ElJOHN Capitan PHILIP SOUSA THE OHIO LIGHT OPERA STEVEN BYESS Conductor STEVEN DAIGLE Artistic Director El Capitan Music............................................ John Philip Sousa PROGRAM NOTES ......................Michael D. Miller Lyrics.......................Thomas Frost, John Philip Sousa The lure of the operetta Book....................................................Charles Klein stage proved as irresistible to Ohio Light Opera America’s “March King,” Artistic Director....................................Steven Daigle John Philip Sousa, as it had a Conductor.............................................Steven Byess decade earlier to Vienna’s Stage Director.............................Jacob George Allen “Waltz King,” Johann Sound Designer......................................Brian Rudell Strauss. Born in Washington Choreographer.................................Carol Hageman D.C., Sousa (1854-1932) Costume Designer...................Charlene Alexis Gross gained musical experience as Scenic Designer....................................Kimberly Cox a teenaged violinist, not only Lighting Designer................................Paul R. Bourne in symphony orchestras, but Production Stage Manager..............Jennifer K. Burns also at Ford’s Theatre and the Washington Theatre CAST: Comique. In June 1876, John Philip Sousa Don Medigua (“El Capitan”).....Nicholas Wuehrmann Sousa travelled to Philadelphia and played under the Princess................................................Alta Dantzler baton of Jacques Offenbach, who was visiting America Isabel.........................................Nancy María Balach as part of the nation’s centennial celebration. And some Verrada...................................................Kyle Knapp two years before the unprecedented success of Gilbert Estrelda...............................................Tania Mandzy and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore on Broadway in 1879 Scaramba................................................Cory Clines provided the impetus for the development of an Amer- Cazarro.....................................David Kelleher-Flight ican operetta tradition, Sousa had begun the search for Pozzo...............................................Anthony Maida a librettist with whom he could collaborate on his own Nevado.............................................Ezra Bershatsky first full-length stage work. ENSEMBLE: On September 18, 1879, Sousa was issued a copy- Chelsea Basler, Ezra Bershatsky, Lori Birrer, John right for Katherine, an “opera in three acts,” with Callison, Malia French, Karla Hughes, Geoffrey libretto by Wilson J. Vance. It was never performed and Kannenberg, Jacqueline Komos, Sarah Levering, only fragments survive. By that time, however, he had Caroline Bassett Miller, Gary Moss, Max Nolin, Will also provided orchestrations for Gilbert and Sullivan’s Perkins, Erin Schmura, Michael Davis Smith, Mark The Sorcerer and H.M.S. Pinafore, the latter eliciting Snyder, Raina Thorne, Allison Toth. admiration from Sullivan, who saw this version during ❦ 2 ❦ evolution of American operetta. Two years later, his next operetta, Desirée, played Washington and Philadelphia for more than a month and marked the musical stage debut of comedian De Wolf Hopper who, a dozen years later, created the title role in Sousa’s El Capitan and who counted among his six wives future columnist Hed- da Hopper and Broadway star Lulu Glaser. After another disappointment with the three-performance run of The Queen of Hearts, whose large cast required an actor for each member of a deck of cards, Sousa turned his primary attentions away from the stage and focussed on writing marches and directing the Marine Band. His creative impulses De Wolf Hopper (1858-1935) eventually got the better of him his visit to New York City to over- and, taking up a suggestion by De Wolf Hopper to examine a libretto The Ohio Light Opera’s Nicholas see the world premiere of The Wuehrmann as Sousa’s El Capitan Pirates of Penzance. written by Charles Klein, agreed After an aborted 1881 operetta to write the music and serve as co- man, “to be the most enduring titled Florine, Sousa finally reached lyricist (with Thomas Frost) for American comic opera of the the stage in 1882 with The Smug- El Capitan. nineteeth century.” It premiered at glers, whose libretto was based on With the declining popularity the Tremont Theatre in Boston on Sullivan’s comic opera The Con- of Reginald DeKoven’s 1890 Robin April 13, 1896, transfered to trabandista. The work opened in Hood—attributable to the all-but- Manhattan’s Broadway Theatre Washington, played Philadelphia disappeance of its hit song, “Oh, seven days later, and for the next and Lancaster, PA, and then it promise me,” from weddings— four years played continuously