By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The Toledo Opera is set to open its 66th season, and the first under the leadership of general director Jim Norman and artistic director Kevin Bylsma.
The company will present Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca” on Friday, Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 20 at 2 p.m. in the Valentine Theatre, 400 North Superior, Toledo.
[Related: Toledo Opera will present classic romance ‘Tosca’]
Norman and Bylsma assumed their new roles this season after the retirement of executive director Susan Rorick, who in her more than a decade with the company, helped guide it through troubled times.
Both Norman and Bylsma have long relationships with Toledo Opera, and for the past three years have been co-artistic directors.
So it’s not been much of a transition, Norman said.Now Bylsma will take the opera’s resident artists “under his wing,” Norman said. And Norman will be working more directly with the board.
“Tosca” is the first of two productions scheduled for this season. That’s one less than in the past several seasons.
“Saving money” is the reason, Bylsma said.
“We’d rather be here with two productions than not be here,” Norman said.
Rachael Cammarn, the director of marketing and communications, noted that last time there was a leadership change, the company staged two operas.
And back before the opera took up residence in the Valentine Theatre it had two shows a season.
This year it will be “Tosca” and “South Pacific” on Feb. 14 and 16.
The company’s resident artists will also travel with the Opera on Wheels production of André Grétry’s “Beauty and the Beast.”
Both “Tosca” and “South Pacific” will be fully staged. When they did three shows, one would be a production with limited staging.
“We’re being very cautious and careful with production selection,” Norman said, “We’re choosing things that people know and that are likely to sell well.”
“Audiences never tire of Puccini,” said Bylsma, who is on the music faculty of BGSU. “The music is so glorious. The storytelling is so impactful.”
This production features two leads who are performing these classic roles for the first time — soprano Lindsey Anderson in the title role and former Toledo resident artist Brendan Boyle as Mario Cavaradossi.
“South Pacific” by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein was chosen to honor the 75th anniversary of its Broadway opening.
“The story is a timeless tale of race and prejudice in time of war,” Norman said. That pairs well thematically with “Tosca.”
The classic musical also has the potential to draw in new audiences, Bylsma said.
They are as selective about the musicals they bring in as they are about the operas. These are shows that require the same vocal skills as an opera.
They are not committed to always doing a musical. Next year they expect to do two operas, Norman said. Bylsma said that operettas have fallen by the wayside and may be worth exploring. It’s been years since the company did a Gilbert and Sullivan show.
Toledo Opera was scheduled to present the one-act trial by jury paired with “Ginsberg-Scalia” but those plans were derailed by COVID-19.
The company has bounced back from the pandemic with subscriptions and ticket sales at pre-COVID-19 levels. Still they would love to see more people in the seats.
Regional opera has taken a hit since first 9/11 and then the pandemic.
“We want people to give opera a try if they haven’t,” Bylsma said.
He’s heartened by the reaction the students he works with at BGSU to performing opera scenes. They see it as a new way to tell a story.
Regional opera plays an important role in keeping opera in the forefront. Not every city has a resident company, never mind one that’s been around for 66 years.
“That we’re still here and viable means we’re carrying on the tradition,” Bylsma said.
They continue to bring world class performers and productions to the Toledo region, Norman said.
Jeffrey Buchman, who has been hired as sage director for “Tosca,” agrees. He appreciates what regional opera and Toledo in particular has to offer.
“One of my great joys coming to Toledo is to yet again be so impressed with the attitude, energy, and commitment and preparation of the Toledo Opera Chorus,” he said.
The heart of any regional company, he said, is the chorus and orchestra, the Toledo Symphony in this case.
As stage director he finds the chorus game for whatever roles they play. “Tosca,” he said, does not use the chorus as much as other shows, but it does have a crucial part in the last half of Act 1.
Buchman has worked several times before in Toledo, first before Rorick took over the reins.
What, he sees, is a combination of a strong chorus, orchestra, and an administration that understands what’s important for their community.
A regional company cannot compete with a big city opera in how much they spend of sets and other physical elements of the show, Buchman said. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t compete with the commitment to the art form and the storytelling and the talent,. I think Toledo can be incredibly proud what they put up here.”
