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The Blur: or How to Marry a Billionaire
The misadventures of Maritza, a New York Banker, suddenly earning north of 300 million. Can she finally marry her billionaire? Only if he can stay out of jail! A new “Viennese” operetta tallying the tantalizing torments of the Way, Way, Way too Wealthy.
With many beautiful melodies, a virtuosic piano score, hilarious comedy, great singers and musicians,
gorgeous costumes and a compelling narrative,
this opera is not to be missed.
Highland Park Ebell Club 2024
131 South Avenue 57, Los Angeles CA
August 2 (Friday), 3 (Saturday), 7 (Wednesday) and 10 (Saturday)
Performances at 8 pm. Tickets are $30.
Available online or at the door. Zelle accepted.
Drinks, wine, coffee and snacks available for a donationin the Bar/Cafe.
Fresh baked treats from Pastry Chef Extraordinaire
Bruce Anderson, former Mesopotamian Star
Words and music by Peter Wing Healey
Cast:
Maritza Catherine Antonia Samartin
Lad Gabriel Manro
Sally Jessica Mamey
Baron Jonathan Matthews
Minnie Christa Marie Stevens
Moxie Katharina Haberl
Mikey/Dagmar Jamie Sanderson
Manny/Tibby Steve Moritsugu
Popovaire Eric Castro
Dancer Camille Cardinale
Directed and Choreographed by Ataraxia Waldorf
Music Directors/Pianists Dr. James Lent and Milos Veljkovic
Costume Design Claire Fraser Walsh
Set Design Kristin Taylor
Costume Assistant Shon LeBlanc, Karolyn Kiisel
Assistant Director and Choreographer Kenwa Newell
Lighting Design W. Alejandro Melendez
Lighting Crew Emma McManus
Stage Manager Scarlet Pompalomana
Publicity Kyrian Corona
Videographer Matthew Ian Welch
Violin Greg Von Notias
Cello Cindy Hickox, Alec Glassman
Harp Jillian Lopez
Percussion Michael Basak
Blüthner grand piano provided by Kasimoff-Blüthner Piano Co., Hollywood, CA
Special Thanks To: The Highland Park Ebell Club, Mike Staedler, Technical Theater Artists of Los Angeles Facebook, Shon LeBlanc, Don Blasius, Robert Joseph Healey, LACC Costume Collection, Bruce Anderson, Carolyn Sykes, Victoria Looseleaf, Ann Walnum, Galina Barskaya
Peter Wing Healey, composer, writer and founder of The Mesopotamian Opera Company, Inc., attended Haverford College and The Boston Conservatory of Music.
He began classical piano training at 6. At 13 he sang professionally with Christ Church Cathedral Choir in Vancouver, B.C. He continued his keyboard studies in Springfield, Mass. with Dorothy Guion, a protégé of Dame Myra Hess, and sang choral and operatic music under the direction of Alfredo Carbonell at Longmeadow Highschool. He studied music theory in Salzburg with the Foreign Study League. At 18 he studied baroque keyboard with Agi Jambor, concert pianist, head of the Music Department at Bryn Mawr College, and student of Edwin Fischer. In college he turned to dance. In New York he studied with Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, and Sara Sugihara. He studied classical ballet with Janet Panetta, soloist at American Ballet Theater and protege of Margaret Craske, who was trained by Maestro Enrico Cecchetti, teacher of Anna Pavlova. He studied Sufi meditation, drumming, whirling and trance dancing with Bagdad Sufi Master Adnan Sarhan for 10 years.
