 Back at Blaisdell with Hawaii Opera Theater, and we have Andrew Morgan, the general director of Hawaii Opera Theater to tell us how it went and where it's going in terms of Carmen and all the other operas that are coming up in this season. Hi, Andrew, welcome to the show. Thanks, Jade. Lovely to be here with you. It was lovely to go to the opera last Sunday. Sunday is our day. We always go Sunday afternoon. We've been doing that since God, the 70s anyway. And we really enjoyed it, and we enjoyed last Sunday just as well. And Carmen is one of my favorites. And, you know, looking it up, Carmen is one of the world's favorites, 1875 and after. At first it was not all that popular. And Bizet didn't know what he was going to do, but it worked out. Within six to seven years, it became very popular. And now, look, it's one of the standards. It's one of the ABC operas, right? That's right. Aida, Bohem, and Carmen, of course. Yeah, it's definitely one of the top presented operas in the world. So yeah. So you made some very poignant remarks when you got up on the stage before. I really appreciated that. We all did. And it was, you know, you were kind of a statement of HOT, a statement of where HOT is right now, where it's been, which is important to know about. And where it's going. So can you summarize that for me? I'm interested particularly in how COVID affected your season, your productions, your whole, you know, your whole world, really. Yeah. Well, that's a big question to unwrap, Jay. So we, you know, as I said at the opening night, which was on Friday, February 18th, that day actually marked the two year anniversary of the last time we were on the Blaisdell stage. February 18th of 2020 was the closing night for our production of The Marriage of Figaro. And, you know, just within a few short weeks after that, the world kind of came crashing down on the performing arts and everything, all economies with the COVID-19 pandemic. You know, we were so naive in the early days thinking it was just, oh, a couple of weeks or a couple of months, but it kept COVID has had some surprises for us. You know, in fact, we had planned on starting our season in October of 2021, and that just was not meant to be. Then January of 2021 and Omicron, 2022 rather, and Omicron had other ideas. So we've continued to pivot. But as I mentioned in my opening remarks at the performances, you know, we, over those two years, we were not sitting twiddling our thumbs, you know, we produced over 30 hours of original content for the digital realm, including little pieces that were streamed into schools across the state, and as well as our first ever world premiere opera, The Hometown to the World, which was from how we debuted in May of last year. So really exciting, but even more exciting, I would say, was being in front of a really appreciative audience again. I love opera in all its shapes and forms, and digital is definitely a valid and viable way of delivering opera to people, but there's nothing else can replace being in a theater with an orchestra, with singers performing for you right in front of you, live in an auditorium. It just, it can't be replicated in the other way, not signal cast to adult cannery theaters, not in your TV or computer. It's just something magical about experiencing live theater of any kind. But for me, I'm biased to say, especially opera, so. I'm biased too. I have an emotional reaction at every opera I attend, at every opera I attend at H-O-T, even an abbreviated opera like Carmen last Sunday. But I don't know why. I actually don't know why. I don't know why I have the emotional reaction I do, and it's only when you're there, you're physically there in the audience, and you can sort of imagine or feel the reaction of the people next to you. You see the emotive power of the singers and the orchestra right there. Why is it though that this phenomenon happens? Why is it that you have an emotional reaction when you're there? What makes that happen? Well, I think you get a different response from anybody you asked about that question. The Greeks had the original take on tragedy and in front of a live audience, and this pathos, the empathy you get with seeing performers packed out something. But with opera, it really takes it to the next level because I'm a performer myself. I've been at many opera productions, and I was a director that I worked with many, many years ago. And one of the things that he told us, and this was when I was just out of college and thinking, why are we singing? And his response, his guidance to us is, you're singing because actually just speaking the words is not enough to convey your emotion in the moment. You have to sing it. And so that's, you know, whether it's a 90 minute opera or a four hour opera, it's heightened emotion throughout that entire time. And there's the magic of the orchestra and the beautiful beauty and power of the human voice that just isn't replicated by any other art form. And yeah, multi, multi-disciplinary, if you will. Yeah. But you know, here's this. So I'm just taking Carmen for a minute. Carmen is set in the early, what, 19th