The Sault Opera Legacy

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1983

Up to this point, Sault Opera has firmly established its reputation of being the producer of musical theatre of the best artistic quality in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. In the first half of this year, the company had commited itself in its 1982/93 season subscription package to bring in the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble with their production of "Die Fledermaus" on March 5 and to produce "The Merry Wives of Windsor" in May. The production of "Die Fledermaus" was arranged as part of a three-day residency of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble, sponsored by the Downtown Kiwanis Club, which took over the sponsorship of the other performances during this residency. Sault Opera, as participating sponsor, was responsible for the artistic costs of "Die Fledermaus", and was to receive the gate receipts of the performance, which was well received and had a sold-out house.

Male leads of "The Merry Wives of Windsor"
Back (L to R): Mr. Page (Frank Elliott), Mr. Ford (Avo Kittask), Fenton (James McLean)
Front (L to R): Cajus (Wilf Beauchamp), Falstaff (John King), Slender (Dave Bumbaco)

"The Merry Wives of Windsor" was planned to be the artistic highlight of Sault Opera's production of classical opera. For this reason, professional guest artists were hired in greater numbers than in the past, augmented by the best local talent the company could muster. The show was produced by Dick Jenkins and directed by Virginia Reh, with the music directed by Arno Ambel (assisted by Lorraine Smith) and choreographed by Stephen Rutti. A professional stage manager, Denis Themens of the National Ballet of Canada, was also hired for this production. Two major leads, James McLean and Avo Kittask, were hired from Toronto. Of local talent, Sister Barbara Ianni, Louise Griffith, Debbi Ollikkala, John King, Frank Elliott, Wilf Beauchamp, and Dave Bumbacco, made up the rest of the well-balanced group of leads. David Griffith of Toronto's Gryphon Theatre designed the set for the show and Paul Willert executed the set construction.

Also, like in other shows such as "Don Giovanni", "JC Superstar", "Damn Yankees", and "The Barber", there was a near disaster when a young man in the chorus of "The Merry Wives" accidently stepped off a seven-foot riser and fell into the orchestra pit during the opening night performance, lying there unconscious for 20 minutes and being administered to by a "doctor in the house". A duet by "Falstaff" and "Mr. Ford" in process on stage did not miss a note; however, both actors, who were unaware of the goings-on in the orchestra pit, were very dismayed of the poor response to their masterful efforts on stage by the audience until they saw the paramedics carrying the young man out of the theatre. That actor (Mark Trask) recovered and was back on stage two days later but was reblocked to a different position on stage, not on top of the same riser.

The predictions of the artistic quality of this show certainly did come true, and the opera received very good reviews. In spite of this, classical opera still does not seem to attract the same number of theatre-goers as the more popular titles. Nevertheless, the total audience for all four performances of "The Merry Wives" was approximately 2000, which was better than in the past years but not nearly as big a number that the popular musicals usually attracted. Grants from Wintario for visiting artists and from Theatre Ontario helped to offset the financial losses for this production, which otherwise would have put the company in serious financial trouble.

A great blow to Sault Opera, as well as to the whole artistic community of Sault Ste. Marie, was the illness of Vilma Ambel, which culminated in her unexpected death on April 8, 1983. Vilma was a founding member of Sault Opera as well as a member of the Board of Directors of Theatre Ontario. She had performed primary lead roles in thirteen Sault Opera stage productions and designed costumes for twenty-five. She won the award for best costumes in the 1975 QUONTA Festival. "The Merry Wives of Windsor" was dedicated to the memory of Vilma.

Another great loss to Sault Opera was the accidental death of Paul Willert in the summer of 1983 while on a fishing expedition in the Straits of Mackinac. He fell overboard and drowned before rescuers could reach him. Paul had constructed many of Sault Opera's sets and his ingenious inventive talent in set construction will be greatly missed.

In recognition for his outstanding contribution to the cultural life of Sault Ste. Marie, founder and music director Arno Ambel received the George Wallace Memorial Award in the summer of 1983.

Sault Opera kicked off its 1983/84 season with "Fiddler on the Roof", with professional visiting artist Gerry Pearson directing the show and designing the set. Diane (Wysynski) Cropper produced the show, with Arno Ambel (with the assistance of Lorraine Smith) directing the music, and Steve Rutti choreographing the show as well as playing the part of the fidder. All major leads were cast locally, featuring John King as Tevye, Brenda Gravelle as Golda, Ann Aaviku as Tzeitel, Louise Griffith as Hodel, Theresa Laurenti as Chava, Debra Morin as Yente, Dario Laurenti as Motel, Larry Jannison as Perchik, Wilf Beauchamp as Lazar Wolf, and Ken Belanger as Fyedka. The company was also fortunate in getting talented people for the other lead parts and the chorus.

Sandra O'Brien as Fruma Sarah in "The Fiddler on the Roof"

The show was such a hit that it achieved a well-deserved artistic acclaim for its performance as well as two sold-out houses in addition to box office returns in excess of $15000. "Oklahoma!" was the only other show to have topped this figure. Since "Fiddler" incurred high production costs and received no grant assistance for hiring a professional director, the show just made a comparatively small net surplus. The audience enjoyed the show so much that they clapped in time to a curtain-call encore of "If I Were A Rich Man". As a matter of fact, this production of "Fiddler on the Roof" is still being talked about as having been one of the best musicals ever performed in Sault Ste. Marie.

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