Ohio Light Opera 2024

By Harry Forbes

In the decade or so that I’ve been attending Ohio Light Opera’s summer season of operettas and musicals, I continue to be awed by the consistency of quality the company maintains, under the leadership of its Executive Director Laura Neill and Artistic Director Steven Daigle. Even with inevitable changes in the company’s performing roster and orchestra -- and certainly the pandemic brought about its fair share of those -- OLO somehow manages to come up with hugely talented triple threat performers who can be as versatile as a repertory season of six shows demands. 

Part of the fun, in fact, is seeing company members take on widely disparate roles, or alternate effortlessly between ensemble and leading roles as the case may be.

This season was no exception. With its usual lineup of high profile classic musicals -- “Guys and Dolls,” “Me and My Girl,” and “The Sound of Music”; Gilbert and Sullivan (“The Gondoliers”); and operetta (Lehár’s “The Count of Luxembourg”) -- the catnip for buffs was Lionel Monckton and Howard Talbot’s 1909 “The Arcadians,” a massive hit in its day, and one which straddled the genres of the English operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan and the burgeoning modern musical. It was considered one of the very best of the Edwardian era musicals as its original 809 performance run attests.

The Arcadians

When London caterer Jim Smith’s plane crash-lands in the fabled Arcadia (located somewhere near the North Pole), the innocent residents are fascinated to encounter a specimen of the wickedness they had recently learned is prevalent in that distant city, a land populated by “monsters” who live in cages, and tell lies. So when Jim is caught in a major fib, they dunk him in the Well of Truth which youthens and (they think) reforms him. Sombra and her sister Chrysaea (Holly Thomas) decide Jim (now renamed Simplicitas) will take them back to London and they will convert everyone to a truthful simple life. The second act scene-change from pastoral Arcadia to a London racetrack, a delightful contrast.

Vince Gover, one of OLO’s brightest lights, was a superb Jim/Simplicitas, sharp and funny in the dialogue and outstanding in all his music hall type numbers including the show’s big hit “All Down Piccadilly,” an earworm if there ever was one. And the cast was uniformly excellent.

Laura McKenna was ideally cast as Sombra with just the right innocence and sweetness, and she sang with beautiful tone. Madison Barrett was charming as fetching Irish lass Eileen and her “The Girl with the Brogue” number was another highlight. That number, and indeed the dancing for all the shows, was the superior work of OLO choreographer Spencer Reese who, here, also played Jack, the racehorse owner pursuing Eileen. Their duets -- the popular “Charming Weather” and “Half Past Two” -- were as delightfully done as one could wish. Connor Burns as jockey Peter Doody earned a rousing hand for his third act number “My Motter” (as in motto), an enormous hit in 1909 for doleful originator Alfred Lester.

Steven Daigle's direction and Wilson Southerland's conducting perfectly captured the authentic Edwardian spirit.

OLO revived the piece in 1998, but the resulting two-CD recording on Albany records was unfortunately trimmed. In any case, here’s a promotional video sampler for the recent production: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTdIW9y-GqU

The Count of Luxembourg

Though Franz Lehár’s “Count of Luxembourg” recordings (mostly German) are plentiful and there are at least a couple of videos, this was only the second time I had encountered the show performed in person. And I was struck again by how well it played. Often cited as the most tuneful of Lehár’s early period after “The Merry Widow,” and the closest in overall tone to that megahit, the plot is surprisingly engaging and even suspenseful under Daigle's directorial helm. Impoverished Count René agrees to a brief marriage of convenience with opera anger Angèle without each actually seeing the other. She’ll thus gain a Countess title and be able to marry the elderly Prince Basil Basilovitch who’s wooing her, and René, in turn, will receive a generous payout. Daigle again directed a well-paced production. The tunes -- under the vital baton of Wilson Southerland - were glorious, including the duet for secondary pair -- painter Brissard (William Volmar) and his girlfriend Juliette (Jordan Knapick) -- shamelessly “borrowed,” by the way, by Sigmund Romberg for “Just We Two” in “The Student Prince.” 

Versatile OLO regular Jack Murphy played René appealingly. His light tenor is miles removed from the Rudolf Schock/Nicolai Gedda mold, but he carried the part off with distinction. Christine Price’s Angèle was quite gorgeously sung in the traditional manner, and it was interesting to see the two together again after their excellent but vastly different pairing in last season’s “Orpheus in the Underworld.” Volmar and Knapick made a strong secondary couple. Company Associate Artistic Director Jacob Allen gave us an incisively sung, lively and amusing Basil. And Maggie Langhorne had an impressive third act turn as an elderly Russian countess, though the Nigel Douglas performing edition deprived her of the aria Lehár added in 1937. 

