By Mark Morgan
Music Department, Eastern Nazarene College
Artistic Director, New England Light Opera

Mark Morgan, Artistic Director of New England Light Opera

“Mark, meet David Alan George.”

Karen Gahagan, staff assistant in the Center for the Creative and Performing Arts did the introductions at our performance of our new show The Gilbert and Sullivan Radio Hour back in the winter of 2007. By connecting Salem State Theater Coordinator David Alan George and me, we started a journey—a journey that would involve my company (New England Light Opera), two academic departments, multiple faculty and staff, 100+ Salem State students, and, in the end, hundreds of audience members.

From an initial conversation about having New England Light Opera (NELO) present the Radio Hour at Salem State, Kathleen McDonald Murphy and Karen Gahagan of the Center for the Creative and Performing Arts began to develop an idea that was to blossom into a full blown residency for NELO with the theater and music departments of Salem State College. Through the vehicle of operetta, the students in these departments would come together and learn through a program involving demonstration, education, and application. The residency developed out of a desire on the part of the staff of the Center for the Creative and Performing Arts to make connections between the music and theater departments at the school; to engender a cross-pollination of talent and ideas that would benefit the students in each.

Operetta is a true crossover vehicle—it lies in the gray area between theater and “classical” music and has been claimed at various points by either side, but is now mostly abandoned by both. The exception to that abandonment are the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. Their most popular work, The Pirates of Penzance, would serve as the culmination of the residency.

To get there, we started with the demonstration phase. NELO was proud to present two performances of The Gilbert and Sullvian Radio Hour at the College in September to enthusiastic audiences. The Radio Hour consists of two one acts, set in the world of a 1940’s live radio show. For the students who had never experienced Gilbert and Sullivan before, it was an opportunity to experience the specific theatrical language of Gilbert and Sullivan (a strong predecessor to later British humor such as the Monty Python troupe), performed by professional actors from throughout the Boston area.

The education phase began with the presentation of two masterclasses in the fall. The first masterclass, attended by some 100 students from both departments, provided an overview and introduction to the world of non-Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. The students were introduced to scenes and songs by Victor Herbert, Sigmund Romberg, Franz Lehar, and other greats of the genre. They were on their feet cheering before the last bars of Leonard Bernstein’s Glitter and Be Gay could be finished. Imagine—100 undergrads cheering this most un-hip of art forms. The second masterclass, taught by NELO stage director Peter A Carey, focused on musical storytelling. Selected students from each department were led through a process of moving from simply singing a song, to truly connecting with it simply and honestly, and conveying that to the audience. Further classes will focus on Gilbert and Sullivan style and a session designed to dispel myths and fears about opera.

The residency will culminate in the application portion—a full production of The Pirates of Penzance performed by the students from each department and directed by Theater Professor Celena Skye April. I will serve as music director for the production. Working with music department chair Mary Jo Grenfell, the orchestra will include student instrumentalists partnered with professional players. Together we will explore in detail the world of Gilbert and Sullivan, bridge the world between the theater and music, and help the students to become more complete artists.

I have had many contacts with many colleges over the last 20 years. Far more often than not there is a separation, if not downright antagonism, between the music and theater departments. This has always been incomprehensible to me. While the departments are not in the least antagonistic at Salem, the ability of students to work in both worlds is impeded by psychological, logistical, and geographical barriers. We are in a new era where the old understandings of what constitute works of theater versus music versus dance, etc., are increasingly breaking down. The distinction between what separates “high art” and “low art” are also disappearing. Younger people simply don’t consume (and I use the term deliberately) artistic product in the same way. These are largely irrelevant distinctions in their world.

In order then to educate artists for this new era, it is vital that we view their training in a far more holistic way. It is not enough if you can sing—you must be able to connect with an audience in a real and emotionally honest way. It is not enough that you can act—you must understand how to use your voice, and better yet to be able to do so in a musical context. It is not enough to dance—you must understand the dramatic and the musical, etcetera, etcetera. This residency is a small step to making some of these connections for the students here.

As someone who hires many singers and actors each year, it has become clear that our current mode of pedagogy (speaking of the education world in general, not necessarily here at Salem State) turns out performers who do not have the necessary skills to be artists. We need to take a gigantic sledgehammer to the walls – administrative, curricular, psychological, and physical – that separate our disciplines. We need to rethink our curricula so that we graduate whole artists who have the skills necessary to compete in this most difficult of professions. Actors should be required to take both voice and basic musicianship.  Singers would take both acting and dance. Dancers would take acting and basic musicianship. And yes, even the instrumentalists should take dance (you’d be amazed how many technically accomplished instrumentalists have a very limited sense of rhythmic pulse.)

We’d like to thank Karen and Kathleen, along with Theater Department Chair Bill Cunningham and Music Department chair Mary Jo Grenfell for their work in making this residency a reality. I hope that the experience of this residency, and the activities that NELO is undertaking elsewhere, will, in our own way, help start a conversation on these topics.

We owe the next generation of artists—and audiences—that much.

It’s time to connect.