Cruise brings high art to the not-so-high seas
Lake CdA serves as set for comic opera ‘The Mikado’
It’s the kind of cruise Lovey and Thurston Howell III would like.
The two tiny ships on this two-hour tour enjoy a pleasant, high-culture fate: hors d’oeuvres, light opera and a cash bar.
Opera Coeur d’Alene’s annual sunset cruise features “The Mikado.” The two-act comic opera is set in Japan and sung on a deck of two lashed-together party boats as they motor around Lake Coeur d’Alene.
“It’s beautiful out there,” said Aaron St. Clair Nicholson, artistic director of Opera Coeur d’Alene. “You just sort of take it in while you take it in, and you’ve got a pretty special experience.”
But don’t expect to see a set or even costumes. Opera on the Lake doesn’t include a full stage production. The concert performance is more about listening than visuals – unless you count views of the lake. Even props will be limited.
“We might have a fan or two, but the focus is on the singing,” Nicholson said.
This year’s event is only the second Opera on the Lake to offer a full concert opera. Last year’s production of “The Pirates of Penzance” was the first.
Its single-boat seating sold out, so organizers added a second vessel. This year, they planned for a two-boat affair from the beginning.
“And this year is looking as popular as last year,” Nicholson said.
Just be sure to bring sunscreen. “It’s going to be hot,” Nicholson said.
But the sun won’t be the biggest challenge. “The biggest challenge is getting everybody seated,” Nicholson said. “It’s a little bit of a goat rodeo.”
Tickets will be sold through the day of the event, if there are any left.
There were still a few of the 36 tables for six available early this week as well as space for about 70 walk-ons.
Like “Pirates,” “The Mikado” comes from the duo of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, who created 14 operettas from 1871 to 1896. Nicholson described their works as “not farces. But, they are highly comical, and all of these sort of twisted situations arise.”
In “The Mikado,” the topsy-turvy plot becomes increasingly complicated as the operetta goes on.
“It’s almost impossible to explain with any sense,” Nicholson said. “It’s like ‘The Marriage of Figaro.’ I think it’s almost a comment on operas like that. You really need to read before you watch.”
Nicholson sings the role of Ko-Ko, whom he describes as “sort of the crazy, lead baritone type. He’s just a nutso character, and he is the lord high executioner. He gets released from prison through a set of oddball circumstances and is betrothed to Yum Yum.”
The maiden Yum Yum, sung by soprano Dawn Wolski, wants to marry Nanki-Poo, sung by tenor Jadd Davis. Disguised as a wandering musician, he’s really the son of the Mikado of Japan, sung by bass Jay Bahny. Nanki-Poo is hiding from the woman his father wants him to marry, Katisha, sung by soprano Susan Windham.
“She’s an old hag, basically,” Nicholson said. “She’s not at all like Susan Windham, but she plays the character excellently.”
Ko-Ko makes a bargain with Nanki-Poo: He may marry Yum-Yum, if, at the end of one month, he’s executed and Ko-Ko gets to marry the young widow.
Of course, whimsically goofy operatic wackiness ensues. “You just sort of take in the antics,” Nicholson said. “And everybody’s happy at the end.”