in a noble Handelian recitative.” Leonard Bernstein, Prelude to an Opening. New
York Times, October 30, 1949, the day before Regina opened on Broadway.
noteriety february 2008
REGINA news and information for Pacific Opera Victoria subscribers
Is R EGINA Really an Opera? by ROBIN J. MILLER
One of the questions that has vexed critics, commentators and listeners alike over the past 50-odd years since Regina hit the stage is what to call it: is it musical theatre or a musical drama, should we call it a play with music, or is it indeed really an opera? Regina premièred on Broadway, but has since been performed mostly by opera companies, so that doesn’t help. The music includes jazz, blues, ragtime and spirituals mixed with lyrical arias that rival Puccini’s (think Porgy and Bess on steroids), while the setting is pure Tennessee Williams southern gothic and the performers talk as well as sing. Help. Let’s ask two experts for a ruling. First, Glynis Leyshon, currently Artistic Director of the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company and stage director for this production of Regina: “I would call it a music drama or music theatre – but not musical theatre; I think that’s something else altogether – rather than an opera, because it’s such a very intense, absolutely riveting exploration of the theatrical material, but it’s also sophisticated musically.” Next, POV’s Artistic Director and conductor for Regina, Timothy Vernon: “It’s got the strength of a viable piece of theatre, but it’s also obviously not a piece of Broadway musical theatre, so perhaps it’s more of an opera, or probably technically speaking a ‘singspiel’ [song play], but Regina really is right in between genres.” Right. Okay. That cleared things up nicely. Whatever you call it, Regina, with music and libretto both by Marc Blitzstein, is based on Lillian Hellman’s play The Little Foxes, which opened on Broadway in 1939 starring the formidable Tallulah Bankhead. It was made into an Oscar-nominated film in 1941, with the even more formidable Bette Davis as Regina – a woman Leonard Bernstein called “one of the most ruthless characters in show business.”
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Regina tells the story of Regina Giddens and her dysfunctional family – among them two greedy and duplicitous brothers, a thieving nephew, an innocent daughter and a dying husband whom she helps to die a little faster – torn apart by greed in the deep South of 1900. Woven under and around the central theme of the destructive power of materialism are sub-themes dealing with race and the position of women in a patriarchal society. “I am a real Lillian Hellman fan,” says Glynis, “I think she writes fascinating characters and I am particularly attracted by her women. They are powerful women with deep, deep drives and deep flaws who in the end lead unresolved lives. Hellman writes from inside these women.” In Regina, Glynis points out, the three central characters are women: Regina (who unlike most other well-known women in opera doesn’t die or commit suicide), her daughter Alexandra, and Birdie, the wife of Regina’s brother, Oscar. “These are strong women,” she says, “and they offer singing actors an opportunity to explore a whole different range. I think Kimberly Barber, who is singing Regina, will be wonderful. She will bring nuance to a role that is not just about looking evil and devouring. I think she will let us see that what was available to a woman of intelligence and drive in that time period was so limited, and that helped to create the kind of monster she became.” For Timothy, the attraction of performing Regina is, at least in part, its essential American-ness. “Regina could only be American,” he says. “Blitzstein’s not an American trying to write a European piece in a European style. He’s an American writing about Americans and about the American South, using American idioms like field songs and Dixieland jazz. It’s not as traditional as most of the operas we perform, but it’s an opportunity to have a great director like Glynis – who really understands the purely theatrical side – and a cast
SEASON U N DERWR ITE R S
(Is Regina Really an Opera? continued)
of great actors who sing at least as well as they act to explore what I think is an interesting and stimulating work with some very beautiful music.” Perhaps the biggest challenges, from Timothy’s point of view, will be to balance the pacing, made more complex by the mix of sung and spoken dialogue, as well as the various musical forces required to perform the piece, including a trio on stage (violin, cello and piano) and a small “angel band” in the pit to accompany the jazzy and bluesy sections. “One doesn’t do this, obviously, every day,” says Timothy, “but I think I feel it. I think I get it, I get the jazz idiom and
the mix of all the other idioms Blitzstein uses. And I hope the audience gets it too. I hope the audience comes in open-minded and ready for a fresh kind of experience. They should not necessarily expect operatic blood and thunder, but the music is going to help them to find the time, the place, that wonderful atmosphere of the period. “The point is to examine the full breadth of the theatrical and operatic experience. We want to explore the richness of what’s available from the past 400 years – and that includes Regina.” ROBIN J. MILLER is a Victoria-based freelance writer and long-time opera fan.
