Discussing ‘The Merry Widow’ Costumes with Student Designer Greta Stokes

The Merry Widow Costume Designer Greta Stokes recently sat down with CCM Public Information Assistant and DMA student Charlotte Kies to discuss the work that went into this delightful new production of Franz Lehár’s most popular operetta.

Charlotte Kies: Hi Greta! What can you tell me about your inspiration for these costumes?

Juliana Rucker draped and built this charming blue dress for Valencienne. Photo by Steve Shin.

Greta Stokes: Although the opera was written right around the turn of the 20th century, we knew we wanted to create a more modern silhouette for the women’s garments, like the same kind of idea behind Dior’s new look of the 1950s.

But when we began working with the text and thinking about how the actors are interacting we kind of let go of the design being so strict. It became more 50s, 60s, 90s, now. It became looser and less of a period piece, because it’s not a stiff opera. It doesn’t need to be historical.

When I first got assigned this show I watched an old production of it, I looked at old stills and I got a feel for what the opera used to be. At this point we had already decided on the 50’s. If you look at my Pinterest board it starts with these beautiful black and white photos. And then you can see how after every conversation I had with [Merry Widow director] Professor Emma Griffin the board gets crazier and crazier, and brighter, and begins to include things that aren’t from the 50’s at all, like these modern fashion collections and this weird art. It started out very demure, with lots of little black dresses. And then it just got wild, and the cast is really into it. It has been a great kind of build up to that and I think that the result is really interesting and different and fun.

Greta Stokes’ design concept for Hanna’s dress.

CK: So the costumes are not specific to one decade?

GS: They’re mid-century flavored. There are a lot of brighter colors, and we took a lot of inspiration from more modern fashion houses. There’s a lot of Prada and Dolce & Gabbana resort lines right now that are very colorful. Our costumes are those two ideas [vintage and modern] married together.

When people come in for a fitting for a period piece and they’re putting high-fitted pleated pants on you, they look great if you’re doing a strictly 50’s show. Even though they look great on stage, you can tell the actors are uncomfortable in them. So to have a modern cut with a vintage feel, I know my performers will go on stage feeling comfortable and good about how they look, and you can really see that in their movements.

CK: Can you tell me about your design process?

GS: We started looking at research in the middle of last semester before it was cast. All of the designers got together to discuss concepts, colors schemes and how we would interact with each other. We built research collages and talked about what inspired us. From there I decided what pieces needed to be built for the performers. Our lead character’s costume is getting built from scratch. We discussed how the characters are in this made-up country at an embassy in Paris and what that might look like. We got to decide what and where that country was. We decided on something eastern European, but I incorporated little bits of different European cultures into a made-up folk costume so you’ll see elements of that. There are two characters that are wearing kilts and one in lederhosen. There are little flavors of recognizable folk traditions scattered among the Petrovenians. It’s off the wall but still a little controlled. When I’m in the costume shop and all around me are flower crowns and lederhosen and kilts and a bunch of tuxedoes, I feel I should be telling people “I swear I’m not crazy, I promise this will make sense!” Fingers crossed!

Maria Lenn built and draped this dashing red and black dress for Jessica Faselt (playing Hanna Glawari on Friday and Sunday) from Greta Stokes’ designs. Lenn is fitting Faselt while Stokes and her assistant, Sarah Red Redden look on as Stokes’ designs come to life. Photo by Steve Shin.

CK: Does Hanna have a costume change in the middle of the show?

GS: She kind of does, she has this outer shell made with beautiful pink dupioni. The shell comes off later in the opera as the acts and the parties go on. And there are so many crystals on that black skirt, it’s gonna be on fire.

CK: How are these costumes different from costumes you might see in another version?

GS: In the original versions there are HUGE choruses and they’re all wearing these crazy costumes that are all very expensive and lavish. Older productions were all about the costumes, and the performers just kind of walk around the stage going “lalala, look at my giant hat, lalalalala.”

Ours is a condensed, smaller cast. It’s still a lot of people, but because we have created more modern clothing, it has become really more about their movement. The idea is that they’re drinking, moving from one party to the next. They’re having a really good time.

CK: How much liberty do you have? Do you get to design whatever you want? Do you have any restrictions or guidelines?

In Act II, the party guests reconvene at Hanna Glawari’s house for a garden party. Brian Horton built these hats for the characters, who decide that Hanna’s garden is better suited for their outfits. Photo by Steve Shin.

GS: We operate under the guidance of Professor Dean Mogle, head of the Costume Design and Technology program at CCM. I would say we are restricted by what we are able to get. Obviously there are time restrictions, as well. I couldn’t ask them to build every single tuxedo, so we purchased tuxedos. I designed Hanna’s costume to look like a mix between Marilyn Monroe and Anna Nicole Smith.

As for the dancers, I actually found these vintage dresses that we had in stock that were specifically dance dresses. Because we are not doing a traditional can-can we can use these really full, floofy skirts with all these sparkles and stuff. In Act II they’re all at Hanna’s house for a garden party and the women take these flowers off of the set and put them on their hats. They are completely ruining her garden, and she totally does not care.

