Little money, lots of imagination. This describes soprano recording artist Linda Jackson, who is launching the first production of the newly formed Los Angeles Metropolitan Opera ‘La Boh’me’ right here in her own community. The fully costumed opera will be presented on Friday, May 29 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 31, 3 p.m., in Tauxe Hall at the United Methodist Church, 801 Via de la Paz. Palisades resident Jackson, who sings the title role of Mimi, the consumptive flower girl in love with Rodolfo (tenor Gabriel Reoyo-Pazos), is eagerly awaiting the opening night of a dream come true. Moving seamlessly from popular music and gospel to classical and opera, Jackson has been mastering the grand opera repertoire. Over the last several years, she sang the principal roles of Donna Anna in ‘Don Giovanni’ the Countess in ‘Le Nozze di Figaro,’ Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus and the title role in Carmen. ‘When I told my stepmother Joy Jackson, a community leader in her own right in Atlanta, Georgia, about my plans to start an opera company,’ Jackson recalls, ‘she said, ‘Where is your theater? You need to find where, then the community will help you.’ She was right.’ Jackson dropped preconceived ideas of how it should be done”like forming a board of directors, searching for a performing space somewhere in the city”and trusted. With her shoestring budget but lots of talented friends and solid community support, she set a date. It was also fortunate that the Methodist church, where she teaches the children’s choir, had just remodeled Tauxe Hall, adding a five-ft. thrust apron to the raised stage, upgraded lighting, and a state-of-the-art sound system. The choice of the opera was easy. ‘I polled my students at the Santa Monica Emeritus College Opera Appreciation class, and they all wanted ‘La Boh’me,” says Jackson, who sees her job with the new company as providing an introduction to opera that is more accessible to beginning audiences. ‘We hope that we are providing a stepping stone”an in-between place”that leads to more appreciation and further study.’ Casting, too, fell into Jackson’s lap, in a manner of speaking. Tenor Reoyo-Pazos, who has appeared extensively in opera and oratorio in California, Florida and Spain, was eager to participate in Jackson’s project. ‘He said, ‘Linda, whatever opera you choose, I already have the cast,” Jackson recalls. As stage manager and set designer, Kirk Smith, who has a solid background as a soloist and as a director, thoroughly researched the libretto and decided to set the action in the early 1960s. ‘The action will still be in Paris,’ Smith explains, but updated to 1963. The flamboyancy of that period lends itself theatrically. Eschewing the wan, good-girl image of Mimi, Smith sees her in the Jean Shrimpton/Elizabeth Taylor mode, with the cinched waists, and slip dresses. The men”including the poet Rodolfo, the painter Marcello, and the philosopher Colline’bohemians all, will sport facial hair, mustaches and Van Dykes. Marcello will be a pop artist, Smith explains. Musetta, simply described as a singer at the Caf’ Mumus, will be dressed in a hot-pink outfit. Smith intends to use the stage as the bohemians’ garret. He has also blocked action in the audience space, allowing for the actors to climb up the stairs to the garret. Puccini’s opera in four acts essentially focuses on the love between Mimi and Rodolfo. They fall for each other, but complications arise, leading to Rodolfo leaving her because of her flirtatious behavior. As the consumptive Mimi declines in health, Rodolfo feels guilty and reunites with her for a brief moment before she dies. The opera will be sung in Italian with English super-titles, and it will be recorded by a Palisadian, audio designer Mark Schaffer. The company was co-founded by Ella Lee, who has been cited in Kurt Pahlan’s book, ‘Great Singers from the Seventeenth Century to the Present Day,’ as one of the world-class singers from the United States to gain prominence in European opera. Known as a dramatic soprano, she has sung the role of Aida more than 500 times. She has sung in hundreds of performances of Tosca, Ill Trovatore, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. ‘She is our artistic director and invaluable to me,’ Jackson says, who reported that Lee, who is Jackson’s voice coach, ‘passed my Mimi with an A,’ adding that her voice was just right for the role. ‘Many times, younger girls are chosen over voice,’ Jackson explains. ‘Mimi is the soprano’s dream role, but you need a hefty voice, and at times, I am going to let the dramatic voice soar.’ Jackson also appreciates Lee’s experience with opera companies, particularly Opera Pasadena, of which she is the founder and artistic director. ‘She knows cases of how it has been done before, having received advice and courage from her mentor Friedeland Wagner, whose grandfather was Richard Wagner,’ she says. ’La Boh’me,’ with music director Galina Barskaya, also features Gabriel Manro as Marcello, Diana Briscoe as Musetta, David Hodgson as Shaunard, Herve Blanquart as Colline and Stanley Hunter singing the parts of Benoit and Alcindoro. For tickets ($20, general admission; $10, seniors), visit losangelesmet.com or call 310-459-9127. Doors for will-call open at 7:30 p.m. and 2:20 p.m.
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