Never-before performed at Shreveport Opera, The Seven Deadly Sins and Mahagonny-Songspiel provide an intriguing ending to our 2025-26 season and feature our SOX artists. The Seven Deadly Sins tells the story of two sisters who leave Louisiana in search of fame, while Mahagonny-Songspiel tells of the rise and fall of a Sodom and Gamora-esque town.
(in order of appearance)
Jeremy Do*
César Augusto Vélez Gámez ∅
Steve Valenzuela
Justin Ramm-Damron*
Gwenyth Sell*
Cambria Metzinger*
* current SOX artist
∅ Shreveport Opera debut
Transcript:
[gentle music] It's 11 o'clock. Good morning to you. I'm Kermit Poling, general
manager here at Red River Radio. Time for another Arts Spotlight, this time
featuring Shreveport Opera. And joining me in the studio, Alan Hicks, who's the
artistic director and general director of Shreveport Opera, um, and has been
through this season, but still relatively new to the Northwest Louisiana family
and Red River Radio. But we're glad to have you in the studio. Well, thank you
very much. And, uh, uh, you have an event that's coming up of I believe pieces
that have not ever been performed by Shreveport Opera, at least that I'm aaware
of. Uh, special event coming up this Friday. Why don't you talk a little
about it? Yeah. Uh, this is, um, um, these are two pieces that have never been
done here as far as we can tell from the repertoire that we've seen. Uh, they're
pieces by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. Uh, one is called the Mahagonny
Songspiel, or Songplay, and the other is The Seven Deadly Sins. And they're
both, uh, short. Um, Mahagonny's about 20 minutes, and The Seven Deadly
Sins is about 35 minutes total. Okay. The event is called Art After Dark. That's
correct. And, um, it is actually in a more unusual venue, um, not, not the big,
um, concert ho- hall downtown- Right ... but rather at the Catholic Center, which
is a nice facility as well. Right, at the Catholic Center in the auditorium, um,
that, uh, I think the Catholic Center, as I, uh, have been told, used to be an old
school. Mm-hmm. So it has a auditorium, and, uh, we use that for our
rehearsals, but we also sometimes use it for performance, and that's where
we're doing these shows today. Okay. Or the, uh, uh, Friday. All right. And, and
primarily the cast for these are the artists of Shreveport Opera Express, your
resident artists? That's correct. Uh, this features, and generally is a feature for
the SOX artists. Um, we have two, uh, extras that, um, one of is a former
student who lives in Dallas, who came over, Cesar, and the other is Steve
Valenzuela, who is a popular, uh, local talent. And, um, the rest, all four, are the
SOX artists. This is sort of their last big thing before they fly the coop, as it
were. [laughs] Yeah, at the, uh, the end. So, uh, talk a little bit, by the way, uh,
about how the Resident Artist Program works. Well, the Reg- Resident Artist
Program here is, um, it is both a touring program for schools, we do school
shows, uh, but we also use our resident artists and give them opportunities on
the main stage, which is, you know, not u- uh, normal. In the course of many of
the young artist programs, they get the opportunity to do smaller roles on the
main stage and cover, but we actually use them as principal roles often. Mmhmm.
And we sort of build our season, like I'm in the throes of, uh,
programming for next season, so I'm building my season around our new group
of young artists and trying to figure out what they're going to do and how it's
gonna be best, how we can best serve them and serve the show at the same
time. Um- And of course, you audition, um, new artists every year or every
other year, de- depending on the, on the situation. Um, are, so are all of the
artists changing over this year? Yes, they are all- Okay ... changing over
this year. I think last year, uh, a few of them stayed around. Uh, three of our
four from last year stayed. Mm-hmm. Um, and normally speaking, I would give,
uh, a first-year group the opportunity to stay if they wanted or felt like, or if we
mutually felt it would be beneficial for them. But often we ha- we do have
auditions every year with the intent that people will come here, they'll get what
they need out of the program, they'll get some experience, and then they'll go
on to bigger and better things. Sure. Well, talk a little bit about these two
pieces that are gonna be performed. Uh, well, they are very interesting pieces.
Um, Bertolt Brecht, uh, and it, it's... We talk a lot in opera about the composer,
but, um, the librettist and the playwright are always, in, generally speaking,
famous in their own right. Right. And Bertolt Brecht was, um, sort of the creator
of the epic theater or the, what often is called in theater the Brechtian theater.