Professor Griffin is incredible to work with. She is so great at letting designers have liberties, while still reining us in or pushing us forward. It is really nice to have all those liberties, to be able to create this world out of nothing and figure out what exists in it.

CK: Is it the same dress design for the two Hanna’s?

GS: Yes, but they are built to fit each performer. The design will be the same, but the fit will be different just because the bodies are.

CK: How much work are you doing outside of CCM while you’re also a student?

GS: Oh, not a lot, because I’m a little busy! I am working on The Little Prince right now for Cincinnati Chamber Opera as the costume designer/coordinator.

I also work for New Edgecliff Theatre. We just closed Frankie & Johnny in the Clare de Lune and we’ll be back in the spring with The Shape of Things.

CK: Have you enjoyed your time as a student at CCM?

GS: Of course yes! I am from Columbus, so I’m not too far from my family. This school is incredible. I love how hands-on it is and how we’re really working as a professional theatre would. We are learning to interact with each other and not just in our own little worlds.

CK: How did you get into costume design?

GS: I am a non-traditional student, so I ‘m quite a bit older. I did theatre in high school. I worked in the costume shop. I did a little acting, but I wasn’t very good! I stitched. I was friends with all of the theatre kids and I really liked it. My grandmother was a dress designer so I would always go play with her dressmaking tools and pocket a few of them. I continued to work in vintage stores for a long time doing alterations for vintage clothing.

I have always been working with clothing, and this made more sense than fashion. I have always really loved the theatre community and I feel like it has a really good turnover. It’s not like “oh, polka-dots are so in right now.” It’s a constant challenge.

Maria Lenn built and draped this dashing red and black dress for Jessica Faselt (playing Hanna Glawari on Friday and Sunday) from Greta Stokes’ designs. Lenn is fitting Faselt while Stokes and her assistant, Sarah Red Redden look on as Stokes’ designs come to life. Photo by Steve Shin.

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Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow runs Nov. 19 – 22 in Patricia Corbett Theater. Tickets are $31-35 for adults, $20-24 for non-UC students and $18-22 UC students with a valid ID. $12-$15 student rush tickets will become available one hour prior to each performance; limit two student rush tickets per valid ID.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online at ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice/mainstage/merry-widow.

CCM Season Presenting Sponsor and Musical Theatre Program Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Mainstage Season Production Sponsor: Macy’s

Community Partner: ArtsWave

CCM’s Mainstage Series Presents Franz Lehár’s ‘The Merry Widow,’ Nov. 19-22

CCM’s Fall 2015 Mainstage Series comes to a witty and whimsical conclusion with Franz Lehár’s comic operetta The Merry Widow, playing Nov. 19 – 22 in Patricia Corbett Theater.

Conducted by Aik Khai Pung with stage direction by Emma Griffin, this production of The Merry Widow will be sung in English with a translation by renowned American lyricist Sheldon Harnick.

From left to right: Andrew G. Manea as Danilo and Nicolette Book as Hanna in CCM’s production of ‘The Merry Widow.’ Photography by Mark Lyons.

A glorious early-20th century operetta and forerunner to the modern musical, The Merry Widow tells the fizzy tale of star-crossed lovers and political shenanigans in a glitzy and idealized version of Paris. Madame Hanna Glawari, the widow of the wealthiest man in Petrovenia, is in Paris for the first time following her elderly husband’s demise. Concerned by the widow’s many suitors, Petrovenian Ambassador Baron Zeta assumes the role of matchmaker to ensure that Hanna’s wealth remains within the country, rather than fall into foreign hands. To set his plan in motion, the baron sends his secretary to fetch Hanna’s old flame, Danilo, from another party. Unfortunately, the baron becomes so obsessed with his own schemes that he fails to notice the affair between his wife and rival party member Camille.

What begins as a pleasant, professional party at the Petrovenian Embassy rapidly devolves into a drunken debacle by the time Hanna and her entourage arrive at the famous nightclub, “Maxim’s,” in the early hours of the morning.

“In some ways, it’s a very simple idea,” explains Griffin, an assistant professor of opera at CCM. “The Merry Widow is about the sort of things that happen when you’re 25 years old and you go to three parties over the course of a single night. The opera is about these beautiful people, which doesn’t diminish the love stories at the heart of The Merry Widow. Instead, it instills the show with a feverish and heightened romantic atmosphere.”

Griffin read 18 different translations of The Merry Widow before settling on Harnick’s adaptation, which is written in a decidedly American vernacular.

“Our voice and opera majors don’t always get much experience performing in American English, so this is an opportunity for our students to exercise some different muscles,” she explains. Bursts of spoken dialogue also give The Merry Widow the charming feel of musical theatre.

The hybrid sensibilities of this operetta are even reflected in the production’s sizable cast, which features students from CCM’s departments of opera, musical theatre and drama. With choreography by Patti James, who promises a can’t-miss can-can number, CCM’s Mainstage Series production of The Merry Widow is sure to be magical, colorful and – of course – delightfully merry.

