Lyric Opera 2018-2019 Issue 10A Renee Fleming Gala

P R O G R A M N O T E S | L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O March 23, 2019 | 23 Floyd, Susannah , “Ain’t it a pretty night?” In the Tennessee village where she lives, Susannah Polk dances with a stranger, the itinerant preacher Rev. Olin Blitch. Later, outside her home, Susannah discusses the dance with her adoring friend, Little Bat McLean. Looking to the sky, she sings one of American opera’s most beloved arias, in which she reflects on the beauty of the evening and the valley, while also thinking about possibly leaving home one day to explore the world outside. Susannah was the acclaimed Lyric debut role of both Renée Fleming (1993/94, Lyric premiere) and Sondra Radvanovsky (2002/03). Lehár, e Merry Widow , “Women, Women, Women” Count Danilo and Hanna Glawari are playing a cat-and- mouse game of romance in their relationship. Meanwhile, two amorous men-about-town, Cascada and St. Brioche, are each pursuing Hanna themselves. Led by Baron Zeta, these two – along with Danilo and Pontevedrian diplomats Bogdanowitsch, Koromow, and Pritschitsch – commiserate on how difficult women are. ey join in an ensemble that is one of the most captivating numbers in Lehár’s memorable score. Renée Fleming has starred at Lyric most recently as Hanna Glawari, heroine of e Merry Widow (2015/16). Rodgers, Carousel , Act One, Waltz At the start of Carousel , as the orchestra plays a captivating waltz, we see a bustling amusement park onstage. It’s a May evening on the New England coast. Billy Bigelow, a barker for Mrs. Mullin’s carousel, meets an impressionable young mill worker, Julie Jordan. His attention to her arouses the anger of Mrs. Mullin, who drives Julie away from the park. Rodgers and Hart, e Boys from Syracuse , “Sing for Your Supper” e most uproarious of all the Rodgers and Hart shows was one of the joys of the 1938/39 Broadway season. Surprisingly, the kings of musical theater took as their source a play of Shakespeare, e Comedy of Errors , treating it with both delicious wit and an irresistible aura of romance. e show boasted many hits, including the showstopping “Sing for Your Supper,” a trio sung by Adriana, the unhappy but practical wife; her wisecracking servant, Luce; and her romantic sister, Luciana. Guettel, e Light in the Piazza, “Fable” In e Light in the Piazza Clara Johnson, a young woman from the American south, is vacationing with her mother Margaret in Florence. ere Clara falls in love with Fabrizio, a young Italian, who proposes to her. Margaret discourages the romance from the start and is reluctant to agree to the marriage; she has not told Fabrizio’s parents that her daughter has a developmental disability from a childhood injury. But in the soaring music of the show’s final song, confronting the truth of her own marital unhappiness, Margaret urges Clara to seize this chance for true love. Rodgers and Hammerstein, Carousel , “You’ll Never Walk Alone” Desperate to make money to support his wife (who is expecting their child), Billy Bigelow involves himself in a shady theft scheme that results in tragedy. With prison a certainty for him, he stabs himself, and has only a moment with his wife Julie before he dies. Julie’s cousin, Nettie Fowler, comforts her, singing one of the most inspiring of all American songs. In the more than six decades since it was written, “You’ll Never Walk Alone” remains an anthem of hope all over the world.  Roger Pines DECCA/ANDREW ECCLES