Winter Opera uncorks a sparkling "Merry Widow"

Kathy Pyeatt and the ensemble

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

As the first catalogs of Christmas made their way to our recycle bin last, Winter Opera opened an early Christmas present for opera lovers last weekend (October 28 and 30, 2016) with a production of Franz Lehár's durable 1905 comic operetta The Merry Widow. As bubbly as champagne and as bright as a Christmas tree, this charming and entertaining show was one of the company's best.

Holly Janz and Jack Swanson

If you've never seen it either on stage or in one of its many film incarnations, know that the story of The Merry Widow revolves around Hanna, a youngish widow from the fictional Balkan nation of Pontevedro, who became a millionaire when her much older husband died on their wedding night. Living the high life in Paris, she's actively courted by young men with their eyes on the twenty million franc prize, but she secretly yearns for her first love, Count Danilo, who was forbidden to marry her many years ago by his snobbish family.

Now a minor official in the Pontevedrian embassy trying to drown his torch for Hanna in champagne and grisettes at Maxim's, Danilo is ordered by the ambassador, Baron Zeta, to woo Hanna and marry her, thereby keeping her millions from leaving the country. But, of course, Danilo's pride won't let him say those "three little words" to Hanna.

You know where this is all going, right?

There's also a subplot concerning Zeta's young wife Valencienne and her brief fling with a young Frenchman, Camille de Rosillon, as well as a recurring gag about the obsession of the embassy attache, Njegus, with the girls at Maxims. Needless to say, all ends happily with a big party.

Kathy Pyeatt and Clark Sturdevant

First and foremost among this production's many virtues is the uniform strength of its cast. Winter Opera has been somewhat uneven in this regard in previous the past, but this time around everyone is simply perfect, beginning with soprano Kathy Pyeatt, who demonstrated how to “glitter and be gay” (or quote a song title from Candide) in the crucial role of Hanna. Her voice was liquid gold all the way to the top of its range, making the popular second act aria “Vilja” a thing of beauty. She's also a fine actress, always in character even when not in focus.

Tenor Clark Sturdevant was a perfect match for Ms. Pyeatt as Danilo. The role lies a bit low for most tenors and is not infrequently sung by a baritone with a solid head voice, but Mr. Sturdevant sounded entirely comfortable with it. He, too, had solid acting chops, which gave the scenes between him and Ms. Pyeatt a convincing reality.

Among the supporting cast, mezzo Holly Janz stood out as Valencienne. The role is written for a soprano but-as both her singing here and a quick glance at her biography demonstrated-Ms. Janz is comfortable with soprano roles as well. Tenor Jack Swanson was an excellent vocal match for her as Rosillon, and their scenes together had real charm.

Baritone Gary Moss was a comically clueless Baron Zeta. I'm not sure why he was the only Pontevedrian with a vaudeville "Balkan" accent, but he certainly made it work for him. Baritone Curtis Shoemake was also a delight as the excessively enthusiastic Njegus.

The chorus is important in Merry Widow, and Chorus Master Nancy Mayo can take pride in how well her forces did their jobs, singling clearly and with impressively precise elocution. It helped that the (uncredited) English translation sounded very natural, often making the English supertitles unnecessary.

Curtis Shoemake and grisettes

Director Dean Anthony clearly has a good eye for what works well on a stage. His blocking always made sense and his pacing was unfailingly right and his choreography did an excellent job of keeping the real dancers front and center in the second act party scene while providing easily executed steps for the non-dancing singers in big ensemble numbers. The minstrel show-style tambourine number for the male principals in "Girls, Girls, Girls" was also an inspired (and well executed) bit of comedy.

Scott Schoonover did his usually fine job conducing the orchestra in a generally very well played reading of Lehár's unforgettable score. There were a few bits of sloppy brass intonation at the very beginning when I saw the show on Sunday, but otherwise the band sounded quite good. I wosj Mr. Schoonover hadn't decided to cut the engaging overture, though.

Scott Loebl's sets were nothing short of beautiful, with a wonderful trompe e'loeil backdrop for the Pontevedrian embassy that looked positively three dimensional. JC Krajicek's lavish and colorful costumes added to the overall visual richness of this production.

Ultimately, the worst thing to be said about Winter Opera's Merry Widow is that there were only two performances of it. If Winter Opera is going to continue producing work of this quality, it really needs longer runs. For more information on the current season, including the annual Holidays on the Hill concerts on December 6 and 7, visit the company's web site.

"Oh misery me": The problems of "Yeomen of the Guard" are unsolved by Winter Opera

Contemporary Yeomen in period costume at the Tower of London

Gilbert and Sullivan operettas follow a fairly predictable format—so much so that Anna Russell once made it the basis for a sixteen-minute comedy routine on "How to Write Your Own Gilbert and Sullivan Opera." The one oddball in the G&S canon is "Yeomen of the Guard," a somewhat indifferent production of which opened Winter Opera's current season the weekend of October 30th.

"Yeomen" comes at a time in Gilbert and Sullivan's partnership when Sir Arthur Sullivan was beginning to see himself as a victim of his own success. Like his literary contemporary Arthur Conan Doyle, Sullivan felt that his popular works were overshadowing his more serious efforts. As Doyle would come to resent Sherlock Holmes, Sullivan was beginning to resent his comic collaborations with Gilbert. So when Gilbert proposed a more serious libretto, Sullivan jumped at the chance.

First performed in 1888, "Yeomen" wasn't a total departure from the familiar formula. There are disguises, complex plot reversals, and a fair amount of comedy. But the satirical jabs at British institutions are absent and the ending is, if not really tragic, at least unhappy. The result is an uneven mix of Gilbertian absurdity and unconvincing drama that never really works as either comedy or tragedy. Its appeal has always escaped me.

Set in the Tower of London in the 16th century, the story of "Yeomen" revolves around Colonel Fairfax, who is about to executed for sorcery on the basis of false testimony from an evil cousin who plans to inherit Fairfax's fortune if Fairfax dies unmarried. Fairfax offers 100 crowns to any woman who will marry him, sight unseen, and so cheat his cousin of his ill-gotten gains. Elsie Maynard, a young singer more or less betrothed to the jester Jack Point, takes him up on the offer in order to buy medicine for her ailing mother.