folded—a financial disaster, but El Capitan can lay claim, according across the U.S. and Canada and artistically a positive step in the to musical historian Gerald Bord- for five months in London. ❦ 3 ❦ PLOT SYNOPSIS his wife, the Princess and daughter Spain have landed on Peruvian ACT I: Since his arrival from Spain, Isabel are kept in the dark about soil. El Capitan exhorts them all. the newly-appointed viceroy of his scheme. Isabel and her betrothed, Peru, Don Medigua, has main- “El Capitan” (the now- Verrada, meet, hoping to escape tained a low profile in order to disguised Medigua) arrives, to the imprisonment. Meanwhile El thwart a rebellion by followers of delight of the Peruvian populace Capitan has been leading his the deposed viceroy, Don Cazarro. and, in particular, Don Cazarro’s forces in exhaustive manoeuvers, No one outside of his immediate own daughter, Estrelda, and to the followed by bouts of drinking. court has ever seen his face. chagrin of Cazarro’s lieutenant, Cannons are heard—the Spanish The rebel forces have engaged Don Scaramba, her fiancé. forces have arrived and they rout the services of a famed Spanish the Insurgents. Before El Capitan mercenary, El Capitan. The foppish ACT II: The Viceroy’s palace has can disappear and “become” Don Medigua, however, knows that the fallen to the Insurgents, Pozzo, Medigua again, Estrelda exposes Capitan has been killed in a brawl mistaken for Medigua, is arrested. him. But all somehow ends hap- en route from Spain. Not known to El Capitan is celebrated as a hero pily—Don Medigua asks the the Peruvian populace, he decides and Cazarro offers him his daugh- Spanish general for clemency for to impersonate the mercenary ter’s hand. Although attracted, the the Insurgents. Estrelda and Scar- himself, to guarantee his safety disguised Medigua does love his amba are reunited, as are Isabel from Cazarro and the Insurgents. own wife and resists Estrelda. and Verrada and, in the end, the He sets up his own chamberlain, News suddenly arrives that relieved Don Medigua and his Pozzo, as “Don Medigua.” Even reinforcements from the King of wife the Princess. FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR For more than 30 years little of everything: a well-known Wooster, its community and The Ohio Light Opera has been and lesser-known Gilbert and nearly 500,000 patrons who dedicated to producing, promo- Sullivan, a Viennese operetta, a have championed the company's ting and preserving the best of French operetta, an American dedication to operetta have given the traditional operetta reper- operetta and a revival of a long- OLO a reputation that reaches toire. In any summer season, forgotten work that is given a internationally. In no small way, 20,000 patrons come to hear much-deserved rebirth for an Albany Records has added to the and see more than sixty perfor- appreciative audience. This CD company’s success. The company mances of seven productions on set will hopefully give the oper- and the operetta art form are the beautiful campus of The Col- etta aficionado a taste of what indebted to John Ostendorf and lege of Wooster in Ohio. These makes this company unique. Albany for their commitment. shows offer the operetta fan a The support of the College of Steven Daigle ❦ 4 ❦ Princess El Capitan This barbarous land uncouth In which our fortune is placed PRELUDE CD ONE, TRACK 1 Can ravish no eye of taste, Act One, SCENE TRACK 2 Nor charm the bosom of youth. The Viceroy’s palace in Peru. All (echoing her words) Castilian Nobles Nor charm... Nobles of Castilian birth, Princess, then All The proudest ancestry on earth, But in our exclusive set, Our golden goblets here we drain We breathe the air of Spain, Of rarest wine of royal Spain. As we hear the sweet refrain And so we sit, Of the rollicking castanet. While joyous minutes pass away, To the castanet’s sound let us trip... With cards and wine. Joy let us sip... Yes... Our life’s divine Isabel, then All And pleasure has full sway. Ah, beautiful land of Spain, Thieving, sleeving, each deceiving My heart is ever with thee. With Castilian grace. In visions, I cross the sea, The Princess (Alta Dantzler) There’s not a game that gamblers use And know thy pleasures again. From the sweet, pellucid fountains, The innocents to rifle And never shall I forget That her valleys course along, With which we do not trifle. Where the brave, the courtly dwell, From the eagle, boldly soaring We’re down to every dodge and ruse While living ‘neath the spell In the azure overhead, Our consciences to stifle, Of the rollicking castanet. All regretting, all deploring When we win or when we lose. To the castanet’s sound... There’s not... Nobles of Castilian... That our liberty is dead. Princess (enters with her daughter) Verrada (enters suddenly) From the mountians, the