Featuring a score that Stage and Cinema describes as “a rich musical mix of Viennese waltzes, Hungarian folk dances and French insouciance,” The Merry Widow is a sparkling romp in which farce, romance and jealousy abound. Join us for a fantastical Parisian bar crawl, as the fate of an entire nation hangs in the balance!

Performance Times

• 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov.19
• 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20
• 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21
• 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 23

Location
Patricia Corbett Theater, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Purchasing Tickets
Tickets to Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow are $31-35 for adults, $20-24 for non-UC students and $18-22 UC students with a valid ID. $12-$15 student rush tickets will become available one hour prior to each performance; limit two student rush tickets per valid ID.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online at ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice/mainstage/merry-widow.

Parking and Directions
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visit uc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the new U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots.

For directions to CCM Village, visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions.

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CCM Season Presenting Sponsor and Musical Theatre Program Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Mainstage Season Production Sponsor: Macy’s

Community Partner: ArtsWave

CCM’s Illustrious Piano Faculty Artists Celebrate Warm Music From Cold Countries on Nov. 15

Faculty performers receive the spotlight at CCM during the 11th annual Pianopalooza concert on Sunday, Nov. 15. This year’s program features CCM’s esteemed piano faculty artists performing a collection of fiery music from Russia and elsewhere.

In the spirit of the approaching winter season, this installment of Pianopalooza celebrates warm music from cold countries, including Chopin’s Winter Wind Étude, Edvarg Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King and “Waltz of the Flowers” from the classic holiday favorite, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite.

The concert’s grand finale features a stunning 12-hand piano arrangement of “Mars” from Gustav Holst’s The Planets.

“During the chilliest winters, these composers have warmed our hearts and fired our imaginations,” explains CCM Piano Department Chair Michael Chertock. “This music celebrates the season, defies the cold, longs for spring and summer, and sometimes simply shivers.”

In addition to Chertock, who also serves as the concert’s master of ceremonies, Pianopalooza XI includes performances by faculty members Dror Biran, Caroline Hong, Hitomi Koyama, Kate Lee, Donna Loewy, Sandra Rivers, James Tocco and Andrew Villemez.

CCM’s world-class pianists also welcome special guest Daniel Weeks to the stage for this concert. A critically acclaimed tenor, Weeks joined CCM’s faculty as Associate Professor of Voice this fall.

Chertock promises that the concert will be an intimate and moving affair. “CCM’s Werner Recital Hall harbors two of the most beautiful pianos in the entire state of Ohio,” Chertock observes. “It’s the perfect acoustical space to experience this warm music.”

The Nov. 15 concert is the first of two Pianopaloozas scheduled for CCM’s 2015-16 performance season. Next semester, CCM’s extraordinary young artists will take the spotlight for the Pianopalooza: Student Showcase on Sunday, April 3.

Performance Time
7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15

Location
Robert J. Werner Recital Hall, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Purchasing Tickets
Tickets to “Pianopalooza: Warm Music from Cold Countries” are $15 general admission, $10 for non-UC students and FREE for UC students with a valid ID.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online at ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice/concerts/piano.

Parking and Directions
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visit uc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the new U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots.

For directions to CCM Village, visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions.
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CCM Season Presenting Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Community Partner: ArtsWave

CCM is proud to be an All-Steinway School

Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra Taps CCM Dean and Alumni for New Leadership Positions

The Board of Trustees of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra has announced several changes in leadership, as well as the creation of two important artistic positions.

CCM Dean Peter Landgren will be joining the staff in the role of Director of Artistic Planning. He will be responsible for guiding the CCO’s artistic vision and direction of Summermusik 2016. He will work closely with the Artistic Advisor, and staff, board and musicians of the CCO to ensure a successful season.

CCM Dean Peter Landgren.

“I am thrilled that the CCO recognizes CCM’s desire to build collaborative and mutually beneficial relationships between Cincinnati’s arts organizations,” said Landgren. “I had the privilege of performing with the CCO under the leadership of their first music director, Paul Nadler, during my time as a student at CCM. I am honored that the CCO’s leadership feels that my background and perspective will lend a helping hand to this important year as they prepare for the final stages of a search for a new music director.”

Landgren began his tenure as Dean of CCM in September of 2011. During his initial appointment, he secured the internationally acclaimed Ariel Quartet as CCM’s string quartet-in-residence, initiated a number of collaborations with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (including the collaboration with the Cincinnati World Piano Competition and the CSO/CCM Diversity Fellowship program), partnered with faculty search committees to hire over 20 new full-time tenure-track faculty members, participated in the UC Provost’s Cluster-Hire initiative through the Digital Media Collaborative, enhanced the college’s community engagement efforts through key staff hires and grant support, and much more. He also refocused CCM’s vision and mission for the 21^st century through the “ONECCM” initiative. In June of 2015, the UC Board of Trustees unanimously approved Landgren’s reappointment to a new seven-year term, extending his tenure at CCM through June 30, 2023.

