Jonathan Elmore: I'm Jonathan Elmore. I'm a tenor. And I'm singing King Ouf.
Dajeong Song: My name is Dajeong Song. I'm from South Korea. And I'm singing Lazuli in L'étoile. I'm a mezzo-soprano who is singing a man role as a woman.
Aaron Cain: This might be impossible, but how would you describe the plot of this opera?
Jonathan Elmore: I was trying to explain it over the weekend to my partner’s parents and grandparents, and it's so convoluted, I think, that my partner summed it up as a “classic romantic tragedy.” But it has a happy ending. I guess the quickest way to describe the plot would be that the king, for his birthday every year, has a public execution just for fun, 'cause he's a little sick in the head, I think. The overarching plot is for him to find his “guest,” his victim, for this execution. He's also getting married, so there is this band of folks who come into town who are in disguise. One of those folks in the group is the Princess Laoula of the neighboring Kingdom of Matiquin, and she is to be his bride. Lazuli throws a wrench in the works by being there. Lazuli and Laoula fall in love and it's all just very confusing until the end when everything is resolved.
Dajeong Song: I'm a peddler. Lazuli is a peddler who travels all around the world. And then he sells, like, the beauty stuff, like for women. But he always wants to find a lover, like, he wants to settle down in somewhere. And then finally he met Laoula and it's kind of hard to get together, but finally they get together. And then be happy forever.
Aaron Cain: To you as performers and as students, as you work on this, what are you finding really special about this particular opera by Chabrier?
Dajeong Song: I definitely can say it's music. Because all the music, from the top to the bottom, it's so pretty and then so catchy. So, like, whenever I heard this music or I listen to this music, I couldn't stop repeating. Like, it's all stuck in my head all the time. And the music makes the story more beautiful. More, like, makes sense. More dramatic.
Jonathan Elmore: Heading into this project, I don't know that I was going into it with as open a mind as maybe I have now. I think I come from the sort of mindset that opera is Boheme, opera is Puccini, opera is Verdi. And so with an opera like this, it almost feels like more of a play, or a more of a song-play than an opera. But, I mean, it's proven me wrong left and right with the way that it’s written. I mean, all the music—there's both, like, some patter song elements that are very choppy and fun and quick and tuneful, but there's also these beautiful lyrical passages throughout. So it's got a grab bag of different sorts of styles. And, also, with the spoken dialogue, I think it gives these folks that are in the opera with us, like, a real chance to let their acting chops shine. We get to sing, we get to dance, we get to act. The nice thing about this show is that it's sort of showing all of us that each of us are more well-rounded…
Dajeong Song: Right.
Jonathan Elmore: …musicians and actors than we maybe thought we were.
[Laughter]
Dajeong Song: Right.
Jonathan Elmore: This show has really given all of the actors, singers…you see more of a piece of them in these characters than I think you might if you were seeing a Rodolfo or a Mimì on stage. I mean, even between Connor, the other Ouf and and I, we are two totally different Oufs!
Dajeong Song: Right.
Jonathan Elmore: And we're singing the same music and we're telling the same jokes, but we each have a lens that we see Ouf through, and you could come Friday and Saturday and see almost two different shows.
Dajeong Song: Right.
Jonathan Elmore: And I think that makes this production pretty special.
Dajeong Song: I also think this show is really good for a beginner audience. Like, everybody can come watch this show, like, this opera is really funny, happy, and chill. So every, like, child can come with their parents and then others can come because they can enjoy the moments a lot.
Jonathan Elmore: It is a great combination of theater and song. I mean, the music is beautiful, the acting is funny, the set is very cool, the costumes are very steampunk. You can go see Traviata anywhere. You can see…
Dajeong Song: Right, but L'étoile? Only here. [Laughter]
[Laughter]
Aaron Cain: Well, thank you both very much for speaking with me today.
Jonathan Elmore: Thank you.
Dajeong Song: Thank you so much.
Aaron Cain: IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theatre presents L'étoile, The Lucky Star, by Emmanuel Chabrier at the Musical Arts Center, 7:30 PM on Friday and Saturday. And I've been speaking with tenor Jonathan Elmore, who sings the role of King Ouf in one of the two casts, and the mezzo-soprano Dajeong Song, who sings the world of Lazuli in the other of the two casts. More information at operaballet.indiana.edu. For WFIU Arts, I'm Aaron Cain.
