The Sault Opera Legacy

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1999 - 2004 Goodbye and Thanks!

Sault Opera presented three shows in 1999: "Into The Woods" by Stephen Sondheim, a remake of "Guys and Dolls", and its final production "Dracula, the Musical?".

To start the year off and end its 1998/99 season, Sault Opera presented Stephen Sondheim's "Into The Woods", an ingenious re-mangling of Grimm's fairy tales into a musical metaphor for that scary journey called life. Doris Chaumont starred as the Baker's Wife along with Patricia Pulcine as Little Red Riding Hood, Annette Aitken as Jack's Mother, Sarah Whalen as the Witch, Julie Blais as Cinderella, Christopher Whitlock as the Baker, Lloyd Campbell as Jack, and many others, especially the pseudo-cow Milky White as Herself.

Once again, Sault Opera called upon Richard Howard to direct this show as he has directed many other blockbuster shows for Sault Opera such as "Oklahoma", "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Evita", "Zorba", and "Sweeney Todd" as well as nurtured and mentored many of the Sault's theatre talent. Diane Wysynski produced the show with help from Lorraine Smith directing the music, Bonnie Forsell directing vocals, costume design by Lisa Kozak, set design by Christine Mozarowski, lighting design by Joseph Lauzon, Mary White as the stage manager, Milky White and other special props created by Bonnie Guzzo, and many others working behind the scenes.

The show received a good review with Robin Waples calling the show "...a spirited, thoroughly charming mix of morals, music, and magic that is so incredibly well executed it would be at home on any stage, any where, professional or otherwise."

"The sound, lighting, costuming, special effects and set design present a powerful supporting life to a cast that entertains from the tip of Cinderella's slipper to the top of Rapunzel's tower."

"The music, although challenging in its structure, is haunting and heartfelt in every rendering, the characterizations are sincere, and the focus right on the mark."

"It's obvious that this director has great respect for this theatrical gem and that respect radiates from his cast."("Opera's Into the Woods: delectable, didactic dream", The Sault Star, Wednesday, March 24, 1999)

Don Nixon as Arvide Abernathy, Yvette Tiplady as a Mission Doll, Kelly Turner as Sgt. Sarah Brown, Sasha Tatasciore as Agatha, and Lynne McKinley as a Mission Doll in "Guys and Dolls"

In May, Sault Opera did a remake of the classic musical "Guys and Dolls" based on the book and characters by Damon Runyon. Coincidentally, the new charity casino also opened in the Sault (on the Canadian side, even though there were casinos up and running on the U. S. side in the Sault and Michigan Eastern U.P.). Jerry Robert starred high-roller Sky Masterson, along with Kelly Turner as the mission doll Sarah Brown, Greg Stone as the floating crap game operator Nathan Detroit, Rose Medaglia as Nathan's fiancee of 14 years Miss Adelaide, Jerry Tomei reprising his role as Big Julie, Chris Horsepool as Lt. Brannigan, and many others.

After her success with "My Favorite Year", Patricia Rose Near once again took the director's chair to direct this large-cast Broadway musical fable. The show was produced by Sault Opera's new president Kelly Halpin with Lorraine Smith directing music, choreography by Melissa Medaglia, Lori Maloney as stage manager, Ralph Medaglia as set designer, Brenda Ireland as costume co-ordinator, and many others at work behind the scenes.

Despite all the hard work that everyone put into this show, it did not get a good review.

Cast of "Guys and Dolls": (front) Jerry Tomei as Big Julie, Frank Medaglia as Society Max, Jerry Robert as Sky Masterson, Lloyd Campbell as Nicely-Nicely, James Whalen as a crapshooter, (back) Catherine Taddo as Big Julie's Girl, Chas Calam as Harry the Horse, Kevin Collar as Benny Southstreet, Greg Stone as Nathan Detroit, R. J. Brenner as Angie the Ox, and Rose Medaglia as Adelaide

"There's just too much standing around, waiting to say the lines. The cast members - many of whom are taking lead roles for the first time - are not given enough novel 'business' to keep their characters interesting. They give us glimpses of great potential, but need to be nudged by the director to strive for more creativity." (Robin Waples, "Lady Luck has work cut out for herself", The Sault Star, Thursday, May 27, 1999)

In October, a new gang of energetic directors, producers, actors, and backstage personnel decided to try something a little different: a Hallowe'en musical - "Dracula: The Musical?" Prompted by the necessity of lowering costs, they also performed it at a new venue - Club Princess - which was the old Princess theatre that was originally built for live theatre and then converted to a cinema and then into a night club.

