Jason Powell’s new comix opera a sure hit

Fortuna the Time Bender vs. The Schoolgirls of Doom.

The title alone is worth the price of admission to Jason Powell’s new comic opera, which opens officially tonight (Friday Jan. 13) at the Alchemist Theatre. I saw it Thursday, in a preview that was more than ready for prime time. The Milwaukee Opera Theatre commissioned this irresistible blend of unlikely influences: Comic books and the nerdy culture that surrounds them; Gilbert & Sullivan; and rock musicals.

The superheroine of this nutty cartoon of an operetta can slow down time for everyone else, which gives her time to zip around and fight crime. But just as Fortuna has cleaned up Anyville, a new threat arrives: The Headmaster and his three naughty schoolgirls. Meanwhile, nerdy Joe longs to be a superhero, and is eventually recruited as Fortuna’s sidekick. His girlfriend, Liz (a museum director — go figure) is pleased to see Joe do… something. Anything.

The plot is but an excuse for torrents of enormously clever wordplay very much in the W.S. Gilbert tradition. Patter songs abound. Jonathan Stewart, as the hopeless Joe, was notably hilarious in a number in which he expressed the conflict between his superhero ambitions and his natural meekness. Again and again, he stepped out of singing and into speaking to deliver punchlines with deft phrasing that is funny quite apart from the line itself. (Can you think of a rhyme for “mild-mannered?” Jason Powell thought of lots of them.)

Fortuna calls for a style of acting akin to comic-book drawing: Deliver the essence of

character via stock poses rendered in a few broad strokes. The cast has lots of fun with this, so we do, too. Schoolgirls Sandy, Mandy and Candy — Katy Johnson, Rana Roman and Lisa Morris — strut, tease and snarl like the ray-gun-wielding fantasy girls they are.  The ever more impressive Nathan Wesselowski plays their Headmaster’s inflated passions through a bizarre set of gestures as remote from everyday life as Kabuki. Blond bombshell Samantha Sostarich, in red unitard and golden boots, knows her way around the Lexicon of Heroic Poses. She strikes them earnestly, self-consciously, hilariously. Diane Lane has the substantial role of the narrator. She’s objective at first, but becomes more and more involved first as a commentator and then as a meddler. Melissa Kelly Cardamone plays Liz, the only sensible one in the bunch. Liz is appalled and exasperated by these zanies, but it’s fun to see how Cardamone has Liz succumb to their charm and fantasy.

The composer and Jill Anna Ponasik, MOT’s artistic director, served as stage directors and got a lot out of their actors. Ellen Kozak designed the costumes, which really count in this show. Choreographer James Zager put the zap and pow into the fight scenes on the tiny Alchemist stage, which Aaron Kopec arranged to provide four distinct locations within maybe 150 square feet.

Powell’s music, though simple harmonically, is ingenious in rhythm and in its integration with the lyrics and the plot. His expert declamation and the cast’s superb diction allowed every word to come through clearly. Much of the music sounds like Sir Arthur Sullivan — the Schoolgirls sing a twisted take on Three Little Maids from School, for example —  but some of it could have come from Hair. The cast sings it all extremely well, pianist/music director Donna Kummer plays it with great understanding and sympathy, and somehow both idioms work together seamlessly. I admire the way Powell injected music directly into the story. All rhythmic values double when Fortuna bends time, for example, and the Neapolitan 7th chord is Fortuna’s kryptonite. You’ll understand why when you hear the Headmaster and the Schoolgirls of Doom sing it.

This fun little piece is certain to have a life beyond its initial run, but why not say you knew it when? It runs through Jan. 29 at The Alchemist, 2569 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. Tickets are $19. Call 414 4169 or visit Alchemist’s website.

Display Photo: Samantha Sostarich as Fortuna.