Mm-hmm. And what it is, is it's, it has a little bit of an odd... It feels normal, but
it feels a little bit off. And the reason he did that was so that people wouldn't
emotionally invest in the characters, but instead think critically about the story
that they're telling. Okay. So oftentimes it, it feels a little stilted. It feels a little
weird. The characters seem to be devoid and divorced from reality. And that's
essentially what these pieces are about. Mahagonny tells the story of, um... It's
a, it's a very interesting thing. There is a, um, there's a bigger work that grew
out of the Mahagonny Songspiel, which is The Rise and Fall of the City of
Mahagonny, which is a full two-hour show. But before that, they wrote the
Songspiel, which is a collection of a couple of songs that sort of loosely tell the
story of a Sodom and Gomorrah type town- Okay ... where people come to
spend their money and to drink and to be debaucherous, and then how they're
down- how the city falls in that respect. Right. Um, and then as a matter of
fact, uh, God comes to the town at some point and says, uh, "You should all go
to hell," and h- they say, "No, 'cause we're already there." [laughs] [laughs]
Okay. Yeah. [laughs] Uh, well, saves the trip anyway. Right. [laughs] Exactly.
Um, but, um, and, and is it... So Seven Deadly Sins- Mm-hmm ... that one, um,
i- i- set in Louisiana, or it's, at least starts in Louisiana? It is, it starts in...
Actually, Mahagonny is a fictional town in Alabama- Okay. All right ... which is
one of the reasons I was drawn to these two pieces. And, uh, The Seven Deadly
Sin- Sins, the main character, Anna, or Anna, actually, um, lives in Louisiana
and leaves Louisana- Louisiana to go and find fame and fortune, and in her
travels encounters all of the seven deadly sins before she returns to Louisiana
at the end. Okay. All right. So but there is, uh... I mean, basically these are
Southern tales. They, they are. Yeah. And, and it's interesting because Brecht
and Weill were both German, and, uh, they didn't have- Yeah, you don't
necessarily connect them. It's like- Right. They don't- Yeah ... they didn't have
any really geographical knowledge of the United States, but they felt like
Alabama and Louisiana would feel exotic to German audiences, so that's why
they picked them. Plus, they liked the feeling of jazz, and there's a lot of jazz
influence in these pieces. Sure. There's a lot of, uh... It's a very different
musical style from what most people consider opera. Um, it's very jazzy. And
as a matter of fact, The Seven Deadly Sins, Cambria, there are two different...
uh, keys that you can sing it in. One, Cambria would sing it much more
operatically, but we picked the one that was much more jazz oriented, or much
more cabaret style. And we've taken to calling these cabaret cantatas more
than we have anything else because that's sort of what they are. That sounds,
that sounds like a really good, good description. Yeah. And so you say j- jazz,
are they, do they have very much the feel of, say, Threepenny Opera? Yes, as a
matter of fact. Yeah. And, um, Weill's style is pretty similar all the way through
his- Yeah ... career. I mean, he gets a little bit more Broadway as he goes, but
it all grew out of that 1920s and '30s Berlin cabaret style. Yeah. Um, and that's
essentially what these are, and that's right around the time that these were
both written, I think. 1927 for Mahagonny and 1933 for, um, Seven Deadly
Sins. Sure. And there was quite the fascination, um, in Europe with American
jazz styles anyway, not- Mm-hmm ... not obv- obviously just in operatic works
or vocal works, but in a lot of- Exactly ... symphonic works and all of that too,
in, in various countries- Yeah ... um, as well, so it, so it makes a whole lot of
sense. So the performance is at the Catholic Center. It is this Friday? This
Friday at 7:00 PM. Okay. It's called Art After Dark, and, you know, in May, 7:00
is not really dark, but [laughs] [laughs] You know, we're working on that. Well,
they [laughs]... Well, I don't know, either curtain's on the windows, I, I don't
know. Yeah. But, um, um, yeah, that, but that's, but that's fine. And, um, and,
um, well, I like the, speaking of which, the, the artwork that is on the, the
image that you're using to promote, promote the piece. That's, that's kind of a,
you know, a dark... You've got the little skull there. Oh, the little Jolly Henry?
Yeah. Yeah. Actually, um, uh, in my other, w- in my formative life when I was,
uh, a young singer working in New York City, um, you know, all young singers
have to have temp jobs when you live in New York City. The cost is so
expensive. Sure. So my temp job was doing graphics. So I did all the graphics
for the season. Oh, excellent. Okay. And I created that. That was the only thing
I could think of. But, uh, if you look really closely at it, it's got the seven deadly
sins all tattooed on the, on the skull of the Jolly Henry. Okay. And what, uh, uh,
what do people need to do to get tickets? Uh, they need to go to, to our
website, shreveportopera.org, and there's a ticket button up in the right-hand
corner, a big red button. And, or you can call Renee or Zoe in the office, and,
uh, they can hook you up with tickets. They're, they're only $35. It's general
seating. Um, it's, uh, and it's a very big open space. And, um, it's very intimate,
so you, you know, when you're sitting close, you'll be right there in the action.
