San Francisco’s ever-adventurous Lamplighters Music Theatre is once again going beyond its core repertory of Gilbert and Sullivan and striking out in the direction of a magnificent Irish contemporary, George Bernard Shaw.
For 73 years, Lamplighters has presented the 14 Savoy operas by librettist W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan in various productions, and the company has lately added other works, including a world premiere.
Following performances over the weekend in Mountain View, Lamplighters is now slated to bring its production of A Minister’s Wife to the War Memorial Veterans Building’s Taube Atrium Theater on Feb. 15 and 16.
This 2009 musical, based on Shaw’s 1894 play Candida, features lyrics by Jan Levy Tranen, music by Joshua Schmidt, and a book by Austin Pendleton. The story depicts a love triangle involving a clergyman, his strong-willed wife, Candida, and a young poet who is infatuated with her.
Lamplighters Resident Music Director Brett Strader says, “Joshua Schmidt’s original music for A Minister’s Wife departs from the normal scene-song form of most musical theater scores. Instead, it makes use of leitmotifs [that] weave in and out of the narrative, intensifying moments of passion while enveloping each character in their own unique loving embrace.
“It’s a score that does not evoke applause after each number but rather leaves the audience in rapt attention for what comes next, moment to moment. [There are] homages to Stephen Sondheim and Adam Guettel, and [it’s] quite a challenging workout for the four musicians: me at the piano, along with violin, cello, and bass clarinet.”
Bass-baritone Robby Stafford, who plays the character of the Reverend James Morell, says, “This is my first exposure to Shaw, and it’s been a joy to memorize these lines. It’s so unlike anything I’ve ever done, especially here at Lamplighters.
“I admire the character I am playing very much. He has grace in the face of a very difficult situation: a young man coming into his house with eyes on his wife. And yet, he has so much patience. I love the music as well, the freedom Brett [Strader] has given us. He sets up a percussive accompaniment with driving eighth notes, and we can just kind of soar without precise rhythm as long as it fits the flow of the music.
“It’s a wonderful balance of distinguished operetta-like music with very contemporary musical theater sort of wrapped together. So it does require a flexibility of delivery, which is totally new for me, but Brett has really encouraged me to let go of the sort of opera-singer tendencies.”
Soprano Jennifer Ashworth, who plays Candida Morell, says her character is “a lot like me,” which is what Lamplighters Artistic Director M. Jane Erwin says as well. “[Candida is a] person who likes to take care of people and nurture them and see them grow,” Ashworth continues. “Every time I come to a spot I’m having difficulty with, I go back to that same warm feeling in my stomach of ‘What would Jennifer do?’ — and it works!
“The music is actually closer to a modern opera, a modern singspiel, because there’s dialogue throughout. The tunes are absolutely gorgeous.”
Tenor Max Ary, who portrays Eugene Marchbanks, the poet who falls in love with Candida, says his is a nuanced role, which has been challenging because the character “has so much going on up in his brain.” Ary continues, “He’s very conflicted but very determined as well. He’s almost combative in some ways with [the Reverend] Morell, and that is totally the opposite of how I am as a person. I hate confrontation. So that’s been the most challenging part for me — to find the determination to make the conflict happen.”
Stage director Erwin says she’s finding “joy in recreating this 1894 London household from Shaw’s play and this contemporary musical adaptation. The cast and I have loved grappling with such questions as ‘How far should we be willing to go for the sake of love?’ ‘What sacrifices do we make to preserve our most precious relationships?’ ‘What of our better natures is given wing in such sacrifices, turning them into our own self-realization?’”
Lamplighters will next return to Gilbert and Sullivan with The Sorcerer, presented in performances May 16–18 at the Presidio Theatre.
