A Superhero Opera written and composed by Jason Powell
Comic book lore and the collected works of Gilbert and Sullivan collide in this utterly contemporary, bracingly clever operetta. Commissioned by MOT in 2010 and now presented in full production.
The Alchemist Theatre & Lounge 2569 s. Kinnickinnic Milwaukee, WI 53207
Synopsis: In the town of Anyville, crime is no longer a problem – having been wiped out by its resident superhero, the time-bending Fortuna.
But then... Sweeping in from across the Atlantic to fill this power vacuum comes the Headmaster, a criminal mastermind as brilliant as he is British. Our hero is forced to recruit an ally from amongst Anyville’s everyday, ordinary citizenry in order to even the odds against her new nemesis … … before a reign of terror is brought down upon the town, courtesy of the evil Headmaster and his – SCHOOLGIRLS OF DOOM … !
When putting together the plot of Fortuna, I was really keen to strike an ideal balance: To embrace the childlike fun of the superhero
concept without satirizing it – and also to incorporate some of the
dark psychology of latter-day superheroes without drowning the entire
thing in dreary shadow.
I wanted a straight Heroes vs. Villains story simple enough for a child to understand, but balanced by characters who are adults, with grown-up cares and concerns.
Plus it had to have a streak of kinky weirdness – just so nobody got bored.
Opera seemed like a good fit for the superhero genre. They share
several key traits – colorful costumes, sweeping melodrama,
life-or-death stakes. At the same time, operatic music can be
intimidating, so I wanted to counterbalance it with some catchy,
lighter material – more like something out of musical theater, or even
a pop song.
So both the story and the score are, I hope, filled with enough
variation to appeal to folks of all different tastes and attitudes.
It’s a funny, strange, catchy, sexy, operatic, fun bit of theater.
Come see it. I think you'’re going to like it.
During those 8 months, we met every other week for waffles, orange juice and Fortuna analysis. Jason unveiled bits and pieces of the work at MOT's monthly Voice Labs. Finally, we presented a full public reading in Oct of 2010 at The Sunset Playhouse.
Each performance of the reading was followed by a talk back. I jotted down a few of our audience comments in my notebook.
"Amazing. Amazing. Amazing."
"My cheeks hurt from smiling so much."
"On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it 100" (from a 7 year old)
and our company favorite:
"I don't like opera but I loved this."
With feedback this enthusiastic, we had little doubt we'’d prepare for a full production of Fortuna. With one exception, the lovely and talented Samantha Sostarich is stepping into the role of Fortuna, the whole cast is back and we'’re ready to re-inhabit Anyville!
Jill Anna Ponasik
Artistic Director, Milwaukee Opera Theatre
While appearing together in a commercial for Comfort Suites, I learned that Jason Powell wrote a musical for The Alchemist Theatre (The Science Fiction Romantic Comedy Musical, Invader? I hardly know her! ) He needed one more actress to play Lucy Walks on Sky, the Native American clone “genetically engineered for any and all extra-terrestrial endeavors.” I had the great good fortune to walk into that role and at the same time, one of the most enjoyable theatrical experiences I've ever had.
At the same time, I had just begun working with Milwaukee Opera Theatre. Awe over Jason's clever lyrics and boundless imagination made me wonder if he'd consider writing a piece for us.
It was decided that we would commission a "contemporary operetta," but neither Jason nor I had any idea what it should be about. We spent months discussing possibilities, passing books back and forth and getting nowhere. Desperate, I called a friend who specializes in producing new work and he advised, "Ask Jason what he likes." I hung up the phone, called Jason, and said, "What do you like?” With no pause at all, he answered, "Comic books." Approximately 8 months later, Fortuna the Time Bender vs. The Schoolgirls of Doom was born.
October 2010: Public Reading
At Sunset Playhouse Community Theater
at the alchemist
I met Jason Powell while performing in Richard III at Off-The-Wall Theatre where it became increasingly difficult to march him upstairs to his death without laughing about whatever stupid thing we had just talked about backstage.
