Union Avenue Opera's "Trouble in Tahiti" Opens Friday

Union Avenue Opera opens its 19th Festival Season with Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti this weekend, running April 19, 20 (8pm) and 21 (3pm). Audiences will see the candid portrait of a young suburban couple, Sam and Dinah, and their struggle to save their marriage as they long for the American dream. Experience the roller coaster of emotion as they try to reconcile their love.

Though the opera was originally set in the 1950s, Allyson Ditchey's production at UAO updates the action to the modern day. Mezzo Soprano Kara Cornell, Dinah in UAO's production, recently spoke on St. Louis Public Radio's Cityscape about the piece and its update: "There are marital issues in the 50s that are still pertinent today even though divorce is now respectable, even if it wasn't then." In a recent interview with The St. Louis Beacon, Baritone Ian Greenlaw, Sam in the production, explains a theme of distractions running through the piece:

"Bernstein mentions the radio jingles. Television was limited and new at the time of the 1951 opera. Instead of just the radio bombarding a couple with ads and other distractions, today couples have much more distractions," Greenlaw says. He constantly notices couples in restaurants and coffee shops reading text messages, using cell phones and checking email even when they are out as a couple. Some employers and friends expect responses to messages 24/7. You see it all the time," he says. "Distractions all the time."

Ditchey, in the same article, encourages audiences to attend because "it's a wonderful introduction to opera. It's in English with supertitles. And the story is very smart, as relevant today as it was when [Bernstein] wrote it."

After the one-act opera, the evening continues as the cast of Trouble in Tahiti treats audiences to a special cabaret on the UAO stage featuring clever and tuneful music from Bernstein's songbook including "Tonight" from West Side Story, "New York, New York" from On the Town, "Simple Song" from Mass, "Pennycandystore Beyond the El" from Songfest, and many more.

THE CAST and CREW

Kara Cornell & Ian Greenlaw

Union Avenue Opera presents a cast of veteran artists. Baritone Ian Greenlaw, who most recently sang the role of Danilo in Die lustige Witwe (2009), sings the role of Sam. Having last appeared as the wicked stepsister Tisbe in La Cenerentola (2011), Mezzo Soprano Kara Cornell sings the role of Dinah, Sam's wife. Three artists form a jazz trio commenting on the action: Soprano Elise LaBarge (seen last season in Acis and Galatea), Tenor Clark Sturdevant (Froh in last season's Das Rheingold) and Tenor Anthony Heinemann (Amelia's Servant in last season's Un Ballo in Maschera). Musical Director Henry Palkes leads a three-piece jazz combo onstage. Stage Director Allyson Ditchey, who last staged UAO’s Acis and Galatea, returns to stage the production.

L to R: Elise LaBarge, Clark Sturdevant & Anthony Heinemann

MEDIA

Local print and broadcast media are buzzing about UAO's season opening production! Sarah Bryan Miller interviews the cast, director and Scott Schoonover in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Patricia Rice speaks with cast and director for the St. Louis Beacon. You can also hear archived audio of Kara Cornell and Ian Greenlaw's interview with Steve Potter for Cityscape on 90.7 KWMU.

Trouble in Tahiti runs April 19, 20 (8pm) and April 21 (3pm) at Union Avenue Opera, 733 N. Union Blvd. Production sung in English with projected English supertitles. Tickets may be purchased online at www.unionavenueopera.org or by calling 314-361-2881.

STL Public Radio's "Cityscape" to Feature "Trouble in Tahiti" Artists

St. Louis Public Radio's broadcast of Cityscape for tomorrow--Friday, April 12th at 11am--features the leads of Union Avenue Opera's upcoming production of Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti. Host Steve Potter welcomes onto the program Mezzo-Soprano Kara Cornell (singing the role of Dinah) and Baritone Ian Greenlaw (singing the role of Sam) to discuss the production opening next weekend.

Cityscape airs on KWMU 90.7 FM at 11:00 a.m. to Noon on Friday, June 22nd and will be repeated at 10:00 p.m. that evening. You may also listen to archived audio of the program on http://www.stlpublicradio.org/

Tickets for Trouble in Tahiti and upcoming UAO productions start at $30 and are available online at http://www.unionavenueopera.org/ or by calling the box office Monday through Friday between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. at 314-361-2881.

Union Avenue Opera: 19th Season Overview

Union Avenue Opera prepares to raise the curtain on its 19th Festival Season this month. Audiences will peer into the private struggles and discord of a 1950s suburban married couple in Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti, witness the romance and utter betrayal of a young Japanese geisha in Giacomo Puccini's classic Madama Butterfly, and take a wild ride into Die Walküre, the action-packed second part of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle.

