Skylight Music Theatre

Skylight Music Theatre’s new season comes with a theme: freedom and revolution. It’s a topic threaded through all seven shows, be it freedom from imprisonment, revolution against a tyrannical government, or rebellion against mainstream culture.

Yet the real revolution at Skylight, might be coming from another source altogether: artistic director Viswa Subbaraman.

To be fair, we haven’t seen what Subbaraman can do yet; this is his first season with the Skylight, replacing former AD Bill Theisen. But the season he’s prepared, beginning with a production of Beethoven’s Fidelio reshaped as a Bollywood film opening tonight, is remarkably ambitious, as is the future role he sees his new company taking in the music and theater landscape of Milwaukee.

“One of the opportunities that this company gives me that very few other artistic directors have is the fact that we do every form of lyric theater,” Subbaraman said. “It’s both an amazing opportunity and a huge challenge, because then what you end up seeing are people who are afraid of the opera side or sneer at the musical theater side. … We’re not looking at it as one form of theater or the other. We’re programming great theater works that will move you, will entertain you, will change the way you look at the world.”

Theming a season is no new innovation. But while the goal is to get audiences to see as much of the season as possible, Subbaraman says the strategy has creative benefits beyond just selling tickets, using the metaphor of a curated museum to illustrate his vision for the Skylight. “The Tate Modern is one of my favorite museums,” Subbaraman said, “partly because one of the first exhibits I ever saw was curated by subject, and the modern versions of still-lifes made more sense after seeing still-life develop in a historical perspective.

“So what I tried to do with the season was to look at it and say ‘Well, why do we do art in the first place?’ We do it because it communicates something about our values, our own humanity, it holds a mirror to who we are as people, and all of those things are ways to look at how we program. … These are things that we talk about and seem to explore but we don’t know that we necessarily leave.”

Fidelio is one of the shows best tackling the season’s dual mission: focusing on freedom in its plotline (a brave woman, whose husband has been imprisoned by a corrupt leader, disguises herself as a prison guard in order to find and save him) and revolution in its staging – in addition to the aforementioned Bollywood twist, Subbaraman said set designer Raghava KK has integrated technology including an Xbox Kinect and a brain-wave scanner to provide design elements unlike anything else Milwaukee stages have seen.

“What we’ve been able to do with it is through the Kinect we’ve been able to tell the backstory of Leanore searching for two years for her husband, which you never know until the end of the opera. And so you see her walk across this Kinect field, in her search, during the overture, and it projects that moment onto these windows in time,” Subbaraman said. “We’re incorporating the brain EEG reader in the finale. I’ll wear it in the finale and that will allow us to create scenic elements, as organic as the actor’s performances. … However my brain has processed what we’ve seen will determine lighting effects and scenic elements, which you can’t normally do in a theater – those are pre-set.”

Bollywood may seem like a weird way to interpret an originally German opera that takes place in Spain, but Subbaraman says there’s more they have in common than you’d think. “Beethoven was a fascinating person in that he never married, partly because he never met a woman who would meet his ideals. Bollywood heroines are the same way. They were always strong, they always had character, they never made mistakes, they were beautiful – all those things that Beethoven looked for in women.”

The other significant similarity, Subbaraman says, is that, like opera, Bollywood puts the music above everything else except the dancing – which there’s more than enough room in Beethoven’s score to add in. In Bollywood films, the plot really exists to get to the big production numbers, which feature the leads dancing alongside big groups. Subbaraman says his cast will do the same, and his principals have grown to love the movement opportunities.

“When you have opera singers complaining that they need more choreography, you know you’ve hit the right spot. And we have. 90 percent of the time you have opera singers complaining because they’re being asked to move,” Subbaraman said.

Subbaraman doesn’t want to push Fidelio to the detriment of the rest of the season though, emphasizing that each has its place in the season and each builds on the other to complete the picture he and the Skylight are painting for Milwaukee audiences. “That’s the reason for curating a season like we curate. No other company I know of on the planet is going to do a season that starts with Beethoven and ends with Hair. But you can do that here. … To me, it’s the closest I’ve been able to get to that Tate Modern exhibit.”

The Skylight Music Theatre will begin its inaugural season with Viswa Subbaraman Friday, Sept. 20 with Fidelio, running through Oct. 6. Tickets range from $27.50 to $67 and can be ordered (414) 291-7800 or visit their website. For more information on this season of freedom and revolution, read on:

Fidelio, by Ludwig von Beethoven, libretto by Joseph Ferdinard von Sonnleither, Stefan von Breuning and Georg Friedrich Treischke

Dates: Sept. 20 – Oct. 6, Cabot Theatre

Synopsis: When her husband Florestan is imprisoned by the corrupt nobleman Don Pizzaro, heroine Leonore disguises herself as a male prison guard in an attempt to find and free him.

Production Notes: This production, stage and music directed by Subbaraman, is being staged as a Bollywood film, with technology-enhanced set design by Raghava KK. The design team, including costume designer Karen Brown-Larimore, consulted with members of Oak Creek’s Sikh community for advice on accurately portraying the Bollywood style.

Viswa’s Thoughts: “Part of the reason for setting Fidelio in Bollywood times is to show that it’s not that far removed from where we are now. That idea of exposing corruption – I mean, we could have a conversation about that in a variety of countries, even our own. Those kind of things are still current discussions that we should have as people.”