Marc Blitzstein and Regina: Commentary “So what if she lies, cheats, extorts and kills? Few heroines of American theater are half as much fun as Regina Giddens, an abiding testament to what’s so good about being bad in the world of fiction. Her amoral efficiency in cutting through blood ties and marital bonds to secure control of her family’s business in the turn-of-the-century South sustains Lillian Hellman’s “Little Foxes” as one of the most enjoyably chilling chapters in the history of melodrama.” Ben Brantley, New York Times “Regina …, perhaps one of the most ruthless characters in show business, sings melodies of enormous gentility and suaveness precisely at the moments when she is being most unscrupulous and heartless… How obvious it would have been to set her greedy, vindictive, dirty-hearted lines to insidious or bombastic music! I might say that this is the underlying technique of the whole piece: Coating the wormwood with sugar, and scenting with magnolia blossoms the cursed house in which these evils transpire. Yes, the music reeks with magnolia, Southern gentility, splendiferous hospitality, honeyed drawls. The prelude to Scene 2 is a pure musical Dixie-fable. Regina extorts from her brother Oscar in a heavenly Brahmsian phrase. She flirts with an old beau (to make her husband jealous) in a charming dolce waltz that conceals some of the most venomous lyrics known to man. And she blackmails her two brothers in a noble Handelian recitative.” Leonard Bernstein, Prelude to an Opening New York Times, October 30, 1949, the day before Regina opened on Broadway
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“In turning The Little Foxes into Regina, Marc Blitzstein … gives a special magic illumination to the whole thing, making the already enormous emotion of the story even more wonderfully memorable than before. I think this is because Blitzstein knows that the very purpose of song is to provide extravagant but somehow clear expression for emotional outburst. Time and time again in Regina, the composer-adaptor has found these outbursts and made them resound unforgettably for me.” Frank Loesser, composer of Guys and Dolls and The Most Happy Fella “It is a battlefield of an opera. You never know when a flood of Dixieland, or a scurry of spoken dialogue underscored by percussive rhythms, will be halted by an explosion of fervent arioso straight out of Verdi, a satiric choral commentary [à] la Prokofiev, or a burst of pure salon music sweetness … Regina is as hard to produce as it is to place artistically. You need an opera house orchestra at ease with jazz rhythms and sensitive enough to play sympathetically under dialogue sequences. The cast has to answer operatic demands musically, project difficult words with immaculate diction, and act convincingly … And the director has to be able to shape these forces – always assuming the conductor’s cooperation – into a performance that will not only hold the crazy-quilt work together, but will give some sense of its social and moral, as well as its musical and theatrical, resonance … Decidedly, Regina is not a task for the fainthearted.” Michael Feingold, The Village Voice
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“Really great opera is a visceral experience. Verdi’s operas … have that about them. They are about murder, torture, betrayal, wars, and power-mad people… Regina has that visceral quality… Every time I look at that score … I feel Marc’s choice of language was so right. His rhythmic sense, his use of syncopation, and his setting of the American vernacular capture our way of singing and speaking. It is so correct the way he translates it musically. It is a paragon for setting the English language to music. … for me, Birdie was the top experience of my performing career. I wanted to do that part so badly. ” Brenda Lewis, who created the role of Birdie and later played Regina. Her other roles included Carmen and Salome. “He was the first American composer to invent a vernacular musical idiom that sounded convincing when heard from the lips of the man-in-the-street. The taxi driver, the pan-handler, the corner druggist were given voice for the first time in the context of serious musical drama. This is no small accomplishment, for without it no truly indigenous opera is conceivable. Blitzstein would have been the first to acknowledge his debt to Brecht and Weill, but the fact remains that he gave their theatre an American imprint, an American ‘tone’.” Aaron Copland “I wanted to write something as real musically to Americans as Italian opera is to the Italians.” Marc Blitzstein
