Summer and Smoke
by Lee Hoiby,
from Tennessee Williams’ play
The quest for fulfillment lies at the heart of every human spirit’s journey. Set in sultry turn-of-the-century Mississippi, this Lee Hoiby opera, based on Tennessee Williams’ play, offers an intimate examination of the eternal man and eternal woman. Can these archetypal figures supply each other with all that their hearts desire? Co-produced with the Division of Music.
“Love that never told can be.”
NEW PERFORMANCE!!!!
February 9, 2010 at 7:30pm
Lyell B. Clay Theatre
WVU Creative Arts Center
Lee Hoiby’s two-act opera, based on Tennessee Williams play Summer and Smoke to be performed at CAC Feb. 4-6*
American composer Lee Hoiby’s beautiful 1971 setting of Tennessee Williams’s play Summer and Smoke, the story of longing and unrequited love between a minister’s daughter and a charismatic suitor, will be presented at the Creative Arts Center, Feb. 4-6. The two-act opera, with libretto by Lanford Wilson, is a co-production of the WVU Division of Theatre and Dance and the WVU Division of Music, and will be accompanied by the WVU Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Musical Director Robert Thieme.
Performances will be held Thursday and Friday, Feb. 4 and 5, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 6, at 2 p.m. in the CAC’s Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre.
Described by a New York Post critic, after its 1972 New York premiere, as “our most successful American opera to date” the opera is also perhaps Hoiby’s most famous work. The story takes place in Glorious Hill, Miss. and centers on a high-strung minister’s daughter, Alma Winemiller, and the spiritual/sexual romance that nearly blossoms between her and a wild, undisciplined young doctor.
“Quite a point is made in the play that Alma’s name is the Spanish word for soul,” said Lee Blair, assistant professor of acting, who is directing the production. “She, ineffably refined, identifies with the gothic cathedral, reaching up to something beyond attainment, whereas John—doctor and sensualist—defies her with the soul-less anatomy chart for proof,” he said.
The original play, Tennessee Williams’ Summer and Smoke, received its first performance at the Music Box Theatre, New York City, in October 1948. In 1952, Geraldine Page played the lead role in a revival directed by José Quintero at the newly founded Circle in the Square Theatre in downtown New York. Her legendary performance is credited with the beginning of the Off-Broadway movement, putting both Page and Quintero on the map. Page went on to portray Alma in the film version, opposite Laurence Harvey.
“In Summer and Smoke, we find another tragic heroine in Alma that reflects Tennessee Williams’ own struggles with sexuality, passion, freedom and the confines society places upon us all,” Blair said. The cast of the WVU production of Summer and Smoke is composed of students in the Division of Music’s Voice program, along with students in the Division of Theatre and Dance who are studying Acting in both the bachelor of fine arts program and the master of fine arts program.
The cast includes voice students Marissa Bloom and Sarah Nale in alternating performances as Alma Winemiller, and voice students Justin Barclay and Joshua Stubbs in alternating performances as Dr. John Buchanan. Voice students MaryJoanna Grisso and Jeanne Nestor give alternating performances as Nellie Ewell. Other cast members include Frostburg State University and WVU voice professor William Koehler and voice students Cynthia Ortiz-Bartley, Karina Sweeney, and Nathan Costella. Theatre students performing include Brittany Jo Sowards, Brian Edelman, Laura Peters, Daniel Evans, T.D. Berkich, Cody Riggins, Daniel Evans, Megan Massie and Matthew Webster.
Musical director of Summer and Smoke; is Robert Thieme, director of WVU Opera Theatre in the Division of Music and lighting designer is Alan McEwen, assistant professor of lighting design in the Division of Theatre and Dance. Production manager is Steven Neuenschwander, clinical assistant professor of technical direction in the Division of Theatre and Dance.
Theatre student Ben Lauer is the technical director, costume design is by student Shana McDonaldson, and scenic design is by student Andrew Moeggenborg. Additional design assistance and supervision was provided by Robert Klingelhoefer, assistant professor of scene design, and Mary McClung, associate professor of costume design. Stage manager is Janna Jarrett and assistant stage manager is Krista White, both theatre students.
This is the third musical collaboration for WVU professors Lee Blair and Robert Thieme, as director and musical director respectively. Their first work together was last season’s Urinetown: The Musical and their collaboration continued last September with the musical review And the World Goes ‘Round.
“Robert and I have done three musicals together in the past year and a half and we have a really good working relationship, a nice collaboration, although we come to any project from different perspectives,” Blair said. “This is the first opera I have directed, although I have directed lots of musicals. It is different in that music is involved in all the action. Opera doesn’t stop for a spoken scene. It is truly all combined—music, lyric, text, story, action, etc.”
“Also, for this production, we have two different music students playing the main characters of Alma, John and Nellie on alternate nights. This is so that more students can have stage experience, but also so that they can rest their voices. These roles are vocally challenging.”
For tickets to Summer and Smoke, or more information, call the Mountainlair or CAC Box Offices at (304) 293-SHOW. Special ticket prices are available for groups of ten or more.
-WVU-