 Okay, okay, we're back. We're live four o'clock rock here on think-tech and we're doing a center stage Ordinarily Donna Blanchard does this, but I am doing it today With Simon Crookall and he's a general director of Hawaii opera theater And we're entitling this I always cried lava when that's a personal reference. I will meet you Thank you So I mean big news the opera season begins with love again on Friday Friday this week couple days away Yeah, so exciting and what a great when a great opening when a great start Yes, one of the most popular operas ever written still beloved over a hundred years and Also, of course been turned into many other versions. Yeah, the Broadway musical rent is an update of love Oh, and the music isn't quite so pretty but in my opinion But I had timeless story and and beautiful Music and we've brought in a wonderful production from opera st. Louis Which makes it look extremely attractive, too well, I can hardly wait we my wife and I go on Sunday afternoons and This one I I relish I sit there and I let it flow all over me Yes, in fact, I'm telling you last night, you know in preparation for this show I was looking at some of the YouTube you know videos on this opera and My wife couldn't understand if I'm playing them over and over and over again and the one that touched me most was with Anna The Trapcode ne Trapcode. Yes, the Russian soprano. Yes, and her her lead male was It's coming to me Alvaro, she said me Alvaro's yes, yeah, and the two of them were so perfectly matched Mm-hmm, and she Anna is beautiful beyond description. I mean as a well We don't have Anna Trapcode, but we do have Elizabeth Caballero. Uh-huh who was here last time for Palliachi, she sang Nedda and Palliachi Your old friends you bring well, we brought back a few this time actually Musetta is Rachel Durkin who sang with us in Midsummer Night's Dream in February and The Coline is Nate Stark who was bottom in Midsummer Night's Dream So a slightly different role for him So it's nice to be able to bring people back and and some new people too So McWhitney who's the Rodolfo is new to us and very young and extremely talented beautiful voice So, you know, I don't think people fully understand that you tap into a global system of Opera stars sure they can be from anywhere performing anywhere And you find them through your special networks, right? And you bring them to home and what's wonderful is and when we've been talking to the cast about this this time Is that each time they come together as a new set of people sure and they have to make the relationships and the chemistry? in three short weeks of rehearsal Where's Mason who's singing Marcello for us? Said if you saw them at a bar these guys you'd think that they all hung out together They were friends they were dating each other They are all of a similar age and and very talented, but they all get on extremely well together And you never actually know that until they arrive at the rehearsal hall and day one Starts and you see the chemistry building in front of you chemistry And that's part of the part of the the special elixir Yeah, this opera because you know no matter how well people sing I was just as an opera at a very famous opera house Where the tenor was superb and the soprano was superb, but there was absolutely no chemistry between them And so by the end when of course inevitably they die You didn't really care that much in this opera. I always cry at bow and yeah I I think you will cry very much because Mimi has such a gentle and beautiful death and sorry we're doing a spoiler now folks But but and she does it so lyrically and so beautifully. She just slips away. It's gorgeous I envy you the opportunity to see the rehearsals. Yes. Yes That's the great part about my job See them working every day so give give our listeners a pricey on the on the plot there for yeah So the opera set in Paris in the mid 19th century Bohem refers to the fact that they are Bohemians They're living in an attic their poorest church mice and There are four guys together Rudolf with a poet Marcello the painter Shona the musician and Colleen a who's a philosopher so great pals they live in squalor and misery And into their lives comes this beautiful girl Mimi who Immediately falls madly in love with Rodolfo and the feeling is mutual and It's all in his same act the same scene that all happens in act one One Arya to the effect my name is Mimi Yes, and ten minutes later the two of them are swearing eternal love and yes Was it suave but in this one actually you can you can see why because He is immediately smitten by her when she comes in. Yeah, she takes a little warming up, but she gets there Yeah, and by the end, you know, they decide to go out to the cafe with with his friends and He says what will we do afterwards and she said well, let's see So, you know already they're making plans. So it's a good first date Second act is in the cafe cafe moment and it's Christmas Eve in Paris So lots of fun and excitement the chorus is center stage for act two And we in Hawaii are very lucky that we have this amazing volunteer chorus Tremendously talented. They're always the highlight of any production and the Hawaii Youth Opera chorus Who are also starring in this? Oh both terrific. So