Ohio Light Opera 2025 Season Brochure by Live Publishing

CAROUSEL (1945)

Music by Richard Rodgers

Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

“Oscar never wrote more meaningful or more moving lyrics, and to me, my score is more satisfying than any I’ve ever written…. It affects me deeply every time I see it performed.” These thoughts, penned by Carousel composer Richard Rodgers in his 1975 autobiography, have been echoed by just about everyone who has seen the show. Based on Ferenc Molnár’s 1909 play Liliom, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical—in its integration of song, dance, and drama— picked up where their Oklahoma! had left off a few years before. Its waltz opening, soliloquy for carnival barker Billy, and extended love duet for Billy and mill worker Julie were daring in their musical elements. No less pioneering was Hammerstein’s treatment of relationship abuse. Molnár had turned down requests from Giacomo Puccini, George Gershwin, and Kurt Weill to adapt Liliom for the musical stage—it was only after seeing Oklahoma! that he agreed to let R&H take a stab at it. Rodgers, in the closest he ever came to writing a “true operetta,” created a bewitching score, highlighted by “If I Loved You,” “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over,” “When I Marry Mr. Snow,” “When the Children Are Asleep,” and (have your tissues ready) “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

Michael Borowitz, Conductor

Steven A. Daigle, Director

Spencer Reese, Choreographer

Daniel Hobbs, Scenic Designer

Carly Holzwarth, Costume Designer

Brittany Shemuga, Lighting Designer

Christopher Plummer, Sound Designer

Show illustrations in this brochure by Daniel Hobbs

BRIGADOON

(1947)

Music

Frederick Loewe Book and Lyrics by Alan J. Lerner

One of the most beloved American musicals, Lerner and Loewe’s Brigadoon not only propelled its composer and lyricist toward the front ranks of Broadway, as rivals to Rodgers and Hammerstein, but also introduced to musical theater a new type of other-worldly romanticism. Americans Tommy and Jeff, while on a hunting trip in Scotland, stumble on an unmapped village, whose citizens are in the midst of a fair and also celebrating the impending marriage of Charlie and Jean. Jean’s older sister Fiona and Tommy take an immediate liking to one another, while the brazen village lass Meg wastes no time in pursuing Jeff. When Tommy notes that the locals have never heard of a telephone and that Charlie has attached the date 1746 to his bible signature, he questions Fiona on the strange goings-on. She leads him to the local schoolmaster, Mr. Lundie, who explains that Brigadoon appears only one day every hundred years. Disenchanted by local events, Tommy and Jeff return to New York, but are soon drawn back to the Highlands. But Brigadoon has vanished ... or has it? Song hits include Fiona’s “Waitin’ for My Dearie,” Tommy and Fiona’s “Almost Like Being in Love,” Tommy’s “There But for You Go I,” Charlie’s “Come to Me, Bend to Me,” and Meg’s show-stopping “The Love of My Life.”

Wilson Southerland, Conductor

Jacob Allen, Director

Spencer Reese, Choreographer

Kiah Kayser, Scenic Designer

Michelle Souza, Costume Designer

Rachel Aho, Lighting Designer

Christopher Plummer, Sound Designer

TIP-TOES

(1925)

Music by George Gershwin

Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

Book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson

Hop aboard the OLO time machine and let us again take you back to what for many is Broadway’s greatest decade: the 1920s. The company’s production two summers ago of Vincent Youmans’ No, No, Nanette—with its catchy and enduring tunes, upbeat storyline, and tap-infused dance numbers—captivated audiences. Add to this formula the matchless wit, melodic innovation, and jazz influences of George and Ira Gershwin, and you wind up with their 1925 flapper musical Tip-Toes, which truly captured the carefree spirit and “roar” of the decade. Socially ambitious, but poverty-stricken, vaudevillians Tip-Toes Kaye, her brother Al, and uncle Hen pop up in a Palm Beach train station. To aid in snaring a millionaire husband, Tip-Toes passes herself off as the wealthy Roberta van Renssalaer. The plot thickens when she falls for millionaire Steve, is in a nearaccident and comes out with amnesia— thinking that she actually is a wealthy socialite—and Steve confesses to her that he really has no money. But there is still half an act to go. Song highlights include the ever-endearing (and lyricist Ira at his best) “Looking for a Boy,” “That Certain Feeling,” and the foot-stomping, trombone-led tap ensemble, “Sweet and Low-Down,” that ends the first act.