Prior to his appointment at CCM, Landgren served as Conservatory Director at Baldwin-Wallace College from 2007 – 2011 after having spent the previous twenty-nine years as a musician with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and twenty-six years as a faculty member of the Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University. From 2005-2006, Landgren served the Peabody Institute as the Interim Director. He also led Peabody in an institute-wide Change Initiative from 2003-2005 that was responsible for examining the institute in a quest to increase Peabody’s preeminence amongst its peers. In the spring of 2003, Landgren received the Excellence in Teaching award from The Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association. This was the second time Landgren had been awarded this honor as a Peabody faculty member.

Landgren became a member of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra when he was 21 years old, before completing his undergraduate training at CCM. Three years later he made his professional solo debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Joseph Silverstein. Landgren has performed with Summit Brass, the Melos Ensemble and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has also performed as Principal Horn with the Cincinnati, Houston and Columbus Symphony Orchestras. An alumnus of CCM, Landgren won the college’s concerto competition three times and regularly performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera and Cincinnati Ballet during his time as a student.

CCM alumnus Isaac Selya has been named as Artistic Advisor for Summermusik 2016. He will work with the Director of Artistic Planning and the CCO staff and musicians to ensure the artistic quality of the highly successful Chamber Crawl festival performances. Isaac will also serve as Associate Conductor, working with the four finalist music director candidates who will be conducting the four Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra concerts at SCPA during Summermusik 2016.

A musician of remarkable versatility, Isaac is a conductor, pianist, vocal coach, cellist and singer. He is the founder and Artistic Director of Queen City Chamber Opera, where he has coached and conducted Walküre Act I and Siegfried Acts I and II from Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Der Schauspieldirektor, Bastien und Bastienne, Zaide, Abu Hassan, and L’amore dei tre re. As of March 2015, he has conducted all of Mozart’s German-language operas. He joined Cincinnati Opera in 2014 as a coach/accompanist, and in September of 2014 he was the featured new artist of the month in Musical America. In the summer of 2015, he joined the Glimmerglass Festival as Assistant Conductor.

Equally at home in the symphonic repertoire, Isaac debuted with the National Symphony of Guatemala in September 2014 with two programs focusing on Beethoven Symphonies 5 and 6.

He holds a BA from Yale College, where he studied conducting with Toshiyuki Shimada. He holds a doctorate from CCM.

CCM alumna LeAnne Anklan has been named General Manager of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. LeAnne joined the staff of the CCO in 2012 in the position of artistic and orchestra operations manager. She was promoted to acting general manager in July, 2014.

Her professional background includes experience as senior marketing coordinator for FRCH Design Worldwide, public relations manager for the Contemporary Arts Center, and marketing associate for the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra. In 2011, she held the position of festival manager for the successful inaugural season of the Constella Festival of Music and Fine Arts. LeAnne serves as vice president of the board of the not-for-profit Cincinnati Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, which she helped to found. She is also a Board member of Cincy Emerging Arts Leaders.

A Cincinnati native, LeAnne holds three degrees from the University of Cincinnati: Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing and International Business, Master of Business Administration, and Master of Arts in Arts Administration. A lifelong musician, she also serves as vice president of the UC Band Alumni Association and plays flute and piccolo regularly with the Alumni and Community Bands at UC.

Wes Needham has been elected by the CCO board to succeed Jennifer Funk as board president and assumes his new role November 15, 2015. Wes has been a board member since 2012, and has served this past year as first vice-president, secretary and chair of the music director search committee. He is the Lead Engineer for Distribution Design with Duke Energy and a resident of Northern Kentucky.

“I am honored and humbled to assume the role of board president with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra,” said Needham. “Since becoming a part of the CCO board in 2012, I have come to care passionately about the success of this remarkable organization and about chamber music in Cincinnati. This is a time of exciting change for the CCO and I look forward helping the CCO continue its longstanding tradition of musical excellence.”

About the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra
The Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra is an independent ensemble of 32 professional musicians that celebrated its 40th anniversary season in 2014 and launched the critically acclaimed summer music festival Summermusik in August, 2015. The CCO offers a vibrant and fresh musical experience in an intimate and informal setting, for both the seasoned and novice concert patron. The CCO’s size allows for flexibility and creativity in programming, the ideal ensemble for presenting orchestral works ranging from the Baroque and Classical eras to commissioned works by contemporary composers. Collaborations have become a hallmark of the CCO, including ongoing partnerships with VAE: Cincinnati’s Vocal Arts Ensemble and Madcap Puppets.

For additional information on the CCO, visit www.ccocincinnati.org.

Experience the Cultural Exchange: CCM Drama Welcomes Guests from Kenyatta University

On Saturday, Oct. 31, six students and one faculty member from Kenyatta University will make the journey to Cincinnati to take part in CCM’s second-annual 48-Hour Film Festival.

Jean Akinyi, David Babu, Eric Mwangi, Kelvinson Muriithi Mwangi, Christine Njeri, Austin Opata and Professor Zippy Okoth will spend the following week in Cincinnati, attending classes at UC and experiencing the culture of the area, before participating in the film festival from Nov. 6-8.

You can keep up with their experiences by visiting CCM Drama Chair Richard Hess‘ blog at richardinkenya.wordpress.com.