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EDUCATION U N DE RWR ITE R
Giddens, KI M B E R LY BAR B E R has said,
Regina began as The Little Foxes, a stage play by Lillian Hellman that premiered in 1939 and ran a year on Broadway before touring across the US. The gloriously toxic character of Regina was originally portrayed by Tallulah Bankhead in a critically acclaimed performance. Tallulah said, Regina was a rapacious bitch, cruel and callous. Etched in acid by Miss Hellman … she was a frightening opportunist who stopped at nothing to further her prestige and fortune. All in all, Regina Giddens is the best role I ever had in the theatre… The torch was then passed to Bette Davis, who played Regina in William Wyler’s powerful 1941 movie, which received nine academy award nominations, including best actress and best picture. When Marc Blitzstein approached Hellman about making The Little Foxes into an opera, she said, Of course you may do it if you really wish to, but I don’t know how you can add anything to the Hubbards that will make them any more unpleasant than they are already. Regina premiered on Broadway in October, 1949. The opera uses spoken dialogue, recitative, and aria, often within a very brief span, adding great range to the dramatic potential — but blurring the distinction between opera and theatre. The Metropolitan Opera star Risë Stevens declined the title role, saying that Regina should only be performed in the opera house. Blitzstein’s biographer Eric Gordon notes, When Regina appeared on Broadway, some in the audience demanded their money back at intermission – they had thought they were to see a musical. …The critics both damned and praised the work. Some condemned it for having spoken dialogue, and others for being too operatic. Regina closed after seven weeks. New York City Opera revived it in 1953 and again in 1958. Brenda Lewis, the original Birdie, took on the role of Regina. The 1953 version restored a scene that Blitzstein’s original producer had asked him to cut, but deleted other sections. The 1958 version, directed by Herman Shumlin, the original director of The Little Foxes and a former lover of Lillian Hellman, cut out even more, including the Angel Band’s ragtime numbers. Only two recordings of the opera have ever been made. Shumlin’s heavily cut 1958 version was recorded on a shoestring budget in one 5-hour session. Brenda Lewis recalled: On the evening of April 27, 1958, we finished the performance …
“What a gift it is to play TALLU LAH & VICTOR IA
this character that is larger than life.”
Tallulah Bankhead’s connection with the city
Acclaimed for the power and beauty
of Victoria is well known. She is among many
of her voice and the intelligence
celebrities hosted by the Empress Hotel over
and intensity of her acting,
the decades. She was also a friend of Dola
Ms. Barber was first mezzo soloist
Dunsmuir (Dola Cavendish), the granddaughter
for five years with the Frankfurt
of coal baron Robert Dunsmuir, BC’s first
Opera. She has sung in major
millionaire and the man responsible for building
opera houses throughout the world,
Craigdarroch Castle. Victoria’s other castle
including Opéra de Paris, Lyric
at Hatley Park was build by Dola’s father,
Opera of Chicago, New York City
James Dunsmuir, who served briefly as BC
Opera, Seattle Opera, Opéra de
Premier. Tallulah and Dola travelled together,
Marseille, English National Opera,
and Tallulah often visited Dola in Victoria.
and the Canadian Opera Company.
