Yum-Yum! Regina Opera Company does 'The Mikado'

By Meredith Deliso

Let’s face it, everyone loves “The Mikado.”

The satirical Gilbert and Sullivan light musical was Regina Opera’s most successful productions when staged nearly 10 years ago, so the Bay Ridge troupe decided to bring it back with a full-scale production from March 5 to 13.

“Operetta is not our bread and butter — we tend toward bigger pieces like ‘Tosca’ and ‘Madame Butterfly’ — so this was a nice addition,” said director Linda Lehr.

Set during late 1800s Japan, the comic plot follows the love affairs of the royal residents of Titipu: the Mikado; the elderly Katisha, who is set to marry the Mikado’s son, Nanki-Poo; his dear love, Yum-Yum; and her fiancee, Ko-Ko.

The Japanese setting was mainly a device to allow the writers to satirize Victorian mores at a time — 1885 — when such things were not done. Still, there’s some authenticity in the company’s production; Regina soprano Yoko Yamashita, who was trained in Japanese classical dance, has been helping with the choreography.

“Our show goes from real Japanese dance all the way to British musical vaudeville choreography,” said Lehr. “We’re having a lot of fun with it.”

“The Mikado” at Regina Hall [1210 65th St. at 12th Avenue in Bay Ridge, (718) 259-2772], March 5-6, 12-13 at 3 pm. Tickets $23 ($18 for students and seniors, $5 for teens, and free for children). For info, visit www.reginaopera.org.


Photo by Matthew Nedbalsky

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It’s Regina Opera’s annual ‘Salute to Broadway’

By Meredith Deliso

Broadway is coming to Bay Ridge.

On Feb. 6, the Regina Opera Company trades Wagner for Webber when it holds its regular “Salute to Broadway” concert.

Among the two dozen selections of Broadway and popular tunes, songs will be pulled from such classics as “Showboat,” “South Pacific” “My Fair Lady,” “West Side Story,” as well as more contemporary shows like “Les Miserables”  “Jekyll and Hyde,” and “Evita.”

“I like to pick some contemporary Broadway shows, along with the classic Broadway shows,” said Regina founder Francine Garber. “It’s a nice variety.”

Still, the company can’t help but stick to its roots, as it also performs songs from the operettas “Die Fledermaus” and “Candide.”

The salute  is a staple concert for the company, which puts it on a few times a year for Brooklyn’s Broadway lovers.

“People in the audience know all the words, and sometimes they hum along,” said Garber. “We don’t discourage them.”

Salute to Broadway at Regina Hall [1210 65th St. at 12th Avenue in Bay Ridge, (718) 259-2772], Feb. 6 at 3 pm. Tickets $12 ($5 for teens, free for children). For info, visit www.reginaopera.org.

Photo: Join baritone Gregg Lauterbach and the Regina Opera Company in its “Salute to Broadway,” a concert on Feb. 6 featuring all your toe-tapping favorites.

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A 'Tosca' like it oughta be

By Meredith Deliso

This “Tosca” is just how Puccini himself envisioned it.

Some contemporary opera companies like to update the 110-year-old classic — traditionally set in Rome in 1800 — by setting it in, say Mussolini’s Italy or modern times. But the founders of Bay Ridge’s Regina Opera Company are purists at heart.

“We always do what the composer has asked us to do,” said Fran Garber, who founded Regina Opera, one of the foremost smaller opera companies in the city, 40 years ago. “That’s what we feel our audiences want, and also, that’s what we want. We want to be faithful to what the composer wrote.”

For “Tosca,” that means dramatic, Napoleonic costuming, accompaniment by the company’s trusty orchestra, and the Italian libretto, with subtitles projected above the stage (well, maybe Puccini didn’t envision that).

Garber estimates that the company, which leans heavily on such classics as “Madame Butterfly” and “Carmine,” has done “Tosca” as least four times, most recently in 2007.

Of course, for those who haven’t seen the company’s previous productions, it always helps to go in with a little primer, and the tragic opera, revolving around themes of love, lust and murder, follows Floria Tosca, a beautiful opera diva who is in love with Mario Cavaradossi, a painter and revolutionary. When he is arrested for aiding an escaped political prisoner, Tosca finds herself at the will of the evil chief of police, Baron Scarpia, in order to save her lover from death. This being a tragic tale, it should be fairly obvious that things only get worse from there.

It all happens beginning Nov. 20 at Regina Hall on 65h Street, the same block the company has performed on since forming. Because some things, as we know, don’t need to change.

“Tosca” at the Regina Hall [1210 65th St. at 12th Avenue in Bay Ridge, (718) 259-2772], Nov. 20, 21, 27 and 28 at 3 pm. Tickets $23, $18 for seniors and students, $5 for teenagers, and free for children. For info, visit www.reginaopera.org.

Photo: Jenny Searles as the titular Tosca in the Puccini classic, a beautiful opera singer who contemplates murdering Scarpia (Ricardo Rosa, rear) in the tragic opera. Photo by Janice Yi

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