century in Seville, Spain. And it's a story that might have taken place at the time. It's a kind of a romance, I suppose, even though she's not the kind of girl you want to have a romance with. She's a real man killer, so to speak. But, you know, that's the early 19th century. And that's so for a lot of the operas. You see the classic operas, they're set, what, 150 years ago or more. And you say to yourself, gee, so much has happened since then. The world has changed since then. Why am I so involved? Why am I so impressed? Why do I care so much about what happened in the early 19th century that I should have an emotional reaction to this? It's old news. The stories are old news. And furthermore, I've seen it. I've seen it a dozen times anyway or more. Why am I still having an emotional reaction? I think it's the same reason people return to a good book that they want to reread or a movie. I mean, every holiday season, I have to watch It's a Wonderful Life at Miracle on 34th Street. You know, some of those gems or I will admit that I'm a Harry Potter fanatic and so I do watch those movies a lot, you know. And so I think it's, you see different things. And with opera, again, with live, you're getting just that moment. You may have seen a very similar production 30 years ago, but it certainly wasn't with that singer in that costume and that orchestra at that moment. Even if you saw the production on Friday night when it got on Sunday, it would be a different experience because the singers are in a different place or you are coming at it from a different place. So I think that, you know, and also the best of operas tell a timeless story about the human condition, whether it's the kind of furtive love of Carmen and Don José that's really fatalistic, doomed from the start, if you will, or the tragedy of Violeta who dies at the end of Traviata after, you know, this great love of her life that she's forced to break. You know, there's so much, it's all over the top emotions, right? That's what makes opera opera. But I just think there's a power to the stories that are told by opera. And again, it's told in a way that no other medium tells the story. That's true. Halevi was the guy who wrote, collaborated with Bizet on the libretto and he said, gee, how could he write things that would be so powerful now, how many years later? 200 years later. I mean, 200 years after the fact, 150 after he wrote it. And it's because it was brilliant. It was brilliant then and it's a keeper. It's still brilliant now. So you gotta give them credit for that. They not only saw what they wanted to portray to a French audience in 1875, but they wanted to portray for all time. They were writing for the millennia. Am I right about that? Yeah, no, definitely. Well, again, they were writing about the human condition. It was about love and about greed and about passion. You know, it's all of those things. And so none of that goes out of style. People have difficult relationships. They don't always end getting stabbed at the end, but hopefully, you know, there's drama in our life. And so again, with the operatic stories, they're taking that drama and taking it to the 12th degree, you know, of emotional content. Well, this makes it really interesting in Carmen because Carmen, as we were talking before the show, Carmen's an opera which has developed a kind of culture of its own in terms of the director changing the way the opera works, changing the plot. You know, I mean, for example, when I saw Carmen attacking Micaela as a woman, that's not the way it worked in the original Bizet production. Does Andrew Morgan know this happened? Actually, you know, we did a very different version of Carmen on purpose. This is an adaptation done in 1980 by Peter Brooke, who was director of film and theater. And so he went back to the source material of Prosper Merame's novel and really determined, you know, he wanted to pull out this visceral element of Carmen as a powerful woman, not just doomed, but powerful and added elements to Micaela that's much more powerful than you see in the normal, the full production of Carmen. We dubbed it big Carmen as opposed to small Carmen. And so it's very different. And including the appearance of Carmen's husband, Garcia, which doesn't appear at all in the Bizet opera, the full opera. Who dies, he dies. Yeah, exactly. Well, and one of many, I mean, Don Jose is quite the serial killer in the tragedy of Carmen. He leaves no, what we call it, no suitor rival unscathed, shall you say, you know, and so even when he doesn't kill them, they die. I mean, Escamillo. Escamillo, he didn't die in the original opera. No, but he gets bored by a bull in the bull fight. So he's also dead at the end of the opera. So it truly only does Jose left to Micaela, I guess, but she disappears. So, you know, the production we chose was on purpose. So, you know, when we, when the season was planned back for 2021, when we thought, oh, let's have a great season. The original idea for this cast, except for the Don Jose who was in this edition, was an often Bach piece, Orpheus and Underworld. And the Carmen, the Escamillo and