Behind the Scenes at Lyric: The Singing Chef

You already know that Lyric’s General Director, Leon Natker, is multitalented onstage and off. The talented singing actor also conducts and directs, and runs the company and the theatre. But did you know he happens to be a gourmet cook as well?

Leon calls cooking “a hobby I started at Juilliard because I was tired of eating canned tuna and hamburger all the time.” In those days, Leon explains, college students didn’t have computers and videogames to take up their spare time, so he thought he’d take some cooking classes to see what he could do on a tight budget.

Leon’s Juilliard roommate was the actor John de Lancie (now best known for his recurring role as Q on “Star Trek: The Next Generation”), whose father, the late John de Lancie, was the principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. De Lancie the elder helped pay for Leon and John to take cooking classes, in part, Leon thinks, because he was tired of constantly taking the perpetually broke students out to eat during his frequent visits to New York.

Cooking has remained a lifetime passion for Leon, who has continued to take every opportunity to learn new techniques and recipes. In Chicago, he was even the sous-chef for a time at the Halsted Street Fish Market, the first fish-only restaurant in Chicago. “I learned how to fillet a fish, shuck oysters, open clams, you name it.” Leon has also planned vacations around cooking classes, including a cooking school tour of Thailand and another in China. Although he says his favorite type of cuisine is “whatever I’m doing at the moment,” he has a special fondness for Chinese cooking. “I love the variety of Chinese cuisine, it’s imply amazing,” he says. “I also love what you might call Continental cooking – French/Italian, what the Italians would call ‘cucina povero,’ simple, poor people’s food. You can make a lot with a very little if you just know some techniques.”

Anyone who’s been lucky enough to be invited to a dinner party at Leon’s house can attest to his skills, which came in handy during the years of fundraising for the restoration of the Birch North Park Theatre. Intimate dinners for six or eight, with Leon as chef, proved a popular auction item at fundraising events. “Jack and I really enjoyed those dinner the most, although we also love giving large parties for the cast of whatever show is currently in production,” Leon says.

Here’s one of Leon’s favorite recipes of the moment:

Summery Grilled Pork Chops

4 thick cut boneless pork loin chops

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

1 tbsp. fresh ginger, finely chopped

2 teaspoons prepared Chinese mustard (you can use Dijon if you can’t find the Chinese variety)

Mix to the marinade together well, place the chops and marinade in a

sealed plastic bag for at least two hours.

Sauce:

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 tsp sugar

4 - 6 dried prunes, chopped

Grill the chops so that they are still juicy and just a little pink inside. The time will depend on your grill, five minutes to a side is a good judge. Place them on a plate and cover while you prepare the sauce.

In a skillet, bring the vinegar, sugar and prunes to a boil, lower the heat and reduce the liquid by 1/3, pour over your chops. They are ready to serve.

Serves 4

A Constellation of LOSD Stars Take the Stage in 2010 Season

Have you renewed your Lyric Opera subscription yet?

Just in case you needed more motivation, here are some casting tidbits from next year’s shows. We think you’ll see some of your LOSD faves in this list!

Benjamin Robinson made his LOSD debut as Frederic in last season’s fabulous Pirates of Penzance and we couldn’t wait to bring him back, so you’ll enjoy him as Gastone in Gigi alongside our own J. Sherwood Montgomery as Honoré (the Maurice Chevalier role) and Laura Bueno (last seen as Hope in 2009’s Anything Goes in the delightful title role of Gigi!

Another Pirates debut last year was the wonderful bass Ashraf Sewailam as the Pirate King. We’re bringing him back in The Barber of Seville as Don Basilio, and the beauteous Emily Douglass (last seen in Daughter of the Regiment, 2008) returns as Rosina. Robert Boldin gets to let his hair down as Count Almaviva, after pouring out his suffering on stage as Henrik in last season’s A Little Night Music. Our own Walter DuMelle will crack you up as Doctor Bartolo.

As the dashing leads Marco and Giuseppe in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Gondoliers, Benjamin Robinson steps in again, well matched with Jordan Miller (Mr. Lindquist from last season’s A Little Night Music). These two are definitely easy on the eyes AND ears!

Oodles of talent and decades of experience will collide on stage in Fiddler on the Roof as our own Leon Natker as Tevye, Broadway star Jimmy Ferraro as Lazar Wolf, and LOSD’s hometown girl Fan Hartshorn as Golde. Another reason to cheer: alumni from our Summer Academy will fill children’s roles in both Gigi and Fiddler on the Roof. With all this to look forward to, what are you waiting for? Renew or buy your subscription today.

