Milwaukee Opera Theatre ‘I Wanna Fly’
Milwaukee Opera Theatre’s future was uncertain after their fall performance of Night of the Living Opera. The company, one of the city’s most consistently inventive (small budget) performing arts groups, weighed the option of continuing or calling quits. “From those concerns emerged this project,” says Artistic Director Jill Anna Ponasik of MOT’s upcoming presentation, a cabaret show, “I Wanna Fly.” “It was either wrapping up the company with the simplest, starkest delivery of musical theater—or turning a page to a new chapter.”
They decided to turn the page and carry on for seasons to come. But before those new chapters are written comes this season’s closer, “I Wanna Fly.” Ponasik describes it as “the beating heart of what we do and why we do it, boiled down to the basic necessities.”
“I Wanna Fly” is centered on singer Lynette Knapp Ryan, performing Maury Yeston’s song cycle December Songs followed by a carefully chosen repertoire from American musical theater. Ponasik describes Ryan as “a treasure, exactly the kind of performer we exist to serve. We’re often working with artists who have landed in Milwaukee, usually because of family or loved ones, and are not part of the industrial theater complex but have something to say. We talked about building a project around her, which is the core of the way we’ve been working by following the interests of an artist that lives in Milwaukee.”
In the Moment
Ryan has collaborated with MOT beginning with her work at the company’s Voice Lab classes. “She is a masterful musical storyteller. Her superpower is being in the present moment. In Voice Lab, one person said to her, ‘How do you do that? How do you make people so interested in the moment?’ This project is a big palette for her to work with.”
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December Songs reimagines Schubert’s Die Winterreise, retaining the song cycle’s nine sections, dramatic trajectory and poetic imagery “but filtered through American musical theater,” Ponasik explains. “It’s about a contemporary female character in an urban setting, walking through Central Park in winter.” December Songs will be performed without a pause between its pieces. Act two of “I Wanna Fly” is traditional cabaret with spoken interludes separating numbers, ranging from Leonard Bernstein’s “A Little Bit in Love” to “Dividing Day” from the 21st century Broadway musical The Light in the Piazza. There is also one new song by Gwen Rice and Matt Zembrowski commissioned for “I Wanna Fly.” Ryan will be accompanied throughout by pianist David Bonofiglio.
“It wasn’t ‘Let’s whip up a quick cabaret show,’” Ponasik is quick to add. “Lynette and David spent two years putting the program together, crafting the entire presentation, deciding, among other things, what’s the energy level: sitting, standing, holding the microphone?”
MOT hoped to perform “I Wanna Fly” in a bar but unable to find a local tap with a good piano, they opted for the Florentine Opera Center. “We will create the feel of a club to the extent that we can,” says Ponasik, who will direct the show. The lighting will be intimate. Wauwatosa’s French restaurant, Le Rev, will provide the wine and beer.
Milwaukee Opera Theatre presents “I Wanna Fly,” February 29-March 10, at the Florentine Opera Center, 930 E. Burleigh St. For tickets, call (917) 684-0512 or visit milwaukeeoperatheatre.org.