Later, when getting ready to open The Alchemist, I was looking for talented folks who wanted to produce their own shows. I learned at that time that Jason was part of an improv/sketch comedy group called "The Show" which became the first performance in the new space.
PHOTOS BY MARK FROHNA
complete collection available HERE.
TICKETS
Later that year Jason was kind enough to run tech for the fall production of Jack the RIPPER . Between shows one night we discussed future projects that we both had in mind. Jason mentioned a sci-fi musical. I asked if it could have a robot. He said yes. I think the next day "Invader? I hardly know her " was posted on the calendar - forcing Jason to write.
"Invader" was an amazing show with an amazing cast - including the future artistic director of Milwaukee Opera Theatre ,
Jill Anna Ponasik.
SO... when Jason and Jill approached me with an opportunity to have a MOT production of a Jason Powell opera based on comic book themes perform on my stage I was completely thrilled.
It has been a joy working with J&J again and wonderful meeting and working with the cast & crew that they have assembled for this production.
It has also been quite a bit of fun creating Anyville on our little stage - using extremely 2 dimensional stage flats (like pages in a comic book) to create a world with depth and layers. I'm so very happy with the resulting composition of costume, song, acting, set and sounds that everyone has worked to fit together perfectly.
I'm proud of this production and all involved and The Alchemist is happy to add this production to our growing list of exciting, successful, locally written and produced shows!
- Aaron Kopec
Artistic Director / owner / janitor Alchemist Theatre
print By Elaine Schmidt, Special to the Journal Sentinel
PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR DIRECT LINK TO THE ARTICLE
The Milwaukee Opera Theatre world premiere of "Fortuna the Time Bender vs. The Schoolgirls of Doom" isn't exactly grand opera, but is a lot of fun.
The opera, written by Jason Powell and commissioned by MOT, is a loopy musical romp that borrows from operetta, musical theater, pop music, television, comic-book superheroes and pop culture in general.
The plot swirls around a female superhero, Fortuna, who has the ability to slow the passage of time for those around her, making herself appear to move at lightning speed.
The villainous Headmaster, forced into a life of crime by his useless degree in philosophy, sets out to foil Fortuna after learning that her "kryptonite" is the sound of a Neapolitan seventh chord.
Fortuna takes on a hapless, mild-mannered sidekick who has always dreamed of being a superhero. He tags along with Fortuna, only to discover that it is his fiancée who has super powers.
Confused? You should be.
The plot simultaneously unfolds and entangles, mixing dialogue, operatic singing and musical theater/pop belting, while delivering both predictable and sucker-punch laughs along the way.
The MOT production, directed by Powell and Jill Anna Ponasik, is unevenly sung, but it's presented with theatrical credibility and tremendous humor.
Nathan Wesselowski's take on the Headmaster leans heavily and successfully on John Lithgow at his manic/comic best. Wesselowski's solid vocal work takes a back seat to the pompous humor he brings to the role.
Jonathan Stewart's sweet-natured, bumbling take on mild-mannered Joe is the heart of the show. He is matched nicely by Melissa Kelly Cardamone's straight-ahead portrayal of his devoted-if-peevish fiancée, Elizabeth.
Samantha Sostarich brings capable singing and good-natured fun to the grinning, posing role of Fortuna. Diane Lane appears as the Narrator, filling in implausible gaps throughout the show.
The more you know, the funnier some things in the show are. Katy Johnson, Lisa Morris and Rana Roman, minions to the Headmaster, sing and act with ease and comic conviction. Their roles are a silly, schizophrenic mash-up of "Charlie's Angels" and Gilbert and Sullivan's three little maids.
Music director Donna Kummer accompanies, from an onstage electric piano. Aaron Kopec' s set and lighting designs seems to expand the tiny storefront space.
Ellen Kozak's costume designs help define several of the characters. James Zager adds slide-splitting choreography.
VIEW ARTICLE HERE
By John Schneider SHEPHERD EXPRESS
‘Fortuna the Time Bender’ premieres in Bay View
From 26, in which 26 unrelated opera arias were joined in an original dancetheater melodrama in 2010, to this fall’s spectacular production of Astor Piazzolla’s tango opera Maria De Buenos Aires in collaboration with Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, Danceworks Performance Company and the UW- Milwaukee Dance Department, Jill Anna Ponasik has made Milwaukee Opera Theatre (MOT) an adventurous, progressive force in Milwaukee’s performing arts.