They threw lavish parties during the war for
She has also performed in recital
officers at the Esquimalt naval base. Dola died
with fellow mezzo-soprano, friend
in 1966, Tallulah in 1968.
and mentor Frederica von Stade. Barber’s is a precisely honed voice,
and piled into taxis in front of City Center in our costumes and makeup … At the stroke of midnight we started to record… There were no retakes. Most recordings, as you well know, are put together in bits and pieces… But what you hear in the Regina recording is hot off the griddle. It was do or die. … We finished at 5 a.m… The only thing we had not recorded was the high 'C' at the end of Regina's second act aria when she sings to Horace, 'I hope you die!' We had not recorded it because we weren't sure what would come out of me at that point at 3 a.m.! So, with everything else shut down, they gave us a tiny studio with a piano and a tape recorder and Marc and I went in and I knocked out high Cs until we were sure we had one that was right and would fit…. everyone who heard it … would say that the recording was like a kick in the stomach it had such urgency. The only other recording of the opera was made in 1992 by John Mauceri and the Scottish Opera Orchestra. In an effort to come as close as possible to the composer’s original intentions, it restored nearly all the music written for the opera. Mauceri explained, The impetus for this new performing edition of Regina came from Leonard Bernstein. … “I swore an oath on Marc’s grave,” he said to me, “that I would fix Regina.” After discussions with Bernstein, Mauceri and his pupil Tommy Krasker completed the restoration of Regina. It is the restored version that POV is presenting in the first ever Canadian performance of the opera. It will be recorded by CBC Radio for future national broadcast on Saturday Afternoon at the Opera. In early 2009 POV’s production will be presented by Utah Opera in Salt Lake City.
which can easily move listeners to laughter or tears. It’s plummy, ripe, sincere and whether very soft or belted out, always honest. Barber has loads of charm added
casthighlights
Of the role of Regina
Evolution of an Opera
on to her other attributes. Kitchener-Waterloo Record Vancouver-Islander KATH LE E N B R ETT plays the vulnerable, alcoholic aristocrat, Birdie Hubbard. She performs with the COC, the opera companies of New York City, San Francisco, L.A., and Monte Carlo, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp and Ghent. She sings Marian the Librarian on the Grammy-nominated Cincinnati Pops recording of The Music Man. An intriguing mix of vulnerability and inner strength … Her superb vocalism with its blazing high register was a pleasure. La Scena Musicale G R EGORY DAH L (Oscar Hubbard) first swaggered onto POV’s stage last spring as the murderous womanizer Don Giovanni. He was acclaimed for his performance in the world premieres of Beatrice Chancy and Filumena and can be seen in films of both operas. He has great stage presence - totally commanding. Winnipeg Free Press ROBYN DR I E DG E R-KLASSE N is Alexandra Giddens (Zan). Robyn has recorded works by Canadian composer Larry Nickel and is a frequent performer with Vancouver Opera. She also sings with Faspa, an improvisational gospel trio. Her singing at once grips the listener with its beautiful timbre and sense of engagement in the music. Festival Vancouver
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HOST HOTE L
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Bass baritone DEAN E L Z I NGA,
Synopsis of Regina The opera takes place in 1900, in Bowden, Alabama, in the Giddens house. The servants Cal and Addie sing a hymm, which slips into ragtime as Jazz and a band of field hands arrive. Alexandra (Zan) joins in until her mother Regina interrupts to tell her to get ready for dinner. After dinner, Regina’s brother, Oscar Hubbard, berates his wife Birdie for drinking and chattering too much to their guest, William Marshall, who has come from Chicago to set up a deal to build a cotton mill. Oscar’s brother Ben tells Marshall that Birdie is the only Southern aristocrat among them: Twenty years ago we took over their plantation, their cotton, and their daughter. Regina admires Marshall’s big-city sophistication and promises a party when he returns in a week to complete the deal.
who plays Regina’s husband Horace
Zan arrives with Horace, who is exhausted from the trip and suspicious of Regina’s motives in having him brought home so suddenly. Ben tells Horace of the pending deal, but Horace refuses to invest. Regina is furious. The guests arrive, gossiping cynically about the Hubbard family. Oscar and Ben send Leo off to steal Horace’s bonds. Meanwhile Horace arranges to have his papers and safe-deposit box brought round next day so that he can make a new will.