THE REPERTOIRE

Opening this month, Trouble in Tahiti is a candid portrait of the troubled marriage of a young suburban couple, Sam and Dinah, as they long for the American dream. Experience the roller coaster of emotion as they try to reconcile their love.

The evening continues as the cast of Trouble in Tahiti treats audiences to a special cabaret on the UAO stage featuring clever and tuneful music from Bernstein's songbook including "Tonight" from West Side Story, "New York, New York" from On the Town, "Simple Song" from Mass, "Pennycandystore Beyond the El" from Songfest, and many more.

Trouble in Tahiti will be performed in English with English supertitles on April 19 and 20 at 8:00pm and April 21 at 3:00pm.

One of the world's most beloved operas, Madama Butterfly, Puccini's tragic tale of love and heartbreak, returns to the Union Avenue Opera stage after its last production in 2003. In the harbor village of Nagasaki at the turn of the 20th Century, love blossoms between Cio-Cio-San (Butterfly), a young Japanese geisha, and Lieutenant Pinkerton, an American naval officer. Their marital expectations clash in Madama Butterfly as passion and honor reverberate with the explosive force of Puccini's powerful score, featuring Butterfly's famous aria "Un bel dì" and the exquisite "Flower Duet." A mother, alone and banished from her people, Butterfly pines for her husband. He returns only to humiliate and betray her beyond what she can endure.

Madama Butterfly will be performed in Italian with English supertitles on July 12, 13, 19 and 20 at 8:00pm.

Union Avenue Opera's four-year journey through Wagner's Ring Cycle continues on the heels of 2012's successful mounting of Das Rheingold. The second installment, Die Walküre, showcases some of Wagner's most renowned music, including his famous "Ride of the Valkyries." Wotan, ruler of the gods, wishes to protect his children, but is forced to forsake them when his twin offspring, Siegmund and Sieglinde, find themselves entangled in forbidden love. In an attempt to protect Siegmund, Brünnhilde, Wotan's Valkyrie daughter, disobeys her father's command and is duly punished: Wotan strips her of her immortality and puts her to sleep surrounded by a wall of flames that only the greatest hero can conquer.

Die Walküre is reduced and adapted by English composer Jonathan Dove. His masterful cuts condense the opera in length to under three hours and will be enhanced by video projections befitting the magnificent grandeur of the Ring Cycle.

Die Walküre will be performed in German with English supertitles on August 16, 17, 23 and 24 at 8:00pm.

IN THE PIT AND BEHIND THE SCENES

UAO Artistic Director and Conductor Scott Schoonover is set to conduct Madama Butterfly and Die Walküre this season. Pianist and musical director Henry Palkes leads a jazz combo for Trouble in Tahiti. Stage Director Allyson Ditchey, who last staged UAO’s Acis and Galatea, returns to stage Trouble in Tahiti. Stage director Jon Truitt of Asheville Lyric Opera and Director of Opera at the University of Evansville makes his UAO debut staging Madama Butterfly. Stage Director Karen Coe Miller, director of last season's Das Rheingold, returns to stage Die Walküre. Scenic Designer Patrick Huber and Costume Designer Teresa Doggett will collaborate on designs for Madama Butterfly and Die Walküre. Michael B. Perkins, building upon his video projections from Das Rheingold, will evoke the fantasy world of Die Walküre.

BEFORE THE FOOTLIGHTS

Union Avenue Opera welcomes back several veteran artists:

Trouble in Tahiti: Ian Greenlaw (Sam), Kara Cornell (Dinah), Elise LaBarge, Clark Sturdevant and Anthony Heinemann.

Madama Butterfly: Ann Hoyt Wazelle (Cio-Cio-San), Mathew Edwardsen (Pinkerton), Robert Garner (Sharpless), Debra Hillabrand (Suzuki), Emma Sorenson (Kate Pinkerton), Marc Schapman (Goro), David Dillard (The Bonze), Anthony Heinemann (Yamadori), Nathan Ruggles (The Imperial Commissioner), Debby Lennon (Cio-Cio-San's Mother) Tamara Miller Campbell (Cio-Cio-San's Aunt) and Melissa Payton (Cio-Cio-San's Cousin).

Die Walküre: Alexandra LoBianco (Brünnhilde) and Elise Quagliata (Fricka).

