Page 21 - Classical Singer Magazine November/December 2019

“I urge singers to experience all of the arts. Go to see plays, operas, musicals. Go to lms and observe what choices the actors or artists have made to depict their characters.”
I studied with her for years and then had another teacher after that for years as well. If you don’t get to
go to university for training, then you have to gure it out yourself and keep your eyes open. Thank goodness I was always lucky enough to be employed, so I saturated myself by learning on the job.
How did you get your start as a choreographer?
Well, I fell into it because somebody opened a door and said, “We need your help!” And then I did Broadway show after Broadway show. At 22, I stopped doing it because I wanted to use the acting skills and comedy skills I had learned. So I did tons of industrial shows (they paid well) and then returned to Broadway about three years later.
How did you get started as a stage director?
When I returned to Broadway and did a string of shows there, something had changed. What changed was the fact that I met this tenor—an operatic tenor [Harry Danner]. We did a show together and then he was taken into the Metropolitan Opera studio. So, we married! And I started learning all about opera.
I had seen a few operas but, through Harry, I soon became a part of the opera world. I was working at the Lincoln Center at that time while he was singing La bohème. Shortly after, I went to Lake George Opera, where I met
a brilliant director [Patrick Bakman] on his rst solo show as director. He asked me to choreograph Die Fledermaus. Though I told him I had never done this sort of thing for the opera world before, I nevertheless agreed to take it on.
Next, he invited me to Tulsa Opera with him to do “Baby Doe” as assistant director. I said, “What am I supposed to do? I don’t know how to do any of this!” He responded simply, “Be my eye.”
So I never really learned, even then, how to be an assistant director, how to take notes, etc. He wanted me to watch. Here was a man with all sorts of degrees; he was the opposite of me. But I had the practical knowledge. He opened my eyes to so many things. That was my start in opera.
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Photo: Richard Termine
www.csmusic.net 21