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Concert versions of the musical drama received standing
ovations in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, at the
Kennedy Center and at national Lewis and Clark bicentennial
activities in Charlottesville, Va. Illustration by Paul
Jackson, MFA '92
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Rediscovering
Lewis and Clark in Music
Students, faculty and alumni will present
the world premiere of an original musical drama, the nation’s
first commemorating the Lewis and Clark expedition.
By Nancy Moen
Discovery through exploration is a journey
all students take. At MU, young singers on the cusp of discovery
have found a unique adventure in music.
After two years of creation, planning, practice
and early appearances, MU’s Corps
of Discovery will make its world premiere May 2, 3
and 4 at the Missouri Theatre in Columbia.
The decision to mount this production was
a watershed moment for MU’s School
of Music and Department
of Theatre. Universities — even those with large music
programs — don’t normally undertake projects of
this magnitude.
Using its own students, faculty and alumni
who are opera professionals, MU commissioned and is producing
the nation’s musical drama featuring the Lewis and Clark
expedition.
“The members of the Lewis and Clark
expedition played a significant role in shaping American history,”
says Assistant Professor and Artistic Director Pamela Legendre,
“and Corps of Discovery provides an entertaining
musical forum for rediscovering that journey.”
The strength of the project rests in the
depth of the collaboration: Voices by MU Show-Me Opera; orchestra
and artistic direction by the School of Music; sets, staging
and costumes by the Department of Theatre; and checks for historical
accuracy by professors in the departments of history and anthropology.
MU commissioned composer Michael Ching,
artistic director of Opera Memphis, and librettist Hugh Moffatt
of Pullman, Wash., to write the score and text.
Their new composition falls into a genre
called musical drama, which crosses the traditional lines of
opera and musical theatre. With music that is melodic, memorable
and at times complicated, Corps of Discovery broadens
the artistic reach of this University.
Ching shakes his head in disbelief at the
connections MU used to book concert performances on prestigious
national stages and in Missouri at the Governor’s Mansion.
Concert versions presented in March at Carnegie Hall and at
the Kennedy Center drew standing ovations.
Julia Stemper, project manager for the Kennedy
Center’s Millennium Stage, says the “extraordinary
performance” there attracted double the audience expected
for a weekday evening. “The audience of 800 people was
as entranced by the opera as I was,” she says.
Legendre calls the musical drama “striking
and impressive,” with “profound musical moments.”
As part of MU’s collaboration with
professional opera, Ching has worked as scholar in residence
with music composition students, and Moffatt with theatre students
interested in writing for performance.
Both composer and librettist are enjoying
what they call “unprecedented” collaboration with
professors of music, theatre, history and anthropology, and
the support of University administrators. “This type of
collaboration, particularly with theatre and music, is rare
and refreshing,” Ching says.
Ask Ching if Corps of Discovery
is likely to be the next Les Misérables, and
he’ll smile, letting you make an assumption. He’s
more likely to offer a comparison to West Side Story,
but it’s obvious that Corps of Discovery is America’s
story set to music, and that Ching would love to see it performed
nationally in opera and musical theatre venues.
History celebrated in words and in song
Corps of Discovery practices are
fun, but they are serious business, too. There’s an electricity
in the air because the alumni singers have returned to campus
in the principal roles, and they sing full voice with the company
of undergraduate and graduate students. The students are obviously
enjoying the interaction with professionals.
Ryan MacPherson, BES '97, sings
the lead role of Captain Meriwether Lewis. MacPherson is
a tenor who is a veteran performer with numerous opera companies,
including recent roles with New York City Opera. Photo by
Andrew Shurtleff
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Tenor Ryan MacPherson, BES ’97, as
Capt. Meriwether Lewis uses his voice and posture to convey
authority on stage. A few measures into his singing, listeners
understand why MacPherson’s résumé is so
extensive for such a youthful performer. His strong voice easily
carries above the company ensemble. MacPherson is a veteran
performer of numerous opera companies, most recently with New
York City Opera.