Unknown to Fairfax, his old friend Sergeant Meryll and daughter Phoebe have hatched a plot to save his life by disguising him as Meryll's son Leonard, newly arrived to take a position as one of the Tower guards (the "Yeomen" of the title). Once sprung from prison, Fairfax woos Phoebe and then, still disguised as Leonard, seduces Elsie while pretending to be helping Jack Point woo her.

By the end of the opera both Phoebe and her father are trapped in dreary marriages to (respectively) the loutish jailer Wilfred Shadbolt and the bloodthirsty Tower housekeeper Dame Carruthers as the price for keeping their plot secret. Fairfax claims Elsie and poor Jack Point falls senseless to the stage.

In short, no good deed goes unpunished and Fairfax, an ingrate if ever there was one, goes on his merry way.

The inadequacies of the libretto aside, Sullivan produced some wonderful music for "Yeomen," including an artfully constructed overture which was, alas, cut in half for this production. Most of the other optional cuts were apparently made as well, bringing the show in at under two and one-half hours, including intermission. Unfortunately, the slow pacing and static staging by director John Stephens made it feel longer.

As is often the case with Winter Opera, there were some truly fine voices in this cast, with mezzo Amy Maude Helfer leading the pack as a completely engaging Phoebe. She displayed a fluid, smooth voice and impressive acting skills. Soprano Eileen Vanessa Rodriguez was an excellent Elsie and bass James Harrington brought a welcome touch of dry humor to the role of Sergeant Meryll.

As Jack Point, baritone Andy Papas had the kind of rich, powerful voice that one doesn't often hear in the "principal actor" roles in Gilbert and Sullivan. He did well by Point's patter numbers, although he made the character a bit more querulous than I would have liked.

There were vocally strong performances as well from tenor Clark Sturdevant as Fairfax, contralto Sharmay Musacchio as a rather young-looking Dame Carruthers, and bass-baritone Adrian Rosas as the one historically based character, Tower Lieutenant Sir Richard Cholmondeley. Baritone Gary Moss sang well as Shadbolt and had some nice comic business, but insisted on delivering all his lines facing downstage, even when interacting with other characters, which simply looked bizarre.

The chorus was small but mighty; credit Chorus Master Nancy Mayo for that.

Scott Schoonover did his usual polished job conducting the orchestra, which generally did quite well by Sullivan's music, that annoying cut in the overture not withstanding. The fact that the Viragh Center has an actual orchestra pit also eliminated some of the balance problems you sometimes encounter in performance spaces that weren’t designed with musical theatre in mind.

Scott Loebl's set gave a nice sense of the Tower's imposing presence while still leaving lots of playing space available and JC Krajicek's costumes evoked the period quite effectively.

If "Yeomen of the Guard" was not, on the whole, one of Winter Opera's better efforts, the bulk of the blame must fall to Mr. Gilbert for producing a libretto that was neither fish nor fowl. "Yeomen of the Guard" is a problematic work, and this production didn't solve it.

Winter Opera's season continues with Mozart's "Cosi fan Tutte" January 22 and 24 and concludes with Verdi's "Il Trovatore" March 4 and 6. There's also a festive "Holidays on the Hill" concert December 8 and 9 and Dominic's on the Hill. For more information: winteroperastl.org.

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

Review of Winter Opera's "Faust"

Julia Ebner as Marguerite,Timothy J. Bruno as Mephistopheles
and Clay Hilley as Faust © Ron Lindsey, 2013

Long regarded by many as one of the highlights of the French grand opera tradition, Gounod's "Faust"—a beautifully sung production of which opened Winter Opera’s season—actually started life in 1859 as an opéra comique with spoken dialog instead of recitatives and without large ballet sequences. It was only the addition of the former in 1860 and the latter in 1875 that elevated Faust to the position of eminence it held in opera houses for over a century.

But in dealing with weighty subjects the reach of Gounod and his librettists Jules Barbier and Michel Carré mostly exceed their grasp. The music still retains most of its power but the libretto has aged badly and now looks quaint and even dramatically inert at times.

"Satan", the a 1927 lyric by Leo Robin and Clifford Grey tells us, "lies awaitin' and creatin' clouds of gray."* In "Faust" Mephistopheles fills the lives of Faust, Marguerite, and Marguerite's family with clouds that aren't gray so much as the sort of greenish black we Midwesterners have come to associate with tornado season. By the end of Act 5 (Act 3 in this production), there has been enough death, scandal, and misery loosed upon the stage to fill up at least fifteen minutes of a cable news broadcast.

Julia Ebner as Marguerite,
Timothy J. Bruno as Mephistopheles
and Clay Hilley as Faust© Ron Lindsey, 2013

This could be tremendously powerful stuff, but the libretto—based on Carré's play "Faust et Marguerite," which is very freely adapted from Part 1 of Goethe’s "Faust"—deals with it in such a pedestrian way that Faust, for example, comes off as little more than a shallow fool. Tenor Clay Hilley brought a truly wonderful voice to the role, fortunately, garnering his share of "bravos". His acting was not at quite at the level of his voice—his aged Faust was too exaggerated to be credible and his youthful Faust struck me as a bit bland—but there was no gainsaying the quality of his singing.

Soprano Julia Ebner was a very effective Marguerite, with a fine, supple voice and respectable acting chops. Bass Timothy J. Bruno’s Méphistophélès was also a vocal triumph, but I felt he failed to convey the character’s menace. His mocking Act 3 serenade, "Vous qui faites l'endormie," ideally a compelling display of sheer malevolence, felt under-played to me.

One of the strongest overall performances came from baritone Eric McKeever as Marguerite’s brother Valentin. "O sainte médaille," the Act 1 aria in which he entrusts the care of Marguerite to young Siébel (a "pants" role, nicely done by mezzo Cherry Duke) was a true showstopper and got the first "bravo" of the day.