Giddens, has sung with opera companies across North America, including the Los Angeles and Metropolitan Operas, Glimmerglass and New York City Opera. Elzinga brought mesmerizing dramatic intensity to his performance. New York TImes Mezzo-soprano TRACI E LUCK (Addie) recently debuted with New York City Opera in the title role of Margaret Garner by composer Richard Danielpour, with a libretto by Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison. The New York Times praised her for the rich voice
As Marshall wishes Regina good night, he puzzles her by saying the deal is settled. Regina confronts Ben, who tells her that Marshall now has his money. Horace is amused that Regina won’t have her millions after all. As a rambunctious dance plays, Regina lashes out at her husband – I hope you die soon!
and vulnerability she brought to the role. DOUG MacNAUG HTON (Ben Hubbard) has sung in 12 world premieres including Dr. Downie in POV’s Erewhon, and Le Vampire in Le Vampire et la nymphomane for Chants Libres. His control … was masterful and he is a great
After Marshall leaves, the family discuss their plans for the money and one last bit of business: Ben and Oscar have put up their share of the money for the deal, but Regina’s husband Horace, who is ill in a Baltimore hospital with heart trouble, hasn’t contributed his third. Regina demands a larger return. Ben agrees to increase Horace’s return to 40 per cent if Horace is home in a week with the money – the extra profit will come out of Oscar’s share. Ben placates Oscar by assuring him the money will eventually go to Zan and to Oscar’s son Leo — and that Leo and Zan might even marry. Regina tells Alexandra to go to Baltimore to bring her father home. Alexandra is bewildered at being asked to go alone, but agrees. Ben doubts Horace will return, but Regina assures him that Horace will come back with Alexandra: Men are so fussy about young girls travelling alone. As the others leave, Alexandra wonders what it would be like to fall in love. Birdie lingers to warn her that they mean to make her marry Leo. Oscar returns for Birdie and slaps her face. Zan hears her cry, but Birdie says she has only twisted her ankle.
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singing actor. Opera Canada
The next afternoon, Birdie, Alexandra, Horace, and Addie enjoy the quiet rain. Birdie admits she drinks too much and recalls her happy youth and the fact that Oscar married her only for the cotton on Lionnet, her family’s plantation. She confesses that she dislikes her own son Leo.
J. PATR ICK RAFTE RY (William Marshall) has sung in major opera houses all over the world, including La Scala, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, the COC, and the operas of Frankfurt, Paris, and Meiningen.
Horace tells Addie to take Alexandra away, using money he has set aside for her. Horace then tells Regina her brothers have stolen the bonds — but that he will treat the theft as a loan and leave the bonds to Regina; they will be her only legacy from him. As Regina snarls her contempt for him, Horace has a heart attack. He reaches for his medicine, but the bottle breaks. Regina waits as Horace struggles to the stairs and collapses on the landing. Then she calls for help.
His voice is dark-timbred and perfectly directed … Furthermore, he is an excellent and very convincing actor. Das Opernglas Victoria’s Diva of Jazz, LOU ISE ROSE, makes her operatic debut as Jazz, leader of the Angel Band. A talented pianist, vocalist and actress, Louise has studied and worked with such greats as Aretha Franklin, Oscar Peterson, Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, and Leonard Bernstein. She hosted Vision TV’s long running sing-along show Let’s Sing Again
After Horace’s death, Regina extorts from her brothers a 75 percent share of the profits in exchange for her silence about the theft of the bonds. Alexandra tells her mother she is going away, leaving Regina alone despite her triumph. The field hands’ hymn is heard in the background: Is a new day a-coming? Certainly, Lord.
and directs The Victoria Good News Choir and the Open Doors Choir. Bass Baritone DeAN DR E SI M MONS (Cal) has been praised for his big, rich voice. He has performed with San Diego Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Curtis Opera Theatre, New Jersey Concert Opera, Boheme Opera, and others.