Lewis’ exploration counterpart, Capt.
William Clark, is played by Dean Southern, MM ’93, a seasoned
performer who teaches voice and opera at the University of Akron
and is working toward a doctoral degree. Southern’s creamy
baritone and gentle stage persona mark Clark as a compassionate
leader of the Corps. In his position as captain, Clark knows
how to keep the men on task. He sings an order — “For
one week, no whiskey for them” — that routinely
gathers chuckles from the audience.
Two recent music graduates, tenor Neal Boyd,
2000, and baritone Kory Bickel, 2002 — both winners of
national collegiate vocal championships as MU students —
sing featured roles.
Boyd plays Clark’s slave, York, with
a dignity that tugs at the heart. In the melodic “York’s
Aria,” Boyd sings about his childhood as a playmate of
Clark and about his eventual realization that he is a servant,
not a free man. In the role, Boyd balances MU’s production
with his schedule as a graduate student at the New England Conservatory
of Music in Boston.
Bickel juggles the MU practice and performance
schedule while working toward a master’s degree at Indiana
University, where he won a role in that university’s first
opera of the season. In Corps of Discovery, he sings
the role of John Potts, a German-born member of the Corps who
displays the potential for conflict among the Corpsmen with
their varied ethnic backgrounds.
Bickel appreciates the bond the students
have formed with the alumni. “It’s wonderful to
work with professionals in such a close setting,” he says.
“We work with them in rehearsals and concerts, ride on
buses and planes with them. We have made connections that we
will take with us everywhere. Do you know how beneficial that
is to students, performing a new work in New York and Washington,
D.C.? You don’t do that at all schools.”
After superb auditions, Christina
Bonsall, left, and Alicia Miles learned they would share
the role of Sacagawea. Bonsall graduated in May and is a
master's student at Indiana University. Miles is a junior
who recently won her division of the state National Association
of Teachers of Singing competition. Photo by Brian Kratzer |
A story of discord
and harmony
Some of the finest moments of this musical
drama appear in its portrayal of the discord and harmony of
life among the members of the Corps and the tribes they encountered.
Act 2 features Sacagawea and members of
her nation and other tribes. Mezzo-soprano Alicia Miles, a senior
vocal performance major, and soprano Christina Bonsall, BM ’02
vocal performance, share the role of Sacagawea. Miles spent
the summer singing in productions at Seagle Music Colony in
New York; Bonsall is a master’s student at Indiana University.
Through music, the two women convey Sacagawea’s dilemma
of living with her own people and justifying her help with the
Corps.
There’s unexpected humor in this river
saga, too. Laughter ripples through the audience during a celebration
at the St. Louis tavern known as La Tigresse (an early reference
to Missouri’s fascination with tigers). Stories told by
the returning members of the Corps enlighten the audience to
an embarrassing wound suffered by Lewis, who was mistakenly
shot in the hindquarters by one of his own men.
Judging by applause, early audiences felt
a strong affection for the duet by Lewis and Clark who are joined
by the spirited company in “The River.” The song
celebrates another star of this production — the Missouri
River.
Like the movement of that river, Corps
of Discovery is setting its own course for the future.
A concert version performed Jan. 17 in Charlottesville, Va.,
helped open the national Lewis and Clark bicentennial.
The Missouri Department of Tourism is promoting the musical
drama as Missouri’s contribution to the Lewis and Clark
commemoration. Ching and Moffatt expect the premiere to attract
music writers nationally as well as representatives of music
publishing firms. And Opera America requested a full production
June 13 for its national convention in St. Louis. Tickets for
that performance at Missouri Baptist University are open to
the public and may be ordered by phone at (800) 430-2966.
Fortunately, a musical work doesn’t
end with a premiere. MU will continue to use this unique achievement
to attract the state’s and nation’s finest student
musicians because, as Bickel says, not all schools undertake
such nationally visible projects.
And because learning is a journey of discovery.
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Last Update:
July 2, 2008
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