In 2011, Hess brought eight current and former CCM Drama students to Kenya to take part in the Dadaab Theatre Project on World Refugee Day. He returned to Kenya in 2014 as a Fulbright Scholar and spent a semester teaching and conducting research at Kenyatta University’s Department of Theatre Arts and Film Technology.

For the second installment of CCM’s 48-Hour Film Festival, Hess wanted to expose students to these same kinds of life-changing creative experiences. “The integration of our cultures and artistic viewpoints will challenge prejudices and assumptions, enlarging the world-views and possibilities of each participant,” says Hess. “Adding a Kenyan artist to each creative team is a meaningful way to affect every student in the CCM Film Festival.”

The general public is invited to the festival’s screening party at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 8. Films will be screened in UC’s MainStreet Cinema in the Tangeman University Center.

Dates and Times

• Festival: 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, through 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8
• Public Screening: 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8

Screening Location
MainStreet Cinema, Tangeman University Center
University of Cincinnati

Admissions to Screening
The 48-Hour Film Festival’s screening party is free and open to the general public. Reservations are not required.

Parking and Directions
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visit uc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the new U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots.
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CCM Season Presenting Sponsor and Musical Theatre Program Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Community Partner: ArtsWave

The Kenyatta University 2015 Exchange Program has been made possible by the A.B., Dolly, Ralph and Julia Cohen Family Foundation, and Neil R. Artman and Margaret L. Straub.

CCM Slideshows: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel

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CCM’s Mainstage Series resumes this evening through this Sunday, Nov. 1, with a beautiful new production of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel. Directed and choreographed by Diane Lala with musical direction by Roger Grodsky and Danny White, Carousel runs Oct. 29 through Nov. 1 in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium. Tickets are still available for select performances.

Declared “Best Musical of the Century” by Time Magazine in 1999, it’s easy to understand why Carousel became Rodgers and Hammerstein’s personal favorite.

Listen to Diane Lala discuss this beloved musical with Rick Pender on WVXU’s Around Cincinnati here.

Performance Times

• 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29
• 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30
• 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31
• 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1

Location
Corbett Auditorium, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Purchasing Tickets
Tickets to Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel are $31-35 for adults, $20-24 for non-UC students and $18-22 UC students with a valid ID.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online at ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice/mainstage/carousel.

Parking and Directions
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visit uc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the new U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots.

For directions to CCM Village, visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions.
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CCM Season Presenting Sponsor and Musical Theatre Program Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Mainstage Season Production Sponsor: Macy’s

Carousel Production Sponsor: The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation.

Community Partner: ArtsWave

CCM’s Second Annual 48-Hour Film Festival Welcomes Guest Filmmakers and Actors from Kenya

UC students are invited to spend a whirlwind weekend writing, shooting and editing short films during the second annual 48-Hour Film Festival. Co-hosted by CCM’s Department of Drama and Division of Electronic Media, the movie-making marathon begins at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, and culminates with a public screening of the student-created films at UC’s MainStreet Cinema at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 8.

Based on the innovative “48 Hour Film Project” competition and festival, which launched in 2001, CCM’s 48-Hour Film Festival will challenge teams of students to bring their short films from conception to completion within a brisk 48-hour window.

Student filmmaker Eric Mwangi working in Nairobi, Kenya.

This year’s student participants will be joined by six guest filmmakers and actors from Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya. These students will spend the entire week of the film festival in Cincinnati, attending classes at UC and experiencing the culture of the area.

Richard Hess, the A.B., Dolly, Ralph and Julia Cohen Chair of Dramatic Performance at CCM, orchestrated this cultural exchange.

In 2011, Hess brought eight current and former CCM Drama students to Kenya to take part in the Dadaab Theatre Project on World Refugee Day. He returned to Kenya in 2014 as a Fulbright Scholar and spent a semester teaching and conducting research at Kenyatta University’s Department of Theatre Arts and Film Technology. You can learn more about his time in Kenya here.

For the second installment of CCM’s 48-Hour Film Festival, Hess wanted to expose students to these same kinds of life-changing creative experiences. “The integration of our cultures and artistic viewpoints will challenge prejudices and assumptions, enlarging the world-views and possibilities of each participant,” says Hess. “Adding a Kenyan artist to each creative team is a meaningful way to affect every student in the CCM Film Festival.”

GET EXPERIENCE NOW: PARTICIPATING IN THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL
Any UC student interested in participating in the CCM 48-Hour Film Festival is invited to apply online at ccm.uc.edu.theatre/drama/48HourFilmFestival. Applications must be submitted by 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 2, 2015.

Every applicant will be assigned to a team. Team assignments will be announced at the festival’s kick-off event in CCM’s Patricia Corbett Theater at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6. Participant will need to be available for the entire 48 hours from 7 p.m. on Nov. 6 through 7 p.m. on Nov. 8.

Below, watch 165 West McMillan, one of last year’s festival films.

Teams will be assigned a common prop, a common line of dialogue and a common theme, all of which must be included in each film. Teams will then have 48 hours to brainstorm, create job assignments, research, story-board, write, cast, film, score and edit a roughly five to seven minute-long film.