Michael Borowitz, Conductor

Jacob Allen, Director

Spencer Reese, Choreographer

Daniel Hobbs, Scenic Designer

Jennifer Salter, Costume Designer

Rachel Aho, Lighting Designer

Christopher Plummer, Sound Designer

PATIENCE

(1881)

Music by Arthur Sullivan

Libretto by William Gilbert

In none of their 14 collaborations did Gilbert and Sullivan deal as directly with contemporary society as in their 1881 Patience. Designed as a mere spoof of the aesthetic movement that was sweeping England, the work was so popular that it wound up actually enhancing the movement. With an initial run exceeding those of both H.M.S. Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance, Patience remains a fascinating portrayal of the fanaticism that can accompany social fads— something not totally foreign to our time. All the village lasses except the milkmaid Patience worship the pretentious poet Reginald Bunthorne (modeled after Oscar Wilde). She sets her heart on her childhood sweetheart— the handsome Archibald Grosvenor. But to love such a perfect creature is selfish, she reasons, so she turns her attentions to the boring Bunthorne. The other maidens now desert him for Grosvenor, who is ultimately convinced by his rival to de-aestheticize and become commonplace. But Bunthorne’s plan backfires. Sullivan’s score bubbles over with melodic gems: “Love Is a Plaintive Song,” “When I First Put This Uniform On,” “The Magnet and the Churn,” and the irresistibly engaging Bunthorne-Grosvenor duet “When I Go Out of Door.”

Wilson Southerland, Conductor

Julie Wright-Costa, Director

Spencer Reese, Choreographer

Naoka Skala, Scenic Designer

Michelle Souza, Costume Designer

Rachel Aho, Lighting Designer

BITTER SWEET

(1929)

Music and Libretto by Noël Coward

He was a Las Vegas headliner … a prolific playwright and lyricist … a film, stage, and television actor, producer, and director … a singer and raconteur … AND a composer who, with his 1929 London stage work Bitter Sweet, brought home-grown romantic operetta back to the British stage. If ever 20th-century arts produced a true Renaissance man, it was Noël Coward. Inspired by a recording of Die Fledermaus and written in part while he was starring on Broadway in his revue This Year of Grace, Bitter Sweet begins in 1929 as Lady Shayne—throwing a party for a young woman who prefers a poor musician to her fiancé—recalls her own youth. The action flashes back to 1875 and a wealthy engaged English debutante, Sarah Millick, who falls hard for her dashing music teacher Carl Linden and elopes with him to Vienna. She finds there not the rosy life she anticipated but, among other things, Carl’s former lover Manon and a romantically aggressive army captain who raises Carl’s ire. Coward sprinkled his score with a non-stop mix of romantic, comical, and satirical tunes, including Sarah and Carl’s ever-popular duet “I’ll See You Again” (conceived in a taxi while Coward was stuck in a New York traffic jam), the mock-aesthetic male quartet “Green Carnation,” and Manon’s “If Love Were All.”

