole......................................’84, ’93, ’18 La vie parisienne...............................’85, ’99, ’16 La belle Hélène..................................’86, ’94, ’09 Bluebeard.................................................’87, ’07 Orpheus in the Underworld..............’88, ’91, ’01 The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein............. ’89, ’13 Christopher Columbus....................................’95 Robinson Crusoe.............................................’96 Regrets Only/M. Choufleuri.....................’96, ’98 The Island of Tulipatan...................................’05 Evening Wind..................................................’11 Cole Porter Jubilee.............................................................’11 Silk Stockings..................................................’13 Can-Can..........................................................’15 Kiss Me, Kate..................................................’16 Anything Goes................................................’17 Fifty Million Frenchmen..................................’18 Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II Carousel..........................................................’01 South Pacific.............................................’04, ’19 The Sound of Music........................................’07 Oklahoma!......................................................’08 The King and I................................................’13 Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart A Connecticut Yankee.....................................’12 Babes in Arms.................................................’18 Sigmund Romberg The Student Prince........’82, ’85, ’92, ’99, ’07, ’17 The Desert Song................................’86, ’95, ’08
The New Moon.................................’91, ’97, ’06 Maytime..........................................................’05 Blossom Time..................................................’12 Franz Schubert & Heinrich Berté Das Dreimäderlhaus........................................’02 Stephen Sondheim Into the Woods................................................’19 John Philip Sousa El Capitan.......................................................’10 Oscar Straus The Chocolate Soldier.......................’88, ’98, ’12 A Waltz Dream...............................................’91 Johann Strauss A Night in Venice.......................’81, ’91, ’99, ’09 The Gypsy Baron.......................’82, ’89, ’00, ’13 Die Fledermaus...................’86, ’92, ’97, ’05, ’14 Wiener Blut.......................................’87, ’93, ’98 The Merry War................................................’01 The Queen’s Lace Handkerchief......................’06 Jule Styne & Stephen Sondheim Gypsy..............................................................’10 Arthur Sullivan & F.C. Burnand Cox and Box..’79, ’80, ’81, ’84, ’89, ’96, ’99, ’11 Arthur Sullivan & B.C. Stephenson The Zoo..........................................................’99 Franz Von Suppé Boccaccio.................................................’83, ’02 My Fair Galatea..............................................’90 Heitor Villa-Lobos Magdalena.......................................................’92 Robert Ward Lady Kate........................................................’94 Robert Ward & James Stuart A Friend of Napoleon......................................’05 Kurt Weill Street Scene.....................................................’90 Kurt Weill & Ira Gershwin The Firebrand of Florence...............................’99 Kurt Weill & Ogden Nash One Touch of Venus........................................’15 Meredith Willson The Music Man........................................’06, ’17 Quade Winter & William Gilbert Thespis............................................................’96 Quade Winter & Frank Desprez The Carp.........................................................’99 Robert Wright & George Forrest The Great Waltz..............................................’94 Song of Norway..............................................’96 Kismet.............................................................’10 Carl Zeller Der Vogelhändler..............................’93, ’94, ’07
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2019 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Over the last 40 years, the staff at the College of Wooster has been instrumental in Ohio Light Opera’s success. Without their enthusiasm and support of our endeavors, the Company would not function as seamlessly as it does. The “in kind” services and “hidden assets” over the years have made it possible for OLO to exist as a unique part of the educational mission at Wooster. We acknowledge them with grateful hearts for their support and assistance.
HEARTFELT THANKS go out to: Ben Small, Gail Smith, and John Schambach for your tireless work on behalf of the company all year around. S Dave Griffith of Lowe’s Home Improvement store in Wooster for your tremendous support of the company. S Michael and Nan Miller for your never-ending commitment to the company. S Spiro Matsos for being our #1 patron and supporter. S Staff of the College of Wooster for 41 years of supporting the OLO company. S Alexander Butziger for your literal English translation of Emmerich Kálmán’s Der Teufelsreiter (The Devil’s Rider). S Damien Highfield at Stage Center in Akron for your generous support S Weathervane Playhouse for costumes. S University of Akron for costumes. S Ron Holtman for your advice and hard work on behalf of the company. S Joyce Heitger for your year-round help with photocopying and enthusiastic support. S Mark Houser, Technical Director of Eastman Opera Theatre, for your generous time. S Charles Murdock Lucas for allowing us to reuse your 2014 set for The Pirates of Penzance. S Seán Gray of Josef Weinberger, Ltd., London.
