Union Avenue Opera Celebrates 25th Season

Union Avenue Opera Celebrates 25th Season

Union Avenue Opera presents two company premieres in 2019

Christine Brewer returns to Union Avenue Opera for role debut as The Old Lady in Bernstein’sCandide

Union Avenue Opera announces 25th Anniversary Gala, October 10, 2019

Christine Brewer

Over 21 artists will make their Union Avenue Opera (UAO) debut this summer as the company celebrates its 25th Anniversary Season. The seven-week summer season will open Friday, July 5 with Bernstein’s hilarious, philosophical, and fast-paced take on Voltaire’s 1759 biting satire of the same name, Candideand will feature the return of Christine Brewer to the UAO stage. The season continues through August 24th with performances of Puccini’s operatic blockbuster La bohème, a tribute to UAO’s tradition of presenting operas in original languages, and the St. Louis premiere of Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied, the true saga of Vietnam veteran Colonel Jim Thompson, the longest-held American POW in US history.

The 25th Anniversary Season will culminate with a Gala on Thursday, October 10 at the Barnett on Washington. Guests will enjoy cocktails and hors d’oeuvres followed by a masterfully crafted gourmet meal with a special musical performance by three notable UAO alum: Kenneth Overton (Stephen Kumalo, Lost in the Stars), Elise Quagliata(Sister James, Doubt), and Marsha Thompson (Abigaille, Nabucco). The evening will be hosted by Kathy Lawton Brown of Classic 107.3, The Voice for the Arts in St. Louis

“UAO started off small but mighty. I was a 22-year-old, just out of college looking for opera conducting experience and with the help of the Arts Group of Union Avenue Christian Church we set out to ‘put on a show’” recalls UAO Founding Artistic Director Scott Schoonover. “Our first budget was $5,000 which included everything! Our first auditions drew 17 people, and our orchestra was a string quartet. The cast and I helped build the sets and costumes, and we held 6 performances each with about 50 people in attendance. Minutes before the first performance, the lighting system blew, and we had to perform with just the house lights – it wasn’t fun at the time, but we laugh about it now. Each season has been a season of growth for UAO – for me personally, for our artists, our staff, our infrastructure, and our board of directors – and we are now ready to tackle Season 25.”

In total, UAO will create over 150 opportunities during the festival season both on stage, in the pit, as part of the design/production teams not to mention the nearly 100 volunteers who will give of their time and talents. All operas will be fully staged and performed in their original language with project English Supertitles on the Union Avenue Opera stage at 733 N. Union Blvd, STL 63108, and accompanied by a full orchestra, all members of the AFM Orchestra Union.

Over the past twenty-four years, UAO has grown in artist quality and excellence. Known throughout the region for presenting original language operas such as Nabucco, Rigoletto, La traviata, and Wagner’s epic four-part Ring cycle alongside newer works including Lost in the Stars, Dead Man Walking, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Doubt.

Single tickets are on sale for as low as $32 and subscription packages start at $80. Tickets may be purchased online at www.unionavenueopera.org, by phone at (314) 361-2881, and in person at Union Avenue Opera, 733 N. Union Blvd, St. Louis, MO, 63108. Student rush tickets are available at the door for $15 (cash only) with a valid student ID. There is ample free parking available.

Leonard Bernstein’s: CANDIDE

Scottish Opera Version Four Performances: July 5, 6, 12, 13 at 8:00 p.m.

Presented in English with English supertitles

War! Earthquakes! Disease! Very bad things happen to very good people (and plenty of bad ones too). When young Candide’s marriage proposal to a baron’s daughter doesn’t quite go as planned, this naïve student of optimism is thrust into an eye-opening odyssey across lands near and far, discovering the horrors of existence at every turn.Candide is part opera, part musical, and entirely irreverent. Voltaire’s philosophical spoof becomes a brilliant and breathless operetta set to a vivid score by Bernstein which abounds with spectacular music that includes a famous overture, the soprano showpiece “Glitter and Be Gay,” and the soaring finale, “Make our Garden Grow.” Through all its hysterical scouring of 18th-century wickedness and woe, Candide still finds a way to move and inspire with life-affirming lessons that, surprisingly, ring just as true today.