Mr. Wing Healey danced professionally in New York City, from 1976 to 1996, with Daniel Lewis from the José Limón Dance Company, with Anna Sokolow, with Hannah Kahn, with Laura Dean Dancers and Musicians and with The Mark Morris Dance Group. He performed all over the world. He danced as a soloist in Mark Morris's The Hard Nut at the Theatre Royale de la Monnaie in Brussels, Belgium, filmed for PBS's Great Performances, and later performed at The Edinburgh Festival Theater, at The Brooklyn Academy of Music and at Cal Performances Zellerbach Hall. Mr. Morris hired him as rehearsal director on The White Oak Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov and as balletmaster on the John Adams/Peter Sellars opera Nixon in China from its inception in 1987 at the Houston Grand Opera through re-stagings for the Los Angeles Opera, The English National Opera, The Dutch National Opera, The Greek National Opera and The Metropolitan Opera.
As a composer, Mr. Wing Healey writes neo-classical music for a form of theater he calls “Nouveau Comique”. He has presented his original operas in New York City and in Los Angeles, where he now lives and works. His lauded productions have received support from P.S. 122, American Opera Projects, TWEED Productions, The Howard Gilman Foundation, The Noah Wyle Foundation, The Center for the Arts Eagle Rock, The Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and The James Irvine Foundation.
The Mesopotamian Opera Company
Making original, narrative Lyric Theater since 1985, Mesopotamian Opera Company is a nonprofit organization dedicated to further the teaching and employment, in live performance, of expressive performing arts techniques. The goal is to create work, employment when possible, and contemporary context for the arts of dance, song, recitation and role playing, and all the attendant arts; stage design, music composition, choreography, lighting design, conducting, playing of musical instruments and directing. This goal supports the infrastructure of teachers and coaches, university and college departments, that every year turn out aspiring talent in the field of live, expressive performing arts by laboring to provide another delivery platform for the many years of work and dedication represented in the lyric population.
CATHERINE ANTONIA SAMARTIN, Maritza
GABRIEL MANRO, Lad
JESSICA MAMEY, Sally
(mezzo-soprano), performs a variety of musical styles from Cabaret to Classical. She has been noted for her wide dramatic and musical range, bringing a “gorgeous mezzo soprano voice that is crisp and clear” (Stage and Cinema). She enthusiastically digs into new musical compositions, leading to her Long Beach Opera Debut as the District Attorney in Anthony Davis’ Pulitzer Prize winning Central Park 5. This past year, she debuted with Lyric Opera of Orange County (LOOC) in the title role of Bizet’s Carmen and had a role debut as Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors with Opera a la Mode. Her 2023 engagements include Edka in Jake Heggie’s Two Remain with LOOC, The Gingerbread Witch in Pacific Opera Project's upcoming production of Hansel and Gretel, and originating the role of Sister Flavia in The Italian Lesson by local composer Peter Wing Healey.
Ms. Mamey graduated from Occidental College where she studied with Scott Blois and continues now with Joann Zajac.
JONATHAN MATTHEWS, Baron Vanderzoo III
Jonathan Matthews grew up in Utah; in band and theater and choir. This love led him to the old U of U, where he got a degree in opera. From there he went to Indiana, to study more singing and drama. A Masters and Doctorate, got married and sang a lot, and then he moved to California. When here he branched out to more, like Hollywood and voice over. With audiobooks, and singing in booths, he’s striving to find his big score. He also has three crazy boys, who yell, scream, and break all their toys. But with all the commotion, he still has the notion, he’ll happily put up with the noise. So thank you for reading my bio, I hope you’re enjoying the show. But if you are not, I hope your last thought, is this limerick at least made you smile.
KATHARINA HABERL, Moxie
STEVE MORITSUGU, Manny/Tibby
In 2023, Steve “Mor” Moritsugu, has sung the role of Tybalt with Lyric Opera of OC and Cal Baptist U and originated the role of Mr Li in the world premier workshop of a new Musical called Shanghai World Emporium by Nathan Wang. In the past 10 years, he has sung Otello with Vineyard Touring Opera & orchestra; Yamadori with Pacific Opera Project; Faust, Prince Ramiro, Radames, Cavaradossi, Don Carlo, Don Ottavio, and Manrico with Repertory Opera in Pomona; Ferrando, Alfredo, Lt Pinkerton, Count Almaviva, Tamino, Radames, Don Carlo, Rodolfo, and Manrico with LA Metropolitan Opera. In concert, he has been the soloist for Messiah, Beethoven 9th, and Wagner scenes. He has sung with Long Beach Opera, Landmark Opera, Mesopotamian Opera, Intimate Opera, Newport Theatre Arts Center, Mission Opera, Valley Opera & Perf Arts and LA Opera Connects.
