Jazz In North Park Series: Four Women Only, Sept. 1

Lyric’s Jazz in North Park Series, presented in conjunction with Holly Hofmann, continues at the Birch North Park Theatre with Four Women Only on September 1, 2010.

Gathering from across the country, Four Women Only is a stellar quintet of players brought together by a common love of jazz. Led by Holly Hofmann on flute, Four Women Only includes Mary Fettig on alto sax, Mimi Fox on guitar, Kristin Korb on bass, and Sylvia Cuenca on drums. All of these artists are top players on their instruments, each with an extensive background in jazz performance and improvisation. This is a rare opportunity to hear this talented group of players in Southern California.

Next up in the Jazz in North Park series: 

October 6: Cannonball-Coltrane Project

November 3: The Ken Peplowski Quartet

All performances begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are $22 for seniors, KSDS 88.3 FM members, and Lyric  members, and $27 for general admission. Student discount tickets for $15 are available on the day of the show. For tickets call (619) 239-8836, or order online.

Jazz in North Park is presented by Lyric in collaboration with Music Director Holly Hofmann, in association with KSDS 88.3 FM) radio.

Lyric at the Birch: What’s in a name?

The more sharp-eyed among you may notice that our company is changing the way it refers to itself.

Instead of “Lyric Opera San Diego” or “LOSD,” our various materials will now refer to us as “Lyric at the Birch,” or often simply “Lyric.” Our logos will also be modified to reflect this change.

As a company, we have been evolving since our creation in 1978. Then, we were called the San Diego Gilbert & Sullivan Company, because that’s what we exclusively performed. Over the years we have changed our name: to San Diego Comic Opera, then to Lyric Opera San Diego. Each time the change heralded a shift in repertoire, mission, or focus; each change brought us a little closer to what we believe is our true calling. We are San Diego’s affordable, accessible musical theater company; the emphasis has never been on opera above other musical theater genres, and we feel our new name rightly focuses the attention on what we are really about: lyric theater. That means musical theater of all kinds, not just opera.

In addition, as a result of our hard work and your undying support, we have had the great good fortune to move into our fabulous new home and take over ownership of the Birch North Park Theatre. Councilman Todd Gloria said recently that this glorious building is the “economic engine” that drives North Park, the heart and soul of a thriving arts community, and we find it only fitting that we include it in our name as a reminder that we are a part of this community, and dedicated to its success.

This is who we are; this is where we are: we’re Lyric at the Birch. Doesn’t get simpler than that.

Looking for an Angel

We are looking for an “Angel” to underwrite the upgrade of our two web sites. Alonso Creative, a local Web designer consultant, is donating their design skills to complete the upgrade of the Birch North Park Theatre site. They are further offering their services at a significant discount to upgrade the Lyric site and fully integrate both sites. (Check Alonso Creative out on the web and you’ll understand how fortunate we are to have their support.)

We need about $10,000 to purchase software our office needs to maintain and interface with the new site – and to pay Alonso’s reduced fees. This upgrade will make it easier and quicker for us to respond to you, our patrons, and will reduce the time needed to regularly update our event calendar from several hours to a few minutes. If you know anyone who can help us, please contact Pam Arnold at 760-738-9079. Thanks for your support!

Jack’s Notes: Gigi

Observations on Lyric’s season from our Artistic Director, J. Sherwood Montgomery

Well, here we are about to open our thirty-second season, and the very fact that we are still here is more than a miracle. We are grateful to all in the community who continue to allow us to bring you music for everyone, at a high artistic level, at the lowest ticket price for this kind of entertainment in town. No other company gives you a full orchestra and chorus for every show in an attractive and intimate setting, with no seat farther than sixty feet from the stage, in an historic movie palace that is an ideal “house of dreams.” This season we are on a journey that we have never taken in this way before: four shows that are each a classic in their own right, that seen together, promise to give you thrilling music making and memorable theater.

We open with our first ever Lerner and Loewe show, Gigi, which represents the final collaboration of this great team of music theater masters. The stage version of their 1958 film was the final time they worked together. The show has California roots as it was presented by Edwin Lester, the fabled producer of the Los Angeles and San Francisco Civic Light Opera, which guaranteed eighteen sold-out weeks of tryout to any new show or national touring company that was lucky enough to get the gig. The stage production featured a cast of music theater marquee names, Alfred Drake in the Maurice Chevalier role of Honoré, Agnes Moorehead in her final role ever (she died of cancer during the run), Daniel Massey as Gaston, and Lila Kedrova as Mamita. This is the first time the show will have been mounted in San Diego in twenty years, and it will feature Laura Bueno as Gigi, J. Sherwood Montgomery (myself) as Honoré, Benjamin Robinson as Gaston, and two debuts of local stage personalities, Leigh Scarritt as Aunt Alicia, and Rita Cantos Cartwright as Mamita.

The film Gigi represented the last hurrah of the Freed unit at MGM and Vincente Minnelli pulled out all the stops in casting and sets and costumes to bring this French novel by Colette to vivid life. Maurice Chevalier himself gave the composer and lyricist the idea for one of his songs on the occasion of their first meeting. Lerner and Lowe met with Chevalier in Paris to sign the contract and talk about the film. They began by sharing some hot Hollywood scandal gossip and Chevalier smiled and said: “I'm glad I’m not young anymore.” Immediately a hit number was added to their canon of great songs, and we look forward to bringing this charming diversion to our stage for the first time in all its splendor and sophistication.

Gigi runs from September 24 to October 3. Tickets and season subscriptions are available online so please make a plan to join us today!