World-renowned opera legend, Christine Brewer, returns to the UAO stage in her role debut as The Old Lady inCandide. Schoonover will conduct while local director Annamaria Pileggi makes her UAO directorial debut. Jesse Darden and Brooklyn Snow make their UAO debuts as Candide and Cunegonde while Thomas Gunther returns as Voltaire/Pangloss following last year’s successful UAO debut as Captain Corcoran in H.M.S. Pinafore. Local actors Greg Johnston and Graham Emmons make their UAO stage debuts covering a variety of supporting characters. The chorus is composed of 16 of the area’s most talented emerging artists including Leann Schuering,Liya Khaimova, Anthony Heinemann, and Aleksandar Dragojevic. 

“I have always enjoyed and been impressed with productions I have seen at UAO and I can’t think of a better place to make my opera directorial debut!” said Pileggi. “I love the sweeping and theatrical nature of Candide. The breadth and scope of the story, along with the lushness and scale of Bernstein’s music make Candide a quintessentially live event.”

Candide – Jesse Darden*

Voltaire/Pangloss – Thomas Gunther

Maximillian – Charlie Tingen*

Cunegonde – Brooklyn Snow*

Paquette – Gina Malone

The Old Lady – Christine Brewer

Captain/Vanderdendur – Christopher Nelson*

Director – Annamaria Pileggi*

Conductor – Scott Schoonover

Scenic Designer – Otiz Sweezy*

Lighting Designer – Michael Sullivan

Costume Designer – Teresa Doggett

Technical Direction – Theatre Marine Productions

Properties Designer – Kate Slovinski

Giacomo Puccini’s: LA BOHÈME 

Four Performances: July 26, 27, August 2, 3 at 8:00 p.m.

Presented in Italian with English supertitles

Join the Bohemian Revolution in the heart of 19th-century Paris as a group of struggling artist strives to create beautiful art, find love, and ultimately live life to the fullest in this romantic operatic blockbuster. Rodolfo and his friends scrape by using their wit and charm to escape life’s harsher consequences until a chance encounter one winter night when Mimi asks Rodolfo to light her candle, changing everything and sending the pair into a deep, passionate whirlwind. At the same time, Marcello can’t resist the flirtatious charms of the feisty Musetta. Follow the triumphs and toils of this band of struggling young artists as they search for love, life, and laughter against impossible odds. For over 100 years, La bohème, Puccini’s most celebrated opera, has moved audiences to laughter and tears with its irresistible music and timeless tale. 

Ukrainian born soprano, Yulia Lysenko makes her UAO debut in the role of the ill-fated Mimi alongside Cree Carrico as Musetta in La bohème. Jesse Donner returns following his triumphant UAO debut as Ismaele in Verdi’sNabucco last summer. Andrew Wannigman (Jigger, Carousel), Nicholas Ward (Pish-Tush, The Mikado) and Scott Levin (Pooh-Bah, The Mikado) also return to UAO as Marcello, Schaunard, and Alcindoro respectively while Isaiah Musik-Ayala makes his UAO debut as Colline. Elizabeth Hastings (Cenerentola ’11) returns to conduct the 16 chorus and 8 children’s chorus members while St. Louis’ Mark Freiman (Nabucco) directs.

“For people of all ages who have never been to an opera or find it intimidating, La bohème is a great first opera” said Freiman. “The story is surprisingly simple, the music is lush and melodic, there is a lot of humor, and one can’t help but fall in love with the characters. There is nothing like seeing La bohème close-up in an intimate setting like UAO. Our production of La bohème will be traditional, but every production is different, making it fresh and exciting for the audience.”

