Opera Omnibus: November 1984


Opera Omnibus was founded in the early summer of 1984 after the retirement of the hard-working volunteers who had run Opera Camerata in Haslemere for some years. Opera Camerata had had a strong following and an enthusiastic chorus, and it was felt that there was a demand for opera in the area.

Because of the time taken with setting up the new organization and settling on a new management team, it was not possible to put on the normal full opera production; for one thing, by the time the choice of opera was made there would no longer be time to rehearse the chorus element of a complete opera. Therefore for the first production (November 1984), it was decided to present Mozart's one-act opera The Impresario, which has no chorus, and a single act (Act 2) of Offenbach's Orpheus In The Underworld because that Act has plenty of chorus, but no can-can dancing to choreograph.

I got involved in umpteen ways in that first autumn production. There were glowing reports in the local newspapers at the time. If you don't believe me, or simply want to see what was said, look at the following where I have reproduced the text of two articles.

Opera Omnibus November 1984 newspaper coverage

At the company meeting when the choice of works to perform that autumn was announced, the English libretto of The Impresario was available and I remarked to Ian Tribe, the first Chairman of the new company, that for a comic opera it wasn't very funny. Ian was a brilliant impresario himself, who was great at getting people involved in helping with projects and who sometimes had daring an imaginative ideas for productions; that was proved when he immediately replied: "Well, you are a writer; write us a new libretto!", so I did.

That my new "book" would be used was agreed with those concerned. Over the summer holiday months, the soloist cast for the Mozart learnt the lyrics of their songs, but not the spoken dialogue. During those weeks I went back, with the help of Hampshire Public Libraries HQ in Winchester, to the 1780 original German book (which they obtained from the City of Westminster library) and wrote all new dialogue set in the 1920s.

The story of Der Schauspieldirektor is about an impresario who proposes to put on an opera, and auditions two female singers. Despite attempts to keep them apart, the first is still in the building when the second arrives. The sung parts of the opera are four arias:

The twenties setting was suggested by Hazel Helder, a theatrical producer/director of many years experience in Haslemere, but for whom this was the first opera staging; the era was very apt for the atmosphere of rivalry between the two candidates, being fairly modern and lively, but with no danger of implying that such open rivalry was still rife in the business in the last quarter of the twentieth century.

The original German libretto, by Gottfried Stephanie the younger, had a total of ten characters, although only four of them sang; these were the three mentioned plus a baritone called Buffo who was a friend of the impresario who aids and abets him in his unsuccessful attempts to keep the ladies apart, who chimes in during the fourth song. I used this character but also reinstated a third female candidate, a chorus girl type whose young aristocratic boyfriend (in the tradition of P.G.Wodehouse's amorous young twits about town) brings her along in the hopes of furthering her career in a more cultural direction. These two speaking parts made for a total of six characters, a happy medium between three and the original ten.

I was very pleased with my new dialogue and, when I presented it to Hazel Helder, was very pleased when she suggested only one textual change: the chorus girl was to say at one point "hokey dokey" instead of "OK"! In due course

For the Offenbach, I was asked for the first and last time in my life to take on a principal role, that of Jupiter. As father of the gods he is central to the action: the young gods (Mars, Venus and the rest) are all his children and he is cross with them all for slipping away at nights to carouse at parties in Hades, creeping back just before dawn, and then not wanting to rise and shine in the morning. Jupiter summons his cousin Pluto who is the host of these parties, and gets to sing an aria ticking him off to the tune that in Act 3 becomes the can-can theme. Jupiter is the only character who is visible on stage at the beginning of Act 2 and remains visible, mostly right at the centre of the action, right to the end of the Act. In fact he holds the plot together and drives it much of the time. It was my first and only musical solo part in an opera, and I enjoyed it but didn't want to spend the time to learn and rehearse principal roles ever again!

For that November 1984 production, I also made some of the scenery including two cardboard half-round representations of classical columns, and a flat cardboard representation of Orpheus' hot air balloon with wicker basket for travelling up to Mount Olympus! I also invented the idea of a wrist sundial with a pop-up gnomon; I made an outside one to wear on my wrist, big enough for the audience to see exactly what it was, and when I held out my wrist, popped up the gnomon and squinted at it in the spotlight that I treated as the sun, a knowing titter -- nay, a real laugh -- went round the audience (as they say).

I also drove the van that transported the scenery and props to three venues where the two parts of the programme were performed: Haslemere Hall, a college in Farnham, and Godalming public library! Quite an active autumn for me.