“The best way to fight prejudice is through exposure,” says Hess. “Six different teams of artists, made of Kenyan and American students, will be tasked with creating original short films over a 48-hour period. Working under the exquisite pressure of time, they will be forced to ask large questions, to listen and to leap into the void of creativity where the impossible becomes possible.”

The general public is invited to the festival’s screening party at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 8. Films will be screened in UC’s MainStreet Cinema in the Tangeman University Center.

Dates and Times

• Festival: 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, through 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8
• Public Screening: 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8

Locations

• Festival Kick-Off: Patricia Corbett Theater, CCM Village
• Public Screening: MainStreet Cinema, Tangeman University Center

Admissions to Screening
The 48-Hour Film Festival’s screening party is free and open to the general public. Reservations are not required.

Parking and Directions
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visit uc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the new U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots.
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CCM Season Presenting Sponsor and Musical Theatre Program Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Community Partner: ArtsWave

The Kenyatta University 2015 Exchange Program has been made possible by the A.B., Dolly, Ralph and Julia Cohen Family Foundation, and Neil R. Artman and Margaret L. Straub.

CCM Opera Presents the Cabaret Songs of William Bolcom, Oct. 23 – 25

From Oct. 23 – 25, CCM’s Department of Opera will present the cabaret songs of acclaimed American composer and pianist William Bolcom in a series of special performances in CCM’s intimate Cohen Family Studio Theater. Cincinnati audiences will have a rare opportunity to hear all of the Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning composer’s cabaret songs in one evening during this Studio Series production.

Admission to William Bolcom: Cabaret Songs is free, but reservations are required. Tickets become available at the CCM Box Office at noon on Monday, Oct. 19.

Better known for his work on the operas McTeague and A View from the Bridge, Bolcom and his longtime collaborator/lyricist Arnold Weinstein wrote 29 cabaret songs from 1963 to 1996.

Rarely performed in one night, CCM Opera has combined these witty, thought-provoking and frequently hilarious songs into a showcase of one of the greatest living composers of our time.

CCM Associate Professor of Music in Opera/Voice Coaching Lydia Brown  is the music director for this Studio Series production. A personal friend of Bolcom’s, Brown chose CCM’s Cohen Family Studio Theater as the setting for this show because of the intimacy of the music.

“These songs are a real hybrid of concert song and musical theatre,” she explains. “Like traditional cabaret, these songs are text-centered so I wanted a space where the audience would be able to feel the emotion. In a space like CCM’s Studio Theater, the choices about each word become really important.”

Bolcom’s compositions are deftly set to Weinstein’s lyrics. In 2003, New York Times Chief Music Critic Anthony Tommasini observed, “In these works Mr. Bolcom always finds apt, smart and evocative music to convey the shifting moods and often elaborate predicaments in Mr. Weinstein’s lyrics.”

Brown agrees with Tommasini’s assessment. “Bolcom instinctively knew how to set Arnold’s words,” she says. “ When you hear these songs, you can’t imagine any other music for them.”

A Professor Emeritus of Composition at University of Michigan, Bolcom is in residence at CCM for the week prior to the show to extensively coach the cast and attend opening night. In addition, he will give two master classes, one to voice students and the other to the composition department.

With free admission and limited seating, CCM’s Studio Series productions remain one of the hottest tickets in town. Learn more about how secure your tickets by visiting ccm.uc.edu/about/villagenews/did-you-know/how-to-studio-series.

This production contains mature subject matter.

Performance Times

• 8 p.m. Friday, October 23
• 8 p.m. Saturday, October 24
• 2 p.m. Sunday, October 25

Location
Cohen Family Studio Theater, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Reserving Tickets
Admission is free, but reservations are required. Tickets become available at noon on Monday, Oct. 19. Visit the CCM Box Office or call 513-556-4183 to reserve. Limit two tickets per order.

Parking and Directions
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visit uc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the new U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots.

For directions to CCM Village, visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions.
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CCM Season Presenting Sponsor and Musical Theatre Program Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Community Partner: ArtsWave

CCM Presents Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Timeless ‘CAROUSEL’ Oct. 29 – Nov. 1

CCM’s acclaimed Mainstage Series continues this fall with a moving production of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel. Directed and choreographed by Diane Lala with musical direction by Roger Grodsky, Carousel runs Oct. 29 through Nov. 1 in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium. Tickets for all performances are on sale now.

Based on the 1909 play Liliom, Carousel tells a story of tragedy, forgiveness and timeless love through the turbulent relationship of Julie Jordan, a quiet, naïve millworker, and Billy Bigelow, a swaggering, carefree carnival barker.

CCM Professor of Musical Theatre Diane Lala directs and choreographs the show, which was hailed as the “best musical of the 20th century” by Time Magazine. Fittingly, Lala’s approach to the show is to let the material speak for itself. “Carousel is such a classic piece of musical theatre,” she explains. “My goal is to present the show the way the writers intended it.”

Lala is no stranger to the works of Rodgers and Hammerstein, having previously helmed CCM’s 2011 production of Oklahoma!. Lala notes that although the two musicals were written back to back, they are quite different. “A lot of the uplifting spirit in Oklahoma! comes from the feeling of community around making Oklahoma a state. In Carousel we deal with the much darker issue of a marriage between two people who are completely different but who have this captivating and enduring love for each other.”

