Friday, October 28, 2016 • 7:30 P.M. Sunday, October 30, 2016 • 2:00 P.M. STREET SCENE DEPAUL OPERA THEATRE Robert McConnell, conductor Harry Silverstein, director DePaul Concert Hall 800 West Belden Avenue • Chicago Friday, October 28, 2016 • 7:30 P.M. Sunday, October 30, 2016 • 2:00 P.M. DePaul Concert Hall DEPAUL OPERA THEATRE PRESENTS Street Scene Music by Kurt Weil Book by Elmer Rice Lyrics by Langston Hughes First Performance: January 9, 1947 New York, NY Conductor Robert McConnell Director Harry Silverstein Choreographer Sara Stewart Schumann Musical Preparation Nicholas Hutchinson CAST Abraham Kaplan Jianghai Ho Greta Fiorentino Chary Williams Carl Olsen Ryan Wolfe Emma Jones Megan Magsarili Olga Olsen Daina Fischer Shirley Kaplan Angela De Venuto Henry Davis Andrew Hannau Willie Maurrant Daniel Beatty Anna Maurrant Esther Rayo Sam Kaplan Benjamin Liupaogo Daniel Buchanan Sebastian Armendariz Frank Maurrant Thomas P. Hughes George Jones Ian Hosack Steve Sankey Tyler Ricco Lippo Fiorentino Daniel O’Hearn Jennie Hildebrand Mary Kate vom Lehn 1st Graduate Sarah Szeszol 2nd Graduate Margaret Schlofner 3rd Graduate Olivia Leone Mary Hildebrand Miranda Levin Mrs. Hildebrand Ashley Eason Charlie Hildebrand Kelby Roth DEPAUL OPERA THEATRE • OCTOBER 28 & OCTOBER 30, 2016 CAST Grace Davis Marisa Buchheit Joan Loren Jacob Rose Maurrant Madeline Ehlinger Harry Easter Andrew Groble Mae Jones Emily Margevich Dick McGann Connor Zuber Vincent Jones Ian Hosack Doctor Wilson Sarah Szeszol Officer Murphy Sarah Szeszol City Marshall Marisa Buchheit Salvation Army #1 Margaret Schlofner Salvation Army #2 Olivia Leone Offstage Voice Miranda Levin & Connor Zuber Woman Maria Consamus Strawberry Seller Maria Consamus Mrs. Buchanan Kelby Roth First Nursemaid Laura Smalley Second Nursemaid Emma WitbolsFeugen ORCHESTRA VIOLIN I DOUBLE BASS TRUMPET Arthur Masyuk, Robert Deal Audrey Lidke concertmaster Claire Hendrickson Hannah Cartwright FLUTE/PICCOLO Fan Zhang Emily Bieker TROMBONE Kseniya Sean Yeung Khvashchynskaya OBOE/ENGLISH HORN David Behm Ian Egeberg VIOLIN II TIMPANI Alina Kobialka, principal CLARINET Miyu Morita Lucas Brown Luke Eckhoff Mariela Shaker Michael Ippolito PERCUSSION Konrad Kowal Roy Cho Tommy Farnsworth Norbert Kosinski Viola BASS CLARINET Aleksa Kuzma, principal Roy Cho PIANO/CELESTA Marc Hornig Casey Dahl Karlita Williams BASSOON Nicholas Ritter HARP CELLO Lillian Reasor* Joshua Dema, principal HORN David Hyder Katie Seybold *guest Abby Black DEPAUL OPERA THEATRE • OCTOBER 28 & OCTOBER 30, 2016 SYNOPSIS ACT I Outside a multi-ethnic Manhattan tenement on a sweltering summer evening, some women are passing the time (“Ain’t It Awful, the Heat?”) while the janitor takes out the garbage (“I Got a Marble and a Star”). The women switch to gossiping about Anna Maurrant’s extramarital affair with Sankey the milkman (“Get a Load of That”); they stop when she enters. Mrs. Maurrant and young Sam Kaplan, who is in love with her daughter Rose, converse as Mr. Buchanan frets about his wife’s impending childbirth (“When a Woman Has a Baby”). Then Anna’s brutish (and suspicious) husband Frank arrives and demands to know why Rose hasn’t come home from work. After Frank goes inside, Anna pours out her frustrations and broken dreams, even as she continues to hope for a better life (“Somehow I Never Could Believe”). When Sankey walks by, Anna follows him, fueling the neighbors’ gossip (“Get a Load of That” reprise). Lippo Fiorentino arrives with ice-cream cones for everyone, providing relief (comic and otherwise) from the heat (“Ice-Cream Sextet”). Frank, not amused, rails against kids today and modern society (“Let Things Be Like They Always Was”). The Hildebrand family enters, about to be evicted from their apartment because they can’t pay the rent, even though oldest daughter Jenny has just won a scholarship (“Wrapped in a Ribbon and Tied in a Bow”). The building’s denizens retire for the night. Sam stays outside to lament his isolation in the midst of so many neighbors (“Lonely House”). After Sam goes in, Rose Maurrant finally enters, escorted by her lecherous boss Harry Easter. Easter tries to seduce her with promises of a show business career (“Wouldn’t You Like to Be on Broadway?”), but Rose rebuffs him (“What Good Would the Moon Be?”). Easter leaves as Frank enters. Mrs. Buchanan goes into labor, and Rose exits to summon the doctor. Mae Jones and her boyfriend Dick, who have been out partying, do a jitterbug on the sidewalk (“Moon-Faced, Starry-Eyed”). When Rose returns, Mae’s brother Vincent makes a pass at her. Sam comes out to defend her, and Vincent knocks him down. Rose comforts Sam, and the two share their dream of escaping the tenement’s squalor (“Remember That I Care”). DEPAUL OPERA THEATRE • OCTOBER 28 & OCTOBER 30, 2016 SYNOPSIS ACT II Scene 1 Early the next morning; Rose’s younger brother Willie and the other children play on the sidewalk (“Catch Me If You Can”). Buchanan’s wife has given