The Gondoliers

There were pleasures to be had in director Spencer Reese’s sometimes overly busy mounting of Gilbert and Sullivan’s final success. Once again, Gover was outstanding, this time as the Duke of Plaza-Toro singing his numbers with crisp diction and steady tone. Zachary Elmassian made a fine and sonorous Don Alhambra, dramatically and vocally. Some of Reese’s gags were a big heavy handed for my taste including some running business involving objects tossed offstage making crashing sounds. 

I also felt the staging for the gondoliers Marco (Davian Raggio) and Giuseppe (Connor Burns) was, at times, wrong headed. There was too much blindfolding beyond the dictates of the opening scene, and their big second act solos -- “Rising Early in the Morning” and “Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes” (both well sung, incidentally) -- lost some focus as those numbers each were staged with the two standing side by side. 

As the Duchess, Andrea McGaugh was particularly good in “On the Day When I Was Wedded” with some silly but funny business involving puppets under her voluminous gown. Laura McKenna, Julia Fedor, and Holly Thomas sang well as Gianetta, Tessa and Casilda respectively. And there was good work from Michael Koutelos as Antonio and Nicholas Orth as Luiz. 

Reese’s choreography including the “Cachucha” scene and elsewhere, and Michael Borowitz's conducting, were consistently sterling. 

Guys and Dolls

With Frank Loesser’s “Guys and Dolls” a big hit in London currently in a revamped immersive staging -- and no doubt slated for Broadway -- it was good to see the show in its pure, original form with all the nowadays cut scene changing music and such intact. The cast was a good one. At my performance, Madeline Coffey played Salvation Army lass Sarah Brown, and she was ideal, singing superbly. “If I Were a Bell” in the Havana sequence was a particular standout, and she teamed with Ori Marcu’s Miss Adelaide for an especially satisfying rendition of “Marry the Man Today” near the end. Elsewhere, Marcu nailed “Adelaide’s Lament” and her two club songs in the part’s time-honored style. Versatile James Mitchell (last season’s King Arthur in “Camelot”) slipped easily into the Nathan Detroit role. And Jack Murphy as Sky Masterson handled his first act ballads and second act “Luck Be a Lady” with aplomb, pairing well with Coffey in the dramatic scenes. Filling out the large cast were Spencer Reese in Stubby Kaye’s Nicely-Nicely role, and Yvonne Trobe as the starchy but soft-hearted Salvation Army General.

Jacob Allen directed with his customary Broadway know-how, with Michael Borowitz at the podium, and Reese again doing a fine job with the dancing. The Crapshooter Dance was remarkably well staged, and the ensemble hoofing impressive. William Volmar, vocally strong in “Luxembourg,” showed real terpsichorean talent. 

After his terrific comic turns in “The Arcadians” and “The Gondoliers,” here was Vince Gover in an affecting and understated performance as Sarah’s Irish grandfather (for a young man, Gover has a remarkable ability to play convincingly older). His unadorned rendition of “More I Cannot Wish You” was even, in the view of one visiting Broadway professional,  the best single moment in the show. 

Me and My Girl

Stephen Fry and Mike Ockrent’s 1984 revamp of the enormous 1937 London musical hit may not -- despite its multiple awards and impressively long runs in the West End and Broadway -- have the title recognition of a “Guys and Dolls,” but the OLO audience received it with wild enthusiasm. Spencer Reese was a natural for the lead role, cockney Bill Snibson who inherits a title and a fortune but must prove his worth to the other swells in the family to keep the title and fortune that goes with it. 

Sally Smith is the true-blue girl he loves, despite the disapproval of Bill’s new-found aunt, the Duchess of Dene. Reese danced up a proverbial storm. And, in his empathetic Sally, Kate Bilenko, Reese had found a partner who could give him a run for his money. There were moments when it felt as though Fred Astaire had at last found his ideal Ginger Rogers. The two danced superbly, like thoroughbreds. Bilenko acted the part with honest sincerity and touching conviction, bearing favorable comparison with the part’s originator Emma Thompson and Broadway’s Maryann Plunkett. Her ballad “Once You Lose Your Heart” was an emotional high point.

Noel Gay’s tuneful score, including the very earwormy “Lambeth Walk,” (staged to a fare thee well by Reese) got a first-rate performance, right through Bill’s beguiling eleven o’clock number “Leaning on a Lamp Post.” 