the Micaela all were cast in that production. But that's an opera that has 17 of some odd characters and a big chorus and a huge orchestra. And as I was thinking of how we come out of COVID, something like that didn't seem terribly viable. I'd love to be scheduled. The Orpheus and Underworld is a really great, funny piece. But I thought, we need to start small. And so what was going to be a premiere for us, a J.K.G. piece called If I Were You, we'll be doing that in future seasons. That turned into Re-emerging, which is a concert of kind of opera's greatest hits, which was supposed to be in October. Now is it March? That's the next one. That's the next one. March 11 and 13, back in Blaisdell. And then the Orpheus and Underworld, because I knew that the most trio of singers had done these roles before, the Carmen, the Escamillo and the Micaela, I thought this, and I knew of the tragedy of Carmen being a chamber piece really. I thought this is the perfect way for us to get back into a fully staged production. And when I talked to Karen Tiller about the idea, she's the former executive director, leader of HOT as well, and has directed many wonderful productions for the company. She was super excited about the idea. And so we were off to the races with this very different version. She's very creative, Karen's very creative, but out of the box, everything she does. So this is perfect for her. Yeah, definitely. So it only has four singers, Carmen, D'Ausse, Micaela and Escamillo. There are three speaking roles although we double cast one of them. And I saw that and I said, wow, the guy must be changing costumes behind stage really quickly. He did, he even put on a beard. So it's completely unrecognizable, but the magic of theater, right? And a chamber orchestra, we used 22 pieces. It was really only scored for 16, but we added some extra strings. And so again, I thought starting out small, this feels safer for us. This feels more economically viable for us because I knew that audiences were gonna be slow to coming back because there's still, there's still Omicron, there's still COVID, it's not gone. But I was really thrilled with the audiences. We had about 60% capacity over the two performances. Very exciting and so enthusiastic to be back. Very enthusiastic to get back, yeah? Yeah, yeah. This is a return of Carmen. Yeah, we were beyond thrilled. As I noted about the two year anniversary, it was a very emotional period for us. And we had to go through a lot of planning to even get to the stage. We were doing testing every week of everybody and then more frequently as we got closer to the performances, we were very fortunate to not have any positive positivity with the cast. And really, it just all went as well as can be expected. It was very good Sunday. My wife and I, we wore masks, okay? And we were not unhappy with the fact that it was an abbreviated a period of time for the opera, as opposed to three hours, it was 80 minutes, that's just a little more than half of what you would expect to spend. And if you're in a place where you wonder, maybe the guy down the row is breathing on you or something, 80 minutes is better than three hours. Yeah, well, and that was also part of the planning with this and reemerging, which is also only about 80 minutes, is the one act, not dealing with intermission and kind of what does an audience do during intermission in time of COVID? Exactly. You know, it just felt like the right decision for the company as we get back to live. The most important thing for me, you know, has been throughout the start of this is the safety of my staff, the volunteers, our board, and the audiences and singers and orchestra members, everyone that makes up the Ohana that is Hawaii Opera Theater. And it really does, it takes, it doesn't take a village, it takes a metropolitan area, you know? So it was great, you know, but we pulled it off. And I think, glowingly, I was just thrilled with the performances and the feedback we've got has been nothing short of stellar. People were really excited and loved the production, so. Let me join in that. I felt the same way. And I had that same emotional reaction, honestly. But let me ask you about some of the technology here. As I walk into theater and you see these building block type of structures on the stage, there were three or four of them and they were all maybe six or seven feet high, maybe. And they were brilliant colors, but then the colors changed and changed again. And so how do they do that? I never saw that before. This was really high tech. And at the same time, you knew that with this kind of technology, A, you didn't have to have carpenters up there building a, you know, designing and building an expensive set. And B, it's got to be a statement of the future. The future for, you know, live performances. So tell me how you got connected with that and how you used it. Yeah, so our director of production, Gordon Speck, also works for Hawaii Stage and Lighting and they do all the huge conventions in town. And one of the things that you see at conventions a lot are these gigantic video walls. And they are, the