What to expect in Opera Project Columbus’ ‘Menotti & Gershwin’
In the performing-arts world, double bills can be a dime a dozen.
Theater, opera and dance ensembles routinely perform several short works on the same program. A pause or intermission usually separates the pieces.
Far more unique is to blend two distinct works into a cohesive whole.
That’s the approach taken by Opera Project Columbus in “Great American Opera: Menotti & Gershwin,” in which two English-language operas that premiered in the United States in the 1930s — Gian Carlo Menotti’s comic opera “The Old Maid and the Thief” and George Gershwin’s iconic classic “Porgy and Bess” — will be featured during the same show.
Performances will take place March 11 and 13 in the Lincoln Theatre.
The basic premise is that singers in the 1940s have gathered at a fictitious radio station to perform “The Old Maid and the Thief,” which, in real life, was first heard over the airwaves of NBC Radio in 1939.
“In some ways, the singers will be playing imagined versions of themselves as if they were opera singers of the 1940s,” said director Audrey Chait, who is based in Cincinnati.
Singers in the cast include mezzo-soprano Alexis Davis-Hazell as Miss Todd, soprano Meryl Dominguez as Letitia, and baritone John Glann as Bob.
Love letter:Local photographer’s new book ‘a love letter to the community he sees every day’
The singers will be supported by an orchestra conducted by Music Director Alessandro Siciliani. To add to the old-school radio vibe, area radio announcer Ron Bryant will be on hand. Costumes and decor will complete the atmosphere.
“We are creating a set … that will evoke a radio studio,” Chait said.
A spin on the performance
However, in a twist, another group of singers shows up at the fictitious radio station to perform “Porgy and Bess.”
“The radio station somehow makes a mistake and we end up with two casts — ‘Porgy and Bess’ and ‘Old Maid and the Thief’ — in the studio at the same time with a minute until we go live,” Chait said.
“On the spot, it is decided that the best thing to do — because the ‘Porgy and Bess’ cast has to go back out on tour or they have to get back to New York — is to just combine the two pieces and make it all work on the fly.”
The result: The entirety of “The Old Maid and The Thief,” plus selections from “Porgy and Bess,” will be performed.
“You’ll hear all of ‘Old Maid and the Thief,’ and then the heavy hitters from ‘Porgy and Bess,’” Chait said. (Some of the best-known songs from Gershwin’s opera include “Summertime” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So.”)
Devoted to diversity
Opera Project Columbus leaders first intended to present two Menotti operas on a double bill.
But as part of the company’s larger, ongoing effort to diversify both its casts and its audiences, leaders decided to pair “The Old Maid and the Thief” with “Porgy and Bess,” which was written to be performed by Black singers. “Porgy and Bess” premiered in 1935, four years before Menotti’s piece.
“The two pieces were written at about the same time in a similar era,” said Toni Smith, who teaches African American history at Columbus State Community College and runs Opera Project Columbus’ Diversity Project, which has sought to increase the number of Black artists in its shows and grow Black audiences to a point where they represent at least 20 percent of the company’s total audiences.
“While the Menotti piece would get play because it’s a white American composer, the Gershwin piece got some pushback, especially because he said, ‘The cast has to be Black,’” Smith said. (Menotti was born in Italy but worked extensively in the U.S.)
“In order to highlight this era of production, and the fact that these are both American composers, we thought, ‘If we could put them together …,’” Smith said.
Siciliani is credited with coming up with the radio-show format.
The creative mashup of the two pieces is applauded by basso cantante Earl Hazell, who will appear as Porgy in the excerpts from “Porgy and Bess.”
Stepping down:Nannette Maciejunes to retire from helm of Columbus Museum of Art
“I just love … how they’re interspersing ‘Old Maid and the Thief’ with selections of ‘Porgy.’ It has this way of bringing this cultural context of just how much brilliance and amazing composition and artistry was coming out of the ’30s, said Hazell, 54, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Davis’ wife, mezzo-soprano Davis-Hazell, applauds Opera Project Columbus’ commitment to diversity.
“If you live in an area with a large, thriving Black population, … that should be reflected in the artists that you put on stage if you want that community to show up,” said Davis-Hazell, 45.
In the end, the goal is to reach as wide an audience as possible.
“In this country, opera has been presented as an elitist art form,” Smith said. “I think that in itself limits or diminishes the potential for it to reach a broad audience. That is not the way opera was designed. In Italy, everybody sings.”
At a glance
Opera Project Columbus will perform “Great American Opera: Menotti & Gershwin” at 7:30 p.m. March 11 and 3 p.m. March 13 in the Lincoln Theatre, 769 E. Long St. Tickets start at $27. For more information, visit www.operaprojectcolumbus.com.
Read More: What to expect in Opera Project Columbus’ ‘Menotti & Gershwin’