we get the kids running in and out and singing heads off It's wonderful. And we get to meet Muzeta. We met meet Muzeta who's a bit of a cockat. Yeah, she's She has had an affair with Marcello the painter, but she's now Being escorted by Alcindoro who is a lot better off than Marcello But when they come to the cafe, she I think realizes that actually Marcello is a little more fun so she sings her great Waltz song and attracts Marcello's attention again and The the escort the rich escort is pushed out of the way after he's paid the bill He pays the bill for everybody in the group So that's act two and then the millennials. Yeah, well, they are Living on the edge field to the millennial. Yeah, exactly. No, I mean they're there and our guys They're not quite in the early 20s. Although although Mac is I think mid-20s. Yeah, they're all in the early part of their life Which is so much fun, and they do have a lot of fun act three is where it starts to get a little more melancholy we see Muzeta, oh, sorry. We see Mimi come in by this time her Illness is getting worse. She actually has consumption or as we now call it tuberculosis and And She tells Marcello that Rodolfo is trying to push her away She then hides in the corner while my well Rodolfo comes out and tells Marcello Actually, the reason he's pushing her away is that he's worried about her health He thinks that living in the frozen Garrett is actually making her illa. Yeah, so Mimi comes out again, and they have this beautiful duet where they start to reconcile and they say There's no point in splitting up during the winter We will stay together till the spring Meanwhile, Marcello and Muzeta are having a rare old fight in the corner They do decide to split up And then we move into act four in the original script There was a fourth act in between what we now know as act three and act four where we saw a little more of the character of Muzeta and the character of Mimi and They have a big party and Mimi is flirting with one of the richer gentlemen and Rodolfo gets crossed Sorry, that's between act two and three. So by the time we get to act four The boys are back in the Garrett The girls have both gone their separate ways and we have a kind of jolly start Then now you're seeing the the cafe moment. This is the second act see but in act four Mimi and Muzeta come in to the Garrett. Mimi's very ill She's coughing. She's obviously not got long for this world and Sadly as they all gather around her to try and comfort her. She slips away So touching at that point handkerchiefs in hand. Oh, yes, it is very sad I think if you know, you know, how it's yes The whole opera is so touching. Well, you know, this is one of the very first Operas called opera very small After all of the the very intradition and the Wagner's of these big Operas about gods and goddesses kings and queens grand figures epicles Yes, the the Italian tradition moved to something called very small truth in opera and truth in theater And so this is about real people living real lives having real illnesses And and it is possible to associate to associate yourself with the people you see on stage and that that tradition is now carried on Into the 21st century the tape I was telling you I was watching last night at the end of that to particular aria in the first act where they swear Love to each other. It's so touching that the players on the stage in the opera house They kiss. I mean, it's a major kiss now. This is a role as romantic and it gets yes And then, you know, the camera goes to the b-roll of the audience watching this and you see people in the audience grabbing each other and kissing Well, that's a head to our audience. We'll see what so so if you go to see love o.m. It's okay Make sure we're to your date and give her a big smooch. It's okay to cry I always do So where does this fit in Puccini's work and where does it fit in opera in general? So it's uh, as I said the middle of the 19th century Puccini had written he started out by writing an opera for a competition He didn't even get placed in the competition. It was called la ville Not a great success and then he wrote an opera called edga and That wasn't a success either at the theater But ricordi the publisher heard it and decided he wanted to Uh champion Puccini Ricordi had this great deal going when he published music and he's still we're using ricordi scores for this production um When he was putting on when opera houses called him to put on a big opera by verdi aida Trovatore one of the the big operas He would only let them rent Uh, aida or a trovatore If they rented another opera by one of his less known composers So Puccini got in on the back of verdi on a number of occasions So this was his fourth opera after after uh, edga. He wrote man on lesco Which was a very big success and then uh, labo m and it was an interesting time because there were two composers Working on the same story at the same time Leon cavallo who then later wrote paliacci Uh was writing a labo m2 And not labo m2 also another one And so uh, they had a bit of a dust up in a cafe in paris. Oh no in melano. Sorry where um Lenkavallo said you've stolen my idea Um, Puccini said well, let's see how the public view it And of course, Lenkavallo's opera came out was