Several artists make their UAO debut:

• Bass-baritone Paul Robinson (Uncle Yakuside)
• Baritone Jay Chacon (The Registrar)
• Bass Timothy Bruno (Wotan)
• Tenor James Taylor (Siegmund)
• Mezzo-soprano Amber Smoke (Sieglinde)
• Bass Nathan Whitson (Hunding)
• Soprano Melissa Sumner (Helmwige)
• Mezzo-soprano Lindsey Anderson (Rossweisse)

TICKETS & INFORMATION

Trouble in Tahiti runs April 19 and 20 at 8:00pm and April 21 at 3:00pm. Madama Butterfly runs July 12, 13, 19 and 20 at 8:00pm. Die Walküre runs August 16, 17, 23 and 24 at 8:00pm. All performances take place in the sanctuary of Union Avenue Christian Church at 733 Union Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63108. Single tickets and Season tickets (at discounted prices) are available by calling the UAO Box Office at 314-361-2881 or visiting unionavenueopera.org

Opera Theatre of St. Louis Honored at St. Louis Theater Circle Awards

Founding members of the St. Louis Theater Circle

Monday night marked the first St. Louis Theater Circle Awards. The mission of the St. Louis Theater Circle is simple: To honor St. Louis professional theater. While various reviewers may also cover touring shows at The Fox and the Peabody Opera House as well as selected community and college productions, the Theater Circle Awards are designed to focus attention on dozens of area theater companies which showcase the artistic efforts of actors, directors and technical artists in the metropolitan area. Other cities around the country, such as Phoenix, San Diego, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington D.C., honor their own local theatrical productions with similar awards programs.

Opera Theatre of St. Louis's production of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd picked up two awards in the Musical Theater category.  Stephen Lord was named Outstanding Music Director (a tie with F. Wade Russo for Sunday in the Park with George at The Rep) and Rod Gilfrey was named Outstanding Actor (also a tie, this time with Ron Bohmer of Sunday in the Park With George).  This was the first time an opera company has been named in a theater awards program.  I see it as a vindication of Opera Theatre's dedication to presenting opera as both a musical and theatrical form.

Congratulations to all of last night's honorees.  For a complete list, see my recent post on the Stage Left blog.

Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic at 88.1 KDHX.

Review of Winter Opera's "Tosca"

Tosca Ensemble & Children's Chorus
Baritone Nelson Martinez as Scarpia
Photo © Ron Lindsey

Winter Opera has closed their current season with a musically splendid and visually satisfying production of Puccini’s 1900 political melodrama Tosca. Acting and some casting choices did not always strike me as ideal, but the company sang beautifully, the orchestra sounded solid, and the sets and costumes were, given the group’s small budget, quite lavish.

It was, in short, quite a feather in the cap of the organization I’m starting to regard as The Little Opera Company That Could.

Anyone who thinks that there's anything new about the phenomenon of public figures hiding their profane desires under a blanket of bogus piety needs to consider Tosca. The villain of the opera, Baron Scarpia, is a classic example of how morality and respect for order can become a false front for lust, violence, and falsehood. Scarpia also provides us one of the great moments of Italian opera in the final scene of Act I as he plots the seduction and betrayal of Tosca while the crowd celebrates High Mass. It's a spectacular scene, and one of the best examples of dramatic irony in operatic literature.

Winter Opera’s staging of that scene was an illustration of this production’s strengths. The stage was quickly and efficiently filled with members of the adult and children’s chorus, the 19-piece orchestra played its collective heart out, and the act came to an appropriately dramatic conclusion. There was even a genuine Catholic cleric (Msgr. Borcic) to play the Cardinal.

The principals in this production all had fine, strong voices that were solid throughout their ranges.

Baritone Nelson Martinez was a terrific Scarpia. He’s a physically large actor who made his size an integral part of his portrayal, emphasizing Scarpia’s boundless lust for physical pleasure. He was on solid textual ground there; Scarpia’s opening aria in Act II is nothing if not a glutton’s version of Iago’s “Credo” in Otello. When Tosca ventilates him with his own dinner knife at the end of that act, it’s one of the most satisfying bits of bloody justice in Italian opera.

Soprano Stella Zambalis got Tosca’s intensity and delivered a first-class “Visi d’arte,” but seemed to lack the strong sexual presence that would make Scarpia's obsession for her credible. It didn’t help that the lighting darkened her nasolabial folds, which made her look older than Tosca ought to be. This isn’t the first time I’ve noticed less than ideal lighting on that stage; it’s something Winter Opera might want to take a look at.

Tenor Alex Richardson was vocally an exceptional Cavaradossi. I didn’t find his acting quite as convincing, but when he and Ms. Zambalis were both soaring through their love scenes I found it easy to forgive any theatrical failings.

