Oklahoma City University Opera and Music Theater 2017-18 Season Brochure

Oklahoma

66th SEASON

g Love n i t a V ER S I T Y r b e I Cel A CIT Y UN A OK L

HOM

2017–18

hi s d n e F ri L OF B AS S S CH O O

MU S

p

IC

2017-2018 season SEPT. 29–OCT. 1

FEB. 16–18

Mainstage Musical

Mainstage Opera

Sister Act

The Vaudevillian

NOV. 3–5

MARCH 2–4

Spotlight Musical

Spotlight Opera

Company

The Bartered Bride

NOV. 17–19

APRIL 20–22

Mainstage Opera

Mainstage Musical

The Marriage of Figaro

On the Town

Welcome to our 66th consecutive year of extraordinary opera and musical theater performances!

On behalf of the students, alumni, faculty and staff of the Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University, thank you for being part of our 2017–18 season.

Our Oklahoma Opera and Music Theater Company, the world’s oldest campus troupe devoted to both opera and music theater, is embarking on this record-setting season with six works that explore the theme of love and friendship.

Both of our mainstage musicals — the effervescent Sister Act and Leonard Bernstein’s iconic On the Town, staged in celebration of the composer’s centennial year — are linked to blockbuster movies and beloved for their comedic recounting of friendship tested in unfamiliar waters. This season’s spotlight works — Stephen Sondheim’s Company and Bedřich Smetana’s The Bartered Bride — examine the politics surrounding courting and marriage. Our two mainstage operas — the timeless comedy The Marriage of Figaro

by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the world premiere of Thomas Pasatieri’s The Vaudevillian, inspired by a true rags-to-riches American tale — navigate a labyrinth of relationships that test the bounds of love.

We are honored to have earned three awards in the most recent National Opera Association Production Competition. The ceremony at the 2017 NOA Convention in Santa Barbara recognizing our productions of Jackie O, Don Pasquale and Evita marked the first time one director — our own Dr. David Herendeen, director of opera and music theater since 1997 — has won three awards in a single season.

We are grateful for the success of our students, alumni and faculty, and thankful for your continued support as you help our students reach for the stars.

Sincerely,

Mark Parker

Dean

Ann Hundley Hoover Chair

Bass School of Music

2006

Mainstage Musical: Kirkpatrick Auditorium

Sister Act

September 29 - October 1 MUSIC: Alan Menken LYRICS: Glenn Slater BOOK: Cheri and Bill Steinkellner INSPIRED BY: 1992 film comedy, named to Bravo’s list of 100 Funniest Movies of All Time.

OF NOTE: Composer Alan Menken has won eight Oscars and 11 Grammys in recognition of his music for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas and Tangled, and a Tony Award for the score of Newsies.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY: Hits all the right spots, achieving something close to Broadway grace. It helps that the musical has great original tunes by songwriter Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater that skitters from Motown, to soul and funk, to disco and even a little jokey Barry White.

— Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press SYNOPSIS: After witnessing a murder involving her boyfriend, lounge singer Deloris Van Cartier goes into hiding in a quiet convent, assuming the sequin-free identity of Sister Mary Clarence. While incognito, she finds her calling transforming the nuns from soft-spoken singers into a tour de force choir, discovering hidden strength in them and in herself. As their work sparks a renaissance in the neighborhood, Deloris’ cover is blown and the nuns band together to protect their newest sister.

David Herendeen Matthew Mailman

DIRECTOR MUSIC DIRECTOR

Opening Night Dinner Tickets: $25 Bass Music Center Atrium 6:15 p.m. Friday, September 29

Pre-Show Director’s Talk Free Petree Recital Hall 7:15 p.m. Friday, September 29 7:15 p.m. Saturday, September 30 2:15 p.m. Sunday, October 1

Performances Tickets: $14-28 Kirkpatrick Auditorium 8 p.m. Friday, September 29 8 p.m. Saturday, September 30 3 p.m. Sunday, October 1

1970

Spotlight Musical: Burg Theatre

COMPANY

November 3 - 5 MUSIC/LYRICS: Stephen Sondheim BOOK: George Furth INSPIRED BY: A collection of 11 one-act plays exploring marriage in NYC, by George Furth.

OF NOTE: Winner of six Tony Awards in 1970–71, the musical won Best Revival of a Musical in 2007.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY: Mr. Sondheim’s musicals have far more in common with the hard-edged life studies of Edward Albee and Tennessee Williams than with My Fair Lady or South Pacific. To see … a small-scale revival is to come away with a much clearer sense of just how serious Sondheim and his collaborators are—and how unnervingly close to the emotional knuckle Company continues to cut 46 years after it was first seen on Broadway. — Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal SYNOPSIS: The work centers around a surprise birthday party for Robert, a 35-year-old bachelor who is dating three women with no strings attached, though he longs to settle down. The problem: he’s been keeping tabs on the lives of the five married couples who are his best friends, and is not encouraged by what he sees.

