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Ohio Light Opera: Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld (July 13)

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by Daniel Hathaway

In 1858, a French government critic described Offenbach’s first two-act operetta, Orpheus in the Underworld, as “a profanation of holy and glorious antiquity.” But instead of reacting to its “blasphemy and lascivious goings on” with shock and horror, Parisians flocked to see the show, which ran for a then-record of 288 performances.

Ohio Light Opera shows why in the production I saw — cleverly staged by Steven Daigle, brightly conducted by Michael Borowitz, and colorfully designed by Daniel Hobbs — in its opening performance at Freedlander Theatre at the College of Wooster on July 13. Satire can scarcely ever be overdone, and the opportunity to skewer society’s sacred cows — or its gods — opens many doors wide.

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Ohio Light Opera:
Arizona Lady (July 6)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

The variety of titles that make up Ohio Light Opera’s annual summer series is its secret sauce. Go to a few shows and you’re bound to find something you’ll like, or maybe in this case a dark horse to love. Emmerich Kálmán’s Arizona Lady is an unknown in these parts — an OLO premiere this summer, which I heard on July 6 at Freedlander Theatre. It stumbles a little at times, but in the end she’s a winner.

Kálmán, who was born in Hungary, always sounds middle European to me, no matter the setting of a particular show or scene. Though the music and setting in Arizona Lady occasionally seem at odds, it’s fun to hear Hungarian-tinged folksong one minute, Viennese tradition the next, and Western cowboy songs the next.

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Ohio Light Opera:
H.M.S. Pinafore, or 
The Lass That Loved a Sailor (June 29)

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by Daniel Hathaway

It’s been a good thing for the creative team of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Seymour Sullivan that Victorian England was rife with unqualified public officials, rigid class distinctions, and social inequality. What would the plot of H.M.S. Pinafore, one of their most popular Savoy Operas, have been like without the opportunity to lampoon such functionaries as W. H. Smith, a politician with no nautical experience, by portraying him as Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty? His advice:

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Ohio Light Opera: 
No, No, Nanette! (June 24)

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by Daniel Hathaway

When the Freedlander Theatre grand drape rose for the first No, No, Nanette! curtain call on Saturday afternoon in Wooster, it revealed only the tap dancing feet of the excellent Ohio Light Opera cast. That cleverly validated both stage director Steven A. Daigle’s characterization of the 1925 hit musical as “a dancing show” and choreographer Spencer Reese’s genius in getting an entire stage full of actors to tap and create a wonderful din with their feet during several production numbers.

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Ohio Light Opera: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (June 15)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

How to explain the pleasure of Ohio Light Opera’s production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which opened on June 15 at Freedlander Theatre? With music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, it’s a good-natured romp from the Mad Men milieu of the early 1960s that tries not to recall the bad old days too clearly, or to at least do it in jest. With an excellent cast, sets, and costumes, it’s hard not to have a good time with this production directed by Jacob Allen. I did, even if some of the old-fashioned attitudes rankled a little.

You might suspect that How to Succeed, which won the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for drama, had been ahead of its time, shining a light as it did on the bad behavior of get-ahead businessmen. Nah… Some of the more obvious sexist jokes and lyrics of the original may have been toned down for this production, but a lot of the caddishness remains, even if obviously intended as a send-up.

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Ohio Light Opera: 
Camelot (June 14)

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by Daniel Hathaway

In short, there’s simply not a more congenial spot
For happily-ever-aftering than here in Camelot

On June 10, Ohio Light Opera opened its 44th season with the first of thirteen performances of Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot, brilliantly time traveling its audiences in Freedlander Theater at the College of Wooster back to a legendary and evanescent Medieval era when knights in shining armor gathered with King Arthur at a round table (where all are equal) and pledged themselves to a code of purity and chivalry.

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A chat with Ohio Light Opera choreographer, director, singer, and dancer Spencer Reese

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by Daniel Hathaway

When I interviewed Ohio Light Opera artistic director Steven Daigle about the six shows the company is producing this summer in Freedlander Theater at The College of Wooster, he suggested that I also contact music director Michael Borowitz and choreographer Spencer Reese to find out what excites them about the 43rd season.

Reese has been with OLO since 2014, serving as assistant director and choreographer for more than 30 shows. I caught up with him early one morning for a fast-paced conversation that covered a lot of material in only ten minutes.

Daniel Hathaway: Thanks for agreeing to chat this early in the morning. I’m glad I got on your call board before other people did.

Spencer Reese: Thank you for letting it be early. Once nine o’clock hits, I’m not available again until 10 pm.

DH: I won’t take much of your time, but Steve Daigle thought I should talk to you because you turn out in many ways to be the MVP of the company.  [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera Tools Up For Its 44th season at the College of Wooster

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by Daniel Hathaway

In mid-May, the annual influx of a special summer population brought more than 120 singing actors and instrumentalists to Wooster for the 44th season of Ohio Light Opera. Between the opening downbeat of Lerner &  Loewe’s Camelot (1960) on June 10 and its final curtain call on July 30, OLO will have presented 50 performances of six shows from the lyric theater repertoire in Freedlander Theater at The College of Wooster.

The launching of Camelot will be followed by opening performances of Frank Loesser’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961) on June 15, Vincent Youmans’ No, No, Nanette (1925) on June 22, Gilbert & Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore (1878) on June 29, Emmerich Kálmán’s Arizona Lady (1954) on July 6, and Jacques Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld (1858) on July 13 — all on Thursdays at 2pm.

Once each title has been rolled out, all six shows will be running “in repertory” during the last three weeks in July. That means you could spend a week at the Festival and see all of them in rotation — a type of binge watching to which some OLO devotees are addicted, and for which Wooster lodging and restaurant packages are available.

I caught up with artistic director Steven Daigle by phone to ask him what personally excites him about the coming season, which will be his 33rd with the company. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: last opportunities this summer to see professional repertory theater

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by Daniel Hathaway

For over four decades Ohio Light Opera has enthralled audiences with performances of the complete Gilbert & Sullivan catalog as well as American and European operettas and titles from the Golden Age of musical theater. Performed in the intimate Freedlander Theatre located on the campus of the College of Wooster, Ohio Light Opera offers fully-staged, entertaining productions in the atmosphere of a charming college town.

This summer’s titles include Cinderella,  Hello, Dolly!, The Student Prince, The Pirates of Penzance, The Mock Marriage, and The Fantasticks. All six titles are currently running in repertoire until July 31, and all six are well worth the trip to Wooster.  Click here for ticket availability.

This is light opera and musical theatre at its best. The young professional ensemble exudes theatrical and vocal talent and the leads wouldn’t be out of place in any provincial opera company. The Orchestra, skillfully led by Michael Borowitz and Wilson Southerland is first class and in addition to the acting, singing, and dancing, the productions are visually gorgeous. [Read more…]

Ohio Light Opera: The Student Prince (June 30) 

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by Peter Feher

Gilbert & Sullivan might be the Ohio Light Opera signature, but the company in residence at the College of Wooster each summer has made other traditions out of its love for lyric theater. One curious case is the 1924 operetta The Student Prince, which OLO reprises for a seventh time in a production running through July 29 at Freedlander Theatre.

From the start, the work’s popularity has resembled something of a groundswell. Ignoring early objections from producers, composer Sigmund Romberg and librettist Dorothy Donnelly wound up securing their reputations with this hit. The Student Prince became the longest-running Broadway show of the decade and spawned two film adaptations, including a 1954 version with a star cast of its time. [Read more…]

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