I was also impressed with Nathan Whitson’s Angelotti, Chloe Haynes’s charming offstage Act III Shepherd, and director Mark Freiman’s fussy Sacristan. The Sacristan’s character is the only bit of comic relief in the opera’s otherwise grim verismo mix of passion, deceit, and violence, so a strong performance here is always welcome.

Lighting issues aside, the technical aspects of Winter Opera’s Tosca were quite good. JC Krajicek’s costumes looked great and were appropriate for the characters. Scott Loebl’s sets were equally impressive; his Farnese Palace interior drew applause as soon as the curtain went up. Steven Jarvi, who has just been appointed Resident Conductor at the St. Louis Symphony, led the orchestra in a wonderfully disciplined reading of the score.

Winter Opera remains one of the better practitioners of musical theatre in St. Louis. They also have the distinction of being the only one of our three opera companies to be working in a space that wasn’t retrofitted to present opera—a virtue not to be taken lightly. It will be interesting to see them develop in the future.

Winter Opera’s 2013-2014 season begins November 8 and 10 with Gounod’s Faust. Tickets go on sale on August 1st. For more information: winteroperastl.org.

Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic for 88.1 KDHX, where this review originally appeared.

"Tosca" Opens Tonight at Winter Opera Saint Louis

Winter Opera Saint Louis concludes its sixth season with a production of Giacomo Puccini’s tale of corruption, deceit, passion and murder: Tosca.

Scarpia, Rome’s feared chief of police savors the thought of seducing opera diva Floria Tosca, then murdering her rebel lover Mario Cavaradossi…as he listens to Mass. Will Tosca succumb to a fate worse than death to save her lover from a firing squad? The desperate heroine does what she must do in this Puccini classic with a score featuring the operatic gems “Recondita armonia,” “E lucevan le stelle” and “Vissi d’arte.”

Soprano Stella Zambalis as Floria Tosca
Photo © Ron Lindsey

Four artists make their Winter Opera debut. Soprano Stella Zambalis, who has sung at Houston Grand Opera, New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, sings Floria Tosca. Tenor Alex Richardson (artist with Santa Fe Opera, Washington National Opera and Amarillo Opera) sings the role of Mario Cavaradossi. Baritone Nelson Martinez (artist with Baltimore Opera, Miami Lyric Opera and Knoxville Opera) portrays the villainous Scarpia. Bass Nathan Whitson (artist with Birmingham Opera and Lyric Opera of Kansas City) sings the role of Angelotti. Three artists most recently seen in Winter Opera’s The Mikado and The Ballad of Baby Doe also appear in the production: Tenor Anthony Heinemann as police agent Spoletta, Baritone Adam Stefo as Sciarrone, a gendarme, and Baritone Tom W. Sitzler as the Jailor. Treble Chloe Haynes, a veteran of Winter Opera’s children’s chorus, sings the role of a Shepherd Boy. Local professional singers and a children's chorus form the ensemble.

Tosca Ensemble & Children's Chorus
Baritone Nelson Martinez as Scarpia
Photo © Ron Lindsey

Tenor Alex Richardson as Mario Cavaradossi
Photo © Ron Lindsey

After staging and performing in Winter Opera’s 2012 production of La Bohème, Bass Mark Freiman will once again perform double-duty as Stage Director and portray the Sacristan. Winter Opera Music Director Steven Jarvi conducts an orchestra of local professional musicians. Megan Higgins serves as director of the Children's Chorus. Erin Waters Ryan serves as Production Stage Manager and Emily Clinger serves as Assistant Stage Manager. Jennifer Krajicek, costumer of this season’s Mikado and Baby Doe, serves as Costume Designer. Having most recently designed The Ballad of Baby Doe, Scott Loebl and Sean Savoie serve as set designer and lighting designer, respectively. Theresa Loebl serves as Production Manager.

Tosca opens tonight, Friday, March 8th (8pm) and continues Sunday, March 10th (3pm) at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts at Chaminade College Preparatory School located at 425 S. Lindbergh Blvd. The production is sung in Italian with projected English supertitles. Tickets may be purchased by calling Winter Opera Saint Louis at 314-865-0038 or online at http://winteroperastl.tix.com/ $10 Student Rush Tickets sold at the door; valid student ID required. For further information on the company, its future performances and special events, visit winteroperastl.org.

Review of Winter Opera's "The Ballad of Baby Doe"

"The Ballad of Baby Doe", presented Winter Opera St. Louis at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts. Pictured is Chloe Haynes (Young Silver Dollar) & Mark Freiman (William Jennings Bryan) and members of the Company. Photo by Ron Lindsey

So, opera fans, let’s consider Douglas Moore and John Latouche’s 1956 opera “The Ballad of Baby Doe.” Is it a classic that deserves its position as one of a small number of American operas in the standard repertory? Or is it a dated effort whose time has come and gone? Or perhaps a little of both?