John Stephens’s direction, while serviceable, was sometimes rather static. Ensemble scenes, in particular, tended to consist of having chorus members line up, face front, and sing with very little movement. Part of the problem, of course, was that Scott Loebl’s unit set consisted of a wall with a scrim stage left, a door unit center, and a set of stairs leading down to floor level stage right. The stone wall look was great, but its size tended to push all the action downstage. I would think those stairs could have been used in some of the chorus scenes to relieve the congestion.

The Act I waltz scene © Ron Lindsey, 2013

He did, on the other hand, come up with a neat solution to the problem posed by the lack of room for dancing in the famous Act 1 (original Act 2) waltz sequence.  He brought on a pair of ballroom dancers (Stephanie Medeiros and Atanas Pavlov) to do a flashy waltz number of their own.  They apparently beamed in from the 20th century, but it was certainly a theatrically effective moment.

JC Krajicek’s costumes (some of them ill fitting) seemed to have been assembled from several different shows, resulting in an opera that was apparently taking place in no fixed time or place. If that was designed to make the story more universal, I’m not sure it really worked. And that gray brocade suite for Faust made him look more silly than seductive.

Michael Mishra led the orchestra brilliantly, and their playing generally sounded quite polished. The instrumental/vocal balance was very good as well. I didn’t see a chorus master listed, but whoever rehearsed the ensemble did a fine job; the chorus sang with a precision and clarity that was wonderful to hear.

Winter Opera has come a long way in just seven seasons. Now that they’re getting some corporate sponsorship and have apparently settled in at the Viragh Center—one of the best musical theatre houses in town, hands down—I expect them to continue to be a critical part of the local opera scene. If they can get the theatrical aspects of their productions up to the same high level as the musical ones, they will truly be a force to be reckoned with.

Winter Opera’s next show is Verdi’s "Falstaff," one of the Italian master’s very best works, with a first-rate libretto by Boito. Performances are Friday and Sunday, February 7 and 9, 2014. There will also be another special "Holidays on the Hill" show December 10, 12, and 17 at Dominic’s Restaurant. Fore more information: winteroperastl.org.

*"Hallelujah," from "Hit the Deck." Music is by Vincent Youmans

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

Winter Opera Saint Louis Interviewed on STL TV

Winter Opera Saint Louis General Director Gina Galati and Music Director Steven Jarvi sat down for an interview with STL TV to discuss the company and its upcoming seventh season.

(The above embedded video is a playlist of two videos.)

Winter Opera Saint Louis's season begins on November 8 & 10 with Faust, then continues with Falstaff in February and Lucia di Lammermoor in March. Performances take place at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts at Chaminade (425 S. Lindbergh Blvd, St. Louis, MO, 63131). Tickets and more information can be found by calling 314-865-0038 or visiting winteroperastl.org

Review of Winter Opera's "Tosca"

Tosca Ensemble and 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.

The Critics on "The Ballad of Baby Doe"

Winter Opera Saint Louis' production of The Ballad of Baby Doe was met with critical acclaim over the weekend. Here's a sample of what Chuck Lavazzi of KDHX, Sarah Bryan Miller of the Post-Dispatch, and Gerry Kowarsky of Two on the Aisle had to say:

Chuck Lavazzi:

"[Gina Galati] 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...Lindsey Anderson, who was such a fine Katisha in Winter Opera’s “Mikado” last year, turned out yet another outstanding performance as Augusta Tabor...a nicely nuanced portrayal...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."

Sarah Bryan Miller:

"Lindsey Anderson was the most impressive in dramatic terms, imbuing Augusta with a rock-ribbed New England righteousness that had neither room nor sympathy for weakness, and singing with a dark tone entirely appropriate for the character...Gina Galati displayed a sweet, clear voice with well-placed high notes, and captured the essence of Baby...Adelmo Guidarelli’s Horace has a fine voice, but he was strongest in the acting department, the ex-miner’s earthiness peering out from behind the magnate’s frock coat...[B]ass-baritone Mark Freiman’s William Jennings Bryan and tenors Jon Garrett and Philip Touchette were standouts...Mezzo Sara Gottman is young (and slender) for Mama McCourt, but she did a fine job as Baby’s gaffe-prone mother."

Gerry Kowarsky:

"Adelmo Guidarelli projected the power of the self-made man in his heyday, the tenderness of his love for Baby Doe and the horror of his visions of the future after his downfall...Lindsey Anderson was a formidable presence as the spurned wife Augusta. The strength of Anderson's voice underlined the character's steely sense of purpose...The sweetness of Gina Galati's voice was a fine match for the arias in which Baby Doe expresses her devotion to Horace...The orchestra played well and in balance with the singers under Steven Jarvi's direction...David Carl Toulson's stage direction kept the action moving well on a utilitarian set design by Scott Loebl...A fine effort all around."

Winter Opera St. Louis' production has concluded, but their season continues this March with a production of Puccini's Tosca starring Metropolitan Opera Soprano Stella Zambalis on March 8th & 10th. Visit winteroperastl.org for more information.

"The Ballad of Baby Doe" Opens Tomorrow Night

Gina Galati & Adelmo Guidarelli
Photo ©Ron Lindsey

Winter Opera Saint Louis continues its sixth season this weekend with the St. Louis Premiere of Douglas Moore's opera The Ballad of Baby Doe, the true story of an enduring romance between silver baron Horace Tabor and Elizabeth “Baby Doe” Tabor in 1880s Colorado. Made rich by the Matchless Mine in Leadville, Colorado, Horace Tabor has grown disenchanted with his stern wife Augusta and soon falls in love with the ravishing young Elizabeth Doe, a visitor from Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Their union endures divorces, scandal, political strife and the eventual ruination of Horace’s riches brought on by the gold standard. Hear ravishing melodies that have entered the standard operatic repertoire, including “Warm as the Autumn Light,” “The Willow Song,” and “Always Through the Changing.” 

