TOT TELLSCanada’s Lyric Leader ...“A Joyful Drummer with a Lighter Step”

947 Queen Street East, 2nd Floor, Toronto, ON M4M 1J9 )416-922-2912 April 2014 Issuewww.torontooperetta.com Editor: Henry Ingram

WANTED! TALL, DARK, HANDSOME STRANGER!!!

WHERE IS NOWHERE?In the case of our ‘cousin’ in Künneke’s delightful operetta,

‘nowhere’ is Batavia, in the Dutch East Indies. ‘Nowhere’ is alsothe home of the handsome vagabond who shows up underJulia’s window early in the first act. That is, if we believe his taleof wandering the countryside, in search of happiness. Jokesaside, Batavia was the name of a large settlement in the Indies,known in modern day Indonesia as Jakarta. Many young Dutchentrepreneurs immigrated there in search of fortune and onesuch is Julia’s second mystery man – Roderich #2 – who returnsto Holland with gold in his pockets.

TOT welcomes Jurgen Petrenkodebuting as the conductor of theCanadian Premiere of COUSINFROM NOWHERE. Jurgen livesnear Elora and is the artistic director of the Toronto ClassicalSingers. Fans of the CBC will remember him as the producer ofa number of popular programs including Organ Thursday, TheOpera Quiz, Take Five, ChoralConcert, Saturday Afternoon atthe Opera, and most recently,Music and Company. In additionto musical pursuits, Jurgen enjoyssailing, computer games, cooking,fine wines and working on hisfarm, where he lives with hiswife, their dog and three horses.

Guillermo Silva-MarinFounder & General Director

But what happens when you get two?That is our heroine’s dilemma in COUSIN FROM NOWHERE.

No sooner does she fall for one handsome stranger than anotherappears with bags of money. And they both may be named Roderich!

What’s a girl to do? Luckily for Julia the mystery is solved andlove wins the day. But not before passionate duets, delightful comicscenes and one of the greatest love songs ever written have workedtheir magic on our amazing cast and audience of eager operetta lovers.

COUSIN FROM NOWHERE (Der Vetter aus Dingsda) – aCanadian Premiere! – is chock full of great hits including ‘Ich binnur ein armer Wandergesell’, ‘Strahlender Mond’, and ‘SiebenJahre lebt ich in Batavia’, set to the beat of the tango, fast fox,Boston one-step and of course, the romantic ballad. You’ll fall inlove with love all over again!

Introducing Jurgen Petrenko

An early rendering of Bataviaand modern day Jakarta

THINKING OF SPRINGTIME? Come to TOT’s

COUSIN FROM NOWHEREstarring Elizabeth Beeler, Lucia Cesaroni, Christopher Mayell, Michael Nyby

with Stefan Fehr, Charlotte Knight, Gregory Finney, Fabián Arciniegas, Keenan ViauJurgen Petrenko, Conductor • Guillermo Silva-Marin, Stage Director

MAY 1, 2, 3 at 8 pm and MAY 4 at 2 pmCall 416-366-7723 today for best seats. www.stlc.comi

Some wacky characters in a BERLIN production of Der Vetter aus Dingsda

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Meddling relatives areeverywhere, so it’s no surprisewhen Elizabeth Beeler andMichael Nyby try to nix StefanFehr’s wooing of Lucia Cesaroniand fix her up instead withtheir own nephew August!

Elizabeth and Michael playthe conniving relatives, andplotting such as theirs is at thecentre of many delightfulcomedies.

Elizabeth is, of course, agreat favorite of TOT patronsand has appeared in MERRYWIDOW as both Anna Glawariand Valencienne.

Her memorable performanceas Lisa Elliott in Weill’s LADYIN THE DARK was a company highlight.

Stefan Fehr has also beenfeatured numerous times onour stage, most notably as

Bobinet in last season’s LA VIEPARISIENNE.

Michael Nyby from Hamiltonmakes his debut as Uncle Josef.He has sung with Santa FeOpera, Minnesota Opera andOpera Atelier. Welcome to theTOT, Mike!!!

Christopher MayellNeeds To Settle Down!

Last year around this time,Christopher Mayell was aBrazilian in Paris, courting anadorable French glove maker in TOT’s LA VIE PARISIENNE.Soon enough he was off toEngland operatically speaking,

when he appeared as Dr. Caiusin FALSTAFF for Pacific OperaVictoria. The next stops on hisworld tour include Seville whenhe stars in Cowtown Opera’sversion of Rossini’s BARBEROF SEVILLE and then he’s onto Westphalia for Bernstein’sCANDIDE for Calgary Opera.Wow…that’s a lot of hotel roomnumbers to remember, Chris!Good luck!!!

Many Comfort ZonesFor Lucia Cesaroni

In the musical world today,a successful artist must be stylistically flexible. Just asksoprano Lucia Cesaroni, whoplays Julia in COUSIN FROMNOWHERE. Sometimes it’svery much the opera moldwhen she sings Adina in ELIXIRof LOVE and then it may be thesparkling and light heartedworld of operetta as Adele inDIE FLEDERMAUS for TOT. ForVancouver Opera she venturedonto Broadway as Maria in

WEST SIDE STORY. But alwaysat the heart of her performanceslies a beautiful voice supportingdramatic honesty. Romanceunder a silvery moon will beright up her alley!

Emerging Artists Rule!!Toronto Operetta Theatre

has always promoted emergingartists, giving them a chance toshine at centre stage in all ourproductions. In COUSIN FROMNOWHERE, these include debuting soprano CharlotteKnight as Hanna.

A graduate of Western University, she has appearedwith The Opera Project of Vancouver, Toronto MasqueTheatre and sings her firstQueen of the Night for SOLTthis summer.

Gregory Finney will be the‘other’ Roderich, freshly-arrivedfrom Batavia. Well known to TOTaudiences for FLEDERMAUS,LUISA FERNANDA and THEBIRD SELLER, he excels atcharacter delineation and greatcomic timing.

Keenan Viau and FabiánArciniegas complete our castas Karl and Hans as they workto unmask the false Roderich.

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Elizabeth Beeler as Anna Glawari

“Ich bin nur ein armer Wandergesell”Quick, name the Broadway musical whose hit tune was “Begin the Beguine”. Give up…???

Cole Porter’s JUBILEE is the answer. Not to worry, many of the world’s greatest tunes have alife of their own. “Ich bin nur ein armer Wandergesell” is another famous example. In English,we call it “I’m just a wandering vagabond”. Google reveals that there are more than 12 pagesof listings for the popular melody and each page has at least 10 postings! Renée Fleming hasrecorded it as have tenors Rudolf Schock, Fritz Wunderlich, René Kollo and Bayreuth star KlausFlorian Vogt, not to mention versions for saxophone and brass band.

You get to hear it twice in our production of COUSIN FROM NOWHERE, once at theclimax of Julia’s meeting with the mysterious stranger and then during the finale when allends happily ever after. Be prepared … there will be a tear in your eye!

Lucia Cesaroni as Adele for TOT

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