If you had asked me those questions over forty years ago when I first saw the opera with the late, great Beverly Sills (the first to record the title role and still its best-known performer), I’d probably have gone with “American classic.” Now that I’ve seen what is, surprisingly, the St. Louis premiere, I’m more inclined towards “a little of both.”

Douglas Moore’s score, while conservative by 1950s classical music standards (we were still suffering the scourge of Serialism back then), is nevertheless right in the mainstream of what most people are accustomed to hearing and has provided a number of memorable and often-recorded arias, particularly for the title character. Many of the ensemble scenes, as well, have considerable dramatic impact.

John Latouche’s libretto, on the other hand, has not worn well over the last half century. Based on the real-life love affair between Elizabeth “Baby Doe” McCourt and Colorado silver magnate Horace Tabor in the late 1800s, the opera chronicles Tabor’s affair with Baby Doe, his divorce from his wife Augusta and subsequent marriage to Baby Doe, the damage the resulting scandal did to his political career, and Tabor’s eventual ruin when America went off the silver standard and the bottom fell out of his investments. Baby Doe stuck with him through it all, eventually dying in poverty in a cabin on the property of Tabor’s Matchless Mine, having promised her dying husband that she would never give it up.

Baby Doe’s “stand by your man” naïveté is historically accurate, and it’s clear that Latouche expects his audience to find her sympathetic. Back in the 1950s—when the popular view of a woman’s proper place in society hadn’t advanced that much from the 1890s—that might have been reasonable. Today, however, it’s hard to take a character who behaves like a doormat seriously, especially when the libretto tells us so little of her inner life and background.

There’s a similar problem with Horace’s character. Until the final scene, in which he hallucinates events from his past life, he’s little more than a stage cliché: the older man who falls for a younger woman and suffers for it. Up to that point, we have no idea why he did what he did, and by the time we find out, it’s too late to make his character truly tragic. Ditto Baby Doe, who remains something of a cipher to the end. Indeed, the most fully realized and most clearly tragic person in the opera is Horace’s divorced wife Augusta.

With that kind of baggage, a production of “The Ballad of Baby Doe” needs to have both solid musical and dramatic values and, frankly, plenty of money for lavish sets and costumes to work. You need real flash to compensate for what is, in my view, dated and theatrically clumsy material.

The Winter Opera production boasted some fine singing actors, especially in the central roles, but some of the cameo parts were noticeably weaker than the leads. The minimal set pieces served as a reminder that (as conductor Steven Jarvi pointed out in his curtain speech) this is a company operating on a small budget. Those small sets also forced stage director David Carl Toulson to cram his actors into smallish playing areas, and while he came up with some ingenious solutions to that problem, much of his blocking did not seem to be related to the dramatic shape of the scenes. I often felt that actors were moving just to avoid having them stand still. The sometimes ill-fitting costumes were also a distraction.

But enough of that. Musically, Winter Opera’s “Baby Doe” was mostly very impressive. In the title role, company Artistic Director Gina Galati was in generally good voice when we saw the show on Sunday, running into trouble only when she had to swoop up to a high note, at which point her voice sometimes became harsh and metallic. She was at her best in Baby Doe’s more lyrical moments and her final aria, “Always Through the Changing,” was very affecting.

Baritone Adelmo Guidarelli was a first-rate Horace Tabor; not surprising, given that he’s one of the few opera singers who can lay claim to a MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs) award for a cabaret show. You don’t get that without some theatre smarts. Lindsey Anderson, who was such a fine Katisha in Winter Opera’s “Mikado” last year, turned out yet another outstanding performance as Augusta Tabor. Yes, she’s one of the few singers helped rather than hindered by the libretto, but it was still a nicely nuanced portrayal.

The rest of the singers ranged from excellent to adequate. The chorus sounded fine in the ensemble numbers as did the orchestra overall, despite the occasional intonation problem with the brasses.

In the final analysis, I think Winter Opera should be congratulated for bringing what is (at least) a historically significant work to town for the first time. If the result wasn’t entirely successful, the fault lay more with the material than with its presentation. Winter Opera is a welcome presence on the local music scene, and I hope they continue to prosper and take on risky projects as well as the more mainstream stuff.

Speaking of which, Winter Opera’s season continues with Puccini’s “Tosca” March 8 and 10. Performances take place at the splendid Skip Viragh Center on the Chaminade campus on Lindbergh just north of I-64. For more information: winteroperastl.org.

Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic for 88.1 KDHX, where this review originally appeared.