The Earth Moved, The Audience Cheered – And Left

The Act I finale of last Sunday’s matinee performance of The Pirates of Penzance had the audience rising to its feet – literally!

Easter Sunday’s 7.2 magnitude earthquake centered in Mexico came about 40 seconds before the end of Act I, said General Director Leon Natker, who was at the podium at the time at the Birch North Park Theatre. The audience came to its feet and house management brought up the lights, but the musicians and singers completed the act even as the chandeliers were saying and audience members were filing out without panicking. Once the act was over, the artists were also evacuated. When it was determined there was no danger, everyone re-entered the theatre and Act II began after a regular intermission.

“The good news is that every penny of City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency money that was spent on earthquake retrofitting the theatre was well spent,” said Natker, noting that there was no damage that could be discerned to the recently renovated 82-year-old building. “No cracks, nothing broken, as far as we can tell everything held up perfectly, which was the whole idea.”

“There is nothing like singing a high c during an earthquake,” said Megan Weston, in the lead role of Mabel. “I was downstage center, right over the orchestra. I felt the stage move like a wave. The house lights came up and the audience headed for the exits, but we all kept going to the end!”

There’s still a weekend left to catch this earth-shaking show, so if you haven’t seen Pirates yet, now’s your chance!

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate’s Life for Us

Arr, mateys! Break out the Jolly Roger, the peg legs, and the eye patches, because it’s time to head back to Penzance!

You won’t find Captain Jack Sparrow anywhere near the place, but yes, Lyric Opera’s 31st season is coming to a rousing close with the most beloved of Gilbert and Sullivan classics, “The Pirates of Penzance”! These beloved high-seas bumblers, their lady loves, and the hapless police who pursue them return to the Birch North Park Theatre on Friday, March 26, 2010 -- running for three weekends.

We do so love performing this show for you, and we have two exciting new artists to introduce to you in leading roles: tenor Benjamin Robinson as Frederic and bass-baritone Ashraf Sewailam as the Pirate King. As Mabel, one of our favorite people, the luminous soprano Megan Weston, returns to our stage. And last but not least, “San Diego’s favorite funnyman,” our own Artistic Director J. Sherwood Montgomery, the master of the patter song, returns in one of his signature roles as Major General Stanley. General Director Leon Natker will direct and conduct the production.

The show opens March 26 and runs through April 11. Watch this space for closer looks at the show and the artists in days to come!

Announcing our 2010-11 Season!

Oh boy, are we going to have fun next season! Ready for a musical trip around the world?

It’ll be our 32nd season, if you can believe that. We find it a little hard to believe ourselves sometimes. But you can bet that after 32 years of doing this, we know what works, what’s great, what audiences will love, and what will give both our veteran artists and the new up-and-comers the best possible showcase for their talents on our stage.

(A reminder: all our productions feature our own live orchestra and talented singers, performed at our own Birch North Park Theatre. Why do we always mention that? Because there just simply aren’t all that many musical theatre companies that consistently offer that these days.)

We’re starting the season in Paris, with Lerner & Loewe’s Gigi, based on the classic film musical of the same name. The musical is by the same talented guys that gave us My Fair Lady. Gigi hasn’t been seen live in San Diego in more than 20 years. Our J. Sherwood Montgomery will take the Maurice Chevalier role, singing that famous ditty “Thank Heaven for Little Girls.”

“Figaro, Figaro!” Next it’s off to Seville, Spain, for one of the most popular comic operas of all time - The Barber of Seville. The lovely Emily Douglass, most recently seen here as our Daughter of the Regiment, will be back as Rosina.

Our Venice Beach staging of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers is a real crowd-pleaser, so we’re bringing it back with a fresh new cast. The show is full of tuneful melodies and snappy patter that keep the story moving between the imaginary kingdoms of Venice and Barataria, poking fun of nobility and royalty as only G&S can.

And finally, we wrap up with a trip back in time to Tsarist Russia as our own G.D. Leon Natker reprises one of his signature roles, Tevye in the record-breaking, award-winning Broadway smash Fiddler on the Roof. If you’ve never seen Leon perform this role – here’s your chance. He’ll be joined by Jimmy Ferraro (who was our Sancho in Man of La Mancha) for his first turn as Lazar Wolf. This will be a show not to be missed.

Here’s the bottom line: you can get all four shows for $108 to $188. That’s less than it costs to see just one show at some musical theatre or opera companies. Want to subscribe? www.lyricoperasandiego.org  or (619) 293-8836.