Brian Cowing

DIRECTOR

Charles Koslowske Performances Tickets: $12 Burg Theatre 8 p.m. Friday, November 3 8 p.m. Saturday, November 4 3 p.m. Sunday, November 5

MUSIC DIRECTOR

1786

Mainstage Opera: Kirkpatrick Auditorium

The Marriage of Figaro

November 17 - 19 Performed in Italian, with English supertitles MUSIC: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart LIBRETTO: Lorenzo da Ponte INSPIRED BY: Beaumarchais’ 1784 play, a sequel to his earlier The Barber of Seville, which inspired an opera by Rossini 30 years later.

OF NOTE: Duet between the countess and her maid is featured in an iconic moment in Shawshank Redemption.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY: One of the most dazzlingly perfect and intensely human works in the operatic repertoire. In its inventive ingenuity and capacious sympathy, Figaro never fails to exert some kind of allure. The intricate comical clockwork of the action, with its layers of deceptions and counter-deceptions as the servants Figaro and Susanna struggle to tie the knot despite the lecherous intentions of Count Almaviva, works every time. — Joshua Kosman, The San Francisco Chronicle SYNOPSIS: Regarded as one of the greatest operas ever written, The Marriage of Figaro is a screwball comedy complete with disguises, surprises, and compromises. Count Almaviva has wed the lovely Rosina after wooing her away from her aged guardian and would-be husband, Dr. Bartolo. But their marriage has floundered because of the count’s continued affairs. Figaro has quit barbering and is now engaged to Susanna, who is the countess’ maid—and the count’s next intended conquest. Old Bartolo is back to seek revenge. Adding to the plot twists: an amorous teenager, a scheming spinster, a drunken gardener, and a silly girl. With Mozart’s masterpiece of a score, the result is a witty yet profound tale of love, betrayal, and forgiveness.

Karen Coe Miller Jan McDaniel

DIRECTOR MUSIC DIRECTOR

Opening Night Dinner Tickets: $25 Bass Music Center Atrium 6:15 p.m. Friday, November 17

Pre-Show Director’s Talk Free Petree Recital Hall 7:15 p.m. Friday, November 17 7:15 p.m. Saturday, November 18 2:15 p.m. Sunday, November 19

Performances Tickets: $14–28 Kirkpatrick Auditorium 8 p.m. Friday, November 17 8 p.m. Saturday, November 18 3 p.m. Sunday, November 19

2018

Mainstage Opera: Kirkpatrick Auditorium

The Vaudevillian

World Premiere!

February 16 - 18 MAINSTAGE OPERA: Kirkpatrick Auditorium MUSIC AND LYRICS: Thomas Pasatieri INSPIRED BY: The true story of American operatic soprano Rosa Ponselle.

OF NOTE: The singer, who died on May 25, 1981, was a friend of the composer’s family.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY: This world premiere is a mashup of Pretty Woman meets La Traviata, as we follow Rosa on her path from vaudeville headliner to operatic superstar. — Director David Herendeen SYNOPSIS: The world premiere of The Vaudevillian by Thomas Pasatieri reveals the backstage backstory of the rise and fall of dramatic soprano Rosa Ponselle, who began her decades-long performing career in a vaudeville sister act and made her Metropolitan Opera debut at the age of 21. The 2018 premiere marks the centennial of her Met debut in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino, with Enrico Caruso.

David Herendeen Jan McDaniel

DIRECTOR MUSIC DIRECTOR

Opening Night Dinner Tickets: $25 Bass Music Center Atrium 6:15 p.m. Friday, February 16

Pre-Show Director’s Talk Free Petree Recital Hall 7:15 p.m. Friday, February 16 7:15 p.m. Saturday, February 17 2:15 p.m. Sunday, February 18

Performances Tickets: $14-28 Kirkpatrick Auditorium 8 p.m. Friday, February 16 8 p.m. Saturday, February 17 3 p.m. Sunday, February 18

1866

Spotlight Opera: Burg Theatre

The Bartered Bride

March 2 - 4 Performed in English MUSIC: Bedřich Smetana LIBRETTO: Karel Sabina INSPIRED BY: A one-act German play by Sabina, expanded into operatic form.