84 Box Office: 330.263.2345
TICKET INFORMATION & PRICES Season Subscriptions: Subscribe for the Season! Choose four, five, six, or seven performances at a discount from individual ticket prices.
Ticket Exchanges: You have the privilege of exchanging tickets, subject to availability, within the 2019 season.
Individual Ticket Pricing (Musicals/Operettas) Single Tickets.................................................... $55/$51 Students (ages: 16-23)........................................... $20 Children (ages: 3-15)................................................ $10
Tickets being exchanged must be RECEIVED in the ticket office no later than 48 hours prior to the performance date on the original tickets. Exchanges may be made in person or by mail. There is a $3.00 PER TICKET charge for exchanges. No other exchanges are possible.
Subscription Rates (Musicals/Operettas—Price Per Ticket) 7 Different Performances............................ $49/$45 6 Different Performances........................... $50/$46 5 Different Performances..............................$51/$47 4 Different Performances............................$53/$49 Ordering Tickets: The Ohio Light Opera accepts Visa, MasterCard, and Discover Card. You may call 330-263-2345, order tickets online at ohiolightopera.org, or mail your order to the box office at: The Ohio Light Opera The College of Wooster 1189 Beall Avenue Wooster, OH 44691 If you have requested your tickets to be mailed, you will receive them at least one month prior to the performance. NO REFUNDS. NO CANCELLATIONS. Box Office Location & Hours: (Please note the locations of our winter & summer offices) January 9-May 17, 2019: The Ohio Light Opera The College of Wooster Westminster Church House 353 East Pine Street (Corner of College Ave and E. Pine St.) Wooster, OH 44691 May 20-August 10, 2019: Freedlander Theatre 329 East University Street Wooster, OH 44691 Monday-Friday.................................9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday (beginning June 15).......12 noon-4:30 p.m. Sunday (beginning July 7)........................ 12:30-4 p.m. 24-Hour Order Online: Visit our secure website, ohiolightopera.org, to view available seats, order, and pay for your tickets. Group Discounts: Last year, more than 2,000 people saw Ohio Light Opera performances with our group discount plan. (Musicals/Operettas) 20-46 people............................... $52/$48 per ticket 47-100 people................... $51.50/$47.50 per ticket over 100 people............................$51/$47 per ticket Put together a group of people and come to Wooster for an afternoon or evening of operetta—a joy for all at wonderful savings! Call the Box Office at 330.263.2345 or 330-263-2329 to order tickets for your group. Our group sales coordinator will be glad to assist you with your plans.
Unused Tickets: Ticket holders unable to use or exchange their tickets may notify the ticket office so that those tickets can be resold. These “turnbacks” make seats available to other music lovers and can provide additional income to the Opera. Lost Tickets: If you lose your original tickets, duplicates can be made for you. Parking Information: Parking is FREE in all College of Wooster signed lots. Spaces fill up quickly so please plan to arrive early. Visit the website for more information on parking at Freedlander Theatre, as well as directions to the theatre and any known road construction. Air Conditioning: Freedlander Theatre is air conditioned. Some Ohio Light Opera patrons might like to bring a sweater or jacket to wear during the performance. Decorum Reminder: Freedlander Theatre is an intimate space. Please keep in mind that talking during the overture and/or throughout the performance is distracting to fellow audience members as well as to the performing company. Also, please refrain from opening noisy candy or gum wrappers during the show. Please turn off all noise-emitting devices before entering the theater. Photography and recordings of any kind are prohibited. Late Seating: All performances begin promptly at 2 p.m. for matinees and 7:30 p.m. for evening shows. In deference to the comfort and listening pleasure of the audience in the house, late-arriving patrons will not be seated while the performance is in progress. Latecomers are asked to wait quietly until the first convenient break in the program, when ushers will assist you into the theatre. These arrangements are at the discretion of the house manager in consultation with the artistic director and performing artists. Thank you for your cooperation. Pre-Performance Talks Friday and Saturday Evenings at 6:30 p.m.: Enhance your enjoyment of the evening’s performance by learning lesser-known facts about the show’s history and tips to recognize the unique special pleasures of each show. We feature lecturers seasoned in the experience and study of operetta. No reservations are necessary. Lectures begin promptly at 6:30 p.m. and are held in the Lean Lecture Room, down the hall from Freedlander Theatre Lobby. Check for signs in the lobby for the location of these informative and free gatherings!
