Chinle High students get taste of opera

 

It was not "La Bohème" as you would see it at the world's great opera houses.

For one thing, it was set in Phoenix, not Paris's Latin Quarter.

Marcello the artist trades his paintbrush for a Mac as a graphic designer. Seductive Musette is introduced talking on a cell phone. And Mimi's consumption is replaced by lung cancer, ostensibly so the cast can work in an anti-smoking message.

But for most of the 200 Chinle High students who crammed into the school's small drama theater Sept. 1 to see Arizona Opera's traveling production, it was a hoot.

The opera company's education director, Laura Baldasano, was surprised to find such a receptive audience in the middle of a reservation.

"They clapped, they laughed in all the right places, they were really responsive," Baldasano said. "They were a really, really good audience."

Baldasano admitted the opera was modified for teenage consumption: shrunk from two hours to less than one, rewritten in English and set in modern times.

But hopefully, she said, it will motivate the kids to see the real thing some day ... like maybe in January when Arizona Opera performs it in Phoenix.

They might get some takers. Several students sat through both performances, and some rushed backstage to chat with the performers afterward, even getting their autographs.

Others were less thrilled, holding their ears as soprano Samantha Barnes belted out high notes at a volume that shook the tiny theater even without a mike.

"I can't believe she sang that loud!" whispered one girl to her buddy.

"And that high!" responded her friend.

Chinle was the first stop on an 80-school, two-month tour around the state. It's grueling even for this cast, whose members are not much older than the teens they're singing to. But entirely worth it, said tenor Cameron Schutza, who plays Rudolfo.

"Student audiences are always the best," he said. "They aren't judgmental yet. They just enjoy it."

"Even though most kids have never experienced opera, they still like it," added Music Director Martin Majkut, who accompanied the performers on piano.

This is the second year for the school tour, which hit Ganado last year and this year was scheduled for two stops on the Navajo Nation: Chinle and Piñon.

Next year, revealed Baldasano, the Diné students who get to see the tour are in for a real treat.

The opera has commissioned a work based on Navajo author Evangeline Parson Yazzie's children's book about the Long Walk, "Dzani Yazhi Naazbaa'/Little Woman Warrior Who Came Home."

"We're very excited to share this work with Navajo students and see what they think of it," Baldasano said.

And maybe someday, said Majkut, one of the kids who sees the opera may grow up to be a singer, or a set designer, or even a composer.

"It's all about showing them the world is much bigger than they think," he said, "and they could be doing something that they may not have imagined."

Information: www.azopera.com.

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