Mimi – Yulia Lysenko*

Rodolfo – Jesse Donner

Musetta – Cree Carrico*

Marcello – Andrew Wannigman

Schaunard – Nicholas Ward

Colline – Isaiah Musik-Ayala*

Alcindoro/Benoit – Scott Levin

Customs Agent – Randell McGee

Director – Mark Freiman

Conductor – Elizabeth Hastings

Scenic and Lighting Designer – Patrick Huber

Costume Designer – Teresa Doggett

Technical Direction – Theatre Marine Productions

Properties Designer – Kate Slovinski

Tom Cipullo’s: GLORY DENIED

Based on the novel “Glory Denied” by Tom Philpott

Presented in English with English supertitles

Performances Aug. 16, 17, 23 and 24 at 8 p.m.

America’s longest-held prisoner of war dreams of coming home. But home is a place he will not recognize. Follow the gut-wrenching saga of Colonel Jim Thompson as he transitions from the jungles of Southeast Asia to the tree-lined streets of suburban America. Glory Denied speaks to the plight of so many of our veterans who nobly fought for their country but face huge challenges when it comes to re-assimilating into society—and their longed-for normal lives—after service. This true story explores the unimaginable bravery asked of soldiers and the nature of hope itself. It is a story of a nation divided and a country that changed significantly in the decade of his imprisonment. Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied made waves in opera circles when it premiered a decade a go and continues to do so today.

The Glory Denied cast of four includes David Walton (Albert, Albert Herring) as Younger Thompson, Peter Kendall Clark in his UAO debut as Older Thompson, Karina Brazas (Yum-Yum, The Mikado) as Younger Alyce, and Gina Galati (Donna Elvira, Don Giovanni) as Older Alyce. Schoonover conducts as St. Louis native Dean Anthonymakes his UAO directorial debut.

“Glory Denied is an emotional rollercoaster” said Anthony. “What we see in Glory Denied is the cause and effect on all sides. So often, lives of POWs have been forgotten and just become a part of our past. The sacrifice and commitment of these women and men who served our country should never be forgotten. As well as the families who were back home.” 

Older Thompson – Peter Kendall Clark*

Younger Thompson – David Walton

Older Alyce – Gina Galati

Younger Alyce – Karina Brazas

Director – Dean Anthony*

Conductor – Scott Schoonover

Scenic Designer – Roger Speidel

Lighting Designer – Joe Clapper

Costume Designer – Teresa Doggett

Technical Direction – Theatre Marine Productions

Properties Designer – Kate Slovinski

*UAO stage debut

Don’t miss UAO’s Free Friday Night Lecture Series at 7:00 p.m. before the performance in the Union Avenue Fellowship Gallery presented by Dr. Glenn Bauer of Webster University (July 5, 12, 26 August 2, 16, 23). Lectures are free and open to the public.

25th ANNIVERSARY GALA

Thursday, October 10 at 6pm

The Barnett on Washington [3207 Washington Blvd]

Join us as we celebrate Union Avenue Opera’s 25th Anniversary in the festive ambiance of The Barnett on Washington. Enjoy cocktails and hors d’oeuvres followed by a masterfully crafted gourmet meal with a musical performance by Kenneth Overton (Stephen Kumalo, Lost in the Stars), Elise Quagliata (Sister James, Doubt),Marsha Thompson (Abigaille, Nabucco) and hosted by Kathy Lawton Brown, Classic 107. 3. Tickets are on sale now. Call 314-361-2881 or visit unionavenueopera.org for more information.