AC T 2
LI N KS
A week later, just before the party, Oscar catches Leo snitching a cigar and tells him to clean up his act, to stop chasing married women, and to work harder at his bank job so that Horace will think him a fit husband for Alexandra. Leo mentions that Horace’s safety deposit box contains $88,000 worth of bonds. Oscar is intrigued.
Excellent resources and further links on Marc
Tenor LAWR E NCE WI LI FOR D
Blitzstein can be found on the following web sites.
(Leo Hubbard) made his professional
www.usoperaweb.com/2002/jan/index.html
major role debut on five hours’ notice
US Operaweb: the Blitzstein Issue
as Ferrando in the COC’s Cosi fan tutte. He also created the role of Roy in James Rolfe's
www.marcblitzstein.com The Marc Blitstein Website
opera Swoon.
See www.pov.bc.ca for links to artists’ biographies
Lawrence Wiliford’s role … calls for incredible vocal
and more information about the opera.
agility and stamina – and we got it, in spades. He is … a revelation. The Record
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Marc Blitzstein: The Composer One of the 20th century’s most important American composers, lyricists, and critics, Marc Blitzstein was also a masterful pianist, coach, and accompanist. His work encompasses operas, songs, orchestral and instrumental works, film scores, and translations. He was born in 1905 in Philadelphia, where, as he says, at the age of 3, I was a wunderkind (read “brat-prodigy”). He studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger (who was, incidentally one of the teachers of Victoria’s own Robin Wood). He also studied in Berlin with Schönberg, he of avant garde atonality and the 12-tone scale. Blitzstein’s music evolved in step with his political beliefs. He began by writing intellectually challenging, elitist music, but gradually began to compose along the lines of the socially conscious popular theatre created by Bertolt Brecht and to align himself on the side of melody, harmony, and the perfect affinity of words and music. His first opera was the politically charged work The Cradle Will Rock, produced by John Houseman, with Orson Welles, then just 22, as director. The production was part of the federally funded WPA Theater Project, one of the social programs Franklin Roosevelt set up to alleviate unemployment during the Great Depression. The story of the premiere of The Cradle Will Rock is the stuff of legend. It sounds like a movie – one of those manipulative, inspirational sagas that bring the audience cheering to its feet as the music swells triumphantly. Indeed in 1999 Tim Robbins created Cradle Will Rock, a semi-fictional movie based on the story, with a cast including Hank Azaria, Joan Cusack, Bill Murray, Vanessa Redgrave, and Susan Sarandon. But the actual events are as startling as any piece of fiction. Three days before its premiere on June 17th, 1937, The Cradle Will Rock was cancelled, ostensibly due to funding cuts. Conservative members of Congress had been trying to cut the WPA’s funding, and The Cradle Will Rock’s subversive, pro-labour message might well have influenced them to cut deeper. In addition, the 1930s were filled with violent conflict between management and organized labour. Just over two weeks earlier, on May 30, Chicago police had fired on a crowd of supporters of the Steel Workers’ Organizing Committee, killing ten in what has become known as the Memorial Day Massacre. Blitzstein’s biographer, Eric Gordon, recounts what happened next: Undaunted by the withdrawal of government support, Welles and Blitzstein were determined to rock New York with their Cradle. They located the dusty, unused Venice Theater 20 blocks uptown, and the audience marched. Scores, sets, costumes and props remained locked in the Elliott. An hour late, Blitzstein began, fully prepared to sing the entire score at the piano himself, if necessary; for it was considered a breach of union contract for the actors to appear on any other than the federal stage. But the cast had taken seats in the Venice, and with few exceptions, sang their parts from the house, the audience straining necks to locate the performers. The next morning, newspapers all over the country carried a startling item about an opera banned by the government and produced in unorthodox fashion.