Michael Borowitz, Conductor

Steven A. Daigle, Director

Spencer Reese, Choreographer

Kiah Kayser, Scenic Designer

Jennifer Salter, Costume Designer

Brittany Shemuga, Lighting Designer

THE COUSIN FROM BATAVIA

(1921)

Music by Eduard Künneke

Original German Libretto by Herman Haller and “Rideamus”

English Translation by Richard Traubner

For its 2000 summer season, Ohio Light Opera introduced into its repertoire a composer and work that were totally unknown to virtually its entire patron base. Eduard Künneke’s 1921 operetta Der Vetter aus Dingsda, presented at OLO under the title The Cousin from Batavia, is well known in Central Europe and recognized there as the greatest operetta to emerge from the Berlin school. It was such a hit at OLO that it was brought back a mere two years later—a distinction that no show since has enjoyed. And now, almost a quarter century later, you will once again be able to revel in a jazzy musical score replete with waltzes, tangos, and fox trots. The comic, but sentimental, storyline is set in Holland and concerns a young lady, Julia, who is so enamored of her long-vanished (to Batavia) childhood playmate Roderich that she is willing to believe that a visiting stranger, who has fallen for her and is thus willing to maintain the deception, is none other than her long-lost friend. Under a little pressure from Julia’s parents, the stranger calls on his full imagination to describe his seven years in Batavia—the song erupts into a glorious septet. All is sailing along splendidly … that is, until the real Roderich actually pops in from the South Seas.

Wilson Southerland, Conductor

Spencer Reese, Director

Spencer Reese, Choreographer

Chyna Mayer, Scenic Designer

Brittany Shemuga, Lighting Designer

THE 2025 SUMMER FESTIVAL SEASON

Greetings from Wooster, Ohio!

You are among the champions of Ohio Light Opera! Your enthusiasm for the repertoire, appreciation of the ever-increasing production values— onstage and in the orchestra pit—and insatiable curiosity over what’s coming each summer have confirmed our commitment to providing you, our patrons, with a continuing slate of the very best in operetta and classic musical theater.

Laura Neill Executive Director

Steven A. Daigle Artistic Director

Michael Borowitz Music Director

Jacob Allen

Associate Artistic Director

Wilson Southerland

Associate Music Director

We are busily preparing for our 2025 festival, featuring a terrific repertoire of show titles. All were extremely popular in their day and had long shelf lives but are becoming increasingly difficult to see in their original versions. The season opens with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s beloved 1945 Carousel, which in its musical and dramatic poignancy appreciably elevated the art form. Just two years later, Lerner and Loewe began their steep ascent of the Broadway ladder with their other-worldly Brigadoon. For a century, George Gershwin has maintained his position as “America’s composer.” His 1925 flapper musical Tip-Toes truly captures the “roar” of the decade and is capped off by a rollicking tap-dance sequence. Returning to OLO after a 15-year absence, Gilbert and Sullivan’s 1881 Patience is a bitingly witty, ever-melodic, satire of the (Oscar Wilde-inspired) aesthetic movement that was sweeping England. Not without its own mockery of aesthetics, Noël Coward’s 1929 Bitter Sweet unfolds as a flashback romantic operetta set in both London and Vienna in the late 19th and early 20th century. And finally … you won’t want to miss a rare opportunity in this country to see Eduard Künneke’s 1921 operetta The Cousin from Batavia, an engaging story of mistaken identity in Holland set to one of operetta’s most beguiling musical scores.

Please review this brochure and the OLO website (ohiolightopera.org) for additional information about the upcoming season.

The continuing dedication of our performers, musicians, technicians, and administrative staff in achieving OLO’s position as America’s premier lyric theater company is matched only by the loyalty, devotion, and generosity of our patrons. For that, we offer to you our heartfelt thanks.

As we plan for the 2025 season and seasons to come, we are dedicated to maintaining both the highest production values and the continued exploration of the lyric theater repertoire. Through the continued support of the College of Wooster, the enthusiastic Wooster community, and YOU, these goals will be met. Cordially,

Artistic Director

Executive Director e-mail: sdaigle@wooster.edu e-mail: lneill@wooster.edu

Some of the finest young instrumentalists in the country perform in The Ohio Light Opera Orchestra. In addition to accompanying all productions, they will again be featured in a special holiday event. The Company announces the 23rd annual Pops Concert, to be performed on the evening of July 4th. This is a free concert on the public square in Downtown Wooster and has become a very wellattended annual event.

