Opera Bob!

This summer, our musical adventures have mostly taken place with a new opera company in Minneapolis called Opera Bob! Yes, it's a weird name for an opera company, but the name is meant to reflect the company's goal to be a more accessible, less formal presenter of opera in the community.

Opera Bob was brought into existence to fill a void in our community: we have one major regional opera company here, The Minnesota Opera, but despite the many theater companies in the Twin Cities, The Minnesota Opera is the only opera company. There are one or two theaters in town that occasionally present an opera, and a few that present musical theater, but in a town full of small, independent theater companies and a community eager to patronize them, Opera Bob's founders thought that there exists a potential audience for independent opera that emphasizes the drama and the music as equal parts of the art form. So many people belive that opera singers are bad actors or that opera is melodramatic and cheesy (and sometimes, those things may be true!), but good opera as an art form doesn't emphasize the music at the expense of the drama - these elements go hand in hand. In good opera, the music serves the drama, and great composers throughout the centuries knew how to take even mediocre poetry and turn it into compelling theater. And that is what Opera Bob hopes to do: perform compelling theater by great composers.

Actually, you can read Opera Bob's mission statement here, on the website. (The website isn't professional-looking yet, but we are getting there!) There are so many neglected, rarely-performed gems by great composers, and this is where Opera Bob hopes to carve a niche in this city.

So, this summer, Chandler and I have been performing in fundraisers for Opera Bob, helping to raise the funds to underwrite our very first show at the Minnesota Fringe Festival in August. All the singers are emerging professionals (you can read the biographies on the Opera Bob website) who are helping raise funds (donate at the website - it's tax deductible!) because we are really excited about this new company. Our Fringe Festival show is actually five scenes from five different operas by four different composers that hang together on a common theme. We decided not to do a full opera, since we are limited by the Fringe to a presentation under 50 minutes, but I think these five scenes are going to hold together really well and give our audiences a taste of some fantastic drama!

I'll be back later to tell you more about our show!