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THE OHIO LIGHT OPERA 2019 PERFORMANCE CALENDAR SUNDAY
MON
2PM
TUESDAY 2PM
WEDNESDAY 2PM
THURSDAY
7:30PM
2PM
7:30PM
FRIDAY 2PM
7:30PM
SATURDAY 2PM
7:30PM
June 15 ★ South Pacific* June 16
June 17
June 18
June 19 South Pacific
June 23 June 24 June 25
June 26
July 1
July 2
July 8
Pirates of Penzance July 14
Girl Crazy July 15
July 22
Music in the Air July 28
South Pacific
July 23 South Pacific
July 29
Perchance to Dream August 4
July 16
July 30
July 17
August 6
July 25 The Devil’s Music in
Rider
July 31
August 1 Into the Woods
August 7 Girl Crazy
the Air
South Pacific
August 8 The Devil’s Music in
Rider
the Air
Into the Woods*
July 26 Into the Pirates of Woods Penzance* August 2 Pirates of Penzance
Girl Crazy*
August 9 South Pacific
Into the Woods*
Girl Crazy*
July 6 Into the Woods*
July 13
Pirates of Into the Penzance* Woods
July 19 The Devil’s Rider
South Pacific*
June 29
South Pacific
July 12
July 18
July 24
Into the Perchance Woods to Dream
Girl Crazy
South Pacific
Pirates of Penzance
★ Perchance to Dream
June 22
Into the Woods
July 5
July 11 ★ Music in the Air
Into the Perchance Music in Woods to Dream the Air Aug 5
July 4
July 10 Pirates of Penzance
June 28 South Pacific
POPS CONCERT
★ Music in The Devil’s the Air Rider
Girl Crazy July 21
July 9
June 27
July 3 ★ Pirates of Penzance
July 7
June 21
Girl Crazy
★ Into the Woods
Girl Crazy June 30
June 20 ★ Girl Crazy
Music in the Air*
July 20 Girl Crazy
South Pacific*
July 27 South Pacific
Girl Crazy*
August 3 Perchance to Dream
The Devil’s Rider*
August 10 Pirates of Penzance
★ Indicates an Opening Performance * Indicates a Pre-Performance Lecture at 6:30 p.m. prior to Friday & Saturday evening performances. Informative & Free! £ Limited seating availability – get your tickets today!
Freedlander Theatre, 329 East University Street, Wooster, OH 44691
OLO 2019 Festival Special Events June 15 – Opening Night Gala The audience is invited to celebrate the opening of our 41st Summer Season by attending our Opening Reception in Freedlander lobby following the 7:30 p.m. performance of South Pacific.
July 3 – Kids Day Pirates of Penzance, 1-2 p.m. Lean Lecture Room (adjacent to Freedlander Theatre). Ahoy mateys! Join us for Pirate Day and get a backstage tour of the theatre, meet cast members, make a pirate craft, and learn a song from the show!
JULY 4 – Pops Concert 7-8 p.m. Downtown Wooster
July 30-August 3 – Lagniappe All Lagniappe events are free and available to patrons on a first-come, first-served basis. Please call 330-263-2345 for more information.
For more detailed information regarding our events, please log on to ohiolightopera.org or call The Ohio Light Opera box office at 330-263-2345.
86 Box Office: 330.263.2345
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God Save The Queen In keeping with the tradition established at the Savoy Theatre in London, we will sing God Save the Queen before each Gilbert & Sullivan performance.
S
God save our gracious Queen, Long live our noble Queen, God save the Queen: Send her victorious, Happy and glorious, Long to reign over us: God save the Queen. S Queen Victoria attending a performance of The Mikado. Photo by Matt Dilyard, from the 2012 Ohio Light Opera production.