way these walls are set up is there's squares about 18 inches square that connect. They stack, lock to each other and then electronically connect to each other so that all of them are presenting the same one gigantic picture. It's like if you took your television set at home and connected 30 other televisions to it but had one image over all 30 of the televisions. So that's the technology. And it was either modular, you could put them in pretty much any configuration you can dream of as long as it's square within square. And they can put any image up there, including video. And so really that's what we did is we created, Karen Tiller worked with Dave Hunt who was the videographer for all of our hot digital season the last couple of years to put together these imagery that they found online and created animation around them. So we had transitions from scene to scene because one of the things, one of the challenges with the tragedy of Carmen is because it's so compressed but it has to tell the whole story. The scenes change pretty rapidly. Some of the things are only on a couple of minutes and some are on 10 or 15 or 20 minutes. But we can't put the curtain down every time and have something happen. It would be back to the three hours even though it's only 80 minutes of music. And so this allowed for instantaneous changes from scene to scene and really became a very dynamic part of the production I think, because things were interactive a little bit. There was animation going on as things. For instance, when Eskimea was walking in the bullring and you see kind of these, you know, what do you call it? Kind of pieces of a bullring behind him on those four individual screens. There was a red cape that kind of lofted across all four of the screens to kind of give you that sense of motion and action. And it really very powerful. It's definitely something we're gonna be using again. I can't tell you what the opera is next fall but we're gonna use them again. It's a production that, you know, projection has been used in opera productions for quite a few years. And the benefit of these digital panels is it's a much more vibrant image that the audience is seeing. And so we're gonna be using them again in a production that was originally designed for projection. We're gonna be putting them on these screens. I'm really excited. And you can change the configuration. You can configure it this way but you can make it that way. You can have more of them, less of them and so forth. My guess, correct me if I'm wrong, is they're wireless. All you have to do is plug them into electrical source and the image is transmitted wirelessly, right? They are cable driven but it's pretty minimal cabling, yeah. That's great. Well, I hope you do use that more. And I think in the end, you can deliver even a more powerful production using that kind of high tech equipment because it's, as you said, you can do it instantly. You can do anything you want in the world. You can put on those objects. And then you can also coordinate it with a screen behind the players. In front, the side, you know, you're completely surrounded, surround image kind of thing, you know? And the possibilities are endless because really, I mean, it could have a live video feed from somebody singing offstage if you wanted to do that, sort of look and feel to the production. It obviously can't be for every production. Nothing should look the same every single production but I think it's just another tool in our tool belt that we can use to really create powerful productions right here in Hawaii and not be bringing things over all the time. Yeah, there's some things you have to have. And for example, you wanna do Aida, you have to have an elephant. You must have an elephant. I don't know, wait, get an elephant, but, you know, and wasn't there a dog in Lava Wem? There was a dog in the second act, I think. There often is, yeah, there's animals. There's a horse in La Fajila, the West. Yeah, all sorts of shenanigans can be had in the kitchen opera. And now you can do it by electronic message. There you go, there you go. But our butterfly in April will have a full set. You will see Suzuki's house, Chochur's house on the stage. It's gorgeous, gorgeous production. Well, that's a favorite for Hawaii for sure. So those are the three. It's the story of Carmen, the reemergence and then Lava Wem in April. Madam of Butterfly. I'm sorry, Madam of Butterfly. I see what happens to them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, it's gonna be a great ending to our season and a full on production before Orchestra at Chorus and God help us that COVID doesn't do something else to us. Well, it seems to be diminishing, not quite, you know, it'll be. Now, one thing I found was very interesting in terms of the dynamic of the audience and for that matter, the conductor, who she's Asian, that conductor, although she's not from Hawaii, I think. Yeah, yeah, she was in the area. She's pretty feisty, she was. Because somebody, I think it was near us, you know, my wife and me, on the left side of the audience didn't turn his phone off, okay? And this feisty