### 

About Union Avenue Opera – UAO was founded in 1994 to bring affordable, professional, original-language opera to St. Louis, a mission the company continues to pursue to this day. UAO is committed to hiring the most talented artists, directors, designers and technicians both locally and from across the United States. UAO provides promising young singers the first steppingstone of their professional career. UAO is a publicly supported 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization registered in Missouri. In 2018 UAO became an OPERA American Professional Company Member. OPERA America is the national membership organization for artists, administrators and audiences, dedicated to support the creation, presentation and enjoyment of opera.UAO offers vibrant and affordable opera experiences in original languages to audiences who reflect the breadth and diversity of the St. Louis region from the acoustically superb sanctuary of an historic church located in the urban Visitation Park neighborhood in St. Louis’ Central West End. Financial assistance has been provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency, and with support from the Regional Arts Commission, and PNC Arts Alive.  Emily (DePauw) Stolarski Administrative Director | Union Avenue Opera733 N. Union Blvd | St. Louis, MO 63108 | 314-361-2881 Our 25th Anniversary SeasonCandide: Scottish Opera Version – July 5, 6, 12, 13La bohème – July 26, 27, August 2, 3Glory Denied – August 16, 17, 23, 24 The mission of Union Avenue Opera is to provide professional opportunities for gifted, emerging artists and to offer vibrant and affordable opera experiences in original languages to audiences that reflect the breadth and diversity of the St. Louis region. Believing that the arts are vital to the health and reputation of a community, Union Avenue Opera is committed to its urban setting, educational outreach and artistic integrity.

‘Miss Saigon’ Revival Breathtaking and Heartbreaking

‘Miss Saigon’ Revival Breathtaking and Heartbreaking

New production on national tour now at the Fox Theatre

By Joe GfallerContributing Writer“Miss Saigon” holds a powerful mirror up both to its own complicated history and to the dangers of the American Dream in a newly resonant production, the current national tour now playing at the Fox Theatre through May 5. It’s been 30 years since this musical by Alain Boubil and Claude-Michel Schönberg (best known for “Les Misérables”) first opened in the West End in London.

Based on Puccini’s iconic opera “Madame Butterfly,” it played for nearly ten years on Broadway, creating the very definition of the “mega-musical.” That reputation of success looms large for anyone seeing it today, as does the musical’s deeply problematic reputation around race, identity, and victimization.

The current tour, based on the show’s recent West End and Broadway revivals, faces many of the story’s complex and devastating issues head on. Even with its powerful, nuanced performances and dazzling effects, it cannot fully escape the problems inherent in the story itself. However, in the many moments when it does, it is both breathtaking and heartbreaking.

In this new version, one message is clear: the myth of the
American dream is toxic. It damns each of the characters it touches.

For the Engineer, played with equal parts giddy enthusiasm and depraved desperation by Red Concepción, it is a canker that only grows more obsessive and pathetic as the musical unfolds. By the time he reaches his show-stopping reflection on his American dream, his obsession with America has transformed into sinister self-hatred.

Emily Bautista and Anthony Festa as Kim and ChrisKim, given a heartfelt performance from Emily Bautista, is first surrounded by the promise of America in the aptly-named Dreamland club. There, each of her fellow dancers hope that the G.I.s who bed them will ultimately free them from what looks to be an unending cycle of human trafficking and violence.

However, from the moment Gigi is slapped by a G.I. for even speaking of marriage, it is clear that these dreams are nothing more than an unattainable fairy tale, told to give the women a reason to continue selling their bodies to the highest bidder.

Chris, an American G.I., thinks he embodies the American dream, and watching that “white savior” belief system crumble throughout Anthony Festa’s performance is devastating.

Unlike Madame Butterfly’s B.F. Pinkerton (upon whom Chris’s character is based), this is a man who starts off as neither callous nor selfish. In sharp contrast to the other men at Dreamland, he isn’t a leering, oversexed predator. He only takes Kim — still virginal and visibly uncomfortable on her first night there after escaping the destruction of her village — because his friend John has paid for her already.

He reflects later in the show, “I wanted to save and protect her. Christ, I’m an American, how could I fail to do good?” In Festa’s performance, the man we see years later in America is haunted by his PTSD, by the memories of what he saw, and by all the good he failed to do. It is a transformation that is chilling and deeply humane.

