The Sault Opera Legacy

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1974

Left to Right: Maria (Dorice Stephen), Gretl (Carol Leblanc), Marta (Ellen PooK), Liesl (Teresa Peeling), Kurt (Bruce Woodcock), Louisa (Sharon Arnill), Friedrich (Mark Bazely), Brigitta (Rosemary Peeling), and Capt. Von Trapp (Ernie Peeling) from "The Sound of Music"

The year 1974 was a busy year for Sault Opera with three productions staged. "The Sound of Music" was cast in the summer of the previous year and performed in January. Dorice Stephen and Ernie Peeling played the two major leads along with Vilma Ambel and Barb McGuire. This show was a first for Arno Ambel to produce, design, and diect both the music and staging for the show which became a great box office hit and brought Sault Opera's finances back in the black again.

Left to Right: Sister Berthe (Kerry McConnell), Sister Margaretta (Erika Dello), The Mother Abbess (Vilma Ambel), Sister Sophia (Dorothy-Ann Nelson) in the Nun's chorus in "The Sound of Music"

For its spring show, Sault Opera performed the operetta "Martha" featuring Lidija Fritsch, Bob MacDonald, Ted Hallin, Bill Murphy, Jo-Ann (Morgan) Wilson, Stephen Budge, and others playing the leads along with the Sault Opera Chorus and the Helen Syjut Dancers.

The Farmers' Chorus in Act III of "Martha"

Sault Opera opened the fall season with Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The King and I" in November featuring Bob Hill, Gloria Chase, Dorothy-Anne Nelson, Ted Hallin, Mark Bazely, Norman Ouellette, Ernie Peeling, Bill Murphy, Vilma Ambel, John Gribbon, Rosemary Peeling, and Herb Johnson in the lead roles along with a chorus of 40 and the Helen Syjut Dancers featured in the "play within the play", "The Small House of Uncle Thomas" in Act II. Arno Ambel designed, produced, and directed both the staging and the music along with the choreography of Helen Syjut and the costume designs by Vilma Ambel and Marilyn Welters.

"The King and I" Act II - Anna (Dorothy-Anne Nelson) and the School-Children

On a personal note, "The King and I" was also my debut on stage when I was 8 years old. I played one of the Siamese children along with my mother (Vilma Ambel) who played Lady Thiang. After that, I appeared in the chorus of two other Sault Opera productions in the years to come, including Jesus Christ Superstar and Calamity Jane, and I worked in various roles behind-the-scenes in numerous Sault Opera productions.

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