CAST

Lindsey Anderson
Photo ©Ron Lindsey

Soprano Gina Galati, returning after singing Mimì in La Bohème last season, sings the leading role of Elizabeth “Baby Doe” Tabor, a role made famous by Soprano Beverly Sills. Making his company debut, Baritone Adelmo Guidarelli (artist with St. Petersburg Opera and New Jersey State Opera) portrays Horace Tabor. Having last sung as Katisha in The Mikado, Mezzo-Soprano Lindsey Anderson returns to sing the role of Augusta Tabor. Winter Opera veteran Mezzo-Soprano Sara Gottman, who recently sang the nymph Dryad in Ariadne auf Naxos, returns to sing the role of Mama McCourt, Baby Doe’s mother. Bass Mark Freiman, who directed and sang in last season’s La Bohème, sings the role of William Jennings Bryan, a role he recorded on a live Central City Opera recording of The Ballad of Baby Doe for Sony Newport Classics on the occasion of the opera’s 40th Anniversary in 1996.

Adelmo Guidarelli & Ensemble
Photo ©Ron Lindsey

Twenty-five local professional artists sing various supporting roles and comprise the ensemble in Winter Opera's largest production yet.

CREW

Mark Freiman & Ensemble
Photo ©Ron Lindsey

Stage Director David Carl Toulson, whose credits include Asheville Lyric Opera, Tanglewood Music Festival, Washington National Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis makes his company debut. Winter Opera Music Director Steven Jarvi returns to conduct the orchestra. Erin Waters Ryan makes her company debut as production stage manager. Nancy Mayo, adjunct professor of piano and accompanying at Webster University and resident collaborative pianist with Winter Opera Saint Louis, serves as rehearsal pianist. JC Krajicek, who costumed last season’s La Bohème, returns as Costume Designer. Having most recently designed The Mikado, Scott Loebl and Sean Savoie return as set designer and lighting designer, respectively. Theresa Loebl serves as Production Manager.

MEDIA

Patricia Rice of the St. Louis Beacon penned an article on Winter Opera's efforts to mount this American opera. Sarah Bryan Miller of the Post-Dispatch published a brief interview with Gina Galati on the production. You may also read Operatic Saint Louis' Q & A with principals Gina Galati, Adelmo Guidarelli, Lindsey Anderson and interview with Stage Director David Carl Toulson.

The Ballad of Baby Doe opens tomorrow night, February 8th, at 8pm and continues Sunday, February 10th, at 3pm. Venue: Skip Viragh Center for the Arts at Chaminade located at 425 S. Lindbergh Blvd (map). Production sung in English with projected English supertitles. Tickets may be purchased by calling 314-865-0038 or visiting 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.

Interview with "Ballad of Baby Doe" Stage Director David Carl Toulson

David Carl Toulson

Operatic Saint Louis recently interviewed David Carl Toulson, stage director of Winter Opera Saint Louis' upcoming St. Louis Premiere of The Ballad of Baby Doe. No stranger to St. Louis, David has stage directed for both Webster University and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. This production marks his debut with Winter Opera.

This production marks your debut with Winter Opera Saint Louis, but you are no stranger to this city, having worked for OTSL in recent years. What do you most enjoy about working in St. Louis?

I think the thing that impresses me the most about creating opera in Saint Louis is the sense of community that surrounds the art form. Winter Opera Saint Louis is the third organization I have worked for in the area, and in all of my experiences here I have found there to incredible support from the public. This blurring between the public and the producing companies is wonderful; it keeps opera from inadvertently becoming an ‘ivory tower’ art from and allows it to be a more organic and vibrant experience.

Whenever preparing twentieth century works like The Ballad of Baby Doe, do you feel the need to approach them differently than Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, etc., or do you find modern operas to be no different?

For me the initial approach is the same. I take a hard look at the characters to try to understand their desires and their motivations and let that be the basis for my stage direction. I then listen to the music to help me determine in what manner they go about acting on their motivations. If the music were atonal or very disjunct, it might affect the way I move people about the stage, but in the case of Baby Doe, the music is very lyrical which leads me to take a more naturalistic approach to the stage direction.

What aspects of The Ballad of Baby Doe—in terms of its score, libretto or both—did you find inspiring as you prepared your staging of the piece?

I am amazed at how theatrically the score is written. In preparing to direct the show, Moore’s and Latouche’s intentions as to mood and movement were very clear to me. Having such a solid framework to base my direction on has made the rehearsal process a pleasure.

What do you believe makes "Baby Doe" such an enduring story, especially for opera?

I believe the staying power of the Baby Doe story has two major aspects. The first is its basis in American history. Using an American theme for this opera helps to make it instantly accessible and relatable to an American audience. More importantly though is the universal struggle of the principal trio. The story of Baby Doe is the story of a love triangle. There are no villains in the opera. As the opera unfolds, we as an audience can relate to the difficult decisions they make and their struggles become our own.

Douglas Moore’s score and John Latouche’s libretto form a work of tremendous dramatic and emotional scale. In this regard, have there been any particular moments or scenes that you have found especially challenging during preparation?

I have to say, all of the scenes come with their individual challenges and rewards. The final scene is worthy of note in that in it Horace is looking back on his life. He causes snippets of the opera and other moments of his past to appear on stage. Stepping away from reality and trying to represent someone’s inner thoughts on stage is always a challenge. I hope you find my solutions credible.

Conversely, were there any scenes in which you knew exactly what you wanted to do?

I can’t say that anything came particularly easy, but when I prepare a scene, once I boil it down and find its core the ideas usually come. I find that if I am struggling when planning a scene, I usually haven’t yet discovered its central meaning. When that happens, I try to take a step back, reevaluate the scene, and then try again.

Latouche’s libretto calls for a variety of locales both interior and exterior and covers a specific era of American history: the 1880s and '90s in Colorado and Washington D.C. How has the “look” of the opera come to life through collaborating with scenic designer Scott Loebl and costume designer J.C. Krajicek?