Discovering the lethal consequences of his own fear, internalized bias, and white fragility, Festa echoes a cry of anguish to close this production that cuts like a knife through the audience – severing us, for a moment, from the myth of the American dream as well.

Part of the reason that Bautista and Festa’s final reunion has such an impact is the electric sincerity of their initial love. In “Sun and Moon,” the two fall from full-throated harmony directly into a passionate embrace with a palpable chemistry.

As Saigon falls to the Communists and Kim and Chris desperately search for one another in a sequence of stunning cinematic scope, that chemistry seems to draw them inexorably together – making us believe against all reason that, yes, they will find one another.

It is in Kim’s journey which follows without Chris, however, that Bautista truly shines. Whereas the shadow of Vietnam seems to have slowly emasculated Chris after Saigon falls, for Kim, living with the consequences of those days together only makes her stronger. Her transformation from a vulnerable girl in a whirlwind romance to a steadfast mother is sensitive, nuanced, and riveting.

In the moment when Bautista pulls the trigger to prevent a man from killing her son for not being pure-blooded Vietnamese, we see a drive and iron will that is as tangible as the longing we feel in hearing her sing Miss Saigon’s signature anthem “I Still Believe.” By the time she has become a refugee in Thailand, there is not a choice she makes that does not feel deeply grounded in that drive, that love, and that longing.

The rest of the cast shines throughout. As John, J. Daughtry transforms wartime cynicism into peacetime sincerity. He pleads for the children left behind in “Bui Doi” with a simple clarion tone that stands apart from the otherwise intense and ballad-heavy score.

As Thuy, the man Kim had been promised to in her village, Jimwoo Jung is a powerful force – both in the flesh and as a ghost – with the strident moral rectitude of the post-war “re-educated” that reminds one of Les Misérables’s Javert. One imagines he would give an extraordinary turn in that role as well.

If Kim is Miss Saigon’s Fantine, Gigi is the show’s Eponine. (Les Misérables comparisons are rife and unfortunately unavoidable). Christine Bunuan gives Gigi a veneer of earthy stoicism, which buries most glimmers of hope, which is beautifully articulated in “The Movie in My Mind.” Given her performance, it’s hard not to wish Gigi’s story continued after the first few scenes.

In one of this production’s most engaging surprises, thanks to Stacie Bono’s controlled performance, Ellen, the woman Chris married in America, truly comes into her own.

Thanks to Bono’s confrontation with Bautista’s Kim in a Bangkok hotel room — and the addition of her new song “Maybe” in this revival, we see a complex portrait of a woman who can be at times harsh or vulnerable, but who is open to discovering her own capacity to love and forgive.

Whether in sharply choreographed sequences or more intentionally chaotic crowd scenes, the entire ensemble creates a dynamic world against which this deeply personal story plays out.

Bob Avian (musical staging) and Geoffrey Garratt (additional choreography) should both be applauded for one of the production’s most stunning numbers, “The Morning of the Dragon,” in which the three-year anniversary of Vietnamese unification under Ho Chi Minh is celebrated. The back flips, tumbles, and other high flying acrobatics of Daniel Gold, Noah Gouldsmith, McKinley Knuckle, and Kevin Murakami are simply stellar.

The design elements knit together coherently as well. Bruno Poet’s lighting design jumps from garish neon to narrow slivers peeking through broken wooden slats in a shanty town, all to create an atmosphere that transports us. Andreane Neofitou’s costumes do not shy from the grime of Kim’s poverty but also explode in lush opulence for The Engineer’s fantasy production number. The set, designed presumably by production designers Totie Driver and Matt Kinley, uses several of the same simple units that are almost unrecognizable scene-by-scene as the action moves across time and space.

And yes, there is a helicopter. From sound (by Mick Potter), to projections (by Luke Halls), to lighting, to moving set elements, this production handles Miss Saigon’s defining moment in a way that is surprising and riveting, leaving Wednesday night’s audience in a state of on-going rolling applause. 