conductor turned around, faced the audience. I mean, now the music stopped, faced the audience. This is why a live performance is so interesting, right? She faced the audience and folded her hands as if to wait. Wait while you guys stop fooling around you because I have an opera to direct here, if you don't mind. Can you pull it with the phones? It was clear the person had no idea that their phone was chiming. Yeah, yeah. I think they would have turned it off, but yeah, it was, I didn't even hear it before somebody came up to me and said, is that part of the orchestration? I'm like, no. And then it was clear that it started off in the right key and then it clearly wasn't in the right key anymore. And I think that was like, I have to stop. And it wasn't stopping point of the music, but yeah, it was quite a drama in the audience. It was, and that was interesting. The other point of reference here is that there were people in the back, definitely opera de motes, who were really offended by this, by this fellow with the phone. And so he started calling out across the audience, saying, well, you cut that out, turn off your phone. I loved it, I loved it. It definitely became audience participation moment of getting the order back to the theater. Yeah, it was definitely a unique moment. And I think too, that speaks to how engaged they were with the production, that this was interfering, it was bringing them back to reality. And what we want with a theatrical experience is taking us out of our place and time. Well, at the end, Andrew, when we walked out, my wife and me, we looked to our right as we're going back to the parking area and they were the players and they were at the back door of Blaisdell and they were singing Aloha Oi. At first, I thought it was something out of the opera, but then I listened more carefully. It was Aloha Oi and they were really motivated. They were so exuberant about their singing and I said to myself, this is a cast that came together. Actually, the singers for Aloha Oi were members of our Hawaii Opera Theater Chorus who came, even though they weren't in this production, they came to continue the tradition that this company has had for decades. So what we may not know is when the final curtain comes down and the final performance of every opera for our company, the chorus comes out and performs Aloha Oi for the visiting artists. It's usually tears are involved by the end of it because it's a very powerful moment. And we do want to meet again with these artists. We want them to come back and it's a really great tradition of this company. You know, I know that over time, the opera has accumulated an endowment, but over time, the opera does not make money on sick ticket sales. So that although, you know, it wouldn't be so bad if you had two years of empty houses and you were making a lot of money, but you don't make that much money on the ticket sales. At the same time, you know, you didn't make any money for an empty house for two years and you had to be drawing down or you had to have really healthy and supportive underwriters. So how did the economics go for this two years of COVID? We were amazingly fortunate with our patrons. Our donors really kicked up, stepped up to the plate and with increased donations, our board gave more than they'd ever given before, really very powerful and our foundation stuck with us. And a lot of it was because we were still creating. It wasn't that we just shuttered our doors and laid off the staff. We kept everyone engaged for those entire two years with a lot of work that showed the power of opera in just a different form. You know, it was the live, it was other things. Well, the name of the game is to carry opera on to the next generation. That's right. To teach those kids about having that emotional reaction, to teach those kids about connecting with history, European history or world history, and to appreciate it and support it. And so that's the long-term mission. How are you doing on that mission? How will you do on that mission? How has this affected your mission in terms of reaching to those kids and having a next generation come down? Well, as far as our outreach to school-age students, that really hasn't changed. We even throughout the pandemic, we were doing residency programs in the schools. We were sending out programming to the schools digitally, but it certainly drew into focus the desperate need for collective, collaborative experiences that opera provide. And, you know, so I will continue to be the pipe-piper for opera and play opera theater because I think it's a vastly important part of our community here. You know, and opera doesn't just tell stories about 19th century Europe. It can really tell any story as evidenced by the hometown to the world, the digital world premiere we did, which was very timely about immigration issues in this country. You know, so I, and I hope to bring more of that to the company of telling contemporary stories or telling traditional stories in different ways, like the tragedy of Carmen had that in. And our telling in Butterfly is going to be a little different too. No