Production photography in this brochure by Matt

Dilyard

The Gondoliers, 2024

America’s Premier Lyric Theater Festival

OUR MISSION

Vision

As a resident professional company of The College of Wooster, the Ohio Light Opera seeks to preserve the tradition of operetta and musical theater with engaging and accessible productions that uplift, educate, and entertain a diverse present-day audience.

Mission

For 45 seasons, The Ohio Light Opera (OLO) has dedicated itself to exploring and producing the best of traditional operetta and musical theater. Although the repertoire has evolved over the past four decades, “Light Opera” in our title reflects the rich tradition of OLO’s origin. The company was founded by James Stuart as a Gilbert and Sullivan repertory summer festival and has grown to encompass all forms in the light opera canon. This includes the complete Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire and both the recognized treasures of Viennese, French, German, British, and American operetta and the rare gems of artistic value that were popular in their day but have long since been forsaken. In recent years, the company has expanded its offerings to include traditional musical theater—its forgotten musical gems and popular Broadway titles that are nevertheless being produced less often today.

The historical performance practices of each work are delicately balanced with the resources of a state-of-the-art theater, audience accessibility, and engaging performance values. A revolving repertoire season with at least six titles and over 50 performances allows patrons, throughout the summer, to attend performances of a specialized grouping of titles: three operettas or three musicals in two days, or all the titles of a summer season in four days. No other company offering a similar repertoire can provide this unique performance opportunity.

Between 15 and 20 thousand patrons each season see productions in The College of

Wooster’s intimate Freedlander Theatre. Over 100 company members from throughout the United States are selected each year to participate in our residency program. The 30 performing artists who make up the vocal ensemble are chosen for their abilities to perform and work at the highest level in all disciplines demanded by the company’s specialized repertoire: singing, acting, and dancing. The 30 members of OLO’s orchestra perform full and original orchestrations of each season’s historical titles.

The Ohio Light Opera has built and earned a reputation for producing historical titles in the spirit of fidelity and faithfulness to the original material. This commitment over 40-plus years has brought over 750,000 patrons to our festival seasons. OLO balances past artistic practices with the sensitivities expected from today’s society. Whereas the music and orchestrations remain sacred, modifications to lyrics and dialogue and elimination of blatant stereotypes are at times undertaken to mitigate prejudices prevalent at the time of a work’s creation. To completely ignore these prejudices would be the same as not acknowledging or recognizing that they existed.

With 156 titles produced, and over 2800 performances, the Ohio Light Opera has become the forerunner in promoting the lyric theater genre. The company’s contribution to the preservation and promotion of traditional lyric theater has received recognition in prominent national and international publications, and its work is frequently cited by leading scholars of operetta, light opera, and musical theater. In residency on The College of Wooster campus, the summer festival offers a country setting with an inviting community that is proud of the unique service that this company has given to its many patrons and the art form.

—Steven A. Daigle, Artistic Director

The Arcadians, 2024

2024 season photos by Matt Dilyard

The Count of Luxembourg

The Sound of Music

Me and My Girl

The Gondoliers

The Sound of Music

Guys and Dolls

The Gondoliers

Guys and Dolls

Me and My Girl

The Sound of Music

The Gondoliers

The Count of Luxembourg

Guys and Dolls

The Arcadians

Kate Bilenko Connor Burns Wesley Diener Camryn Finn Leah Finn Adam Griffiths

Jenna Grissom Caroline Hawthorne

Jenna Justice Safin Karim Quinlyn Kessler Jordan Knapick

Helen Knudsen Amia Korman Maggie Langhorne

Owen Malone

James Moorehead

Jack Murphy Arianna Paz

Asher Ramaly

Spencer Reese Nathaniel Richard Jeron Robinson

Noah Sickman Yumeko Stern Niko Theriault

Thomas Valenti Meggie Vincent

Rachel Weinfeld

Spencer Wilde Rachel Wresh

Timothy McGowan

THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER

Independent Minds, Working Together

The College of Wooster is a community of Independent Minds, Working Together to prepare students to become leaders of character and influence in an interdependent global community.

