For DragonDiva Operatic Theatre's fifth anniversary production of The Old Maid and the Thief - the first radio opera commissioned by NBC in 1939 - the cast and crew were each given a part to transcribe.
Riley McMitchell, a graduate of Port Coquitlam's Terry Fox secondary who portrays the character of Bob, was asked to dictate part of the radio announcer's text.
"And it was lots of fun," said McMitchell, a Grade 3 and 4 teacher at Coquitlam's Lord Baden-Powell elementary. "You really got a feeling for radio from that era."
But for DragonDiva's show, artistic director Jeanine Fynn put a fresh spin on the performance: Not only will the audience hear the 73-year-old act penned by Italian-American composer Gian Carlo Menotti but it will also see a behind-the-scenes re-enactment.
That means McMitchell and the other eight cast members are on stage for the full two-hour broadcast.
McMitchell, a UBC opera grad and DragonDiva alumnus (HMS Pinafore, Iolanthe), was hand-picked to play the pivotal role of Bob. A wanderer, Bob lands in town and woos Miss Todd (played by Lisa-Dawn Kilthau), a wealthy upstanding lady in the community who heads up charities and the Prohibition committee.
Desperate to keep her new lover, Miss Todd "ends up doing all of these immoral things for him like breaking into a liquor store and stealing money from her friends," McMitchell said.
Parallel to the story is an announcement about a prison escapee who coincidentally fits Bob's physical description. "Everybody wonders if Bob is this thief or not. It's never actually spelled out for you in the opera so you have to make your own decision," he said.
McMitchell said the production is not just geared to opera lovers: Theatre-goers enchanted with the music from the 1940s will also cherish the stage play as the Three Graces (à la Andrews Sisters) sing commercial jingles from that time period.
"The opera has never been done in the way we're presenting it," McMitchell said, "and that's kind of what DragonDiva is known for. They like to do a bit of a twist to make it good theatre and interesting for the audience."
DragonDiva was also forced to make the production portable with only three musicians in the orchestra: on piano, clarinet and flute. Last weekend, The Old Maid and the Thief opened the Gabriola Theatre Festival and this week, it's on for two performances at the Bernie Legge Theatre in New Westminster as well as this Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. at Evergreen Cultural Centre, as part of the Coquitlam facility's first annual Opera on the Lake series.
"People in the Tri-Cities don't see opera come out so often to the community," said McMitchell, a former director of the Coastal Sound Music Academy boys' choir. "This is something that you don't have to drive out to Vancouver for. And DragonDiva has done this really well. It's not to be missed."
Also performing are Christina Lewall as Miss Pinkerton; Karen Santos as Laeticia; Megan Bryden, Kayla Matzen and Tracy Weins as the Three Graces; Henry Chen as the sound man; and Joe Ritchie as the radio announcer.
Tickets for The Old Maid and the Thief are $25 and include a dessert afterwards. Call 604-927-6555 or visit www.evergreenculturalcentre.ca.
