When the Lyric Opera of Chicago sent out invitations to a special news conference featuring Renée Fleming last week, there was plenty of speculation as to whether the Grammy Award-winning superstar American soprano was going to be named the company's next general director. ( After all, the current general director, William Mason, is set to retire at the end of the 2011-12 season. )
And for opera historical buffs, the notion that a soprano might take over a Chicago company inevitably brought to mind the late Scottish soprano Mary Garden ( who notoriously bankrupted one Chicago opera company in the 1920s ) .
Instead, Fleming was named the Lyric's first creative consultant and a co-vice president of the Lyric Opera of Chicago board of directors alongside conductor Sir Andrew Davis ( who is currently celebrating his 10th anniversary as the Lyric's music director ) . At the news conference, Mason pointed out that the board of directors is still searching for a new general director.
Fleming's duties in her five-year creative consultant position have largely to do with playing an active leadership role in creating new projects and initiatives designed to increase opera audiences and awareness of the art form. Some of the projects announced at the news conference included plans to foster collaborations with other Chicago-based arts institutions and expanding the educational activities of the Lyric to include a joint program with the Merit School of Music.
Lyric audiences will get to see Fleming's work at curating a world-premiere opera set to debut in the 2015-16 season, plus a new Lyric commitment to American musical theater when it produces Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! as an off-season 70th anniversary production in 2013.
Currently booked through 2016 with singing engagements, Fleming said she will find time to fit in her new Lyric duties of outreach and creative input on top of her international opera career.
Luckily for Lyric audiences, Fleming disclosed that she is set to return to Lyric as a performer. On the slate is a subscriber-appreciation concert with Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky to honor general director William Mason on Jan. 7, 2012, plus staged concert performances as Blanche DuBois in André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire in spring 2013 and the role of the Countess in a new production of Richard Strauss' Capriccio in fall 2014.
Fleming's undisclosed salary was made possible by several members of the Lyric's board of directors. Fleming's decision to take up the position is not uncommon for opera singers. The late soprano Beverly Sills notably took up administrative roles with the New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera after retiring from her singing career.
At age 51, Fleming still has many years of performing ahead of her. Yet getting her opera administration feet wet with the Lyric certainly seems like a logical step as one of America's most famous opera ambassadors.
Gilman at Goodman
Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls recently named his longtime artistic collaborator, Rebecca Gilman, to Goodman Theatre's Artistic Collective.
"It's been an enormous pleasure to collaborate with her on a remarkable range of styles and subject matter, all of which keep her at the forefront of American playwriting," said Falls in a prepared statement.
Once Chicago playwright Rebecca Gilman made a major splash in the theater world with her 2002 Pulitzer Prize finalist drama The Glory of Living ( originally debuted several years earlier at Circle Theatre in Forest Park ) , her subsequent works were quickly snapped up by the flagship Goodman Theatre.
Starting with the college racism drama Spinning Into Butter in 1999, Gilman's work has as long been represented at the Goodman Theatre. Gilman's Boy Gets Girls ( 2000 ) , Blue Surge ( 2001 ) , Dollhouse ( 2005 ) and A True History of the Johnstown Flood ( 2009 ) each had their world premieres at the Goodman. The Goodman also produced the Chicago premiere of Gilman's The Crowd You're In With in 2009.
"I am so fortunate for the relationship I have with the Goodman," said Gilman in a prepared statement. "The support and resources that this theater offers are unparalleled to anything else I have experienced in my career."
Gilman joins the current Goodman Collective of actor Brian Dennehy, director/actor Henry Godinez, director Steve Scott; director Chuck Smith, playwright/director/actor Regina Taylor and director/playwright Mary Zimmerman. After 24 years, original Collective member and out director/actor Frank Galati has rotated off as artistic associate. Galati, now retired to Florida, remains an official member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble.
Extensions aplenty
It's always great news to hear when a theater company has a hit on its hands. So if you've been trying to snag a ticket to these shows, note these extension dates:
The Artistic Home's superlative production of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth has been extended to Jan. 16, 2011.
Lookingglass Theatre's popular world-premiere adaptation of Peter Pan ( A Play ) has been pushed forward to Jan. 23.
Black Ensemble Theater's gay-inclusive musical The Other Cinderella will still go to the ball until Jan. 23, 2011.
Please send theater news and other related tidbits to scottishplayscott@yahoo.com and Andrew@windycitymediagroup.com .