The creators of the musical are also to be applauded for the work they’ve done to update the material from the original version millions have seen since 1989. I am not expert in that version, but it is clear efforts have been made to address some of the script’s most problematic elements.

Purists may be troubled by the alterations, but at least no longer is a night with a Vietnamese woman compared to the price of a Big Mac – a lyric that was unarguably degrading.

Just as the recent “South Pacific” revival was revised to examine Nellie Forbush’s received racism in a more honest way and the current “Kiss Me, Kate” revival replaces some of its period misogyny and sexism with a more complex look at power in human relationships, so too does “Miss Saigon” need these revisions for the 21st century. One could argue that it could benefit from even more.

So, yes, this production deserves a great deal of justified praise. However, the material still suffers from the very orientalism that created its predecessor opera, “Madame Butterfly.”

However noble Miss Saigon’s Kim is (and however much agency she attempts to stake for herself), she still spends most of the show suffering the consequences of decisions made by men: be it the Engineer, Chris, or Thuy. As much as one can blame the canker of self-hatred infecting the Engineer when he sings “Why was I born of a race that thinks only of rice,” destructive stereotypes still fill the show.

This production earnestly attempts to address those stereotypes when it can, but to eliminate them completely would require starting from scratch with a new musical. One could only imagine that this same material could have been written with a higher level of nuance had the writing and producing team consisted entirely, or even partly, of Asian artists back in 1989.

The cast itself features an ensemble that balances artists who are of Asian descent with those who are Latinx, African-American, and white. To produce the show without two entirely separate ensembles (one Asian, to play ensemble characters from Vietnam and Thailand, and one largely non-Asian for the American ensemble), white actors and dancers appear in the Vietnamese army after the fall of Saigon. No “complexion enhancing make up” (the polite term now for “yellowface”) is applied to these white performers for those scenes. However, make up or not, white performers in Asian roles is still considered yellowface to many. Absent exploding the cost of producing the musical by hiring an even larger cast, there may be few practical ways to address this issue.

Nonetheless, I can appreciate the discomfort that many may feel when looking at representation in casting in the production. (These and other questions recently became a flashpoint for controversy when this tour of Miss Saigon played in Madison, Wisc.)

That said, the “Miss Saigon” that exists is the “Miss Saigon” we have.

As this production begins, we see Saigon’s streets through the haze of a scrim. That hazy vision becomes a metaphor for the very nature of the musical’s storytelling. The people who wrote “Miss Saigon” could only see it through their own, perhaps biased, lens. They did their best to create a powerful evening of theater despite the limitations of their own experience. This production has clearly worked hard to mitigate those limitations.

We can embrace director Laurence Connor’s storytelling for allowing
the staging and nuanced characterizations to help us sympathize with all of the characters, even when they
are far from likeable people. We can applaud music director Will Curry’s strong
work with the orchestra and his cast to let the music soar and transport us.
And we can look to the talents of this remarkable ensemble and appreciate the
power, beauty, and heartbreak of the journey they take us on.

At the top of the second act, the production shows documentary footage of the half-Vietnamese, half-American children left behind after the war. When it is at its best, the production gives us moments like these that do not rely on the musical’s lyrics to point to the musical’s underlying story. For despite the fantasy and romance at the surface of “Miss Saigon,” it remains grounded in the harsh reality of our very recent history.

As refugees continue to cross borders to find a better life for their children, as sex trafficking continues among the most vulnerable of us, and as toxic masculinity threatens the welfare of women worldwide, that history continues today – sometimes in our own backyards. Despite its flaws, for that reason (and for the talents of the artists involved), I say that this “Miss Saigon” is a production that should be seen – and discussed for a long time to come.

The Fox Theatre in St. Louis is presenting “Miss Saigon” now through May 5. For tickets or more information, visit www.fabulousfox.com or call MetroTix at 314-534-1111.