birth. Rose tells Sam she is on her way to a funeral. Frank says he is going out of town, but he gets truculent when Anna asks when he’ll be back. Rose tries to convince Frank to be kinder to Anna, but he rejects her advice (“There’ll Be Trouble”). After Frank leaves, Anna sends Willie off to school, telling him that he will make her proud some day (“A Boy Like You”). Rose tells Sam about Harry Easter’s offer. Appalled, Sam pleads with Rose to elope with him now; she considers the idea (“We’ll Go Away Together”) but decides she needs to think it over. Rose leaves for the funeral, and city marshals arrive to evict the Hildebrands, as Sam remains seated on the stoop. Mr. Sankey enters and Mrs. Maurrant invites him up to her apartment. Suddenly Frank reappears. Sam tries to warn Anna, but to no avail. Frank rushes upstairs and shoots Anna and Sankey, who drops dead. Frank escapes in the confusion as an ambulance, policemen, and crowds mob around. Rose returns from the funeral just in time to see her mortally wounded mother carried off on a stretcher (“The Woman Who Lived Up There”). Scene 2 Later that day, two nannies push their baby carriages in front of the tenement and gossip about the murder (“Lullaby”). Rose returns from the hospital where her mother has died. As Sam and his sister Shirley try to comfort Rose, more shots ring out: Frank Maurrant has been captured by the police. Now remorseful, Frank awkwardly tries to explain to Rose why he committed the murders (“I Loved Her Too”) as the police lead him away. Sam once more declares his love and implores Rose to go away with him, but she has decided that she must go off on her own (“Don’t Forget the Lilac Bush”). Two strangers enter, hoping to rent the Hildebrands’ apartment. As evening approaches, the denizens of the building once again sit on the stoop as if nothing happened, gossiping and complaining about the heat (“Ain’t It Awful, the Heat?” reprise). Duration: 2 hour, 20 minutes with one (1) intermission. DEPAUL OPERA THEATRE • OCTOBER 28 & OCTOBER 30, 2016 DEPAUL OPERA THEATRE NEWS In its 26 years of existence, DePaul Opera Theatre (DOT) has been central to the development of a number of well-known opera professionals, successful singers, teachers, and even lawyers and doctors. Singers who grace the stages of major opera houses all over the world began their careers here at DePaul. DOT alumni have appeared at the New York Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, and at regional companies in the United States, and in Europe, Asia and South America. They have won the most prestigious competitions and continued with studies at the most selective institutions including winners of the Metropolitan Opera Competition and Placido Domingo Operalia competition and apprentice programs such as The Metropolitan Opera apprenticeship program, Academy of Vocal Arts, Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, Santa Fe Opera and San Francisco Adler Fellowship. Although we are only able to list a few accomplishments here, we are very proud of the success in all walks of life of the alumni of this program. Janai Brugger made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Liu in Turandot, and is returning to the Met as Helena in Enchanted Island. Recent performances include Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at the Royal Opera House, Norina in Don Pasquale at Palm Beach Opera, Micaëla in Carmen at Lyric Opera Kansas City and Musetta in La bohème at LA Opera. Ms. Brugger is among four alumni at The Met this year. She won first place at Plácido Domingo’s International Operalia competition also taking the Zarzuela Award and the Audience Award, and was the winner of the Metropolitan Opera 2012 National Council Auditions. Cecelia Hall was a former member of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Ms. Hall’s recent appearances include Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Venture Opera in NYC, The Metropolitan Rising Stars tour, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Canadian Opera Company, Javotte in Manon at the Met, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro at Bayerische Stattsoper, and Zerlina in Don Giovanni at Seattle Opera, and Ruby Thewes in Opera Philadelphia Cold Mountain. Brent Ryan made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Pedrillo in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, conducted by James Levine. He sang Beppe in Pagliacci at LA Opera, conducted by Plácido Domingo, Narr in Wozzeck at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Monostatos in Die Zauberflöteat LA Opera, and Male Chorus in Rape of Lucretia at Wolf Trap Opera. Lindsay Metzger is the fifth alumna to become a member of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and sings principal roles in DEPAUL OPERA THEATRE • OCTOBER 28 & OCTOBER 30, 2016 NEWS Figaro, and Der Rosenkavalier, Giannetta in Florentine Opera’s production of L’elisir d’Amore.