Leonard Bernstein, who saw a 1938 production of the opera on Broadway, produced it at Harvard and became a protégé and lifelong friend of Blitzstein. During World War Two, Blitzstein joined the US Army Eighth Air Force and worked as music director of the American broadcasting station in London. Out of his service came The Airborne Symphony, first performed in 1946 with Orson Welles as narrator and Leonard Bernstein conducting. It has been called the single most powerful American composition to emerge from the Second World War. Once back from the war, Blitzstein started work on Regina, which opened on Broadway in 1949 but closed after 56 performances. Blitzstein’s greatest commercial success came from his translation of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s 1928 masterpiece The Threepenny Opera for a 1954 revival starring Weill’s widow Lotte Lenya. A previous English translation had been a flop on Broadway in the 30’s. In 1958, Blitzstein received a subpoena to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He admitted his former membership in the Communist Party (he left in 1949), but refused to co-operate further and was blacklisted; as he was not working in television, radio or film, he was not as severely affected as others on the blacklist. An extract from his FBI File reads: The subject stated . . . that he had nothing further to add to his testimony before the government committee, . . . and that he resented the attempts of the FBI to interview him as he considered it an invasion of his privacy. The subject was cold in his manner toward the agents and exhibited no inclination to cooperate. In view of the above, no further efforts are warranted to interview him again. . . . NY will remain alert for any information of subversive activity on the part of the subject and will reopen investigation if warranted in the future. Blitzstein’s last completed theatrical work was the opera Juno (1959), based on Sean O’Casey’s play Juno and the Paycock, In 1964, while spending the winter in Martinique, Blitzstein was robbed and beaten. He died in hospital on January 22. He left unfinished two one act operas, Idiots First and The Magic Barrel, and Sacco and Vanzetti, a commission from the Metropolitan Opera. MACK TH E KN I FE Blitzstein’s masterful translation of The Threepenny Opera gave an American voice to Kurt Weill’s German masterpiece and introduced the song Mack the Knife to English-speaking audiences, spawning an avalanche of performances and recordings that transformed a German opera tune into an American pop classic. NPR’s Murray Horowitz credits Blitzstein’s translation for the phenomenal success of Mack the Knife. While keeping the meaning and black humour of the original, Blitzstein’s simple, single-syllable words opened the song to a provocative new world of rhythmic possibilities. Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, and Bobby Darin made the song swing. More versions of Mack the Knife have appeared on Billboard’s Top 40 than any other song. In 2006, as a guest on BBC 4’s program Desert Island Discs, crochety American Idol judge Simon Cowell chose Darin’s version as his top desert island song, calling Mack the Knife the best song ever written. What a testament to the power of a good translation!
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PA C I F I C O P E R A V I C T O R I A
R EGINA
A P R I L 17, 19 , 2 2 , 2 4 , 2 6 , 2 0 0 8 8 PM, THE ROYAL THEATRE. PRE-PERFORMANCE LOBBY LECTURE AT 6 : 4 5 P M PERFORMED IN ENGLISH WITH ENGLISH SURTITLES
TICKETS ON SALE NOW.
DONOR EVE NTS
$ 30 to $102. Senior and student discounts available. Order by phone: (250) 385.0222 / (250) 386.6121 / 1.888.717.6121 Order online: www.rmts.bc.ca Student RUSH tickets for those presenting valid student identification are available at the door of the theatre, 45 minutes prior to each performance, subject to availability. RUSH tickets are $15, inclusive of all box office charges.
