Meet the Leads

By Savannah Evanoff

Mason came to opera by way of rock 'n' roll. He grew up with music buff parents (with an affinity for the '60s and '70s); his mother played guitar and sang in bands in Norfolk, Va.

"Eventually, I started singing in a rock band with my cousin and a couple other friends around the age of 14 in Norfolk," Mason said. "My mom suggested, 'If you want, you can do voice lessons. I'm happy to support you in that,' which is a really great blessing and a privilege to have that access as a young person."

At the time, Mason wanted to emulate the likes of Chris Cornell or Robert Plant, heavily influenced by Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" music video. His voice teacher, Robert Turner, showed him a live opera singer who rocked his world in a new way.

Robert Wesley Mason and Katrina Galka speak the same acting language.

It didn't take long for the two leads in Pensacola Opera's upcoming performance of "Carousel" to realize it.

Shout out to the Meisner technique, Mason said, an acting technique they're both coincidentally trained in.

"It showed up for us in the first day, which is funny," Mason said. "We're like, 'You're really listening to me.'"

"It was a different stage experience," Galka said. "We're talking like, 'Oh we're using the same tools,' and they're effective tools. It's pretty cool to see that at play in a rehearsal room."

Mason returned to Pensacola Opera to sing as Billy Bigelow, and Galka will make her Pensacola Opera debut as Julie Jordan.

Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Carousel" premiered on Broadway in 1945 and will close out Pensacola Opera's 40th anniversary season. In it, Carousel barker Bigelow falls for mill worker Jordan, and the two struggle to navigate Bigelow's violent actions.

"At the beginning, you see Julie and Billy fall in love," Galka said. "What's interesting and becomes a central point is that neither one is able to say, really, 'I love you,' when they're both together alive on Earth. It's so human. It's a real love story, that we can be with someone and spend all this time and experience all these life things together, and yet, what is it that keeps us from actually just saying, 'I love you,' or even really treating one another with that love, putting that love into action."

Shared Experience

Their acting technique isn't their only common ground.

Mason and Galka both entered the opera world, at its barebones, because someone believed in them.

Galka was born with a love of movie musicals, losing hours to "Oklahoma," "The Sound of Music," "Annie" and any Disney movie of the sort. She also played piano, clarinet and danced. She entered college as a theater major but quickly sensed a void.

"My dad was like, 'You're always really happy when you're singing. What if you just take some voice lessons?'" Galka said. "I think he just meant for fun. So of course, I ended up connecting with a voice teacher at the university … she decided to hear me over her lunch break one day, and she was like, 'You know, you're actually very talented. If you want to have a career in this, you could do it.'"

That was all Galka needed. She's been singing opera professionally 11 years.

"I heard him hit that high B natural at the end of the aria, and man, the hair on the back of my neck raised, shivers," Mason said. "It was such a visceral experience listening to a human voice do that. And then to hear the crowd react … the audience erupts and cuts off the orchestra. They literally have to stop playing the outro and then come back in. After that, he was like, 'I really think you'd have potential to sing this kind of stuff.' And I'm like, 'Oh, my God, I get to sing like that?'"

While he might not sing exactly like it, he said, he's been professionally singing opera for 20 years. He feels blessed to return to the Bigelow role.

"The dream is to get more than one shot at any role, honestly," Mason said. "You'd hope you're building a repertoire, but in this art form, you really get to the core of the good stuff as a performer until you're just completely solid on knowing the piece in and out, knowing the music and knowing what's coming so you can really just give over to those imaginary circumstances of the piece and not be like, 'What word's coming up?' or, 'Oh, man, I really hope I can sing this part coming up.'"

Bigelow is a charming role with many complexities—namely that he's a trauma survivor. He's trying to heal his inner child with none of the right tools to do it, Mason said.

"There's a huge arc of growth and redemption within this work, and that's why it's so powerful," Mason said. "I think that's why it still continues to resonate with people in audiences, because its themes are quite universal. No matter what period you put it in, a lot of the people you see in this piece are people in your community today … for better or worse. I think community relations are not black and white; They're definitely gray."

This is Galka's first time performing as Jordan, who she describes as having a deep spiritual love for Bigelow.

"The issue is, because Julie is so loving and a product also of her time, she really forgives Bigelow for his actions," Galka said. "And the question is, for us, 'Is that okay?' Does that send a message that's not something that we want to condone or support?"

Mason finds it challenging to strike the balance of Bigelow's tenderness and machismo.

"There's just lines and moments that if you don't give them the right nuance, or commit to the energy or really fully embrace and lean into the discomfort of some of those moments, it could read false," Mason said. "The audience, it doesn't resonate with them, or they don't have the empathy that you hoped that they would have, by the end of the situation. Navigating that is always tricky."

They both look forward to seeing how it comes together.

"It's just been a great cast," Galka said. "Everybody is so well prepared. We have the young artists who are so excited to be on stage and so talented. It's really exciting to see them stepping into these characters. It's really cool working with (Mason). He just lives Billy Bigelow, so there's so much to play with on stage."

Greg Ganakas, the stage director, has directed beautifully, they both said.

"He gives us freedom to bring our interpretations to these roles, which has also been really lovely," Galka said. "It's been a great experience. The company is awesome." {in}

"CAROUSEL"

WHAT: Pensacola Opera's performance of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Carousel"

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 17, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 19

WHERE: Saenger Theatre, 118 S. Palafox COST: Ticket prices start at $26

DETAILS: pensacolaopera.com