Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

Opera To Go! gets going

August 22, 2004
Section: ETC.
Page: G1

By Richard Duckett

What is an opera singer to do if there are a diminishing number of venues at which to perform?

Rather than sing the blues, Elaine Crane, Sandra Fritze and Jonathan LaBarre decided to get going and form their own company - Opera _ to Go! The one-year-old group has already been on the go, performing the Seymour Barab opera "Little Red Riding Hood'' to children in Princeton, Rutland and West Boylston.

"When you do something all on your own you never know. But it was wonderful,'' said Crane about the response to the company's first performances.

One of the company's main goals is to expose children to opera. Adults are not excluded from that intent, either. "We want to get the children interested in it and get parents hooked as well,'' Crane said.

Indeed, Opera _ to Go! has already won some converts among parents who attended its "Little Red Riding Hood'' shows.

"They (parents) said that opera isn't bad after all,'' said Fritze.

To take the cause a few steps further, Opera _ to Go! will present a benefit concert titled "Showstoppers - The Very Best Music from Broadway and Opera'' at 8 p.m. Saturday in St. Paul's Cathedral, 15 Chatham St., Worcester. Tickets are $15 at the door.

"Showstoppers'' will consist of 14 area singers (with accompaniment by pianist Olga Rogach) performing classics from Broadway shows and opera.

"The people who come to hear Broadway are going to hear a little opera, so there we go again,'' Crane said.

Crane, who lives in Rutland where she home-schools her five children, did not come to opera as a child. Her first love was musical theater. But that would change when she finally got to see an operatic production.

"I always loved musical theater, but seeing opera, it was like the greatest musical theater,'' she said. "I thought, if I could do that, I would be really happy.''

She graduated cum laude from the Boston Conservatory, where she studied opera and vocal performance.

Fritze, a bookkeeper and cantor at her church in her hometown of Spencer, also came to opera fairly late. She was introduced to it by her friend, Margaret Tartaglia, who has been a driving force behind the Salisbury Lyric Opera Company. Fritze joined Salisbury Lyric, where Crane and LaBarre are members as well.

But unlike Crane and Fritze, LaBarre, who lives in Boxboro and is employed as a revenue supervisor for a hotel, had discovered the joys of opera at an early age.

"My mother is a singer and she exposed us to all kinds of music,'' he recalled. "She never pushed it, but it was always there. I never really had a moment where I said, `Yeah I want to be a singer, I want to sing opera .' But it has always been there.''

However, due to budget cuts and other considerations, opera hasn't really been there in the school systems for quite some time.

"That kind of genre is not in the schools, and at their homes it's probably not,'' Fritze said.

Correspondingly, opera lovers and performers have endured the frustration of the paucity of outlets.

Crane said the Salisbury Lyric Opera company has not been as active as it once was.

Opera Worcester hosts about two full-scale productions a year, which are widely praised, but they are performed by a New York touring company.

"It's not local talent, which there is plenty of,'' Crane said. For a singer, "Besides Salisbury Lyric Opera there's nothing left in Worcester. You really have to travel.''

It was time for Opera _ to Go!

"The first step was to ask Sandy and John if they wanted to be part of it,'' Crane said. "We all love opera, we really wanted to start a group.'' Maya Tarmura agreed to play the piano.

"Little Red Riding Hood'' was chosen because "It's a very funny opera with a lot of lessons in it,'' Crane said.

It is the same story most of us grew up hearing, but according to Opera _ to Go! there is also a "twist'' in the operatic telling of the tale. LaBarre plays the wily and comical Wolf/Woodsman, Fritze portrays the doting and flamboyant Mother and Grandmother, and Crane is Red.

So far, company members have spent about $1,200 on props, costumes and putting together professionally painted sets.

"Which is why we want to do a benefit,'' Crane said of Saturday's "Showstoppers.''

Opera _ to Go! has received grants, but also has a financial deficit at present.

"We would love it if we had 200 to 250 people come to this,'' Fritze said of the benefit.

"Because we started from scratch, it would be nice to have an account to fall back on and get money to put aside,'' Crane observed..

The singers at the show "are a wonderful group of friends'' who volunteered to help out, she said.

"A lot of times singers sing for free, and here we are asking singers to sing for free. But it's gonna be great. I hope a lot of people come to enjoy it.''

Clearly the people moving "Opera _ to Go!'' forward are very dedicated as they devote their own time and money to the company's goals.

"You have to really love what you're doing to keep doing this,'' Fritze said. "But the kids get so much from it. I love just watching them.''

LaBarre acknowledged that he wasn't sure at first if he wanted to become so heavily involved

"When Elaine came to me, I didn't know,'' he said. "But once I got performing before the kids, the kids gave me so much energy I said `That was great.' Getting into the character was a lot of fun for me.''

"Little Red Riding Hood'' was performed at Naquag Elementary School in Rutland, Princeton Congregational Church in Princeton and West Boylston High School.

"The kids in Rutland, you could have heard a pin drop,'' Fritze said. "But they laughed in the right places, too.''

"Unlike adults, they don't get scared by the word opera,'' noted Crane.

"If we can just touch a few lives, then we've done our job,'' Fritze said.

"If they don't like it, it's OK. At least we've done our job in exposing them to it,'' said LaBarre.

Looking ahead, he said Opera _ to Go! wants to "get into the cities. We charge hardly anything for the performances so its very affordable for schools.''

The company plans on developing other productions besides "Little Red Riding Hood,'' and is looking to stage operas for adults as well as children.

"We want to be around for a while,'' Fritze said.

`Showstoppers'

When: 8 p.m. Saturday.

Where: St. Paul's Cathedral, 15 Chatham St., Worcester.

How much: $15.

ART: PHOTO