PU B LIC EVE NTS TASTE OF OPERA Join us for a light lunch and lively discussion on the concept and production of Regina, featuring a talk with conductor Timothy Vernon and director Glynis Leyshon and a short musical performance by principal cast members. Sunday April 6, 11:15 am to 1 pm James Bay Community Centre, 140 Oswego Street SPACE IS LIMITED. Reserve before noon, Friday, April 4. $ 20 per person. Phone 382.1641 to reserve with payment. POV POINTS OF VIEW We welcome a very special guest — Eric A. Gordon, author of Mark the Music: The Life and Work of Marc Blitzstein. Mr. Gordon’s life work has been about exploring the dialogue between art and ideas. While in Victoria for the Canadian premiere of Regina, he will share his vision of Marc Blitzstein and 20 th Century Social History as reflected in Regina. Mr. Gordon is also Director of the Southern California branch of the Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring, a specialist in Yiddish songs, and co-author of Ballad of an American: The Autobiography of Earl Robinson. Wednesday April 16, 7 pm, West Lobby, the Royal Theatre Free of charge. SPACE IS LIMITED. Phone 382.1641 to reserve. SENSE OF OCCASION: OPENING NIGHT PRE-PERFORMANCE RECEPTION Join us in celebrating the opening night of Regina. Gourmet finger foods and wine will be served. Space is limited. Dress is festive. Thursday, April 17, 6:30 pm, East Lobby, the Royal Theatre $ 25 per person. Call 382.1641 to reserve with payment. WEDNESDAY MASTERS, MEZZO VOICES Observe as POV’s Regina, Kimberly Barber, coaches three members of the POV chorus, followed by a question-and-answer period led by POV Executive Director David Shefsiek. Wednesday April 23, 7:30 pm, West Lobby, the Royal Theatre Free of charge. SPACE IS LIMITED. Phone 382.1641 to reserve.
BLITZSTEIN, BERNSTEIN, AND BEYOND A special thank you concert for donors at the Maestro level and above. Robyn Driedger-Klassen (Zan in Regina) and Lawrence Wiliford (Leo) will perform music from Marc Blitzstein’s era, with Robert Holliston on piano. For donors at the Maestro level and above. Invitations will be sent by mail. Thursday, April 3, 7 pm Alix Goolden Performance Hall, 907 Pandora Avenue.
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A TOU R DE FORCE AS DE LICIOUS AS APPLE PI E – WITH A CHASE R OF BOU R BON AN D ARSE N IC.
PRESIDENT’S CIRCLE WORKING REHEARSAL As a special thank you, our donors of the Diva and Bronze level and our President’s Circle members will be invited to this Piano Technical rehearsal. This is a unique opportunity to experience in person the process of preparing the Canadian premiere of Regina. The rehearsal will be preceded by a short talk with special guest Dr. Jennifer Wise, Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre at the University of Victoria, who will discuss The Little Foxes and Regina in a social context. POV’s Executive Director David Shefsiek will play some musical examples to help define the musical world in which Marc Blitzstein was writing. Sunday April 13, 1 pm TH E PR ESI DE NT’S The Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton (at Blanshard). CIRCLE For donors of the Diva level and above. IS GENEROUSLY SPONSOR ED BY Invitations will be sent by mail. PRESIDENT’S CIRCLE STAGE DOOR PARTY Friday April 18, 6:30 to 9:30 pm Royal Theatre stage – on the set of Regina. For donors of the Silver Circle level and above. Invitations will be sent by mail.
Donors at the BRONZE LEVEL and above: Mark your calendars SCHOOL TOUR DRESS REHEARSAL Saturday, May 3, 4 pm, Location TBA See www.pov.bc.ca/involve_calendar.asp for updated event information. Elijah’s Kite is a new Canadian children’s opera about bullying. Fast-paced, entertaining and instructive, Elijah’s Kite will visit some 30 schools on southern Vancouver Island in May 2008. It will be performed by members of POV’s Young Artist Program, who are each accomplished young musicians living and studying on Vancouver Island. The production is fully staged, with sets and costumes created specially for this production, and will be accompanied by a trio of piano, percussion and bass guitar. For members at the Bronze level and above, and the children in their lives. Invitations will be sent by mail.
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