HMS Pinafore raises opera/operetta debate

By Burt Saidel

Is it an opera or an operetta?  This question is regularly asked by opera fans when one of the lighter works is added to a grand opera schedule.  When considering the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, there is no question – they are operettas.

This season, Impresario Tom Bankston presented a full blown G&S hit, HMS Pinafore. Mounted on the commodious stage of the Schuster, this “Pinafore” is light years away from the customary school and community theater productions.  

The performance changes the original question.  Instead of deciding if it is an opera or operetta, the answer is a rousing, “Who cares!”  Impresario Tom put all of the right ingredients into the pot and came up with a gourmet’s delight.

Gary Briggle returned to Dayton Opera to direct the opera as well as star as Sir Joseph Porter, the G&S comedic role.  Briggle is very well remembered for his similar double role in our Pirates of Penzance and his hilarious Voltaire/Pangloss in Candide.  Nationally acclaimed for his work in comedy, Briggle implanted his passion and enthusiasm into the hand-picked cast with fabulous results.  

The set, an actual ship, dominated the stage.  Its multiple levels were perfect for the joyously choreographed movements of the cast and Jeffrey Powell’s very busy and delightful chorus. The orchestra responded perfectly to the special musical theatre touches of Joseph Bates. Joey has a long history with Dayton Opera and Wright Stage. He is now a full time conductor and musical director.

The operetta is a complete spoof on the Victorian society of England. Much of the political or social implications have been washed away by time and change yet the essential humor and joy remains undiluted.  

In an early aria, sung by Amanda Ingram as Little Buttercup, she warns the audience “that things are seldom what they seem.”  As the convolutions of social rank, high versus low birth, true love and innocent intrigue combine, the result - “a good time is had by all.”  

Much of that “good time” is a result of sparkling singing and sprightly acting.  As the captain of the Pinafore, Dominic Aquilino used his swashbuckling stage presence and fine baritone voice to move each scene. The romantic male lead, Ralph Rakestraw, marked the debut of tenor Robert Boldin. He managed to set the beautiful captain’s daughter Josephine aflame with his dash and élan.  Amanda Ingram, as Buttercup, made the most of every opportunity to sing  well and yet maintain her comic character.  

It was the voice of Donna Smith, making her debut as Josephine, which brought many of her arias close to grand opera.  A beautiful figure on stage, her lyric soprano has the joys of bel canto leaping out across the footlights.  I hope she will return as a Lucia di Lammermoor someday.

In the important supporting roles, Benjamin Smolder used his booming voice to make the quasi-villain Dick Deadeye loveably menacing.  Sir Joseph’s cousin Hebe is the comedienne who must try to match the foppish flaunts of Sir Joseph.  The only problem with Elizabeth Pojanowski’s debut role was that she didn’t get to sing
enough!

As Sir Joseph, Gary Briggle proved again that he is a perfect G&S comedian.  His songs stopped the show and his actions made the entire thrust of the opera verge on the believable in spite of its delightful absurdity.

WSU’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Wright State Theatre’s production of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof will have closed as you read this. We are accustomed to the WSU students taking fearless leaps into difficult dramas. This leap resulted in the production of a marvelous play, faultlessly directed by Brian McKnight, taking the characters and the deeply convoluted emotions of the plot into the magic of live theater.  

Williams’ characters, Big Daddy, Big Mama, Brick and Maggie the Cat, have become icons representing their foibles, cruelty and vulnerability. When a student production can make the audience forget Burl Ives, Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman, something special has been achieved.

It was not the newness of the approach but the helplessness with which the characters propelled themselves into their own heartbreak. As Big Daddy, Jason Bobb reduced the menace but maintained his authority even as his world, health, domain and family, were crumbling about him.  Sarah Elder let Big Mama’s naiveté protect her from the truth and impending breakdown.

As Brick and Maggie, Ryan Imhoff and Shelby Garrett had the look of an Olympian god and goddess. Their physical beauty and strength easily gave way to their inability to deal with the negative dynamics of their family’s dysfunction. Hampered by too much dialect, their speeches were, at times, less than understandable. This was easily made up by their body dynamics. Shelby could act with her eyes alone as the vengeful Maggie.

The family dysfunctional was given clarity and veracity by the fine acting of Andrea Young and Kevin Day as the neglected but responsible son and daughter-in-law. Day, as the much maligned Goober, waited like a cat to finally pounce into his foreordained losing battle.

Again, the audience leaves the WSU Festival Theatre amazed and uplifted by the display of talent and training. This seemingly unlimited pool is lovingly nurtured and taught.  The results speak for themselves.

Dayton Ballet presents Swan Lake

Dayton Ballet presents Septime Webre’s Swan Lake February 8-11, 2007, at Victoria Theatre.  Performances feature music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and new choreography by Mr. Webre, Artistic Director of Washington Ballet, combined with sections that have been preserved from the original 1895 Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov classic.  It also retains the original story, based on German and Russian folklore, but resets it in New York’s high-society of 1912 entangled with that era’s fascination with the mind.  This dramatically passionate production fills the stage with moonlit drenched woodlands and crystal turn-of-the-century ballrooms as the core character, Siegfried, struggles with choosing between good and evil…and his choice creates a spectacular love story that is perfect for Valentine’s Day.

