BEHIND THE SPOTLIGHT

One of the most common questions people ask me is, “How do you cast an opera?”  The answer isn’t simple, as there are so many factors that go into making casting decisions depending on the nature of the project and who is involved, but I’ll try to address this question by looking at a specific example: the casting of Veruca Salt for our upcoming workshop of The Golden Ticket.

As ALT is co-producing the world premiere with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, I felt it very important that Jim Robinson (who is both Artistic Director of OTSL, and the stage director for the production) have input into the casting of our workshop.  As I explained in an earlier post, singers cast in the workshop are not guaranteed to move on with the production, but we certainly want to cast the workshop with an eye towards the future. 

In mid-December, I put out a casting notice to Artist Managers with details of the workshop and future plans for the opera. We also included a casting breakdown, which provides them with information about each role, including the vocal range and certain vocal and physical characteristics we are looking for in each role. For Veruca, we wanted to find a young-looking Mezzo Soprano with considerable range (c’ to b”) and who also could embody the character of a spoiled rich little brat!  We received 37 submissions of singers to consider for this role.  Of those 37, we asked to hear 8 in live auditions in January.  To narrow the number down from 37 to 8, I consulted with Jim and the music staff at OTSL to see which of the submitted singers they might be familiar with.  Our own music staff was also familiar with many of the artists.  By looking at their previous professional experience (including roles sung and the companies with which they sang those roles), as well as a certain degree of typing-out (the process of narrowing down candidates by physical characteristics - in this case we definitely wanted a young looking singer who was not too tall) we selected the 8 singers to hear live.  Jim and I were familiar with some of those singers, while we had never heard others.  We always remain open to discovering new talent, and this is exactly what happened in the case of Finding Veruca Salt.  Enter Abigail Nims.

Abigail auditioned for us on January 7th.  For the auditions, we requested that each singer bring at least one contemporary aria in English (as this demonstrates diction and ability to communicate effectively, as well as their comfort level in contemporary musical idioms), as well as other arias that they feel best show off their voice.  We give each artist the option to choose their first aria, and if after their first aria we feel that we want to hear them sing something else, we typically choose a contrasting aria.  In this case, we videotaped the auditions so that they could be reviewed by Peter and Donald (the composer and librettist of The Golden Ticket) who live in London. Abigail very graciously has allowed us to post her audition here, so you can get an inside look at what the audition process is like.  Thanks also to Curt Pajer, her wonderful pianist, for allowing us to post this.

Abigail chose to begin with “Things change, Jo” from Mark Adamo’s opera Little Women.  Having directed Little Women myself a few time, I am very familiar with this challenging piece.  It shows a singer’s range, as well as her ability to make sensitive musical and dramatic choices .  As such, many Mezzos now use this aria in auditions, and we hear it often.  Abigail’s singing of the aria really grabbed my attention.  First thoughts: a beautiful voice, well produced, clear diction.  Second thoughts: very expressive, successful at communicating the character’s situation in the opera (which is a challenge to do in an audition room), and lovely musical choices.  Third thoughts: Charismatic. I want to hear more.

This led Jim and I to ask Abigail to sing a second aria.  She had a few to choose from on her list (forgive me but I forget all of the options).  Jim asked to hear “Smanie implacabile…” from Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte.  This is an excellent choice for potential Verucas, as it shows some of the fire that this character requires, not to mention that Mozart also shows off the voice.  Abigail immediately engaged both Jim and I in the recit to the aria, and kept our attention throughout.  Again, we heard a beautiful timbre, and saw a well thought-out characterization.  I could immediately start picturing her as Veruca. Here was the combination of charisma, fire and vocal beauty that we needed.

We continued our auditions the following week, and by the end of the auditions, Abigail stood out as the clear first choice for Veruca in the workshop. I thought it would give all of us involved in the project a chance to hear her in the complete role, and Jim agreed that she was an ideal Veruca prospect.  With that in mind, I sent this video of her audition to Peter and Donald. They agreed she had what we were looking for, so we offered her the role.

I am, of course, very happy that Abigail is joining us for The Golden Ticket.  If you want to hear Abigail create Veruca Salt in the workshop, get your tickets as soon as possible! She is just one of the stellar singers who we will be working with on this exciting project…