Founded in 1999, MOT had presented one or two small, family-friendly productions of familiar operas annually. Although it was not viewed, nor did it view itself, as innovative, it won enough support that when founding director Charissa York left Wisconsin three years ago, the company’s board agreed to seek her replacement.
Ponasik, a Waukesha native in her early 30s, was working in New York when a former voice teacher with ties to MOT suggested she apply for the artistic directorship. She took the job because the board was game to try new things.
“I grew up here,” she explains. “My husband and I left New York for air, earth, room to breathe, for parents and ancestors, the lake, the people and the artists here. I support any art making, but if I’m going to work countless hours for little money, it has to reflect what I find fulfilling.”
She believes the city has room for a scrappy opera company that takes risks. Case in point: Fortuna the Time Bender vs. The Schoolgirls of Doom!, a comic-book opera by Milwaukeean Jason Powell commissioned by MOT that opens in a full production this month at the comparably scrappy Alchemist Theatre and Lounge in Bay View.
Ponasik describes it as an intimately staged, very funny pop-music theater performance. Two years in the making, the script was met with “crazy enthusiasm” by audiences of all ages at public readings last winter. Some cuts, some tweaks and one cast replacement followed.
Powell composed specifically for the voices and sensibilities of a pre-cast ensemble of gifted opera, music theater and rock singers, including Jon Stewart, Melissa Kelly Cardamone, Nathan Wesselowski, Katy Johnson, Lisa Buchmeier, Rana Roman and the wonderful Diane Lane, who also originated the comic Mrs. Malaprop in the world premiere of The Rivals at the Skylight Opera Theatre this fall. Samantha Sostarich as Fortuna is the newcomer.
Ponasik and Powell are co-directing. The imaginative Ellen Kozak is the costume designer. Set and lights are by the Alchemist’s driving visionary, Aaron Kopec. Donna Kummer is the distinguished musical director and keyboard accompanist.
A few months into the job at MOT, Ponasik was cast in the Alchemist production of Powell’s first music theater script, Invader? I Hardly Know Her. Admiring the playfulness of Powell’s lyrics, she tried to commission a children’s musical from him. When months of discussion led nowhere, she asked him what he really liked.
“I was writing a comic-book blog and reading the X-Men from start to finish,” Powell says. “I had just read 20 issues. It was the only thing in my mind.”
His extensive knowledge of comics initially paralyzed him. Ponasik suggested Gilbert and Sullivan as a model. Those 19th-century comic opera masters deployed the conventions of older opera to skewer contemporary social manners. It gave Powell a way in.
“They made an opera about pirates,” he says. “Now there’s one about superheroes.”
Fortuna the Time Bender vs. The Schoolgirls of Doom!
Jan. 13-29 Alchemist Theatre and Lounge
Powell’s Schoolgirls of Doom might be evil twins of The Mikado’s Three Little Maids from School. Their villainous English Headmaster, who took to crime when his philosophy degree proved useless (“You can’t make a living being thoughtful anymore,” he laments), rehearses his history in a patter song for which the very model is the modern major-general of H.M.S. Pinafore. Fortuna’s superpower satirizes the convention of timing stage action to music. She can change the tempo and remain unaffected.
The story’s heart lies with its identifiable lovers—an unfocused temp worker and his workaholic, somewhat resentful girlfriend.
To complement Powell’s work, MOT will stage Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe in late May. The company’s annual winter concert on March 4 at Plymouth Church features several world premieres. Titled Home, it is partly inspired by this year’s events in Madison.
Fortuna the Time Bender vs. The Schoolgirls of Doom! runs Jan. 13-29 at the Alchemist Theatre and Lounge, 2569 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. For more information, call 414-426-4169 or visit www.alchemisttheatre.com.
