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The Sault Opera LegacyA look back at the seasons and productions of Sault OperaPrinter-Friendly Pages |
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1976
Sault Opera kicked off the year with the musical "Cabaret" with two new people joining in the cast: Larry Whalen as Clifford Bradshaw (soon to become the Sault's new matinee idol), Mary Lou (Sicoly) Weiss as Sally Bowles, Roy Mitchell as the Customs Official, and David Woolhouse as Herr Schultz. In addition, the new talent that came aboard in the last two shows and members of the Sault Opera establishment once again filled in the remaining lead parts with Vilma Ambel as Fraulein Schneider, Dario Laurenti as the Emcee, Stephen Budge as Ernst Ludwig, and many others. Helen Syjut once again did the choreography, with the assistance of her pupils. Arno Ambel directed the music and Darius Dudley, renowned for his excellent portrayal of Judas in "Jesus Christ Superstar" produced and directed the show. Also, "Cabaret" was Sault Opera's entry into the 1976 QUONTA Regional Drama Festival at Espanola Secondary School.
Due to the overwhelming requests for tickets to "Jesus Christ Superstar" after the show closed on September 13 of the previous year, Sault Opera decided to put on a repeat performance for three nights in April during the Easter weekend with a slightly different cast due to the inavailability of a few of the original 1975 cast members. Once again, the audience was moved by the story of the last seven days of Jesus and it gave them a new perspective of the significance of Good Friday and Easter.
When summer rolled around, the gang got together to build a float for the Rotary Community Day Parade. For this year, Sault Opera entered a float to promote its two upcoming shows for the 1976/77 season: Mozart's "Cosi Fan Tutte" in the fall and "Showboat" in the spring of 1977. The float won the Grand Prize in the parade and, naturally, everyone had a great time.
In December, Sault Opera presented "Cosi Fan Tutte" (or "Women Are Like That) by W. A. Mozart, featuring Erika Dello as Fiordiligi, Gloria Chase as Dorabella, Larry Whalen as Guglielmo, Bob MacDonald as Ferrando, Dorothy-Ann Nelson as Despina, Darius Dudley as Don Alfonso, and a chorus of 20 with Arno Ambel directing the music and Vilma Ambel designing the costumes. For this production, the company hired a professional set designer, Richard Banigan, with financial assistance from the Ontario Arts Council.