The strong supporting cast included James Mitchell as the family solicitor, Yvonne Trobe as Bill’s disapproving Duchess aunt, Madison Barrett (demure Eileen in “The Arcadians”) as vampy Lady Jacqueline who sets her gold digging cap on Bill, and Jack Murphy as her frustrated suitor Gerald demonstrating his limber dancing prowess in the second act opener, “The Sun Has Got His Hat On.” R. Porter Hiatt as the Duchess’ old flame was another asset, and dueted entertainingly with Reese on “Love Makes the World Go Round.” 

There was savvy direction from Jacob Allen, and lively accompaniment in the pit by Michael Borowitz. 

The Sound of Music

For all the sometimes patronizing attitude about Rodgers and Hammerstein’s final collaboration one hears in certain quarters, it must be said that the show is rock solid and an audience pleaser which never fails to pull on the heartstrings, even in a relatively modest production such as this. 

Once again, the Daigle/Southerland team were at the helm directing and conducting respectively, and it was gratifying to hear the original 1959 stage score in its original form with neither of the two movie additions. So, too, the songs were all in their customary place: Maria and the Abbess singing “My Favorite Things,” Maria comforting the children during the storm with “The Lonely Goatherd,” and so on. 

Dramatically, Rachel Weinfeld made a sympathetic Maria, and sang beautifully. She was well matched by Zachary Elmassian’s imposing Captain von Trapp who again impressed with his rich bass-baritone. Jordan Knapick transformed from the warmly likable soubrette in “Luxembourg” to the calculating Elsa Schraeder who contrives to marry von Trapp, while chameleon James Mitchell again scored, this time as impresario Max Detweiler. Though her roles in the season’s other offerings were mainly non-musical character parts, Yvonne Trobe got to demonstrate her rich mezzo in a grandly sung “Climb Ev’ry Mountain.” 

 A couple of days before the end of season, Board Chairman Michael Miller offered his annual “Operetta Mania” morning video presentation. This included some choice moments from operetta productions around the world, as well as some pearly scenes from vintage OLO shows like Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Ruddigore,” Victor Herbert’s “Dream City/The Magic Knight,” and Emmerich Kálmán’s “Countess Maritza” with memorable turns by company regulars Julie Wright Costa, the late Brian Woods, Daniel Neer, Nicholas Wuehrmann, Nathan Brian, and Ted Christopher among other of the company’s well-remembered veterans. 

Donors were treated to a special morning concert narrated by Michael Miller with company members showing off their versatility in numbers from shows previously presented by OLO, an impressive and heady mix of Offenbach, Strauss, Coward, Lehár, Fall  and more. Highlights too numerous to mention in full included the “If I Loved You” bench scene from “Carousel” with Rachel Weinfeld and William Volmar who followed that with an excellent number from Kálmán’s “Autumn Maneuvers.” Jacob Allen reprised his comic role from “The Desert Song” with the snappy “It” in tandem with Arianna Paz, and later duetted with Maggie Langhorne in “A Picture of Me without You” from “Jubilee.” But Michael Koutelos, Christine Price, Davian Raggio, Laura McKenna, Owen Malone, Sara Nealley, Nicholas Orth, Julia Fedor, and Jeron Robinson all excelled in their individual or group numbers, with apt accompaniment by Eric Andries on piano. 

None of this season’s productions were filmed, alas, but last year’s excellent production of “No, No, Nanette” in its original 1925 version has just been released on DVD. It can be ordered from OLO’s web page below.

(The Ohio Light Opera, The College of Wooster, 1189 Beall Avenue, Wooster, OH; 330-263-2345 or ohiolightopera.org; through July 28)

Photos: Matt Dilyard

(Top) “The Arcadians”

(Below)

(l.-r.) Vince Gover, Laura McKenna in “The Arcadians”

(l.-r. foreground) Jack Murphy, Christine Price, Jacob Allen in “The Count of Luxembourg”

(l.-r.) Vince Gover, Andrea McGaugh, Zachary Elmassian, Holly Thomas, Nicholas Orth in “The Gondoliers”

(l.-r.) Madeline Coffey, Jack Murphy in “Guys and Dolls”

(l.-r.) Spencer Reese, Kate Bilenko in “Me and My Girl”

(l.-r. center) Rachel Weinfeld, Zachary Elmassian, Yvonne Trobe & cast  in “The Sound of Music