immediately Successful but then disappeared and Puccini is still being played 100 years later. So um That's And then of course he went on to write, uh, madame butterfly and uh, turandart and all the other big toskers And still and you know, it's Puccini's an interesting character because when he was writing the critics were very Sniffy about what he wrote. Uh, they didn't think that it was uh, deeply Intellectual music it was too much on the surface. It was too emotional They said that he wasn't the kind of composer that Mozart or Verdi or Wagner were But of course the public has thought otherwise and debussy in particular got very upset With Puccini because he said why has this italian composer chosen a french theme for his opera? What do italians know about france and paris? Well Yes, but he was he was not happy. He said he said when puccini writes music. He makes an italian noise and not a french one, so There's quite a lot of rivalry at the time about about what they were doing so many stories in this area Yes, exactly. It makes it so rich and rewarding. Let's take a short break when we come back Like simon crookall to tell us about where this opera fits in the season altogether Four operas this season. Yeah, and uh, we'll see how it plays out. We'll be right back Hi, i'm donna blanchard. I host the show center stage on think tech wednesdays at 2 p.m And this is crystal right i'm crystal and i host quack talk on tuesday mornings. I like watching donna's show I like watching your show. I like watching your show because you talk about you're not afraid to really dive into issues that are important and and sometimes they're a little shocking And you always bring us information that is sometimes that underbelly that we need to know and we need to see it's important Well said Well, I like yours because you can find any topic in any type of character But you will find that source which brought them to the product of that creative process And I that that's like the most important thing is the process Awesome. I think yeah, I do. I think it's all about the process And I think we'll find world peace when we know each other's stories So thank you very much for bringing that to us join us on think tech I think tech. Hawaii anytime I'm getting so excited about the opera opening on friday and I get to see it on sunday And I want to go to the lecture they give. I'll I'd be able to I really understand that after this discussion They give a lecture on the lanai and that's right Have a side of the opera house and it's lin johnson and I get lin johnson I get to watch that and then I go inside so i'm really ready and i'm totally ready for this one simon So let's look at some photos and we'll talk about which one relates to which opera in the season coming now Okay, what's that? So this is opening act of lab o.m. These Photographs are taken at the dress rehearsal last night So this is the opening act in the garret. You can see the window You can see much other painting And uh ridolpho is scribbling away at the table That's really a garret the ricks are coming off the wall exactly Yes This is ridolpho mi mi when they first meet And the moon is shining brightly you have that moon this is on the stage a moon like that It's not the the moon itself. You understand. Oh, pardon me. Uh, this is act two, uh, which is the kafimo moon The lit lanterns and everybody The stage is full of choruses and children and everybody else. It's a great Great scene. Yes. Here's from last night Okay with the lit windows and musetta is having her a day in the middle there Lovely more. Yep, and here's more There's a character called poppinion who's the toy seller and he comes out and the kids all run out after him This is one of the the photographs taken at the back of the booth. This is actually somebody else's Production the color ones are ours. Uh-huh, and this is the one from here. We are here's ours again This is act three uh, ridolpho and marchello And mimmy is hiding in the corner. You can just see her on the left of the picture. Yes It feels cold. It is cold and the snow falling all through this But of course, you know for our characters, it's a little unfortunate because they have to all get dressed up in their Coats and scarves and they're sweltering on stage in Hawaii This is back to act four. Oh, here's another photograph Uh, this is a family group obviously from the that's on the scene. Yeah, okay What's this? Oh and more photographs. This is actually yeah, so this Production is quite interesting. It has been started out in opera st. Louis It's traveling around the country and each place. Uh, it has slightly different treatment So this is the treatment. They gave it in seattle. They timed the production to the start of photography in In paris the beginning of the century So you see some pretty well-known photographs. Okay. Now we're oh, what's that one now? Now this is Bohem, but it's not our Bohem I don't know who that one is This is you can see the apple tower in the back. Uh, but it's not a not an HAT Bohem. Let's move to the next one Oh, I tell you what this is. I'm sorry. We're now in three december's. This is our three december's opera in uh, in march Well, that's the previous one. Let's go back to the previous one. That