Lyric Opera 2018-2019 Issue 14 West Side Story

P R O F I L E S | L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O May 3 - June 2, 2019 | 25 Adults DAVID ALAN ANDERSON* ( Doc ) has been featured at major theaters nationwide, performing such formidable roles as Othello (Great Lakes, Idaho, and Penn- sylvania Shakespeare festivals), Macbeth (St. Louis Black Rep), Troy/ Fences (Indiana Rep, Arizona eater Com- pany eatre Center, Denver eatre Center, Milwaukee Repertory eater), and Walter Lee/ A Raisin in the Sun (Guthrie eatre, Penumbra eatre, Arizona eatre, Cleveland Playhouse, Kansas City Rep). Anderson has also been seen at Actors eatre of Louisville, Court eatre, and Writers eatre, among other prestigious compa- nies. Television credits include e Chi (Show- time), Chicago PD (NBC), Prison Break (Fox), and Mike Hammer (CBS), among other productions. Anderson was a 2013 recipient of one of America’s most coveted honors for actors, the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship. ED KROSS* ( Glad Hand ) has appeared in many Chicago-area productions, including e Jun- gle Book (Goodman eatre), Hazel (Drury Lane Oakbrook), I Love Lucy: Live On Stage (Broad- way Playhouse), Sex, Love, & e Second City (Second City’s UP), Side Man (American Blues eater), and, for three years, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (Royal George). On camera he has made more than 75 commercials, has been seen in episodes of Chicago Fire, Patriot, Sirens, and Boss, and shares one-on- one scenes with Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition and George Clooney in Ocean’s 12 . BRET TUOMI* ( Schrank ) has been seen on Broadway as Hertz/ Rock of Ages , which he also played in the production’s national tour. He is familiar to Chicago audiences from roles at TimeLine eatre (Victor/ e Price , Skilling/ ENRON ), Chicago Shakespeare eater (Killagrew/ Nell Gwynn, Bloody Sergeant/ Macbeth , Montano/ Othello , Bardolph and Williams/ Henry V ), Drury Lane Theatre (Mac/ 42nd Street, Mr. Braithwaite /Billy Elliot ), and the Goodman eatre (Salesman/ Ah, Wilderness , Lieb/ e Iceman Cometh ). He has also been seen at eatre at the Center as the Pap King/ Big River. Among his television and lm appear- ances are Chicago PD (NBC Universal), Mind Games (ABC/20 th Century Fox), Maydays (inde- pendent), Keep the Change (TBS), and Save the Mavericks (STM LLC). JERRY KERNION * ( Krupke‚ u/s Schrank ) was recently seen at Chicago’s Broadway Playhouse as Col. Tom Parker/ Heartbreak Hotel . His more than 50 television appearances include recurring and guest-starring roles on Chicago Fire, Rebel , and Mad Men , and the role of Bobby Corso/ Grey’s Anatomy. He was also a series regular on John Landis’s television series Campus Cops . His lm appearances include Henry Fenner/ e Princess and the Frog and Hutch/ Last Call at Murray’s. He has been seen in two Cirque du Soleil shows and has performed around the world as a member of e Reduced Shakespeare Company for the past 15 years. Ensemble HOSS BROCK, a Lyric Opera Chorus member, has had solo roles in the company’s productions of La traviata , My Fair Lady, e Sound of Music , and Oklahoma!. e tenor has portrayed Almaviva/ e Barber of Seville with Lyric Unlimited’s Opera in the Neighborhoods program and recently appeared as Alfredo/ La traviata with the Lake Geneva Symphony Orchestra. Brock has performed on San Francisco Opera’s mainstage ( Der Rosenkavalier ) and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Peninsula Music Festival, Northwest Indiana Symphony, and Grant Park Music Festival. MATTHEW CARROLL ( u/s Glad Hand ) has been a member of the Lyric Opera Chorus for 15 years and has been featured in many Lyric productions, includ- ing My Fair Lady , the world premiere of Bel Canto , and most recently La traviata. In addition to Lyric, he has performed roles with Michigan Opera eatre, Opera Colorado, Central City Opera, Toledo Opera, Opera Omaha, Ohio Light Opera, and Chicago Folks Operetta. He was a Pittsburgh regional winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. WILLIAM M. COMBS , a 24-year veteran of Lyric Opera of Chicago, has combined opera and musical theater throughout his career. From Matt/ e Fantasticks for its Russian pre- miere in Moscow to Mike/ Oklahoma! at Lyric and the Beast/ Disney's Beauty and the Beast , the tenor has enjoyed performing in multiple genres while treading the stage at Lyric in its mainstage opera productions. Combs is a member of the music sta at Christ Church of Oak Brook. DESIRÉE HASSLER has performed in everything from commercial and lm soundtracks to opera/operetta, musical theater, and even progressive heavy metal albums. is season Hassler has been heard onstage at Lyric as the Fourth Maid/ Elektra and First Spirit/ Cendrillon . Other career highlights include Violetta / La traviata (Lake Geneva Symphony Orchestra), Ellen/ Oklahoma! (Lyric), Beethoven's Symphony 9 (Illinois Symphony Orchestra), Bach’s B Minor Mass (Chicago Bach Project), the Brahms Requiem (Los Angeles), Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Prairie Ensemble). An alumna of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Hassler is an Associate Professor of Music at Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute. TYLER SAMUEL LEE made his Lyric solo debut earlier this season in Il trovatore , having previously appeared as Jason/ Jason and the Argonauts with Lyric Unlimited. e tenor’s orchestral appearances include Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light (Baltimore Symphony). Lee was a series regular on Out of the Box (Disney Channel), has been a guest on e Tonight Show with Jay Leno , and was a writer and voice actor for Dexter’s Laboratory (Cartoon Network). He is an alumnus of both the Peabody Conservatory of Music ( Gianni Schicchi, Postcard from Morocco ) and NYU Steinhardt (title role/ e Student Prince ). KENNETH NICHOLS ( u/s Doc ) has appeared in ten solo roles at Lyric since 2002/03, most recently in this season’s Elektra and Il trovatore . Among the bass-baritone’s roles in Chicago have been the King and the Herald/ e Love for ree Oranges (Chicago Cultural Center) and Leporello/ Don Giovanni (DuPage Opera eatre). In Harold Prince’s Show Boat production, he was an ensemble member and sang many performances of the featured role of Joe in New York, Toronto, Chicago, and London. Since 1998 Nichols has made seven appearances with “Night of 1,000 Voices,” the annual charity concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall. MAIA SURACE , a member of the Lyric Opera Chorus, has been a soloist in Lyric productions of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg , Show Boat , and Katya Kabanova . e mezzo-soprano has sung Tisbe/ Cinderella with Lyric’s “Opera in the Neighborhoods” program. She has appeared as A Secretary/ Nixon in China (Chicago Opera eater), Cherubino/ e Marriage of Figaro (DuPage Opera eater), title role/Handel’s Orlando and Rosalinde/O enbach’s Bluebeard (both with Glimmerglass Opera), Jenny Diver/ e Beggar’s Opera (Castleton Festival), and various roles with Cincinnati Opera’s outreach program.