John Schneider has written and directed many plays with Theatre X. For more A&E coverage, visit expressmilwaukee.com
READ THE ARTICLE HERE
By Tom Strini THIRD COAST DIGEST
The title alone is worth the price of admission to Jason Powell’s new comic opera, which opens officially tonight (Friday Jan. 13) at the Alchemist Theatre. I saw it Thursday, in a preview that was more than ready for prime time. The Milwaukee Opera Theatre commissioned this irresistible blend of unlikely influences: Comic books and the nerdy culture that surrounds them; Gilbert & Sullivan; and rock musicals.
The superheroine of this nutty cartoon of an operetta can slow down time for everyone else, which gives her time to zip around and fight crime. But just as Fortuna has cleaned up Anyville, a new threat arrives: The Headmaster and his three naughty schoolgirls. Meanwhile, nerdy Joe longs to be a superhero, and is eventually recruited as Fortuna’s sidekick. His girlfriend, Liz (a museum director — go figure) is pleased to see Joe do… something. Anything.
The plot is but an excuse for torrents of enormously clever wordplay very much in the W.S. Gilbert tradition. Patter songs abound. Jonathan Stewart, as the hopeless Joe, was notably hilarious in a number in which he expressed the conflict between his superhero ambitions and his natural meekness. Again and again, he stepped out of singing and into speaking to deliver punchlines with deft phrasing that is funny quite apart from the line itself. (Can you think of a rhyme for “mild-mannered?” Jason Powell thought of lots of them.)
Fortuna calls for a style of acting akin to comic-book drawing: Deliver the essence of
Headmaster Nathan Wesselowski, with Melissa Kelly Cardamone tied to a chair -- in a show such as this, someone must be tied to a chair.
character via stock poses rendered in a few broad strokes. The cast has lots of fun with this, so we do, too. Schoolgirls Sandy, Mandy and Candy — Katy Johnson, Rana Roman and Lisa Morris — strut, tease and snarl like the ray-gun-wielding fantasy girls they are. The ever more impressive Nathan Wesselowski plays their Headmaster’s inflated passions through a bizarre set of gestures as remote from everyday life as Kabuki. Blond bombshell Samantha Sostarich, in red unitard and golden boots, knows her way around the Lexicon of Heroic Poses. She strikes them earnestly, self-consciously, hilariously. Diane Lane has the substantial role of the narrator. She’s objective at first, but becomes more and more involved first as a commentator and then as a meddler. Melissa Kelly Cardamone plays Liz, the only sensible one in the bunch. Liz is appalled and exasperated by these zanies, but it’s fun to see how Cardamone has Liz succumb to their charm and fantasy.
The composer and Jill Anna Ponasik, MOT’s artistic director, served as stage directors and got a lot out of their actors. Ellen Kozak designed the costumes, which really count in this show. Choreographer James Zager put the zap and pow into the fight scenes on the tiny Alchemist stage, which Aaron Kopec arranged to provide four distinct locations within maybe 150 square feet.
Powell’s music, though simple harmonically, is ingenious in rhythm and in its integration with the lyrics and the plot. His expert declamation and the cast’s superb diction allowed every word to come through clearly. Much of the music sounds like Sir Arthur Sullivan — the Schoolgirls sing a twisted take on Three Little Maids from School, for example – but some of it could have come from Hair. The cast sings it all extremely well, pianist/music director Donna Kummer plays it with great understanding and sympathy, and somehow both idioms work together seamlessly. I admire the way Powell injected music directly into the story. All rhythmic values double when Fortuna bends time, for example, and the Neapolitan 7th chord is Fortuna’s kryptonite. You’ll understand why when you hear the Headmaster and the Schoolgirls of Doom sing it.
The Friday Five for Friday, Jan. 13 (that's a Friday)
Lucky days ahead.
by: Paul Kosidowski
Pay no attention to that calendar on the wall. Friday the 13th is indeed going to be a lucky day, the start of a lucky week. And a week of great performances as well, as theaters and orchestras put the holiday acoutrements in storage and get cooking on the second half of the season.
#5: Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at the Marcus Center.