OF NOTE: Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 thwarted Sir Thomas Beecham’s plan to present the Prague National Theatre company at Covent Garden. The Bartered Bride was the only Czech opera well enough known at the time to be performed on short notice, and Beecham presented the work in defiance of the Germans, featuring a Jewish singer, Richard Tauber, in the central role.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY: Introduced in 1866 and completed in 1870, this romantic frolic is built on a triumph of true love over cynical calculation. The ending is never in doubt, yet the opera remains irresistible for its charming characters and lively pace, and, above all, for its rich, colorful score: part bubbly operetta, part Bohemian folk pageant. — Steve Smith, The New York Times SYNOPSIS: True love prevails over the combined efforts of ambitious parents and a scheming marriage broker, featuring a circus troupe, a plucky heroine (hurrah!), a horrible stepmother (hiss!), a dancing bear and a nodding donkey! Relationships and assignations are put to the test against the carnival atmosphere. The happy ending is inevitable—although not quite as expected.

Hal Kohlman

DIRECTOR

Rebekah Bruce Parker Performances Tickets: $12 Burg Theatre 8 p.m. Friday, March 2 8 p.m. Saturday, March 3 3 p.m. Sunday, March 4

MUSIC DIRECTOR

1944

Mainstage Musical: Kirkpatrick Auditorium

ON THE TOWN

April 20 - 22 MUSIC: Leonard Bernstein BOOK AND LYRICS: Betty Comden and Adolph Green INSPIRED BY: The Jerome Robbins ballet Fancy Free, premiered in 1944 by American Ballet Theatre.

OF NOTE: The original production of On the Town featured an intentional avoidance of racial stereotypes with a diverse cast including six African-Americans and the Japanese-American dancer Sono Osato as Ivy. Nine months into the run, African-American conductor Everett Lee took over the podium. The year 2018 marks the centennial of Leonard Bernstein’s birth.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY: This merry mating dance of a musical feels as fresh as first sunlight.

— Ben Brantley, The New York Times SYNOPSIS: Three sailors on 24-hour shore leave rush to soak up the sights and sounds of New York.

Each finds romance that day: Gabey with pageant queen Ivy, Chip with cab-driver Hildy, and Ozzie with paleontology student Claire. Against the urban hubbub, Ivy is discovered to be a dancer in not-soglamorous Coney Island, Claire and the boys inadvertently topple dinosaur bones in the museum, and Hildy breaks any number of laws attempting to get the lovers together and set the record straight.

Karen Coe Miller Matthew Mailman Opening Night Dinner Tickets: $25 Bass Music Center Atrium 6:15 p.m. Friday, April 20

Pre-Show Director’s Talk Free Petree Recital Hall 7:15 p.m. Friday, April 20 7:15 p.m. Saturday, April 21 2:15 p.m. Sunday, April 22

Performances Tickets: $14-28 Kirkpatrick Auditorium 8 p.m. Friday, April 20 8 p.m. Saturday, April 21 3 p.m. Sunday, April 22

DIRECTOR MUSIC DIRECTOR

Mainstage Productions Each season, OCU’s Oklahoma Opera and Music Theater Company presents two opera and two music theater productions featuring lush orchestrations, dazzling costumes, and professional lighting and sets. Our 12 mainstage performances are staged in historic Kirkpatrick Auditorium.

Spotlight Productions One opera and one musical theater production each season is presented in Burg Theatre with piano accompaniment and intimate staging. This year’s six-performance Spotlight Series features Stephen Sondheim’s Company and Bedřich Smetana’s operatic comedy The Bartered Bride.

Pre-Show Talks Director’s talks are presented in Petree Recital Hall 45 minutes prior to mainstage productions.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Opening Night Galas Join us in the Atrium of the Bass Music Center for our 66th season’s opening night dinners: SEPT. 29

Sister Act NOV. 17 The Marriage of Figaro FEB. 16 The Vaudevillian APRIL 20 On the Town The 6:15 p.m. Friday dinners (tickets $25 in advance from 405.208.5227) are hosted by Dean Mark Parker and David Herendeen, director of OCU’s Oklahoma Opera and Music Theater Company.

These galas feature a dinner themed to the evening’s production and musical entertainment by Bass School musicians.

OKLAHOMA CITY UNIVERSITY 2017–18

Oklahoma Opera & Music Theater Company

VIP Ticket Packages VIP Package A

VIP Package B

Friday opening nights Concierge service 4 Mainstage productions 2 Spotlight productions 4 Mainstage opening night dinners 4 Pre-show director’s talks 4 Guest tickets to bring friends to a production of your choice

Saturday nights or Sunday matinees Concierge service 4 Mainstage productions 2 Spotlight productions 4 Pre-show director’s talks 2 Guest tickets to bring friends to a production of your choice

$350/person $600/couple

$200/person $350/couple

Season Tickets SERIES A: 4 Mainstage productions Front orchestra . . . . . . . . . . . . . $84 Rear orchestra/Front balcony . . . . . . $60 Rear balcony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $42 SERIES B: 2 Mainstage musicals Front orchestra . . . . . . . . . . . . . $46 Rear orchestra/Front balcony . . . . . . $32 Rear balcony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22 SERIES C: 2 Mainstage operas Front orchestra . . . . . . . . . . . . . $46 Rear orchestra/Front balcony . . . . . . $32 Rear balcony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22

Individual Tickets Front orchestra . . . . . . . . . . . . . $28 Rear orchestra/Front balcony . . . . . . $20 Rear balcony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $14 SPOTLIGHT PRODUCTIONS Burg Theatre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $12 OPENING NIGHT DINNERS Preceding Friday’s mainstage shows. . . $25

with Bass School of Music To purchase a sponsorship package, call Susanna at 405.208.5700, or email sebrieschke@okcu.edu or visit okcu.edu/givetobass.