When approaching the opera, as a design team we made the decision to make the physical production simple and elegant. The show has 11 different locations over the course of almost 20 years. To try to completely represent each location would have been an impossible task and would have ruined the flow of the piece. Since mining is a central theme throughout the opera, we decided that mining timbers would be the primary look for all of the scenery. The only time we stray from this is for Baby’s and Horace’s wedding in Washington, D.C. By changing the color palette for that scene we are helping identify the difference in location.

Moore’s score never lacks for gorgeous arias and ensembles. Among them, do you have any particular favorites?

I can’t really choose a favorite; all of the music is gorgeous and incredibly engaging.

What would you say to convince the “man on the street” to attend this production?

I commented to someone recently that I thought Baby Doe was one of the most beautiful operas that most people didn’t know. My hope is that potential opera goers will not dismiss this opera thinking that because it is 20th century opera, they won’t enjoy it. Baby Doe is a compelling American story with beautiful music. The characters are relatable and accessible and the story is heartbreaking.

Visit www.davidcarltoulson.com to learn more about Mr. Toulson and his career.

The Ballad of Baby Doe runs February 8th (8pm) and 10th (3pm) at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts on the campus of Chaminade College Preparatory School (425 S. Lindbergh Blvd; map). Tickets may be purchased by calling 314-865-0038 or online at http://winteroperastl.tix.com/ $10 Student Rush Tickets available at the door; valid Student ID required. For more information on this and future productions, visit WinterOperaSTL.org

Q & A with Gina Galati of "The Ballad of Baby Doe"

Gina Galati

Soprano Gina Galati sings the role of Elizabeth "Baby Doe" Tabor in Winter Opera St. Louis' The Ballad of Baby Doe. She pulls double duty in this production, also serving as the company's Artistic Director. Operatic Saint Louis recently engaged her in a Q & A session where she offers a perspective on her role and the opera.

The Ballad of Baby Doe represents a couple of “firsts” for Winter Opera: the first local premiere of a celebrated opera as well as the first opera by an American composer—Douglas Moore. How did you and Musical Director Steven Jarvi come to choose this piece for your sixth season?

We wanted to produce our first American opera and realized that The Ballad of Baby Doe had never been done previously in St. Louis. Plus, we thought the opera would present a nice challenge for the company.

Which aspects of the real life Elizabeth Doe—as well as Latouche’s rendering of her in the libretto—intrigued you the most in preparing the title role?

What intrigued me the most is her strong character and dedication to Horace Tabor even though it causes her ruin. Her vows and strong unconditional love also appealed to me. Elizabeth could have moved on and secured a better future, but she gave her life to him and his passions instead.

The role of Elizabeth Doe provides musical lines and phrases both gorgeous and challenging for a coloratura soprano. What particular musical challenges did the role present to you as a singer?

The most challenging parts of the role are the large interval leaps in the melody which come out of nowhere sometimes. Also, vocal entrances can be tricky at times because Douglas Moore's choices in tonality are not always the obvious ones.

You have sung several roles from the Italian repertoire, notably Puccini, Verdi and Donizetti. How does the American Elizabeth Doe compare to the women you have previously portrayed onstage?

I feel that Elizabeth Doe is the first character I have played that actively makes the decisions that bring on her demise. She was not sick. She made her own way through life because of her vows. It was nice playing a real American woman, too!

What musical moments in the opera are some of the most affecting and rewarding for you?

I think the last aria—"Always Through the Changing"—is very beautiful and any person, especially those who have lost a loved one, can identify with the words. I also love the Silver Aria ("Gold is a fine thing...") with its beautiful accompaniment which nicely describes the beauty of silver as well as Baby Doe's ability to make peace between groups quarreling. Her really admirable qualities come out in this aria.

Visit www.ginagalati.com to learn more about Ms. Galati and her upcoming career.

The Ballad of Baby Doe runs February 8th (8pm) and 10th (3pm) at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts on the campus of Chaminade College Preparatory School (425 S. Lindbergh Blvd; map). Tickets may be purchased by calling 314-865-0038 or online at http://winteroperastl.tix.com/ $10 Student Rush Tickets available at the door; valid Student ID required. For more information on this and future productions, visit WinterOperaSTL.org

Q & A with Adelmo Guidarelli of "The Ballad of Baby Doe"

Adelmo Guidarelli

Baritone Adelmo Guidarelli sings the lead role of Horace Tabor in Winter Opera St. Louis' The Ballad of Baby Doe. This production marks his company debut. Operatic Saint Louis recently engaged him in a Q & A session where he offers his perspective on his role and the opera.

As you found your way into this role, what aspects of the real life Horace Tabor and Latouche’s vision of the man were most fascinating and helpful to you as a singing actor?

For me, Horace is a man's man, like the venerable John Wayne, and I think Latouche did a great job of bringing that out in Horace. The emotions that Horace feels during the opera are emotions that everyone in the audience has felt at some point in their lives, which makes him a tangible character. To access those emotions as an actor was not a challenge for me. The challenge for every actor is in the art of believably conveying those feelings to everyone in the theater.

How does the role of Horace Tabor compare to your previous repertoire? Have there been any unique challenges in preparation?

I am usually cast as the happy-go-lucky guy, like Marcello in La Bohème or Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro--gentlemen who are, for the most part, one or two dimensional characters. This is my role debut as Horace so when I began digging into him I quickly learned that he is a more complex character and the arc of his journey is huge. He begins the opera a wealthy, married man. His marriage is appropriately comfortable for the time period and his station in life, but he is not romantically drawn to his wife. A roller coaster ride of events begins when his marriage tarnishes upon meeting a sparkling new woman with whom he unexpectedly falls in love. He soon gets a divorce, fathers children, and becomes involved in an ill-fated struggle against the establishment for a cause he wholeheartedly believes in. This chain of events leads him to ultimately lose everything and die alone. Having personally experienced some of those situations in my own life, gave me a wealth of senses to draw from. The learning curve I worked hardest to tackle was within the complexity of the music. In my usual Italian repertoire the vocal line most always sits within the cord structure but in this score there are so many accidentals, modifications to the notes to add drama and meaning to the text, that the learning process was a bit longer than average. Usually when a composer creates a note, or a cluster of notes, outside of the chord there is a dramatic meaning to his thinking so deciphering those intricacies added a measure of fun to the undertaking. Yes, singing opera is fun!