Why? Because you’ve had your fill of Bing and Dino, carols and Georg Frederick. And you’re ready for some big, meaty, romantic orchestra music. You’re ready for the MSO thundering its way through Sibelius’s Second Symphony. And for MSO trumpeter Mark Neihaus blazing his way through the cascading trumpet concerto by Alexander Arutunian. And for those who are not quite willing to let the visions of sugarplums die, there’s a taste of Tchaikovsky as well, his gorgeous Serenade for Strings. The young Southerner Evan Rogister conducts.
#4: Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra at Holy Redeemer Church of God in Christ.
Why? Because the MCO is always worth hearing, and even more so when they are paying tribute to momentous events and great human beings. The orchestra joins with Holy Redeemer (3500 W. Mother Daniels Way) to pay tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., with performances of Robert Ray’s Gospel Mass, and the Chamber Symphony of Dimitri Shostakovich. Richard Hynson conducts.
#3: Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) at the Milwaukee Rep.
Why? Because you know Hamlet, and those star-crossed lovers, R & J. But what about Pericles or King John. If they have their way, you’ll be able to quote Nestor’s tribute to the dead Patroclus from Troilus and Cressida at the drop of a hat. Well, not quite. But you will see three crazed actors work their way through the plots of Shakespeare in a madcap and hilarious 90 minutes. It’s a dish fit for the gods! (Julius Caesar, II.i).
#2: Milwaukee Opera Theatre’s Fortuna the Time Bender vs. the Schoolgirls of Doom at Alchemist Theatre.
Why? Because speaking of crazy stories with unlikely twists and turns, there’s Jason Powell’s “superhero opera,” inspired by the potent combination of Gilbert & Sullivan and comic books. You might know Powell from his previous work, Invader? I Hardly Know Her, which made a bit of a splash at the New York Fringe Festival. This time, he and Jill Anna Ponasik collaborate on a story about an evil schoolmaster and his battle with the local superhero Fortuna. Finally, an opera that brings the “comic” back to comic books.
#1: Renaissance Theatreworks’ Neat at Broadway Theatre Center.
Charlayne Woodard is known for taking parts of her life and turning them into stirring, multi-character solo theater. For the Milwaukee premiere of Woodard’s Neat, Renaissance taps the talented Marti Gobel, who brings this story of her childhood in Albany, NY, to life via the creation of two dozen characters. When Woodard performed it in New York, one review called it “a powerful, heartbreaking and beautiful tale.” We expect the same will be true of this production, directed by Susan Fete
By Jim Higgins
Somewhere in the Milwaukee Opera Theatre office, there's a crate stuffed with nouns, adjectives and hyphens. How else could MOT describe its projects?
With a straight face and plenty of enthusiasm, artistic director Jill Anna Ponasik calls MOT's new show, "Fortuna the Time Bender vs. The Schoolgirls of Doom!" a comic-book-inspired superhero operetta "close to the tradition of Gilbert and Sullivan."
MOT's world premiere production opens Friday at The Alchemist Theatre and Lounge. The company gave a staged reading of the work in October 2010. Nearly all of that cast returns for this production, including Diane Lane as the Narrator and MOT mainstay Nathan Wesselowski as the evil Headmaster.
When MOT commissioned the work from local writer-composer Jason Powell, they talked about what super power would be suitable for an opera. That's why Fortuna is a time-bender. "Opera is a time art, it occurs as something that can be expressed musically," she said.
Fortuna can slow the music down, then snap it back to speed, Ponasik said. Fortunately, keyboardist Donna Kummer also can do the same thing.
In her production notes for the show, Ponasik wrote that she liked the taste of Powell's "clever lyrics and boundless imagination" while performing in his earlier show, "Invader? I hardly knew her."
"Fortuna" has "people in superhero costumes, mean girls with rayguns," as well as "patter songs, love songs, big finales," Ponasik said. While it wasn't commissioned specifically for children, it's definitely appropriate for families, she said.
"Fortuna" also sports six roles for women, and just two for men, a reversal of the common ratio in opera. That was part of the commission, said Ponasik. It's always bugged her that opera had so many good female singers, but so few parts for them.
Jeff Grygny, Milwaukee Theatre Examiner
Click HERE for full article.