$500 Patron $444 allowed charitable contribution • Featured recognition in season program • 2 guest tickets to a production of your choice

$1,000 Sustaining Member $858 allowed charitable contribution

Includes all of the above, plus: • 2 additional tickets to a production of your choice (total of 4) • 2 general admission tickets to the Christmas Vespers concert

$2,500 Benefactor $2,262 allowed charitable contribution

Includes all of the above, plus: • 2 additional tickets to a production of your choice (total of 6) • 2 tickets to Distinguished Artists Series

$5,000 Show Sponsor $4,650 allowed charitable contribution

Includes all of the above, plus: • Concierge service (personal assistance for tickets, ticket delivery/exchange, guest services) • Listing on title page of production program as show sponsor • 4 additional tickets to a production of your choice (total of 10) • 2 reserved seats to the Christmas Vespers concert

$10,000 Season Sponsor $9,460 allowed charitable contribution

Includes all of the above, plus: • Sponsor announcement from the stage • Listing on title page of all programs as season sponsor • 25 flex tickets (for any Bass School production) • 2 additional reserved seats to Christmas Vespers Concert (total of 4) • Christmas Vespers CD

$25,000 Grand Sponsor $24,068 allowed charitable contribution

Includes all of the above, plus: • Sponsor for entire Bass School Performance Series (Opera and Music Theater Company productions, Distinguished Artists Series, Faculty Artists, Wind Philharmonic, Symphony Orchestra, Choirs) • Music performance at your home or business

CALL 405.208.5227 TO PURCHASE Individual tickets available at okcu.edu/tickets I would like to renew my subscription with no changes.

Mainstage Musicals

Mainstage Operas

Spotlight Productions

Sister Act On the Town

The Marriage of Figaro The Vaudevillian

Company The Bartered Bride

Series A Circle choice: Circle choice:

Four Mainstage Productions Friday Saturday Sunday Front orchestra—$84 Rear orchestra/front balcony—$60 Rear balcony—$42 ____ ______

Series B Circle choice: Circle choice:

Two Mainstage Musicals Friday Saturday Sunday Front orchestra—$46 Rear orchestra/front balcony—$32 Rear balcony—$22 ____ ______

Series C Circle choice: Circle choice:

Two Mainstage Operas Friday Saturday Sunday Front orchestra—$46 Rear orchestra/front balcony—$32 Rear balcony—$22 ____ ______

# Tickets

Spotlight Productions (Open seating)—$12 Company Circle choice: Friday Saturday Sunday The Bartered Bride Circle choice: Friday Saturday Sunday VIP Packages (See Ticket Prices page.)

Package A—Friday Opening Nights—$350 per person/$600 per couple Package B—Saturday or Sunday—$200 per person/$350 per couple Opening Night Dinner—$25 each (Circle desired Friday night dinners.)

Sept. 29 Sister Act Nov. 17 The Marriage of Figaro Feb. 16 The Vaudevillian April 20 On the Town

Price

____ ______ ____ ______ ___ _____ ___ _____ ___ _____

Ticket total (Indicate ticket choices above.): $____________ I would like to make a tax-deductible donation to the Bass School of Music:

To pay by personal check, made out to OCU, please enclose and return with order form to: Oklahoma City University Wanda L. Bass School of Music Attn: Susanna Brieschke 2501 N Blackwelder Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73106

$____________

To make a tax-deductible donation securely online, visit okcu.edu/givetobass. (No ticket purchases, please.)

Name________________________________________ Address_______________________________________ Phone________________________________________ Email________________________________________

(1944) Mainstage Musical

On the Town

APRIL 20–22

(1866) Spotlight Opera

The Bartered Bride

MARCH 2–4

(2018) Mainstage Opera

The Vaudevillian

FEB. 16–18

(1786) Mainstage Opera

The Marriage of Figaro

NOV. 17–19

(1970) Spotlight Musical

Company

NOV. 3–5

(2006) Mainstage Musical

Sister Act

SEPT. 29–OCT. 1

NON-PROFIT ORG.

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK

PERMIT #2017

PAID

U.S. POSTAGE