JUNE 21, 1996 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 21

EVENINGS OUT

Large stage allows expanded production of Man of La Mancha

by Richard Berrong

Some performers are interesting only on stage, and shrink into a shell when not performing. Unlike them, the two members of Cleveland Opera's current production of Man of La Mancha with whom I spoke last week have enough personality in their real lives to make interviewing them one of the best days I have spent in some time. (And my life hasn't been so bad!)

Jim Coleman, the show's conductor, is a veteran of Broadway and the opera house. He has led performances of Anything Goes, Sweeney Todd, Showboat (including Cleveland Opera's production several seasons ago), and other shows across this country and as far away as Taiwan, as well as conducting of a wide range of standard and modern American opera. D

Dimitri Toscas, a baritone/tenor, has so far been paying the bills primarily with appearances in opera, including some of Sarah Caldwell's innovative productions in Boston, but has been listening to musicals since he was a kid and is working on expanding his repertory there as well.

Both have done Man of La Mancha before, and both had lots to say about what makes this production special, even for those who have seen the show before. They emphasized that one of the great advantages of doing the work in Playhouse Square's State Theater is that the huge stage allows them to mount a non-traditional production that is not cramped in Don Quixote's prison quarters, but rather can move across large expanses to focus on different episodes in different localities. Cervantes' imaginary creation thereby takes on a physical reality that is as grand as his character Don Quixote's "Impossible Dream."

Doing the work with an opera company rather than a traditional musical theater group also gives them a chance to make the musical come alive as it was originally staged. As Jim explained, economics have radically changed Broadway over the last several decades, to the point that few shows there, much less outside New York, can spend money on a full cast of both dancers and singers. This is a luxury that Cleveland Opera can still provide.

Toscas also emphasized that, unlike in the previous production of Man of La Mancha with which he was involved, the characters this time have all been thought through and built up from scratch. No one is treated as a caricature. Because the performers all really believe in what they are doing, the characters have taken on a truly well-rounded, much more real aspect that makes them far more effective than usual. Coleman, who has conducted many other productions of the work, praised Joyce Campana as the best Aldonza he has ever seen, and Toscas recalled how the company's directors were so moved at the first full rehearsal of Don Quixote's death scene that even some of the men began to cry. In short, both guaranteed that even those

who have seen the show before, much less those who have not, will find it a remarkable theatrical experience.

On the issue of how being gay has affected their professional lives, both were equally open and vocal. Coleman assured me, as his fellow conductor Steven Lord had last fall, that being gay had never created any problems for him in the theater. In his experience, he has always been able to be judged on his talents alone. He did feel, however, that the special sensitivity given to some gay people has enabled him to work more effectively in an art form that deals with the realization of other people's ideas and emotions.

Toscas also said that being openly gay has closed no doors to him, and added that having gone through a gay person's struggle to develop a self because society does not yet provide ready-made models for gays has given him particular insight into creating an existence, a skill that he has found crucial in his preparation of a role. He cited, among his examples, the time in a production of Assassins that he had to play Leon Czolgoz, a man so introverted that he barely moves and never gives expression to his emotions. Anyone who has spent four hours talking with the very outgoing and unrestrained Toscas knows how much insight he would have needed to create such a character!

Both men have future professional plans that have grown out of their understanding of and comfort with who they are. Coleman, who has already conducted a lot of modern American opera, spoke very enthusiastically about Harvey Milk, the recent opera by Stewart Wallace and Michael Korie done in Houston, New York, and San Francisco. He found it extremely theatrical, and would very much like to conduct future performances of it. He explained that the work makes minimal production demands, and that it could be staged as an opera or, with a little revision, a musical, and could be done even by companies with more limited means.

Toscas, among his many other projects, is currently very excited about the possibility of doing Little Mary Sunshine in a very different fashion in Orlando, where he lives with his fiance Paul, a performer for Disney. Without giving away all the details, Toscas---a broadchested, 6'2" Greek American-began to fantasize about his appearance in the title role, wearing a large Victorian dress and hat. He also shared a fantasy about appearing as Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata, and even did his rendition of some of her music, but assured me that that would remain strictly a fantasy.

A lot more was covered during the six hours I spend talking to Coleman and Toscas, but space limitations prevent its inclusion here. Clevelanders who want to experience the excitement I had pleasure of encountering in their presence can sample it this weekend, during the four remaining performances of Cleveland Opera's Man of La Mancha. For tickets, call 800-766-6048.

Dimitri Toscas

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