Fri 4/1 @ 7:30PM
Sat 4/2 @ 3PM & 7:30PM
Sun 4/3 @ 3PM
While some of us were worrying about the impact the pandemic would have on our small arts groups, many of them proved to be remarkably nimble and emerged from the shutdown with fresh ideas and fresh energy.
One of those is Cleveland baroque chamber ensemble Les Delices, which explored multimedia presentation with its virtual offerings. Now, with its upcoming production The White Cat, it’s expanding its boundaries and pushing itself to an entirely new level. The short, family-friendly baroque opera, a first for the group, will include a host of new elements: sets, costumes, dancing, puppets, projections.
The narrative is based on a fairy tale written on a story by 17-century novelist Madame d’Aulnoy, who is said to have invented the term “fairy tale” to describe what she wrote.
“What I am most interested in is little-known repertoire and stories,” says Les Delices’ Artistic Director Debra Nagy. “I was really interested in women writers and women writers of fairy tales. The White Cat is a woman’s view of fairy tales. I’d actually been thinking about how to bring some attention to that history, thinking about a story that would lend itself well to a musical setting. The white cat is an educated individual who dances and recites poetry, and that seemed like a good conceit to bring into an opera.”
In 2019, Nagy began planning for the production, which was originally scheduled for the 2019-20 season, creating a storyboard and a score, incorporating music that Madame d’Aulnoy could have heard, by composers such as Jean-Baptiste Lully and François Couperin. With live performances on hold, the production continued to evolve. Venues changed; the set designer changed; she went through three sets of puppeteers. Ian Petroni ended up creating the set and puppets, while Camilla Tassi designed the projections. “It’s gotten bigger and more ambitious,” says Nagy.
The pandemic had an impact on how The White Cat is being presented; in going virtual, says Nagy, “Our visual processes have expanded, we were a production company in the pandemic.” In addition, The White Cat will be recorded for video and available virtually, something the ensemble began doing when live performances were halted. She says it’s caused her to think more about the afterlife of a production.
“You are not going to put in all of this work and money without a future,” she says. “I’ve always been interested in different opportunities to document artistic work. One of the things that’s so challenging about the performing arts is how ephemeral it is. You create something that’s so beautiful, you share it with an audience, and then it’s gone. There’s a whole lot to be said for that. But the thousands of dollars and countless hours I spent creating that work, having a document of that project if it’s worthwhile, original and creative, it deserves to exist in more than a moment in time and be appreciated by a wider audience that wasn’t able to be there.”
She was also thinking in terms of expanding Les Delices’ audience to younger listeners and those who might be unfamiliar with baroque music by giving them powerful visuals and a compelling, appealing story.
“All fairy tales are sort of cautionary in a way and the message of this one is that there’s no particular benefit in being greedy and possessive,” she says. “A cat with no power and a female character turns out to save the day and turns out to be generous and kind.”
The production features two singers familiar to area audiences, soprano Elena Mullins and tenor Jason McStoots, who is also the stage director, as well as dancer Samara Steele. The musical ensemble includes Debra Nagy and Kathryn Montoya on baroque oboes and recorders), Julie Andrijeski and Shelby Yamin on violins, Rebecca Reed on viola da gamba, and Mark Edwards harpsichord.
Performances take place at the Akron-Summit County Public Library on Friday April 1 and the Breen Center in Ohio City on Saturday April 2 and Sunday April 3.
Visit lesdelices.org for more information and tickets.