Townsend Opera’s ‘Our Town’ asks audiences to realize life while they live it

Sing it, Grover’s Corners.

The famed Thornton Wilder play “Our Town” gets the operatic treatment in a new production from Townsend Opera. The beloved tale about small-town America, life, death and morality in fictional Grover’s Corners opens Saturday, Jan. 21, at Gallo Center for the Arts.

“Our Town” director Alison Moritz, who has previously worked with Seattle Opera, Austin Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis and more, said the opera presents the show’s everyday themes that still resonate today despite the turn-of-the-20th-century setting.

“This is a story I think everyone can relate to. It’s about time, getting older and making the most of this life,” Moritz said. “It is challenging themes presented in an accessible way.”

At the center of the story are Emily Webb (soprano Sarah Shafer) and George Gibbs (tenor Jonas Hacker), whose lives are followed over the course of the three acts. The Townsend newcomers said the story translates well from stage play to full-length opera.

Hacker said the opera, which was created in 2006 by composer Ned Rorem and librettist J.D. McClatchy, is modern yet homey in its score. And unlike other operas with grand settings and diva personalities, the characters of “Our Town” are everyday folks. So getting into character was a matter of looking into their own lives.

“You play from your own life,” Hacker said. “It’s a rare opportunity to just play you and not someone else. Just normal people with normal lives.”

The opera also pares down the cast, making for a more intimate show. Nine actors fill the lead roles, and they will be accompanied by a Townsend Chorus of 25 singers. Tenor Alex Mansoori makes his debut as the stage manager, the show’s narrator and guide through Grover’s Corners. Rounding out the cast are baritone Zeffin Quinn Hollis, last seen in “Sweeney Todd,” and mezzo-soprano Laura Krumm, from “Dead Man Walking,” as Mr. and Mrs. Webb; bass Eric Downs and mezzo-soprano Danielle Bond as Dr. and Mrs. Gibbs; mezzo-soprano Nicole Jacques as Mrs. Soames and tenor Robert Norman as Simon Stimson.

Moritz said while the story is timeless, the way Wilder wrote “Our Town” in the late 1930s is experimental. It includes a metatheatrical play-within-a-play structure, directly addressed to the audience and the omnipresent stage manager directing the action. And those aspects are amplified through the opera, which is sung in English.

“It pulls out this idea that the small things in everyday life can be the most important,” she said. “The play does that through theatrics. But in our case the music does it. That makes it slightly less cerebral and more visceral. You feel everything through the music.”

The show will coincide with a Gallo Center lobby exhibit called “Celebrate Our Town” that will be on display through the show’s run. The community event will feature archival photos of Modesto through the years as well as representatives from longtime area businesses and groups talking about the city’s history. The exhibit will be free and open to the public.

Shafer said in the end she hopes the simple story of these people’s lives told operatically touches the audience and makes them reflect.

“I want people to come away with a sense of appreciation for life,” she said. “The moral in this is to appreciate every moment. Because we don’t know how long we have, and life is fleeting.”

This story was originally published January 11, 2017 at 10:13 AM with the headline "Townsend Opera’s ‘Our Town’ asks audiences to realize life while they live it."