“It’s honestly one of my all time favorites and our athletic ability is really challenged in this particular piece. The dancing scenes rotate between Septime Webre’s contemporary, ultra high-energy choreography and the swan scenes that are centuries’ old Petipa choreography, which have been danced exactly the same way for generations.  Swan Lake is non-stop dancing from start to finish- as a dancer you can’t get any better than that,” said Sharon Lancaster, a company dancer, who is also setting the choreography on the cast of over 40 dancers and extras. “This is my third time dancing this ballet and second time setting the party scenes and I love it more every time I see it!”

To purchase Swan Lake tickets by phone, call Ticket Center Stage at 937-228-3630 or toll free in Ohio at 888-228-3630.  Tickets may be purchased online at any time by going to www.ticketcenterstage.com.

Klezmer music concert at UD

Internationally known German clarinetist Susanne Ortner will be in Dayton on Sunday, Feb. 11, to perform a free concert of klezmer music – a type of Eastern European Jewish folk music.

The concert, sponsored by the Dayton Christian-Jewish Dialogue, the University of Dayton music, religious studies and language departments, and the UD Forum on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, takes place at 7:30 p.m. in the Sears Recital Hall of the Jesse Philips Humanites Center at UD.

Ortner, 33, a native of Wertingen, Germany, teaches music and German at the State Junior High School in Vöhringen, Germany, having studied at the former Leopold-Mozart-Conservatory in Augsburg, Germany. Studying on a fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh since last fall, Ortner is developing a literary and musical program that promotes intercultural and interfaith understanding by combining contemporary German-Jewish literature and Klezmer music.

At the concert, Ortner will be accompanied by klezmer guitarist Steven Stuhlbarg, director of the Cincinnati Klezmer Project.

Violinist Timothy Fain at DAI Feb. 10

Vanguard Concerts welcomes violinist Timothy Fain for its third concert of the 2006-2007 season on Saturday, February 10, at 8:00 p.m. in The Dayton Art Institute’s NCR Renaissance Audit-orium.This charismatic young violinist is the winner of the 1999 Young Concerts International Auditions and the 2001 Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Violinist Timothy Fain is a musician with a wide range of talents and interests.  He performs as soloist, chamber musician, and in creative collaborations with other artists.  During the 2005-06 season, Mr. Fain performed as soloist with the Bellevue (WA) Philharmonic Orchestra, the Florida West Coast Symphony, the Waterbury (CT) Symphony Orchestra, the Albany (GA) Symphony, and Orquesta Filarmonica de Buenos Aires in Argentina. In recent seasons, he has performed concertos by Beethoven, Glazunov, Bruch, Barber and Philip Glass, among other works, with orchestras throughout the United States.

Mr. Fain made his New York City concerto debut with the New York Chamber Symphony conducted by Gerard Schwarz at Alice Tully Hall in 2002, and he has been soloist with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival.  Abroad, he has been soloist with the Mexico City Philharmonic and performed at the Spoleto Festival in Italy, the Lucern Festival in Switzerland, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Mr. Fain is also in demand as a superb chamber musician.  He has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and at New York’s Bargemusic, and he is first violinist of the Rossotti String Quartet. He has also appeared at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Musuem’s Ives Festival in Boston.  He has toured nationally with “Musicians from Marlboro.”

In May 2005, Mr. Fain was singled out for his appearance onstage with New York City Ballet, performing alongside the dancers in the City Ballet premiere of Benjamin Millepied’s “Double Aria.”

After winning the 1999 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Mr. Fain gave acclaimed debuts in the Young Concert Artists Series at the 92nd Street Y in New York, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.  Through Young Concert Artists, he has given recitals and held residencies in venues around the country including the University of Georgia, the University of California at Davis, the San Diego Art Institute, and the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra.  He has been honored by the Hennings-Fisher Foundation in Los Angeles.  Mr. Fain was the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2001.

A native of Santa Monica, California, Timothy Fain attended the R.D. Colburn School of the Performing Arts and the Crossroads School.  He received a Bachelor’s Degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he studied with Victor Danchenko, and a Master’s of Music degree from the Juilliard School, where he worked with Robert Mann, founder of the Juilliard String Quartet and 1st violinist with the Quartet.  He also studied with Aaron Rosand, Haroutune Bedelian, and Laura and Eduard Schmieder.  He currently lives in New York City.

Timothy Fain’s program in Dayton will be: Sonata in F Minor for violin and piano, Op. 4, - Felix Mendelssohn, Adagio in E Major, K. 261 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Arches for solo violin - Kevin Puts, Chaconne from Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004 - Johann Sebastian Bach, Poeme - Ernest Chausson, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso - Camille Saint Saens.

Concert tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students. Tickets may be purchased at Hauer Music Co., Wright State University Center Box Office, and at The Dayton Art Institute on the night of the concert only.  Tickets may also be purchased on-line at www.daytonartinstitute.org or by calling Vanguard Concerts at (937) 512-0144.

Rhythm in Shoes Feb. 8 - 10 at UD

Presenting new works, along with classics from their deep and varied repertoire, Rhythm in Shoes takes the Boll Theatre stage for three nights of concert dance and music, rooted in the American traditions of tap & jazz; oldtime music & clogging at UD's Boll Theatre. Concert starts at 8 p.m.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for childen 12 & under. They are available by calling Rhythm in Shoes at 937-226-7463.

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February 7, 2007
Volume 16, No. 6

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