Richard Rodgers portrays the love story gloriously in his sweeping score, which he maintained was his personal favorite of all the shows he wrote.

CCM Professor of Musical Theatre Roger Grodsky and second-year graduate student Danny White will co-conduct the 39-piece orchestra for this production. The duo will honor Rodgers by utilizing a restored version of the original 1945 orchestrations. “The restoration process began in 2003 and there are literally hundreds of parts that have been reinstated or corrected,” says Grodsky. “People may be surprised to hear that that the correct lyric for ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ is: ‘When you walk through a storm, KEEP YOUR CHIN up high’ not ‘hold your head’!”

Carousel‘s timeless score also includes such standards as “If I Loved You” and Billy’s powerful seven-minute solo “Soliloquy.”

In addition to the full orchestra, the technical elements of the show will be quite grand. However, Lala notes that the juxtaposition of these elements with the intimacy of the story is what makes this production special. “In the beginning of the show, we transform from a bare stage to a full amusement park including a big carousel, so the set and musical numbers are really big and elaborate but then the scenes are so dramatic and simple. There’s a wonderful contrast all within the same show.”

With its timeless story, glorious score, and stunning visuals, CCM’s production of Carousel is sure to delight audiences and create a memorable evening of theater.

Special thanks to Carol Ann’s Carousel, A Gift of The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation.

Performance Times

• 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29
• 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30
• 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31
• 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1

Location
Corbett Auditorium, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Purchasing Tickets
Tickets to Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel are $31-35 for adults, $20-24 for non-UC students and $18-22 UC students with a valid ID.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online at ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice/mainstage/carousel.

Parking and Directions
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visit uc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the new U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots.

For directions to CCM Village, visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions.
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CCM Season Presenting Sponsor and Musical Theatre Program Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Mainstage Season Production Sponsor: Macy’s

Carousel Production Sponsor: The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation.

Community Partner: ArtsWave

Opera Fusion: New Works Grant Renewed by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

 

Cincinnati Opera and CCM are pleased to announce that their groundbreaking joint program, Opera Fusion: New Works, has been renewed by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation with a gift of $300,000, which will fund another six workshops over the next three years.

Thanks to a generous grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Opera Fusion: New Works was created in 2011 to foster the development of new American operas. The program offers composers or composer/librettist teams the opportunity to workshop an opera during a 10-day residency in Cincinnati, utilizing the talent, personnel, and facilities of both organizations. The workshops are cast with a combination of CCM students and professional artists, and each workshop concludes with a public performance. The program is led by co-artistic directors Marcus Küchle, Director of Artistic Operations of Cincinnati Opera, and Robin Guarino, the J. Ralph Corbett Distinguished Chair of Opera at CCM.

“We are thrilled that The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation recognized the impact and importance of this collaboration,” said Patricia K. Beggs, The Harry Fath General Director & CEO of Cincinnati Opera. “The mainstage success of the operas that have come through Opera Fusion: New Works is a testament to the invaluable workshop opportunity the program offers to a new piece.”

“Opera Fusion: New Works provides CCM’s students with something truly remarkable: an opportunity to work directly with world-class artists on the development of new creative works,” said Peter Landgren, the Thomas James Kelly Professor of Music and Dean at CCM. “This workshopping process allows our students to exercise a very different set of artistic and pedagogical muscles, when compared to the process of learning standard repertoire. These life-changing opportunities would not be possible without The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s generous support of experiential learning at CCM, and we could not have a better partner in this endeavor than Cincinnati Opera.”

“We are incredibly grateful for the trust in and recognition of our work with Opera Fusion: New Works over the past three years that is expressed through this generous grant by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation,” said Marcus Küchle, co-artistic director of Opera Fusion: New Works. “These are exciting times for the development of new opera and we are thrilled to continue to play a meaningful role.”

In 2011, Opera Fusion: New Works awarded its first workshop to composer Douglas J. Cuomo and librettist John Patrick Shanley in support of their new opera Doubt, which premiered at Minnesota Opera in January 2013. In 2012, Opera Fusion: New Works provided workshops for Champion, by composer Terence Blanchard and librettist Michael Cristofer, which premiered at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in June 2013; and Morning Star, by composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist William M. Hoffman, which premiered at Cincinnati Opera in June 2015. In 2013, the residency went to Fellow Travelers, by composer Gregory Spears and librettist Greg Pierce, which will have its world premiere at Cincinnati Opera on June 17, 2016. In 2014, the program invited composer Jake Heggie and librettist Terrence McNally to workshop Great Scott, which will premiere at The Dallas Opera on October 30, 2015. For the final workshop of the original six-workshop grant, the residency was awarded to Meet John Doe, with music and libretto by the late Daniel Catán.

“Over the past three years, Opera Fusion: New Works has had a seismic effect on the current art of opera, developing six world premieres, all operas with vital themes for today’s audiences,” said co-artistic director Robin Guarino. “We kick off the next three years and the renewal of our grant with an opera by an innovative composer and librettist team.”