Wooster offers a comprehensive liberal arts education in a vibrant, residential setting that culminates in a senior capstone project of in-depth research inquiry or creative expression. Working one-on-one with a faculty mentor, every student creates and presents new knowledge in their field of interest. Through this distinctive program, Wooster students develop abilities valued by employers and graduate schools: independent judgment, analytical ability, creativity, project and time management, problem-solving, and strong written and oral communication. Students can be themselves at Wooster, discover and pursue their passions, and connect academic learning to the real world through internships, research fellowships, career pathways, and other experiential opportunities. They forge lifelong

bonds with one another, faculty, coaches, and staff in an environment that fosters community.

In his book The Price You Pay for College, New York Times columnist Ron Lieber praises Wooster for its exceptional combination of quality faculty, affordability, and undergraduate research. Lieber devotes an entire chapter to answering “How the College of Wooster Puts It All Together,” highlighting Wooster’s up-front attitude in helping prospective students understand the financial package they will receive, and the satisfaction students get from faculty mentorship.

Academics, research, experiential learning, community service, social activism, athletics, the arts, environmental sustainability, and a community of belonging all play an important role in a Wooster student’s life. Learn more about the College at wooster.edu.

STAY OVERNIGHT

THEATER AND INN PACKAGES

Experience the best of the Wooster area. With one phone call to your chosen lodging, you can arrange an incredible package—complete with gracious accommodations and great theater.

BLACK SQUIRREL INN

636 College Avenue

Wooster OH 44691

330-317-6627

blacksquirrelinn.com

An Acorn’s Throw Away from the Theater

MARKET STREET INN

356 N. Market Street

Wooster OH 44691

330-262-4085

marketstreetinnwooster.com

A Short walk to the Theater and Downtown Restaurants

Inn and Opera Package—10% off Room Price when book two nights with a show!

u Choice of 2 Ohio Light Opera performances for $110 ($130 ticket value)

u Explore and experience Wooster & wonderful Wayne County!

u Good Monday-Thursday. Contact for details and availability.

Inn and Opera Package—$300 (a $329 value)

u Overnight stay with En Suite Bath

u Lovely breakfast for 2

u 2 tickets to an Ohio Light Opera performance ($130 ticket value)

u Subject to availability. Offer valid Sunday-Thursday during OLO 2025 season

STAY FOR THE DAY THEATER AND DINING PACKAGES*

Combine great dining with superb Ohio Light Opera performances —convenient, fun and an unbeatable value.

*Call the Box Office at The Ohio Light Opera, 330-263-2345, to purchase your package. Theater tickets and restaurant gift card will be sent to you upon confirmation of purchase.

BROKEN ROCKS CAFÉ & BAKERY

123 E. Liberty, Wooster

330-263-2949

brokenrockscafe.com

Casual dining with an upscale appeal

THE CITY SQUARE STEAKHOUSE

148 S. Market St., Wooster

330-262-2489

citysquaresteakhouse.com

A truly exceptional dining experience in a traditional Chicago-style steakhouse

TJ’S RESTAURANT

359 W. Liberty, Wooster

330-264-6263

tjsrestaurants.com

Fresh seafood, steaks, great salads, gourmet burgers, and a selection of vegan options

OLDE JAOL STEAKHOUSE AND TAVERN

215 N. Walnut St., Wooster

330-262-3333

oldejaolrestaurant.com

Steak, Seafood, Pasta, Chicken, Lamb

MARIOLA ITALIAN

365 E Liberty St, Wooster (330) 845-8889

mariolaitalian.com

From our family, to yours

Dining and Opera Package—$145 (a $170 value)