CHRISTA STEVENS, Minnie
lyric soprano, has been noted as possessing “a remarkably clear soprano voice with excellent control...” – Nancy Davidian for Singerpreneur and is increasingly in demand as an international solo artist. Her extensive oratorio and cantata repertoire includes the Requiems of Mozart, Brahms, Fauré, and Rutter, Handel’s Messiah and Dixit Dominus, Haydn’s The Seasons, Dvorák’s Te
Deum, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Schubert’s Mass in G, Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noel, Mozart’s Exsultate, Jubilate, Regina Coeli, and Coronation Mass, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Ms. Stevens has been engaged for numerous concerts and recitals with several notable concert organizations, including
a recent performance of Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with pianist Miloš Veljković for the chamber recital series, Classics at the Merc. Her numerous operatic and musical theatre roles include Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Nella in Gianni Schicchi, Marguerite in Faust, Micaëla in
Carmen, Antonia in Les contes d’ Hoffmann, Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, Mother in Hansel and Gretel, Edith in The Pirates of Penzance, Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Mrs. Gobineau in The Medium, and Mrs. Anderssen in A Little Night Music. Additionally, she has covered the role of Kate Pinkerton in
Madama Butterfly with the San Bernardino and Marina Del Rey Symphonies. As co-founder of Redlands Opera Theatre, she was involved in opera outreach programming and was the curator of the concert series Opera at the Gables. Her notable media appearances include KVCR-Arts, KUSC’s Arts Alive and Out and About podcasts, and the Living With A Genius with Omar Crook podcast. A native of Southern California, Ms. Stevens received Bachelor of Art Degrees in English Literature and Music
from The University of Redlands and a Master of Music Degree in Voice Performance from California State University, Northridge, where she studied with noted voice instructor David Scott. Marco & Marie, her duo with international tenor Marco Antonio Lozano, regularly performs at events to unanimous acclaim. She is the Vize Obfrau/Vice President of the Opera on Tap Vienna Chapter and Verein.
JAMIE SANDERSON, Mikey/Dagmar
Jamie Sanderson, baritone, possesses a voice that critics have described as “mellifluous” and “commanding.” He is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, but now resides in Los Angeles and performs with many local opera companies. He recently performed the role of Marullo in Verdi’s Rigoletto, as well as Albert in Massenet’s Werther. Other recent roles include Morales in Bizet’s Carmen, The Wolf in Cesar Cui’s Little Red Ridinghood, and Prince Ivan-Korolevich in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Kashchey the Deathless. Jamie is also a Fox singer in the Verdi Chorus of Santa Monica and has gone on tour to Japan with the Roger Wagner Chorale. Jamie earned a Master of Music from the Peabody Institute in 2019 and a Bachelor of Music from the University of California, Irvine in 2016.
ERIC CASTRO, Popovaire
Eric performed the title role of DON GIOVANNI in the recent Mission Opera production extravaganza at Canyon Performing Arts Center. At Walt Disney Concert Hall, Eric was “Javert” in scenes from Les Miz with California Philharmonic; and also at WDCH, Eric was a soloist in Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Los Angeles Lawyers Philharmonic. Eric recently performed in a series of concerts with the CalPhil producer Marya Basaraba, which spanned Mozart, Bizet, Rogers & Hammerstein, Bernstein, and Andrew Lloyd Webber. And at the The Wallis Annenberg Center Eric was “Emile de Becque” in SOUTH PACIFIC highlights. He appeared as Detective Chief Inspector Georgio Cantaricci in The Italian Lesson with The Mesopotamian Opera.