Also, in hopes of attracting new audience members, the weekend evening performances were limited to ages 19 and over so that they could have a bar open. Also, audience members were encouraged to wear a costume for the Saturday performance and stick around after the show for a Hallowe'en bash.

Chas Calam starred as Johnathan Harker/Count Dracula, along with Shane Halpin as Dr. Van Helsing, Brent Running as Boris Renfield, Alfred Paul Poirier as Dr. Sam Seward, Leah Frost as Mina Seward, Susanne Myers as Sophie Seward, Sarah Huckson as Nelly Norton, and Catherine Taddo as Bubu Padoop.

Richard Karhu took the director's chair for the first time with the assistance of Kelly Halpin as producer, Marcus Scornaienchi directing the music, Shelagh Dowding as the choreographer, Penny Martin as stage manager, Chris Mozarowski as the set designer, and many others at work behind the scenes.

President Kelly Halpin knew that this was a gamble, just like the time when Sault Opera took a gamble with "Little Shop of Horrors" in 1988. As it turned out, local audiences were not quite ready for novel musicals. In fact she stated that Sault Opera was "'backed into a corner' financially, and hoping to appeal to a new demographic." (Robin Waples, "Sault Opera looking to Dracula to give organization a financial transfusion", The Sault Star, Monday, October 25, 1999)

As can be expected, the show received a terrible review. As a matter of fact, reviewer Robin Waples appealed: "Somebody save Sault Opera. Please. This company has served our community well, offering us the best of community theatre over many years. How can they have come to this?" ("Dracula curse strikes again, as Sault Opera is his latest victim", The Sault Star, Wednesday, October 27, 1999)

Only a handful of people came to see the performances and the show completely drained Sault Opera to the point that the company had to shut down operations and sell off its assets such as the computer and office equipment as well as the body-pack microphone systems.

The wardrobe became integrated with the wardrobe of the Kiwanis Community Theatre Centre and Arno Ambel became the custodian of the Sault Opera archives until his sudden death on August of 2004.

On August 27, 2004, Arno Ambel was in his bedroom taking a rest after doing some work on his computer. At the same time, Janis was also having a rest in her room across the hall. All of a sudden, she heard Arno fall and asked him if he was hurt. As it turns out, he was unconscious and Janis was unable to get into his room as the doorway was blocked. She quickly called 911 and, after struggling to get into his room, she started artificial respiration. The paramedics were able to get his heart started again and he was rushed to the hospital. Unfortunately, he was in a coma. After 48 hours of observation, the decision was made to discontinue life support. Janis and her children remained by his side until Arno stopped breathing, and was considered dead.

Funeral services were held on Thursday, September 2, 2004 at Zion Lutheran Church. In celebration of his musical achievements, the funeral featured a program of music including Paul Dingle playing Chopin's "Raindrop Prelude in D Flat Major", Christine Aceti singing a piece from one of Mozart's operas and "I Know that My Redeemer Liveth" from Handel's Messiah, and the Zion Lutheran Choir singing two more pieces. The casket bouquet featured copies of pieces of music he wrote placed into a scroll intermingled with the flowers along with his baton. 

The Sault Opera archives are, at time of writing, currently in the process of being relocated to the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library.

So, there you have it. Here we have a theatre company that raised the bar on excellence in musical theatre as well as introduced opera to this hockey-mad steel town. Another great legacy of Sault Opera is the countless new talented actors, singers, producers, directors, and backstage personnel that are now lending their skills and talents to theatre groups here in the Sault and around the world.

Thank you, Sault Opera!

Thank you, Mom and Dad!

- Fred Ambel, Webmaster and Developer.