was three december's also. Yeah, it must be. Yes This is Frederica von Stader the extremely well known opera singer Who is coming to hawaii to recreate a role that she made in 2008? In houston and this is a story of madeline mitchell an actress who it's uh, um Who is coming to the end of her career And she has a son and a daughter And uh each year at christmas. She writes A family letter and tells everybody about what she's been doing in the previous year um And this is a fairly dysfunctional family. So the kids call each other up and and a bitch about their mom basically She's always put her career in front of her children And so uh, that's quite a kind of family drama. This one is going to be One act. It's only 90 minutes. We're doing it for the first time at hawaii theater. Uh in downtown. Honolulu We usually perform, of course at the blazer So this one's at the hawaii theater and then we're taking it to The big island to kawaii and to maui glad you do it first time. This is a more mobile opera then It's a smaller production. It's only three singers 10 musicians Uh, and it's able to be traveled around but it's the first time we've ever performed Opera on the big island or kawaii It'll be our third time at the mac in uh in maui. That's great very excited about that. Glad you're doing that Yeah, that's that's going to be great in between those two. Uh, we're doing Uh street car named desire, which of course here we are. Um, it's the tennessee williams Play which was made into a film famously with marlon brando and vivian lee. Yeah, um, this is the opera version which andrey previn The very well-known conductor and composer wrote And uh, it's the here we are his scene playing cards You see the emotive power of exactly it's it's uh, well, everybody knows about blanche du bois and all of that It's a great story and uh, actually it would be a good thing to check out the film the movie before you come But it's over here. We are his stanley And uh, it's uh, it's a very Uh emotional it's a great subject for an opera, of course. Yeah So yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a great uh great opera and a new piece for us And for how good for you for taking for taking another level. Yeah this year 50 percent of the composers of hawaii opera theater are alive and american That's pretty good. Yeah But it shows you doesn't it simon that opera is alive and well, of course opera can be made into something That's relevant right now being written all the time and and you know, I think when we're growing new audiences And we're really working hard at growing younger audiences for the opera To see something that they can relate to on stage is really important So, uh, it's good to have the real everyday stories that that we can how about hoffman now tales of hoffman So the end of the season tales of hoffman, uh, this is a big and you can see there that those are sketches for the Production it hasn't been built yet. Well, it's a new production for hawaii By peter deen beck who's uh, oh, he's been around. I'm a theater forever. I know and he's so good Out of new york still. Yes. Yes. He flies in for the show. So hoffman is a poet Uh, we start and end the opera in the in the inn where he's drinking And bewailing the fact that somehow he can never quite get the girl And he has a series then we see a series of scenes of the girls that he doesn't quite get One is turns out to be a very attractive Woman who is in reality a mechanical doll One is a singer who collapses while she's singing to him one is a courtesan He believes her to be pure, but she's not And he in the end of the opera he finally decides that okay He needs to dedicate himself to his poetic muse Instead of chasing after these women. So it's a big grand opera. There's lots of Music that everybody knows it's by often Bach. So again french real french this time. Yeah, uh, but a big Grand production and henry a keen is directing that one. Oh terrific. Terrific. See his talent at h.o.t Oh, yes, we can direct our own operas. We have players We can do we're a serious house here. Yeah, so um You know, how is opera in hawaii? I want it to be everywhere. I want it to be at every elementary school Our kids picking up on it. Are they coming forward with it? I think so. So, you know, obviously opera in hawaii is in itself a miracle Everything is brought in from somewhere else And so, you know This actually this time with the set coming from st. Louis the costumes coming from arizona Everything actually arrived on time. That's not always the case But this time we've been fine So audiences are holding firm Obviously the traditional audience is a little More mature, let's say than the average population. Yeah, that's but we are growing very Quickly in the younger audience. We now have of course H.o.t Hot is the best acronym you could possibly wish for really and we now have an event on tuesday nights at the performance called hot tuesday We do a pre-party at the honolulu club And it's aimed at young professionals and millennials and everybody else They come for a drink and a few poo poo and then they come across to the show And we're now getting about 150 people to those which is great Um, and the show means there's a performance. Oh, yeah, they come across to the