Many big-name composers, including Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein, aspired to make Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Our Town” into an opera. But Wilder resisted the idea.
It wasn’t until nearly 70 years after the drama debuted in Princeton, N.J., that composer Ned Rorem won out, thanks to the support of Tappan Wilder, the playwright’s nephew and executor of the Wilder estate.
CU Opera director Leigh Holman is betting that her cast will deliver a strong run of the 2½-hour opera in Boulder, starting Thursday.
“At one point or another, most students have studied the play itself,” she said. “And most of them know of the many, many songs that Ned has written. But he only composed a handful of operas, and this one is unique for our young opera singers because it really allows them to focus on drama.
” ‘Our Town’ strips away the usual spectacle of opera and puts the character story at the forefront. It requires attention to both singing and acting.”
As Emily Webb, soprano Christie Hageman confirms that good acting is requisite to convey her character. “Most of the time, I play a famous opera role like Musetta in ‘La Bohème,’ ” said the Montana native, who placed first in the Denver Lyric Opera Guild annual competition in March and will graduate this spring with a master’s degree in music from CU-Boulder. “Emily is different because she’s a character from a play. It’s a perfect role to practice being a singer-actor.”
Holman works with the students to first speak and act their lines before incorporating the singing parts, according to Hageman.
“It’s also an emotionally complex opera,” Hageman said. “If I get too emotional, I can’t sing. If I’m not emotional enough, my character might seem remote. So I have to find out where the boundary is — how far can I go with my emotions and how do I transmit those emotions to the audience.”
Tenor John Lindsey, 24, who plays the role of Stage Manager, agrees. “Interaction with the audience is huge in this opera,” he said. “Because I go back and forth between playing a role and being a narrator, I establish a rapport with the audience and I can just be myself at times, without affectation.
“Performing a new work like this is beneficial for me because it’s forcing me to really study.”
The students rehearse about five hours a day, with additional hours of vocal coaching squeezed into just four weeks’ preparation time.
A story about love, life and death in the small town of Grover’s Corners, N.H., early in the 20th century, “Our Town” also features another central character, George Gibbs, who falls in love with Emily, the girl next door. As George, tenor James Baumgardner likes the challenge of portraying his character in different stages of life.
“In the first act, I play George at age 15. That’s hard to pull off without being cartoonish,” said Baumgardner, 25. “Then he marries Emily at a very young age, and then Emily dies in childbirth.
“It’s challenging, emotionally and musically.”
At the same time, Baumgardner and Hageman say that Rorem’s contemporary setting allows them to more easily relate to their respective roles. “I interact with my character much as I interact with my real world,” Hageman said.
“The emphasis of this production isn’t a huge set or fancy props,” said Holman. “It’s the universal idea that we should pay attention to what goes on in our lives and not let our daily routines distract us from what’s right in front of us.
“The opera may never gain mass appeal, but I think it will endure among the intellectually curious. ‘Our Town’ involves the audience on every level — it can inspire you to re-evaluate how you think about your life.”
“OUR TOWN.”
CU Opera presents Ned Rorem’s opera, fully staged with orchestra, at Imig Music Building, University of Colorado at Boulder campus. Stage director Leigh Holman, music director Nicholas Carthy, sets by Bruce Berg- ner, lights by Jane Spencer, costumes by Tom Robbins. 7:30 p.m. Thursday through April 24, and 2 p.m. April 25. $16-$26. 303-492-8008 or
