GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE February 22, 2002
Going to the ball
'Cinderella'
features a trio of Cleveland singers
by Richard M. Berrong
Cleveland Usually when gay artists involved in area opera productions are interviewed, they are individuals who come from elsewhere, work here for two or three weeks, and then take off for elsewhere again.
This time, however, Cleveland Opera's upcoming production of Rossin's comic masterpiece Cinderella features three hometown boys, members of the Cleveland Opera Chorus. Among the three of them, they personify the diversity of the Cleveland gay community as well as Cleveland Opera's well-known openness to that community and to diversity in general.
Robby Thompson, a bass is a Cleveland native who has been singing with Cleveland Opera Chorus for over 25 years. A musician by profession, he also sings locally at Fairmount Temple and First United Methodist Church.
Though he began his music studies as a child at the Cleveland Music School Settlement, he has studied and performed across the country and as far away as Paris, where he was involved in a Paris Opera production of Carmen. Thompson stressed the particular significance of Cinderella for the gay community. It is the story of someone who believes that she can obtain the happiness she wants by dressing as someone completely different, which will allow her to meet the person who, in the end, can appreciate her for who she actually is.
* John F. Kassimatis, another Cleveland native, has been with Cleveland Opera Chorus three years, He, too, is active with various area musical groups, including the North Coast Men's Chorus, Lyric Opera Outreach, and Berea Summer Theater. He just auditioned for a part in the Great Lakes Science Center's upcoming production of Titanic, where actors will guide visitors through different stages of the ship's final hours.
That non-singing part illustrates Kassimatis interest in acting as well as singing. Rather than dreaming about being a stand and sing lead tenor, who often has to produce pretty notes without much opportunity for acting, he aspires to become a good comprimario, someone who specializes in the smaller character roles that provide real possibilities for imaginative actors. For this reason, he hopes to be able to join one of the nation's full-time opera choruses perhaps in Chicago or Seattle, since that would not only allow him to devote himself entirely to music, but also because those companies often draw soloists for character parts from their chorus. Since, for Kassimatis, the power of opera's music often makes him believe, once he walks out on stage, that he is who he is playing, he sees such a real move as a ticket to lots of other imaginative ones.
The most recent member of Cleveland Opera Chorus is tenor Weldon Lee Gan, a native of Dayton who just moved to Cleveland last month from Columbus, where he is finishing his studies in music theater at Capitol University.
As his major would suggest, he is interested in musical theater as well as opera. In Columbus, he appeared in shows like Bye, Bye Birdie. The Mystery of Edwin Drood, She Loves Me and Music Man, as well as works by Gilbert and Sullivan and Victor Herbert
Like Kassimatis, Gan is also interested in the acting part of opera, and therefore character roles. He hopes to go on to graduate school soon, to develop both his vocal and his acting talents.
Interviewing these three together, all openly gay men, one African-American, one Asian-American, spoke reams about Cleveland Opera's commitment to openness, diversity, and the gay community. All three emphasized the pleasure of being able to work for a company where being out is not a problem, an atmosphere that they all attributed to the company's founder-directors, David and Carola Bamberger.
One of opera's quintessentially gay stories will be on stage February 22 and 23 at 8 pm, and February 24 at 2 pm at the State Theater in Playhouse Square. For tickets, contact Cleveland Opera at 216 575-0903, or www.clevelandopera.org.
Richard M. Berrong is a freelance
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