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Cole Porter's "Anything Goes!" is the opening production in Lyric Opera San Diego's 2009-10 season. (Photo courtesy of Lyric Opera San Diego)
If you think your monthly mortgage payment is steep, imagine owning the Birch North Park Theatre. You’d be paying almost $19,000 each month. That’s down from a high of $22,000 per month, with a $4 million mortgage.
“We’re in the process of renegotiating the debt and the mortgage,” says Leon Natker, general director of Lyric Opera San Diego, which owns the handsomely restored building on University Avenue that has helped revitalize North Park.
Natker remains upbeat despite the financial challenges that have put a severe strain on his company. Its 31st season starts on October 2 with Cole Porter’s witty classic “Anything Goes!”
It seems only fitting that the musical that opened on Broadway in 1934, during the Great Depression, should be featured 75 years later in the wake of the Great Recession. Natker, for one, believes the worst is over.
“Ticket sales are definitely up,” he says. “Compared to this time last year, they’ve increased by 50% — that tells you how bad last year was. We’re still not back to where we were two years ago…But there’s life in the old girl yet.”
By November, Lyric Opera hopes to finish raising $200,000 for a challenge grant from developer/benefactor Bud Fischer, who was instrumental in the renovation project.
“The theater is a fabulous asset not only for us but for the community,” says Natker, citing events by such groups as Filmout San Diego and the San Diego Italian Film Festival. “We’re trying to keep this place as busy as possible.”
It will be busy indeed during Lyric Opera’s season, which consists of four productions plus a March 6 vocal recital by local favorite Priti Gandhi. Tickets: (619) 239-8836; www.lyricoperasandiego.org
Here’s the lineup.
“Anything Goes!” (October 2-11): Expect comedy and romance aboard a trans-Atlantic ocean liner plus such classic songs as “You’re the Top” and “I Get a Kick Out of You.” Staged by director/choreographer David Brannen and conducted by Chris Thompson, the production has a cast that includes Laura Bueno, Jordan Miller and artistic director J. Sherwood Montgomery, who’ll portray the character Moonface Martin instead of Jimmy Ferraro, who’s recovering from surgery.
“Hansel and Gretel” (November 13-22): The opera by Engelbert Humperdinck (the German composer who died in 1921, not the pop singer who adopted his name) will serve as a holiday attraction. With a score influenced by Wagner, and plenty of fairy-tale charm, the production will use a new English translation and feature Hai-Ting Chinn, Kate Oberjat and Natker as the witch.
“I was measured for my flying harness,” says Natker, who will do his share of soaring. “I don’t have a fear of heights, which is really lucky.”
“A Little Night Music” (February 12-21, 2010): Though the title is a literal translation of Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik,” the real inspiration was Ingmar Bergman’s film, “Smiles of a Summer Night.”
“I consider it the last great operetta - all in waltz time,” Natker says of the Stephen Sondheim masterwork that will star Andrea Huber. Montgomery will serve as director and designer, and Natker will conduct using the full orchestration.
“The Pirates of Penzance” (March 26-April 11): Gilbert and Sullivan’s popular comic opera returns to Lyric Opera with Natker conducting, Montgomery portraying the comic Major General and Ashraf Sewailam as the dashing Pirate King. But don’t expect everything to conform to tradition.
“I want to make sure that the point of view is a bit different,” says Natker, who declines to explain any further lest he spoil the surprise. “Let’s put it this way. There’s going to be a topical twist.”
That should give “Pirates” some extra punch.
Valerie Scher is the SDNN Arts & Entertainment editor. You can reach her at valerie.scher(at)sdnn.com; follow her on Twitter at vscher
Tags: Anything Goes!, Birch North Park Theatre, Cole Porter, Gilbert and Sullivan, Hansel and Gretel, J. Sherwood Montgomery, Leon Natker, Lyric Opera San Diego, North Park, North Park events, Pirates of Penzance, Priti Gandhi, SDNN