different music, I promise. It's all there. But it's telling the story through the eyes of Tochisan's son Trouble, who comes back to Japan as an adult to rediscover his Japanese heritage. And it's a really great concept for the piece that brings it into contemporary society. You know, what does, what creates cultural legacy for an individual, especially when they're not growing up in the place of that culture? Well, that actually goes to an interesting point about how at least before COVID, the United States had what I want to call it, a body of talent, a talent industry, an opera industry that reached in all corners in all parts of the country. People were studying opera, performing opera, opera companies were, you know, doing productions and existing were better. And I guess the question is, will that continue? And I think your answer a moment ago really helps me, is we can make operas, opera composers, opera librettists, they can make operas that deal with current issues like immigration. And I would imagine, correct me if I'm wrong, that that is growing. There are more people out there trying to, you know, address current issues and events in this country and the world. And although we like to have our ABC operas for ever and ever and ever, it makes it relevant for us and the next generation, if we can also see operas, good operas, well-written operas, operas written also for the millennium, you know, about current issues, is that happening? Oh yeah, there's an explosion of new content being created, new composers that are delving into opera. In particular, a huge resurgence are surged in stories about persons of color that are not just the European-centric tales, whether it's something sung in a Latino story, Latinx story, black history, all sorts of things. And I hope to bring stories to this company that are relevant to the Hawaii and our peoples here, because it's certainly one of the most diverse populations in the entire world right here in our state. And so we should be telling those stories. You know, I think every art form has to maintain a relevancy to the communities they're serving. And that is our mandate to keep this company going for the next 61 years, to make sure that people, young people, old people, all of those people feel welcome at the opera house and feel represented, whether it's the casting, the stories we're telling, the staffing, our board makeup, we have to reflect the community we're serving. And it's not just one thing. It's not just a European art form. Again, I firmly believe that opera can tell all stories. And so that's my mandate with the company, that let's do that. Yeah, and also the diversity includes the creator part of it. I mean, being a player, being a composer, and so forth. Yeah. You know, it's interesting. We live in a time where there are so many issues that affect our lives, or we put it this way. We may not see those issues as affecting our lives, but we know those issues will affect our lives. And opera has to be, as you said, it has to be relevant, has to be part of that. It has to treat those issues and events. And that's really good news that that is happening because it is, as all public productions are, opera affects public opinion. Opera teaches us. It's an education about what is going on around in the world, around us in the world. And it's an orientation about morality, ethics, and of course, romance. Even in a lot of romance and opera. There's even some comedies out there just so you know, it doesn't end with somebody dying all the time. So we'll bring some of those back too. That'll be refreshing. Yeah. So I know you mentioned there was another season coming and you said you couldn't tell us right now, but you know, honestly Andrew, just between you and me, what's coming up next year? What can we expect? You can just be quietly, just whisper it to me. Yeah, yeah. I'm not gonna tell you, but it will be back to three productions on the main stage, October, February, and April. And it's a really great diversity of programming. I think it will be pleasantly pleased. The first opera is very family-friendly. I will say that. And so we're looking forward to, again, it's how we are serving the community that we are in. And that means more family-friendly, family-friendly, fair, and diversity in casting and the stories we're telling. Great. Well, we wish you, that is Hawaii Opera Theater, a very long life, a life that will provide nutrition to the community and a life that will be, you know, successful and keep going, like forever, sustainable and looking for it. So Andrew, thank you. Thank you for doing a thanks field role in it and providing us with that nutrition. And thank you for coming down. And I hope we can do this again with respect to the other operas you do and a myriad of other issues I know that you have to deal with. And we can deal with them here on Think Tech also. It would be my pleasure, Jay Mahalo, for your time. Thank you for your time. Andrew Morgan, General Director of Hawaii Opera Theater, Aloha. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and donate to us at ThinkTechHawaii.com. Mahalo.