Okay. It sounds like a, like a terrific evening. That's this Friday evening, May
1st. Mm-hmm. 7:00 PM. The Catholic Center is, uh, 3500 Fairfield Avenue there,
right on the backside of, of Mall St. Vincent. If, uh- Mm-hmm ... uh, you're not
familiar with the, the center itself and you happen to be, you know, in the, the
area here, you probably know where, where the mall is. So, so very easy to
find. And, um, again, two works, the Seven, uh, Deadly Sins and, um,
Mahagonny, uh, the, the Singspiel, um, by, uh, Brecht and Weill. And, um,
featuring the resident artists of- Mm-hmm ... Shreveport Opera. I'm assuming
that, uh, Robert Cruz is gonna be accompanying them on piano? He is. He is
the music director for the, for the piece, and also playing. Okay. Terrific. Um,
so, uh, Alan Hicks has been my guest, who is the, uh, the artistic director of
Shreveport Opera. Anything else you wanna add? Uh, can you give any hints
about next year, or probably too soon? Uh, it's a little too soon. Argh. Okay. I, II
put you on the spot ... you know, I don't wanna say anything that I'll have to
take back later. [laughs] Okay. Well, we won't, won't do that. Well, anything
else you wanna add about this weekend? Yeah. I would say one of the most
interesting things about the piece is that the video that we're using becomes a
character in and of itself. I've been creating a very intricate video system, uh,
for this particular piece, for one reason, because the Seven Deadly Sins is
called a ballet chanté, um, a sung ballet, and there's supposed to be a second
character who is a dancer. But instead of using a dancer, we're using video.
And, uh, the- I think the most interesting thing is Cambria, our young artist, and
I worked together at, uh, school about five years ago, and we did a COVID
project of the Seven Deadly Sins, and I'm using video of her that she created
for this project from five years ago to represent herself from six years ago.
[laughs] So- Okay ... it's very interesting. Oh, that's, that's, that's very cool. So
you're using video. And I, and I, and I will say this, this is obviously, um, do I
wanna say it's one of your hallmarks or one of your, your, the, the, the things
that you add to your staging. Um, uh, and I'm thinking back to Don Giovanni-
Mm-hmm ... which you did use, um, video in a fascinating way. Yes. So, you
know, and how you got everything to interact in time to the music and all of
that is actually, is, is, is actually fascinating to me. But I'm assuming something
similar i- in how this works? Y- yes, very much so. As a matter of fact, um, the,
the video for Seven Deadly Sins, k- the reason that we're using it is because
the second character, which is supposed to represent, uh, well, she calls her
her sister in the piece, but what it really is is herself from an earlier time. Okay.
And by the time we meet her, she's sort of divorced herself from what
happened to her in her life. But we see her in video form, and the great thing
about it is I had this five-year-old video from this other project, and so it is very
much when, uh, Cambria looks up at the screen, she sees herself from five
years ago. Yeah. Which is, I'm sure, very disconcerting. [laughs] I was, I was
gonna say, "Where's she? Let's ask her." But, uh- Oh, that's fascinating ... yeah.
But I am a projection designer. That's my... You know, I think all directors have
to have a couple other things that they do. Yeah. And that's the thing that I
really love. And so creating the video, uh, as much as it stresses me out, has
been one of the most fun things I've done. [laughs] So, uh, and I love to add
that kind of element. I mean, Steve had already, Steve Akin, our, our p- our
previous general director, had already start- started to sort of add video- Yes,
yes, right ... as an element, uh, for after COVID. But I've, um- More as a set
than, than- Yeah, most is- Yeah ... mostly sort of as a, a backdrop. Right. But I
like to have things move and be interesting, even if they're moving slowly,
even if it's just a cloud moving very slowly or a moon going up and down. I
don't like anything to be static. So- Yeah ... most of the video is very
interactive. Okay. Fascinating. Mm-hmm. I think it sounds, sounds like a, like a,
another brilliant production. Um, again, um, for, um, if you wanna get tickets
for this, um, it is shreveportopera.org, right? Yes. The web- the website. And
the phone number is, uh- 318-227-9503. All right. And, um, again, this Friday,
the Catholic Center, Art After Dark featuring Shreveport Opera. So my guest
again has been, um, Alan Hicks. Alan, thank you so much for, uh, for coming
and joining me on the air. Thank you for having me. And, uh, break a leg, uh,
this, the, this Friday. All right. And if you are with an organization you'd like to
be featured on a future Spotlight, give us a call at 800-552-8502. Thanks, Alan