As the opera begins, we soon learn that Tabor has grown distant from his wife Augusta. From where do you believe this disenchantment stems? What qualities in Elizabeth turn him away from Augusta?

Augusta is a chaste New England woman who doesn't really know how to deal with their sudden wealth and so her idea of how they should behave as middle-aged wealthy people is completely different than that of Horace. When Elizabeth and Horace first meet in the opera Horace has just been scolded by Augusta outside of the Opera House in front of all of their friends while dancing around with the saloon girls he employs. Horace embraces the freedom of the American West and the fun their wealth allows but Augusta can't bring herself to be part of it. I think this rift puts him in a vulnerable and lonely place when he meets Elizabeth for the first time. Her obvious free spirited zest for life entices him to make the choice to leave Augusta and live the full menu of life available to a man of such means.

Throughout the opera, Horace Tabor makes many choices that others find risky and potentially destructive—especially ignoring the impending the silver crash. Yet, he doesn’t seem to care about others’ warnings. What do you think causes him to be so steadfast in his actions?

Hope and determination are key qualities in Horace. He is a "stick to your guns till death" kind of guy.

What musical moments in the opera are some of the most affecting and rewarding for you?

The aria "Warm as the Autumn Light" has been the aria that I have offered as my English piece at every audition since college so to finally be able to sing it with an orchestra is well worth the wait! Also, the duet between Horace and Augusta that springs from her confrontation about his dalliance with Elizabeth is a moving and telling moment in the opera. He tells Augusta that Elizabeth is a beautiful and generous woman who fills his heart with love and that her own coldness has made him feel that he is going through life as a dead man. Musically, it is one of the most beautiful moments in the score. The other moment that comes to mind is the final scene at the Tabor Opera House. Elizabeth has been told that Horace is there and appears to be ill. She finds him on the stage and he asks her if she has come to tell him that he has failed her. It has been hard to stay in character while singing this line; it brings me to tears. This is the lowest point for Horace in the entire show. He is completely broken and certain that Elizabeth will tell him that he is a failure. To go to that dark and isolating place as an actor and try to stay in the moment without thinking, “How am I going to sing when my throat is closing with tears?” is the hardest part of my portrayal of Horace Tabor. So, on opening night, the audience will hear and see the reality of that moment for me as an actor. I always allow whatever happens in that moment in time to happen naturally. I am a student of the Sanford Meisner technique of acting and if I am to stay true to myself, the scene and the character, I have to free myself and let the moment evolve on its own. I am honored to be chosen to bring Horace Tabor to life here at Winter Opera St. Louis for its St. Louis premiere. The task is great but the reward is even greater.

Visit www.adelmoguidarelli.com to learn more about Mr. Guidarelli and his upcoming career.

The Ballad of Baby Doe runs February 8th (8pm) and 10th (3pm) at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts on the campus of Chaminade College Preparatory School (425 S. Lindbergh Blvd; map). Tickets may be purchased by calling 314-865-0038 or online at http://winteroperastl.tix.com/ $10 Student Rush Tickets available at the door; valid Student ID required. For more information on this and future productions, visit WinterOperaSTL.org

Q & A with Lindsey Anderson of "The Ballad of Baby Doe"

Lindsey Anderson

Mezzo-soprano Lindsey Anderson sings the leading role of Augusta Tabor in Winter Opera St. Louis' The Ballad of Baby Doe. This production will be her second with Winter Opera, having made her company debut as Katisha in The Mikado last November. Operatic Saint Louis recently engaged her in a Q & A session where she offers a perspective on her role and the opera.

Given some of the libretto’s text, it might be easy to write off Augusta Tabor as a serious, cold woman. In your preparation, what have you discovered about Augusta through the libretto or other sources in order to present a well-rounded, three-dimensional character?

Augusta is, indeed, a very serious and proper woman, but after spending all of this time with the character, I found it is truly just the tip of the iceberg. She leads with a harsh facade but this coldness is simply the result of years and years of trials and hard work. Augusta and Horace were pretty much opposites in all respects. This great contrast between them may have caused Augusta to lean too far in hopes of positively influencing Horace's sense of responsibility. She was a woman that got too caught up in details of business and propriety and forgot how to enjoy life. She truly is very tender and loving--she just has a hard time showing it.

Augusta, in the opera, seems very shrewd without a shred of gullibility. Do you believe that she ever doubts the rumors of her husband’s infidelity?

You're very right in saying that Augusta is certainly not a gullible woman. Although she is intelligent and a true realist, she is still a woman whom I believe to be quite a romantic at heart. Who else, other than a romantic, would forge the frontier to support their husband's big ideas? There is a soft side to Augusta, but she doesn't show it and I find that her concealment of it makes her all the more vulnerable. I'm sure she was hurt deeply with every rumor of Horace's infidelity and although she knew them to be true, she no doubt hoped that they were not.

During Act Two, Augusta warns Elizabeth, and thus Horace, to beware the silver crash and get out of the trade altogether. Why do you believe she makes this warning, given her previous vow to ruin Tabor?

This scene comes as quite a surpise. The last time the audience heard from Augusta she was (with inspiration from her friends) making grand plans to ruin Horace's name. But time has passed and wisdom permits her to realize that it would only hurt herself to hold onto feelings of anger and vengeance. I believe she was very lonely when she reached out to help Elizabeth and Horace. She knew her health was deteriorating and saw no logical point in trying further a feud.

Frances Bible, an early interpreter of Augusta, claims that Douglas Moore initially wrote the role in the high register for a Dramatic Soprano, but decided he wanted a darker sound and designated the role for a Mezzo Soprano…yet he didn’t rewrite a single note. As a Mezzo, do you find the role’s more vocally demanding than the rest of your repertoire?

