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P R O F I L E S | L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O
26
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December 7, 2015 - January 17, 2016
Scene 2.
A month later. Messner, looking
disheveled and overworked, enters with supplies
and fresh clothes. He finds the generals and one
of the soldiers playing cards with Fyodorov.
Father Arguedas is cutting bread, the vice
president is mending a military jacket, Beatriz
is decorating her rifle with flowers. Meanwhile,
Roxane gives César a singing lesson with Gen
translating and Hosokawa looking on. Messner
is aghast that all are complacently going about
their lives despite the untenable situation. He
tries to shake them from their stupor, warning
that the government is just biding its time.
Saying he’s failed everyone, Messner implores
the generals to save themselves and give up the
siege. He collapses, shivering, and some of the
captors gently help him to bed.
Father Arguedas calls everyone together for
prayer, and the group sings a Gregorian chant.
With Gen translating, Roxane surreptitiously
asks Carmen to bring Hosokawa to her room
that night. Later, in the dark of night, Roxane
and Hosokawa fall into each other’s arms in
Roxane’s room, as do Carmen and Gen in a
storage room by the kitchen.
Scene 3.
Morning. Father Arguedas and the vice
president serve coffee to the hostages. Messner,
who has spent the night, tells Roxane they’re at
the point where only a miracle can bring about
a peaceful solution. General Alfredo signals for
the hostages to clear the floor so the soldiers can
play soccer. Roxane protests that it’s time for
César’s singing lesson. General Alfredo agrees
to take the game outdoors.
With halting attempts to speak each
others’ language, Hosokawa and Carmen
conspiratorially agree that the previous night
was unforgettable. César warms up his voice
with Roxane accompanying him at the piano.
Rumbling arises from inside the house, and
Peruvian soldiers burst through the floor. César
tries to flee and is shot. A frantic Hosokowa
tries to protect Carmen, but both are shot.
Chaos ensues as more soldiers storm the room,
hostages flee, and gunfire is everywhere. The
vice president orders the soldiers to cease fire.
Roxane rushes to Hosakawa, but he is already
dead. Gen finds Carmen, and she dies in his
arms. The dead are carried off, and everyone
exits except Roxane, who is left alone in the
wake of the violence.
—
Synopsis by Maia Morgan
BEL CANTO
Synopsis
(
continued from pg. 17.
)
Story
, the thriller
Neat Freak
, and the music
videos
Butt Drunk
with Amanda DeSimone
(The Friars Club Comedy Film Festival special
jury prize) and
Eating 4 Two
. He has also
created the behind-scenes documentary of
Julie Taymor’s feature film
The Tempest
and
promotional documentaries for the Broadway
musical
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
, along
with numerous productions at New York City
Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
MICHAEL BLACK
(
Chorus Master
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Chorus master since 2013-
14; interim
chorus master,
2011-12.
Lyric’s chorus master’s
activities earlier this year,
following the company’s 2014-15 season,
included preparing the choruses for
The Mar-
riage of Figaro
at Western Australian Opera,
Britten’s
War Requiem
with the Melbourne
Symphony Orchestra (Sir Andrew Davis con-
ducting), and Haydn’s
Harmoniemesse
for his
Grant Park Festival debut. Chorus master
from to 2001 to 2013 at Opera Australia,
Black prepared the OA chorus for more than
90 operas and many concert works. At OA he
progressed from rehearsal pianist to assistant
chorus master and children’s chorus master,
before his appointment as chorus master.
He has served in that capacity for such dis-
tinguished organizations as the Edinburgh
Festival, Holland Park Opera (London), and,
in Australia, the Sydney Symphony Orches-
tra (including Rachmaninoff’s
The Bells
, led
by Vladimir Ashkenazy), and Philharmonia
Choir, Motet Choir, and Cantillation chamber
choir. As one of Australia’s most prominent
vocal accompanists, Black regularly performed
for recitals, broadcasts, and recordings (he
has been heard numerous times in Australian
Broadcast Corporation programs). He has
been a lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium
of Music, of which he is an alumnus.
SARAH HATTEN
(
Wigmaster and Makeup
Designer
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Wigmaster and makeup
designer since 2011-12.
Lyric’s wigmaster and
makeup designer has
worked in a wide repertoire at Des Moines
Metro Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre
(both since 2006), as well as Columbus Opera,
Toledo Opera, the Cabrillo Music Festival,
and the University of Cincinnati College-
Conservatory of Music. She has also worked at
the Glimmerglass Festival and the major opera
companies of Los Angeles, Omaha, Cleveland,
Sarasota, and Central City, as well as Wiscon-
sin’s American Players Theatre and, in Los
Angeles, the Pantages Theatre and the Geffen
Playhouse. Hatten earned a B. A. in music at
Simpson College.
NICK SANDYS
(
Fight Director
)
Previously at Lyric Opera
:
45 productions since
1995-96, most recently
Wozzeck
(2015-16);
Car-
ousel
,
The Passenger
(both
2014-15).
A certified teacher and fight director with The
Society of American Fight Directors, the British
fight director has created fight choreography for
numerous Chicago companies, including the
Goodman Theatre (more than 25 productions,
most recently
The Iceman Cometh
), Steppenwolf
Theatre Company (including
Who’s Afraid of
Virginia Woolf?
, Broadway revival), Victory
Gardens, Lookingglass, Shattered Globe, and
The Theatre School at DePaul University (fac-
ulty member since 1995). His work nationally
includes the Metropolitan Opera (
Prince Igor
,
Giulio Cesare
,
Il trovatore
), Portland Opera, and
Florentine Opera, as well as the major theater
companies of Kansas City, Baltimore, India-
napolis, Dallas, and Forth Worth, among many
others. In Chicago Sandys’s fight choreography
has received four Joseph Jefferson Award nomi-
nations, winning in 2008 (
Requiem for a Heavy-
weight
). Sandys is also producing artistic direc-
tor of Remy Bumppo Theatre Company. As an
actor he has appeared with numerous Chicago-
area theaters, receiving another six Jeff nomina-
tions for acting and two for directing (
Traves-
ties
and
Our Class
, both at Remy Bumppo).
He is the recipient of a 2011 Achievement
Award from The Meier Charitable Foundation
for the Arts.