JAMES LENT
Dr. James Lent is a native of Houston where he attended the Houston High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and the University of Houston. Since completing his Doctor of Musical Arts from Yale, Dr. Lent has been based in Los Angeles. Once there, Dr. Lent held a teaching fellowship in collaborative piano. Dr. Lent is currently on the faculty of UCLA as the head of collaborative piano and vocal coaching for the music department, and as coordinator of staff pianists, a resident vocal coach, and musical director at AMDA, the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Hollywood. Dr. Lent has also served on the summer faculty at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara as a pianist and opera coach for the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, and the Napa Music Festival.
Dr. Lent frequently performs throughout Southern California and recently in venues including the Beverly Hills Hilton, House of Blues, LA Live, and the Ritz Carlton Hotel. Dr. Lent has been featured as a pianist in Cabaret, Chicago, Chess, A Chorus Line, The Fantasticks, Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Oklahoma.
He was a music director and musical performer in productions of Spamilton, Grease, Little Shop of Horrors, Sweet Charity, Willy Wonka, West Side Story, Seussical, AMDA's Toonsical, Rent, and for the LA Stage Star Competition.
Dr. Lent made his Alabama Symphony debut to critical acclaim performing Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 2 on 24 hours' notice to replace Andre Watts. Dr. Lent has performed with the renowned Paris-based Ensemble Intercontemporain under the direction of Pierre Boulez in a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall, and his performances have been heard on National Public Radio. Dr. Lent has performed with the Vancouver Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Shanghai Philharmonic, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Utah Symphony and the Florida West Coast Symphony, among others, and as solo recitalist at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany, for the National Chopin Foundation in Miami, at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where he premiered a new work written for him by American composer Frederic Rzewski.
Dr. Lent has received numerous awards from the New York Concert Artists Guild International Competition, the National Chopin Competition, the Washington International Piano Competition at the Kennedy Center, the Olga Koussevitsky Piano Competition in New York, and the Houston Symphony Ima Hogg National Young Artist Competition. Dr. Lent was a fellowship recipient at the Aspen Music Festival, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, and the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal. For more info about Dr. James Lent: https://www.jameslent.com/
W. ALEJANDRO MELENDEZ, Lighting Designer
KENWA NEWELL
Directing: "Richard III", " A Midsommer Night's Dream" , "Much AdoAbout Nothing", " Don Giovanni" ( ass't director) & "The Path of the Peaceful Warrior". Performance Roles: The Nurse in "Romeo & Juliet", Ceres in " The Tempest", The Queen in "Cymbelline", Lewis in " The Life & Death of King John", Blunt & various battlefield soldiers in "Henry IV Part One", Julia in " Two Gentlemen of Verona."Medea in Euripides' " Medea", Eve in "Paradise Lost", Lucy in "The Ballad of Black Jack", The Poetic Incarnation of Rumi in "Rumi - Path to Enlightenment", & the Naqqali in " Zal & Rudabeh"-a traveling storyteller, in which she embodies 12 different characters, The Executioner in "Paheliyan- The Story of Alice", The Hindu Priest in " Khel", and "Pippin" . Contortionists roles on " Liv & Maddie", " Austin & Ally" and "Parks & Recreation". Opera:" L'elisir d'Amore ", " Carmen", " La Boheme", " Die Zauberflote", Don Giovanni and " Moses" with LA Opera. Dance & Fighr Choreography- "Oklahoma", "Paheyliyan", 'Henry IV Part One", "Romeo & Juliet", "Richard III, "A Midsommer Night's Dream", "The Tempest", "Carmen", "Don Giovanni", "The Path of the Peaceful Warrior", "Much Ado About Nothing". Film: co- executive producer on " Son of the South" ( executive producer Spike Lee) Film acting highlights include Sibyl in " The Outcast of Camelot" series and herself in " Justin Case- You're Famous!"