Not everyone loves opera. This writer confesses to watching Wagner’s Ring cycle on PBS and being appalled by how you could leave, make a sandwich, pour a drink, come back-- and they’d still be singing about the exact same thing! Apparently in opera, narrative takes second place to music―imagine that!
The enterprising bunch called Milwaukee Opera Theater has done a great favor for the operatically-challenged by commissioning Jason Powell to create a comic book opera:, Fortuna the Time Bender vs. The Schoolgirls of Doom! which is having it’s premiere run at the Alchemist Theater. The idea has immediate appeal: the high drama and exagerrated emotions of comics and opera share common blood. And employing Gilbert and Sullivan style patter songs, as Powell does, is perhaps wiser than taking Wagner as a model.
The plot, which, like like most operas, has holes the Hindenburg could fly through without denting a fin, can be told in three sentences: Super-powered amazon Fortuna uses her time-bending power to end crime in Anytown. A schlep named Joe yearns to be a super-hero, and, with Fortuna's help and the wary support of his practical-minded girlfriend, makes a go of it. Enter “The Headmaster,” a disgruntled philosophy major turned to crime, whose sinister plan to destroy Fortuna and― er, do something evil―is foiled by the good guys. Hooray!
The real super-powers here are owned by the intrepid troupe of highly-talented singer-dancer-actors-comedians who heave this rickety structure gloriously skyward by the sheer force of their bravura performances. Their voices are clear and strong; their diction makes every word of Powell’s witty libretto understandable; they bring recognizable humanity to the cardboard-cutout characters, and dive headlong into the silliness with evident glee, chewing scenery with mad abandon.
As the title character, Samantha Sostarich carries herself with more sympathetic dignity than anyone in a flame-red leotard and gold lame gauntlets should be able to. Jonathan Stewart, as Joe, the ertswhile crusader, brings great charm and comic nuance. Nathan Wesselowski plays the wicked headmaster without a shred of reserve: prancing like John Cleese doing a silly walk, grinning and gloating like John Lithgow at his hammiest-- and has a great time doing it. The titular schoolgirls, the headmaster's hench-people, relish their evil-ness without qualm. And Melissa Kelly Cardamone, as Joe’s put-upon girlfriend, pulls off maybe the hardest trick: looking like a normal person in this over-the-top melodrama. Choregrapher James Zager’s grandiose gestures and poses enliven the stage immensely, and the overall production, aided by Aaron Kopec'’s technical wizardry, looks slick and professional. Donna Kummer's able music direction never misses a beat.
Like Powell’s first stab at sci-fi music theater (the deliciously-titled Invader--I Hardly Know Her), Fortuna is impressive in its sheer accomplishment: setting a comic book to original music and rhymes that verge from groanworthy puns to brilliant wit is a daunting feat. (Powell must have composed with a rhyming dictionary at hand: pairing “Sandy,” for instance, with “modus operandi.”) Some moments particularly shine, like a riddle song with genuine puzzlers, and the wonderful conceit of making Fortuna’s kryptonite a particularly obscure musical chord.
The cast: Stage direction by
Jill Anna Ponasik & Jason Powell
Choreography: James Zager
Music direction by Donna Kummer
Fortuna: Samantha Sostarich
Joe: Jon Stewart
Elizabeth: Melissa Kelly Cardamone
The Headmaster: Nathan Wesselowski
Sandy: Katy Johnson
Candy: Lisa Morris
Mandy: Rana Roman
Narrator: Diane Lane
Set & Lights: Aaron Kopec
SAMANTHA SOSTARICH is a 2007 graduate of UW Madison, receiving her BA as a Theater Acting Specialist. She currently works with Kohl’s Wild Theater at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Previous roles include Joan in DAMES AT SEA, Isabel in PIRATES OF PENZANCE, Ulla U.S./Usherette in THE PRODUCERS, Rhoda in WHITE CHRISTMAS with The Skylight Opera Theatre, Miss Nelson U.S. in MISS NELSON IS MISSING with First Stage Children’s Theater, Woman Two in SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM with The New Court Theatre, Julie U.S. in CAROUSEL with Madison Rep. Theatre, Schwartzy in THE 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPEELING BEE, Soupy Sue in URINETOWN, chorus in L’ENFANT ET LES SORTILEGES, Ida in DIE FLEDERMAUS, and Betty in THE THREE PENNY OPERA at the UW Madison.