This role which is quite demanding vocally. I just finished singing the role of Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking. It was an absolutely beautiful piece and another very strong woman to portray. I was on the stage for the whole 2 hours and 30 minutes but it was a different type of role from Augusta in that it intermixed heavier singing with lighter, more delicate moments. Augusta is a character which has a bit less stage time, but all that she says is poignant and very dramatic. She is decisive with her words but they are packed with a punch! In addition to the vocal demands, the music of Augusta is just as complex as the character. Douglas Moore did an amazing job capturing the many layers of Augusta with unpredictable, complex melodies and rhythms.

What musical moments in the opera are some of the most affecting and rewarding for you?

There are many moments that I find very affecting, but Augusta's Aria, "Augusta! How can you turn away?" is by far the most moving moment for me. It combines a lifetime's worth of emotions into 5 minutes and it is absolutely heart-wrenching. Although very late in the opera, it is definitely the crux of Augusta's character development. It is emotionally and physically exhausting to sing, but few arias touch me as deeply as this one.

Visit www.lindseyandersonmezzo.com to learn more about Ms. Anderson and her upcoming career.

The Ballad of Baby Doe runs February 8th (8pm) and 10th (3pm) at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts on the campus of Chaminade College Preparatory School (425 S. Lindbergh Blvd; map). Tickets may be purchased by calling 314-865-0038 or online at http://winteroperastl.tix.com/ $10 Student Rush Tickets available at the door; valid Student ID required. For more information on this and future productions, visit WinterOperaSTL.org

Historical Facts: Elizabeth "Baby Doe" Tabor in "The Ballad of Baby Doe"

Elizabeth "Baby Doe" Tabor

Operatic Saint Louis concludes its series of historical facts on the leading characters of Winter Opera Saint Louis' upcoming production of The Ballad of Baby Doe. The final historical figure in this series is Elizabeth "Baby Doe" Tabor. Be sure to read all about Baby Doe's small historical connection to St. Louis!

Facts on Elizabeth McCourt Tabor:

• Born Elizabeth Bonduel McCourt in 1854 Oshkosh, Wisconsin to Irish immigrants.
• Married Harvey Doe in 1877; moved with him to Central City, Colorado that same year.
• Earned the name "Baby Doe" in the years her husband owned and ran the Fourth of July gold mine.
• Grew disenchanted with Harvey Doe, likely due to his alcoholism and financial troubles, and went to Leadville, Colorado, where she met silver baron Horace Tabor, who left his first wife Augusta, to spend time with her.
• Divorced Harvey Doe in March 1880; became established in fancy hotel suites in Denver and Leadville with financial support from Tabor.
• Went with Tabor to St. Louis in September 1882 to be married in secret. (More on this below!) 
• Augusta Tabor, long steadfast in refusing to grant a divorce, finally relented in January 1883.
• Two months later, Baby Doe (28) and Tabor (52) were married publicly at the Willard Hotel in Washington D.C. during Tabor's brief tenure as U.S. Senator.
• After performing the ceremony, the Catholic priest learned both husband and wife had been divorced and refused to sign the marriage license, an action that set off a scandal which tarnished the Tabors' societal standing.
• Gave birth to two daughters: Elizabeth Bonduel Lily (1884) and Rose Mary Echo Silver Dollar (1889). 
• Promised to fulfill her husband's dying wish that the Matchless Mine--their motherlode of fortune--be held onto, which she managed to do until ultimately losing the mine in 1927 to satisfy a debt.
• Despite loss of the mine, the owners allowed Baby Doe to live in the cabin near the mine shaft.
• In Winter 1935, neighbors discovered her body in the cabin, frozen to death on the floor.
• In contrast to the size of Augusta's estate (more than $1.5 million), Baby Doe's possessions were auctioned off to souvenir collectors for a mere $700. Buried next to Horace in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. 

Baby Doe and Horace Tabor have a small historical connection to the city of St. Louis. In the book The Legend of Baby Doe: The Life and Times of the Silver Queen of the West, author John Burke describes Horace Tabor's maneuvering to placate Baby Doe, who desperately wanted to get married despite Horace's difficulty securing a legal divorce from Augusta:

"Without having papers served on Augusta, Horace quickly obtained a divorce, garlanded with fraud and perjury though it was. He and Baby then journeyed secretly to St. Louis, where they were married by a justice of the peace. Technically, they were now living not in sin but in a state of bigamy. He promised that they would be married in a Catholic ceremony once the legal obstacles were cleared.

Baby was pacified for the moment--at least she had a marriage certificate to fondle--but a secret marriage was almost as unsatisfactory as the previous arrangement. She was getting awfully tired of wearing that heavy veil whenever she and Horace ventured into public view; of tripping over curbstones and blundering into lampposts. Furthermore the disguise wasn't fooling people anymore."

The role of Baby Doe in the Douglas Moore opera is a veritable gold-- or shall we say silvermine of arias for lyric coloratura sopranos. Baby Doe sings five arias throughout the opera: the Willow Song, the Letter Aria ("Dearest Mama..."), an aria sung to her romantic rival Augusta ("I Knew It Was Wrong"), the Silver Aria ("Gold is a fine thing...") sung to make peace between gold- and silver-standard supporters, and "Always Through the Changing," sung to her dying husband at the conclusion of the opera. Listen to an interpretation of the Willow Song by soprano Beverly Sills, who sang the role in its 1958 New York City Opera premiere.

The Ballad of Baby Doe runs February 8th (8pm) and 10th (3pm) at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts on the campus of Chaminade College Preparatory School (425 S. Lindbergh Blvd; map). Tickets may be purchased by calling 314-865-0038 or online at http://winteroperastl.tix.com/ $10 Student Rush Tickets available at the door; valid Student ID required. For more information on this and future productions, visit WinterOperaSTL.org

Historical Facts: Augusta Tabor in "The Ballad of Baby Doe"

Operatic Saint Louis continues its series of historical facts on the leading characters of Winter Opera Saint Louis' upcoming production of The Ballad of Baby Doe. The second in this series is Augusta Tabor, first wife of Horace Tabor.