tuesday performance of the of the opera um, but we're also working across the the state with Schools everywhere we go Last year we did 74 performances of school version of magic flute And that travels to all the islands It's uh 35 minutes long We have three singers and a piano and a very basic set And we send to the schools in advance a big information pack a teacher's pack So they can learn about the opera. They can learn some of the songs Uh, this year the opera we're doing is hansel and gretel Uh, which is the two children in the wood and the witch that turns children into gingerbread So the school pack of course has a recipe for gingerbread man apart from anything else Um, but the the children are prepared for it Tomorrow night, uh, we'll be doing our second dress rehearsal And we always open that up to middle and high school children So students so, uh, we will have just over a thousand, uh kids in Enjoying the opera and of course The response that they give to the singers is completely different Very much more emotive they cheer when their heroes come they boo for the villains right in the middle of the aria Oh, yeah, absolutely My favorite was last year when we did magic flute and pappagano the bird catcher Comes on and he's very upset because he can't uh find a wife And he comes onto the stage and he sings as how he says, uh, I will count to three And if anybody wants me just say, uh, oh, no, of course, nobody does because it's an opera So he counts one And he counts two is about to sling his noose over the tree and this little voice from the back says I love you pappagano And he was completely thrown he didn't know what to do So that was hilarious. No, they really get involved. Uh, so that's our other school program and then we do Uh, what we call opera residences where we go into schools And actually help the kids to put on their own opera So we're doing five schools this year Some of them are operas that have already been written and have been abridged by our team Some of them are operas that they write themselves. So last year in wikeley Uh, we did wikeley elementary the the children wrote an opera Based on the dare program which is drug abuse resistance Education, so it's a program of hpd And the children wrote their own scenarios And then our guys set them to popular tunes from calm and Oh, wonderful And then they they performed them for their colleagues and classmates and everybody the police were delighted Uh, to make an opera out of out of dare Uh, but very often they will write stories or scenarios and this was about, you know Uh, the kid who goes home and invites his friends around and they bring beer and they all get drunk and this is terrible and You know, how you resist that kind of pressure Exactly and they're singing it. So it goes into their heads. Sure. Sure kids remember those things. Yeah, so that's a much more in-depth Program, we usually work for a whole semester with your cutting edge here, Simon Is this now is what is happening with hot in hawaii happening on the mainland? Or are you cutting edge beyond it is I think I think more and more In terms of repertoire people are looking towards the modern repertoire To try and grow audiences in terms of education. We have a very well developed program I mean not all opera companies have that kind of depth of education And you know, we're reaching something like 22,000 That's great students a year. So what's good about our program is that we have the the um, you know, the Long the the kind of broad sweep of all the schools that we go to with Hansel and Gretel or Magic Flute. We have the in-depth Learning that we do when we're putting on productions and then we have the opportunity to see the main stage So there are all levels of of education going on So the thing I would ask you last is as a general manager of this fantastic enterprise There must be huge gratification for you Of course, not only in the daily process of organizing it and watching it come alive, you know in the rehearsal and all that But in seeing it perform. How do you feel about that? Where does that fit in your life? Oh, I've always loved opera I mean, you know, I spent the last 20 years of my career before coming here working for symphony orchestras Which I love too But I always always wanted to get into opera And there's nothing like the thrill of being there in the theater when when the opera is going full tilt And you've got the visual you've got the aural you've got the emotional all happening at the same time So this is yes, this is definitely my passion and it's what I've Been working my whole life to get it. It's great. Great. I have you in the community to have h.o.d I'm a lucky man. Yes, you are and we're lucky to be able to talk to you Now if I wanted to get a ticket to lava wm or the season, how would I do that? Best place is hawaii opera dot o r g On the website or you can call the box office five nine six seven eight five eight performances on friday 14th Sunday 16th at four o'clock in the afternoon and tuesday 18th at seven p.m So there's still a few seconds left So when is it that we're not going to sing at the end of the show here? If you want to you and me I'll take your lead on it I think we better let them wait for the next time we'll sing