www.samanthasostarich.com
FAVORITE SUPER HERO: SAILOR MOON
Donna Kummer is a free-lance musician in the Milwaukee area, serving as a conductor of choral and instrumental ensembles, music director for theatre companies, and keyboard accompanist. She is the Director of Music for Plymouth (UCC) Church on the east side, and Director of the Wauwatosa Community Band program. Her favorite project is always the one she's certainly doing, partially because her memory isn't so good any more. Her favorite superhero is The Tick.
Jonathan is thrilled and honored to be part of this world-premiere production. He never dreamed his years of comic book collecting and vocal study would ever intersect in such a delightful way. Jonathan has appeared regionally in both opera and musical theatre roles and favorite past productions include: Adding Machine- A Musical; Irving Berlin’s White Christmas; The Christmas Schooner; Damn Yankees; Dido & Aeneas; and Street Scene.
Favorite superhero:
wonder woman
Melissa Kelly Cardamone earned vocal performance degrees from Lawrence University and The Eastman School of Music. A lover of both opera and musical theater, some favorite roles include Audrey (LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS), Mimì (LA BOHÈME), Marianne (THE NEW MOON), Laurie (THE TENDER LAND), Sarah Brown (GUYS ‘N’ DOLLS), Johanna (SWEENEY TODD), and Susanna (MARRIAGE OF FIGARO). She enjoys being part of the regional music scene, and was cast in productions with Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Music by the Lake, Opera for the Young, the Lakeside Players, and PM&L Theatre. Melissa also sings with the Florentine Opera Chorus. When not onstage, she is the staff accompanist at Carthage College in Kenosha, and also plays piano and sings at St. Mary’s Church. She’s a proud new mom of three month-old, Lilia, and the lucky wife of Joe, an attorney and fellow music-lover.
Nathan Wesselowski – has found his true calling in the role of The Headmaster and in many ways can relate to the evil villain of Fortuna the Time Bender vs. The Schoolgirls of Doom. Milwaukee Opera Theatre has been a wonderful friend of Nathan’s for the past couple of years. He arranged the music and performed the role of The Boy in their World Premiere production of 26. This past fall he enjoyed inhabiting the role of El Gorrion in MOT, Danceworks, and Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra’s joint production of Maria de Buenos Aires. Nathan has also been seen in four Gilbert & Sullivan productions with Skylight Opera Theatre where he has enjoyed crafting his skills. Nathan would like to offer a huge thank you to Milwaukee Opera Theatre for affording the opportunity, Jason Powell for writing such a deliciously rich script and score, The Alchemist for hosting this production and Jill Anna Ponasik for believing in his skills. Nathan will be very sad when his reign of terror comes to a close.
Favorite villain is Annie Wilkes in the novel Misery, by Stephen King.
Lisa graduated with a Theatre Arts degree from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. Some of her most notable, recent work includes INVADER? I Hardly Know Her! (another JP original), A CUDAHY CAROLER CHRISTMAS with In Tandem Theatre, and numerous Ho-Chunk Casino radio spots.
When not in performance mode, she works as a reporter for Courthouse News Service, a nationwide news service for lawyers and the news media. She also works as the office manager at her family's business, Time Transport.
She is a blissful newlywed, with a wonderfully supportive husband and four awesome stepkids.
FAVORITE VILLAIN: THE JOKER
Diane Lane has been in lots of operas.
You might have seen her in one at Skylight Opera Theatre.
Favorite Superhero: Jill Anna Ponasik.
James Zager (Choreographer) has directed, choreographed and designed movement in professional theaters and universities across the nation and is currently Head of Theatre Arts at Carroll University. Last season for MOT he supplied the musical staging for the initial concert reading of Fortuna...and co-directed (with Jill Anna Ponasik) Amahl and the Night Visitors. You can check out his complete biographical info at his website www.jameszager.com