Augusta Tabor

Facts on Augusta Pierce Tabor:

• Born to William B. Pierce and Lucy Eaton in 1833 Augusta, Maine.
• In her early twenties, she courted Horace Tabor, then one of her father's employees.
• Married Tabor in 1857 before moving west to the Kansas Territory.
• Gave birth to one son, Nathaniel "Maxcy" Tabor, during this marriage.
• Moved with Horace to Denver on news of a gold rush, where she worked as a cook, laundress and postmistress.
• Settled in Leadville, CO, where she shared in ownership of the Little Pittsburgh and Matchless silver mines, often cooking for and ministering to the miners.
• Tabor built her a twenty-room mansion in Denver during his term as Colorado Lt. Governor.
• After Tabor's scandalous affair with Baby Doe, she was divorced in 1883 and took up full residence in her Denver mansion, eventually running it as a boarding house. In 1892, she had moved across the the street to live at the Brown Palace Hotel, ran by her son.
• Devoted her newfound single life to cultural and social philanthropy, with special attention to the Pioneer Ladies Aid Society and Unity Unitarian Church of Denver.
• As Horace and Baby Doe lost their fortunes to the decline of silver, Augusta abandoned the trade and thus lived comfortably, if frugally, for the remainder of her life.
• In need of a climate more conducive to her deteriorating health in the last years of her life, she eventually moved to Pasadena, California, where she died in 1895 at the age of 62.
• Having died a wealthy woman, Augusta Tabor left her son Maxcy a fortune of $1.5 million.
• Buried in Denver, Colorado. An inscription on her tombstone reads: "She came where there were no roads and left a path for us to follow. She came to a wilderness and made it a place of settlement. She fed the hungry and healed the sick, giving generously of those motherly gifts which settled rough mining camps. She came searching for gold and left behind the treasure of civilization."

Composer Douglas Moore sought a darker vocal color for Augusta Tabor, presumably to contrast the high lyric coloratura lines of Baby Doe. As such, the role has been performed by several Mezzo-Sopranos, chief among them Frances Bible (who recorded Augusta in the 1959 New York City Opera recording), Joyce Castle and Martha Lipton, creator of the role. The composer wrote several monologues and scenes that highlight and deepen the character's joys, anger, suspicions and pain. Act One, Scene Five (as seen in the video below) is an especially dramatic scene in which Augusta's friends venomously inform her of Horace's plans to divorce. She is resolved to ruin him. Taken from a recent Central City Opera production, the video below features Mezzo-Soprano Joyce Castle as Augusta:

You can learn more about Augusta Tabor and the other historical figures of the opera by visiting BabyDoe.org

The Ballad of Baby Doe runs February 8th (8pm) and 10th (3pm) at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts on the campus of Chaminade College Preparatory School (425 S. Lindbergh Blvd; map). Tickets may be purchased by calling 314-865-0038 or online at http://winteroperastl.tix.com/ $10 Student Rush Tickets available at the door; valid Student ID required. For more information on this and future productions, visit WinterOperaSTL.org

Historical Facts: Horace Tabor in "The Ballad of Baby Doe"

This is the first in a short series of historical posts on the leading characters of Winter Opera Saint Louis' upcoming production of The Ballad of Baby Doe. The first in this series is the opera's leading man: the American prospector, businessman and politician Horace Tabor.

Horace Tabor

Facts on Horace Austin Warner Tabor:

• Born 1830 in Holland, Vermont and worked in the quarries of Maine and Massachusetts as a teenager. 
• Left New England for the Kansas Territory in 1855 to help draw anti-slavery settlers to the land. 
• Married Augusta Pierce, daughter of a former employer in Maine; the couple had one son (Maxcy) during their marriage. 
• In 1877, Settled with Augusta in Leadville, CO, where he ran several businesses before becoming Mayor. 
• Partook of the Colorado Silver Boom by buying the immensely profitable "Matchless Mine" for $117,000 after selling earned interest on the "Little Pittsburg" mine for over $1,000,000. 
• Used his great wealth to start newspapers, build a bank, and establish the Tabor Opera House, which still stands today in Leadville and figures prominently in the opera itself.
• Served as Colorado Lt. Governor from 1878-1884; for three months in 1883, he temporarily served as a U.S. Senator. 
• Secretly married Elizabeth "Baby Doe" McCourt before acquiring a legal divorce from first wife Augusta, then held a public marriage ceremony in Washington, D.C. the same year he served as Senator.
• Had two daughters with Baby Doe: Elizabeth Bonduel Lily and Rosemary Silver Dollar Echo. 
• Supported William Jennings Bryan in his first failed presidential bid in 1896. 
• Made three unsuccessful bids for Colorado Governor.
• Repeal of the Sherman Silver Protection Act in 1893 wiped out Tabor's fortunes, as silver was no longer required to be purchased by the U.S. Government.
• Still respected despite his financial decline, he was appointed as Denver's Postmaster in 1898.
• Died in 1899, leaving Baby Doe to hold onto the Matchless Mine until her death 36 years later.
• Buried in Jefferson County, Colorado, next to Baby Doe.

Notable baritones that have sung Horace Tabor include Richard Fredericks, Norman Treigle and Walter Cassel, who performed in the 1956 premiere and recorded the role opposite Beverly Sills at New York City Opera in 1959. For the opera, Douglas Moore wrote several duets, ensembles plus two arias for Tabor. His first act aria "Warm as the Autumn Light," in which Tabor expresses his newfound enchantment with the vivacious Baby Doe, has emerged as a popular aria for baritones in the standard operatic repertoire. Below is a recording of Walter Cassel singing this aria:

You can learn more on Horace Tabor and the other historical figures of the opera by visiting BabyDoe.org

The Ballad of Baby Doe runs February 8th (8pm) and 10th (3pm) at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts on the campus of Chaminade College Preparatory School (425 S. Lindbergh Blvd; map). Tickets may be purchased by calling 314-865-0038 or online at http://winteroperastl.tix.com/ $10 Student Rush Tickets available at the door; valid Student ID required. For more information on this and future productions, visit WinterOperaSTL.org