‘Shalimar the Clown’ is adapted from the 2005 novel of the same name by Salman Rushdie.

The first opera to benefit from the new cycle of workshops will be Shalimar the Clown, which will receive a residency in Cincinnati from October 7 to 17, 2015. The new opera features music by Jack Perla and a libretto by Rajiv Joseph, adapted from the 2005 novel of the same name by Salman Rushdie.

The opera will have its world premiere at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis on June 11, 2016. The workshop will be directed by James Robinson, artistic director at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, who will also direct the mainstage premiere, and will be conducted by Roberto Kalb, the resident assistant conductor at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. This is the second time that Opera Fusion: New Works has awarded a workshop to an opera with an upcoming premiere at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; the first was the aforementioned Champion, by composer Terence Blanchard and librettist Michael Cristofer.

The 10-day workshop will culminate in a free public reading of excerpts at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 17, 2015 at the newly-opened Over-the-Rhine event space The Transept, 1205 Elm Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202. Tickets are available now through the Cincinnati Opera box office; call 513-241-2742 to reserve. The performance will stream on the Cincinnati Opera website at cincinnatiopera.org.

“I’ve been hoping to work with Robin, Marcus, and Opera Fusion: New Works for some time, and I couldn’t ask for better than to do so with Shalimar the Clown,” said composer Jack Perla. “This is a tremendous opportunity to test and fine-tune this opera stem to stern—to assess its pacing, vocal writing, and dramatic development, well in advance of production and the work’s premiere. Director Jim Robinson, librettist Rajiv Joseph, and the Opera Fusion: New Works team all together in one place, focused on that effort? I couldn’t ask for a better situation for developing this ambitious piece.”

“Workshops such as these are essential for the development of new works such as Shalimar,” said librettist Rajiv Joseph. “It’s one thing to sit in one’s room and write out a bunch of sentences and lyrics, hoping they’re perfect. But, for me at least, it’s not until I can hear them read—and sung—aloud in a room that I have any idea whether what I’ve done is working. Usually it’s not, and so the real work begins.”

About Shalimar the Clown
Shalimar the Clown tells the story of Shalimar and his beloved Boonyi, who have grown up together in a pastoral Kashmiri village, making people laugh as acrobats and dancers in a traditional folk theater. Though one is Muslim and one is Hindu, they fall in love—and despite all odds, their village embraces their marriage. But when a new American ambassador sees Boonyi dance, dark clouds gather. The promise of a new life tears their love apart and sends Shalimar down a path of revenge.

About composer Jack Perla
Composer and pianist Jack Perla is active in opera, jazz, chamber, and symphonic music. His operas and instrumental compositions have been widely performed, and he has performed in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, forging a reputation for his unique cross-fertilization of jazz and classical music. Perla has been commissioned by Seattle Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Houston Grand Opera, and the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition. He is also a recipient of the Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Composers Award, as well as awards, support, and recognition from the Argosy Fund for New Music, the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and numerous other organizations. Called “a gripping piece of musical theater,” An American Dream, Perla’s fifth work for a major U.S. company, received its premiere with Seattle Opera in August 2015. Enormous Changes, Perla’s third jazz recording, was recently released on Origin Records, and Pretty Boy, a new disc of chamber and vocal music, is slated for release this winter. Perla grew up in Brooklyn and lived in New York City while attending NYU and the Manhattan School of Music. He earned his D.M.A. in composition from the Yale School of Music, and lives and works in San Francisco.

About librettist Rajiv Joseph
Rajiv Joseph is the author of the Broadway play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, which was a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama and was also awarded a grant for Outstanding New American Play by the National Endowment for the Arts. Joseph’s other plays include Guards at the Taj, The North Pool, Gruesome Playground Injuries, Animals Out of Paper, Mr. Wolf, and The Lake Effect. Joseph has written for television, including seasons 3 and 4 of the award-winning Showtime series Nurse Jackie. He also has written for film, and is the co-writer of the 2014 Lionsgate feature Draft Day and the upcoming release, Army of One. He received his B.A. in Creative Writing from Miami University and his M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He served for three years in the Peace Corps in Senegal and now lives in Brooklyn.

About stage director James Robinson
James Robinson is the artistic director at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where he has directed the world premieres of Terence Blanchard’s Champion and Ricky Ian Gordon’s 27 in addition to John Adams’s Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer, the American premiere of Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland and Tobias Picker’s Emmeline. His work has been seen throughout the world at such companies as the Wexford Festival, the Royal Swedish Opera, Opera Australia, Canadian Opera Company, the London Symphony, Welsh National Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, New York City Opera, Dallas Opera, Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, the Hollywood Bowl, and the Aspen Music Festival. He has directed several productions for the Santa Fe Opera, including the American premiere of Huang Ruo’s Dr. Sun Yat-Sen and will return in 2016 for Vanessa. Other future projects include Nixon in China for Houston Grand Opera, The Elixir of Love for the Canadian Opera Company, and the world premiere of Shalimar the Clown for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

Opera Fusion: New Works is sponsored by a generous grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.