 

Les Misérables, music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer, adapted from Victor Hugo’s original novel

Dates: Nov. 22 – Dec. 29, Cabot Theatre

Synopsis: Pursued by the relentless Inspector Javert, former convict Jean Valjean tries to earn redemption in 19th century France, eventually being swept up in a revolutionary uprising alongside his adopted daughter Cosette.

Production Notes: The Skylight’s production of Les Mis is the first professional staging in Wisconsin. Molly Rhode will stage direct, with Subbaraman on music direction.

Viswa’s Thoughts: “We’ve taken advantage of [the Cabot stage] in a way that we did with Sound of Music – the proximity to the stage allows you to actually see the actor’s faces and experience that with them. We’re able to focus more on the storytelling of it than the tricks and the effects – which are interesting and will still be there, but not in the same way. … From that perspective, I think we bring a much more intimate experience to the show.”

 

El Cimarrón, composed by Hans Werner Henze, from book by Miguel Barnet, libretto by Hans Magnus Enzensberger, translation by Christopher Keene

Dates: Jan. 3-12, Studio Theatre

Synopsis: Estaban Montejo, a runaway slave who becomes a part of the Cuban War of Independence, tells his life story in a series of 15 musical sequences.

Production Notes: This one-singer show also features three musicians, on guitar, flute and percussion. Guest director Eugenia Arsenis, from Athens, Greece, and scenic designer Lisa Schlenker are developing a unique set design prominently featuring rope and a large central tree. Co-produced with the Center for Contemporary Opera in New York City.

Viswa’s Thoughts: “I don’t know that we would call it an opera or a theater piece. It’s a really odd piece but I think it has to be for telling such an odd story. When you think about what Montejo lived through, to capture that – and talking about slavery, talking about that aspect of our humanity is not easy either. It’s not necessarily a show for the faint of heart, but it’s a show that’s going to forever change you when you see it.”

 

In the Heights, music & lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, book by Quiara Algeria Hudes

Dates: Jan. 31 – Feb. 23, Cabot Theatre

Synopsis: Members of New York City’s largely Dominican-American neighborhood find their lives irrevocably changed when they learn one of their own has purchased a winning lottery ticket.

Production Notes: Ragnar Conde will direct this rap- and salsa-flavored musical, which will be heavy on dance numbers as well.

Viswa’s Thoughts: “It’s one thing to talk about the big ‘R’ Revolution. But to talk about that revolution that happens within each of us, and finding where we’re the happiest, and finding that neighborhood that we believe in, and finding that ability to say ‘This is who I want to be as a person and I don’t care what other people think’ – those things are really important. So it allows us to veer in a different direction with that conversation.”

 

Hydrogen Jukebox, music by Philip Glass, poetry by Allen Ginsberg

Dates: March 14-30, Studio Theatre

Synopsis: Hydrogen Jukebox follows six characters reflecting on America from the ‘50s to the  ‘80s, with social issues including Eastern philosophy, drugs and the sexual revolution springing from the Beat poetry of Allen Ginsberg.

Production Notes: The Skylight is structuring the show loosely around Ginsberg himself, conceiving one character as an extension of the poet and the rest as constructs of his imagination. Theodore Huffman will stage direct, with Subbaraman on music direction.

Viswa’s Thoughts: “I’ve had this show on my radar for a long time because I think it’s an interesting and vibrant show. I love the music of Philip Glass, and I think it works beautifully in the theater. What’s also fascinating about this show is [Glass] incorporates minimalism and stasis in his music, but Ginsberg doesn’t in his poetry. So there’s this propulsion through the text that you don’t always have in all of Glass’ shows.”

 

I Hear America Singing, created by Daron Hagen

Dates: May 9-25, Studio Theatre

Synopsis: Structured around the conceit of auditioning actors trying for a fictional Broadway show (also titled I Hear America Singing), the revue will feature American music of all stars and stripes.

Production Notes: Daron Hagen lives in New York now, but he’ll return to his hometown of Milwaukee for this production, currently being written with a plethora of great American songs.

Viswa’s Thoughts: “I wanted us to be able to do something in the Studio Theatre that kept that revue philosophy going, but I wanted to do it in a way that was going to be different. Part of my way of looking at theater is ‘What can we do that isn’t what we’ve always done?’ It also gave me the opportunity to work with Daron Hagen, who grew up here in Milwaukee and is probably one of the great artists to come out of this city.

 

Hair, music by Galt MacDermot, lyrics and book by James Rado and Gerome Ragni

Dates: May 16 – June 8

Synopsis: Set in the midst of the ‘60s counter-culture movement, this musical – perhaps one of the most controversial ever written – follows the Tribe, a group of hippies resisting conscription into the Vietnam War and the mainstream society opposing them.

Production Notes: Skylight regular Ray Jivoff will direct with Subbaraman on music direction. Scenic designer Lisa Schlenker will craft the show’s complex set out of pieces of the sets from the rest of the season.

Viswa’s Thoughts: “I think it will push buttons. It’s still one of those shows that – I don’t know that we’ve really ever gotten over it. There’s still people who don’t like the hippie movement, or who have a little flower child in them. It’s got great music, so it’s easy to watch, easy to listen to in that sense. But I don’t think it deals with easy things.”