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PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY
September 18, 1996
At the cavernous Opera Company of Philadelphia production
center, doors and windows are open to the sun, Sinatra is blaring on the
radio, hammers are pounding, staple guns clattering, and a majestic ruined
castle is beginning to take shape.
Over in a corner, a young man with a chainsaw is giving a hulking Styrofoam-clad
form the look of chiseled stone. In the center of the room, three stage
carpenters clamber over a set of towering "stained glass" windows
which are constructed out of plywood and yards of plastic strapping. Nearby,
a set of massive "stone" fireplaces, a monumental staircase and
two ominous coffins -- the prone images of their future inhabitants carved
on their lids -- sit ready for the painter's brush. In the next room, a
pile of what look like giant foam rubber helmets await the special treatment
that will transform them into boulders.
This isn't the sort of scene most people conjure when they think about the
magic of opera, with its lavish blend of soaring soloists, heavenly choruses,
grand orchestrations and high drama. But what could be more magical than
turning wood, glue, foam, paint, fabric and a little stage lighting into
an otherworldly palace on the Scottish moors? Which is what all of this
will become whe it's rolled onto the Academy of Music stage next month for
the Opera Company's production of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.
This kind of sorcery is still something of a new venture for the Opera Company,
whose production center got its start in 1994 building an innovative rainforest
set for The Magic Flute. After two moves -- from a rented space in
New Jersey, to the basement of the old Bulletin building -- the workshop
has found a new long-term 14,000-square-foot home at the former Frankford
Arsenal (now known as the Arsenal Business Center). And in July, the Opera
Company received a $495,000 grant from the William Penn Foundation that
will help upgrade the production center over the next three years.
According to OCP director of Production Boyd Ostroff. the company's growing
ability to construct its own sets -- instead of renting them from other
companies -- isn't just about gaining the luxury of total artistic license.
For OCP, whose general director Robert Driver, inherited a $750,000 accumulated
debt when he took over the company in 1990, it's also a bottom-line issue.
The limited confines of the Academy of Music stage and the fact that the
company must share the hall with the Philadelphia Orchestra create all kinds
of problems when it comes to opera sets.
"The Orchestra is either performing or rehearsing in the building just
about every day, so whenever we're in there we have to strike everything
and then restore it for each performance," says Ostroff. With few available
rental sets designed with this kind of lightning setup and breakdown in
mind, stage crew costs were enormous.
Ostroff, who is looking into the scenic needs of local theater companies
for future opportunities, also sees the set design effort as a potential
moneymaker for the company. While it can cost as much as $100,000 to build
scenery for a new opera production, rental fees to other troupes can recoup
the expense. The OCP set for Il Trovatore, a co-production with the
Hawaii Opera, has gone to Chattanooga and Baltimore. Die Fledermaus
has been to Edmonton, New Orleans and Indianapolis. "In two years it
will have made money for us," says Ostroff. The well-traveled Carmen
and The Magic Flute -- which features a 40-foot-long green foam rubber
serpent with eyes that open and close -- are close to paying for themselves.
"It's a gamble because other companies may not like your idea,"
says Ostroff. "But we're trying to make the constraints we're working
with at the Academy a selling point. If we build scenery that's adaptable,
it will work extremely well in other companies."
While the new venture into the set business won't be a cash generator in
the short term, the energetic Robert Driver has another grand plan to deal
with his organization's nagging deficit. On Oct. 6, to celebrate the company's
21st birthday, he'll stage a gala "Coming of Age Concert" featuring
many of the great singers who have graced OCP productions over the years.
Hosted by actor Tony Randall and conducted by Maurizio Barbacini, among
those slated to appear at the concert are baritones Gregg Baker and Robert
Orth, bass Kenneth Cox, tenor Stuart Neill, and sopranos Maureen O'Flynn
and Diana Soviero.
"These are major artitsts and they are all volunteering their time,"
says Driver. "Diana Soviero is coming back from doing Madame Butterfly
in Santiago. We have people flying in from Seattle on an overnight and gooing
back the next day."
More than just the typical fund-raising gala, Driver could call the event
a "retire the debt" party. Because Dennis Alter, chairman of Advanta
Corporation, and his wife, Gisela, have pledged a three to one matching
grant of up to $300,000. That means for every $1 the company brings in,
Alter will match it with $3. Driver expects to raise more than $100,000,
which, with the Alter grant, shoudl be about enough to cancel the company's
remaining $413,000 deficit.
Driver, who has added performances, instituted English translation subtitles
and more than doubled season ticket sales since his arriveal, wants to go
beyond just paying off the debt. "We want to work on building a cash
reserve," he says.
Driver says the company was pushed into this major effort by a decision
of the Pew Charitable Trusts. The Pew, which gave more than $12 million
to local cultural groups in 1995, announced in December that it would cease
funding organizations that had deficits of al least five percent of their
operating budgets. When the Pew canceled its longtime support of the debt-plagued
Philadelphia Orchestra in March, it sent shock waves through the cultural
community. "I was stunned when I realized they meant it," says
Driver, who, for the last three years, has depended on $450,000 a year from
the Pew to run the company.
"We had been paying down the debt every year, and our plan was to keep
doing this for the next five years," he says. "but then the pressure
was on from the Pew. In a way, it's been a good thing for us."
-- EILS LOTOZO
Copyright 1996, Philadelphia Weekly
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