Will There Be Opera at the Peabody Opera House of St. Louis?

The Peabody Opera House in St. Louis, Missouri, was originally opened in 1934 as the Kiel Opera House and hosted performances by The Rat Pack, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles and Bruce Springsteen. The 3,100-seat theater closed in 1991. It was only three years ago that planners began work on a $78.8 million renovation project to revive the space. On October 1, the historic auditorium (minted with a new name compliments of Peabody Energy) will hold its re-opening night event called "An Encore 77 Years in the Making" featuring Aretha Franklin and Jay Leno. But will there be any opera performances taking place at the Peabody Opera House? According to John Urban (executive vice president for events and new business at Sport Capital Partners Worldwide), "We've met with quite a few including the St. Louis Symphony, Dance St. Louis, Opera Theatre, Shakespeare Festival, St. Louis Actors Studio," he said, and "already have some tentative plans and dates on hold." Looking at the calendar of events for the 2011-12 season one can see Roger Daltry performing Tommy, concerts by Widespread Panic and Wilco, family events with themes of Dr. Seuss and Sesame Street, a touring production of Green Day's American Idiot and a "Homecoming Comedy Jam" featuring Cedric the Entertainer on New Year's Eve. Read a full article about the detailed craftsmanship that went into restoring this historical venue by clicking here. Once upon a time, the Metropolitan Opera toured the United States and the original Kiel Opera House was the venue for a series of

The new Peabody Opera House lobby.

performances in May 1952 that included Aida (Zinka Milanov, Mario del Monaco, Blanche Thebom, Jerome Hines, Lucine Amara; Fausto Cleva), Carmen (Risë Stevens, Ramon Vinay, Nadine Conner, Frank Guarrera; Fritz Reiner), La Bohème (Eleanor Steber, Richard Tucker, Anne Bollinger, Frank Valentino; Alberto Erede) and La Traviata (Dorothy Kirsten, Jan Peerce, Leonard Warren; Fausto Cleva). The company returned to perform Samson and Dalila (Risë Stevens, Mario del Monaco, Martial Singher; Fausto Cleva) in May 1958, Aida (Birgit Nilsson, Franco Corelli, Irene Dalis, Robert Merrill, Ezio Flagello; Nino Verchi) and La Bohème (Dorothy Kirsten, Jan Peerce, Laurel Hurley, Lorenzo Testi; Thomas Schippers) both in May 1961. But who knows, maybe one day Phantom of the Opera will be the closest thing Peabody Opera House gets to hosting anything operatic and don't worry about the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis because it seems they are just fine in their home. [Source, Source, Source, Source]

Watch a local news channel discuss the renovation, during its beginning stages, after the jump.

 

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis Receives Major Gift For Technology

Timothy O'Leary, General Director

"Opera Theatre of Saint Louis said Monday it received a $350,000 gift from Emerson to establish the Emerson Technology & Production Training Center at the Sally S. Levy Opera Center. The center will include a state-of-the-art digital media lab enabling students, interns and leading professionals to master new technologies in video and lighting design, video projection and scenic automation. The center will also incorporate an adjacent rehearsal hall, allowing production artists to instantly transfer technology applications to a rehearsal setting. The new technology center completes the Sally S. Levy Opera Center, which was conceived under the leadership of former General Director Charles MacKay and made possible by the $11 million Building for Opera campaign, opera officials said. Timothy O'Leary is the opera's general director." [Source]

What Connects Andy Cohen and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis?

Go to 3:12 in the video to see what monumental memory Opera Theatre of Saint Louis holds for Bravo's executive producer Andy Cohen (spoiler: not for the faint of stomach).

Interview With Hockey Player-Turned-Opera Singer Elliot Madore

"You can add Elliot Madore to that ever-growing list of 'only in the age of Obama.' Madore is a 'half-black' (his phrase) Canadian former hockey player who now sings opera (baritone) in leading roles on the world’s major stages. He has a paid position in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and for the Saturday matinee at Opera Theatre of St. Louis he will close the curtain on his performance in the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. The Opera Theatre of St. Louis production (directed by James Robinson and Michael Shell, with choreography by Sean Curran) is so rich in physical comedy it verges on slapstick. It makes the most of the vital athleticism of this former hockey player, who has leading man looks reminiscent of former NBA star (and fellow Canadian) Rick Fox."

The Don Juan of Missouri: Elliot Madore in Don Giovanni (Photo: Ken Howard)

The article about the singer attempts to broach the topic of opera productions being colorblind, but the multiple uses of the awkward phrase "half-black" gets in the way. Not to mention this tidbit, "In addition to staging an incredibly athletic production, Opera Theatre of St. Louis’ casting is as ethnically diverse as it gets. The leading lady who has been abandoned by Don Giovanni, Donna Elvira, is played by Kishani Jayasinghe. The beautiful soprano hails from Sri Lanka, an island nation off the southeast coast of India, though from the seats at the Loretto-Hilton in Webster Groves, she is easily mistaken for an African American....In fact, Madore replaced another actor in the lead role just a week before rehearsals commenced, and the switch from a non-black lead to a 'half-black' lead required no changes whatsoever in conceptualizing the production." [Source]

If the photo above taken from the Don Giovanni production looks familiar, you might want to check out why after the jump.

An image of model Peter Johnson taken by famed photographer Bruce Weber:

OTSL's "Pelléas and Mélisande": No Opium Required

Liam Bonner in Debussy's Masterpiece

"Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, in the persons of stage director David Alden, set designer Paul Steinberg and lighting designer Adam Silverman, made all the right artistic decisions in their very American production of French composer Claude Debussy's only opera, Pelléas and Mélisande. Whether you enjoy it will depend on your reaction to Debussy's very French decision to use as the libretto Symbolist playwright Maurice Maeterlinck's play of the same name....The leads in particular — buttery soprano Corinne Winters (Mélisande),

richly expressive baritones Liam Bonner (Pelléas) and Gregory Dahl (Golaud), and spectacular twelve-year-old (you read that right) soprano Michael Meo — are unflagging in their creativity and musical good sense....Debussy, an inveterate opium smoker, would have loved it." [Source] Watch a multi-media preview of the production by clicking here.