No looking back, the time is now
A conversation with David Ronis, Summerfest 2024 Orpheus in the Underworld director

One might say the realization of this summer’s production of Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, directed by David Ronis, is a moment whose time has come.

First off, David has known General Director Evans Haile – who celebrates his tenth season with Opera North this year – since 1976. They met at SUNY in Purchase NY and then were housemates at the Miami Opera in the 1980s. David and Artistic Director Louis Burkot also first crossed paths in the early 1980s when Louis was conducting the Aspen Chamber Choir. Then they crossed paths at Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College CUNY.

Now, after five years of trying to schedule an Opera North Summerfest reunion, this is the year!

“We’re comfortable; we all know each other,” David said. “In line with their circus-singer mashup I’m looking forward to presenting a light and entertaining Orpheus at a moment when the audience is looking for an escape.”

When it debuted in 1858, Orpheus in the Underworld was a thinly veiled political satire with the role of Public Opinion devoted to that messaging. As David said, “We could get deeper with the political side in this production, but that might undercut the fun of the piece. I fully believe that art should be an instrumental part of social change and speak to issues that move us and make us think. But there’s still a lot of room for ‘let’s have a good time.’”

In a University of Wisconsin “Badger Talk” in response to the challenge, “So you don’t like opera” David said, “Opera has the reputation for being elitist and stuffy, badly acted, and boring. It’s true that bad opera can be just that. But good opera is extremely entertaining and often profoundly moving. I’ve devoted my life to cultivating that.”

And that concept, too, is celebrated with Orpheus performances on July 11, 12 and 14.

The tale of Orpheus and Eurydice is having its own moment, with productions at the Met of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and on Broadway with Hadestown. There are various endings, as well, ranging from Gluck’s 1750s tragic ending to Monteverdi’s Baroque lieto fine (“happy ending”) that its audience expected, to Offenbach’s.

“Offenbach was basically just fooling around with the story,” David continued. “We have a pleasure-seeking Eurydice and both she and Orpheus are not so innocent after all. This is a classic French operetta in the popular repertoire. Plus an ending that turns Eurydice into a bacchante – a party girl – provides the opportunity to recap ‘Can Can’ one more time.”

David also views the story as one of the ten meta plots: “Orpheus has the opportunity to bring the love he’s lost back, but he’s not able to resist her, screws up, and loses her for good. A timeless story with a cast of cool, colorful characters – gods and goddesses.”

As Associate Professor and Director of University Opera at the University of Wisconsin-Madison  Mead Whitter School of Music David teaches teaching integrative acting and movement for singers -- what he describes as the alternative to ‘park and bark.’ While it’s a challenge to connect what’s entertaining to an audience (in the round, under a tent), the twelve Resident Artists’ goals as they work to improve their performances and advance their professional careers – and his own teaching, David says, “We jump right in, working the way they work to get on the same page.”

He's constantly evaluating the situation, bringing out dimensions in rehearsal. “I help them use their bodies – let’s call it choreography – and process the words they’re singing as their own. Sometimes they’re just not connecting with the text.”

That’s particularly challenging when the singer is not fluent in the language of the work.

“I have them say the words [with natural inflection and emotion] in English, then in French, then in English, then French until the meaning has infiltrated. I ask them to ‘say what you mean every moment’ and then the light bulb goes on.”

David also welcomes the Resident Artists’ suggestions. “I love it when people come with ideas,” he said. “Sometimes if an idea doesn’t work for this production, we find ways together to the interpretation. That usually happens when there’s a more intense engagement with the process and it’s great to watch people come along.”

Fortunately, David brings experience giving master classes to the short but intensive experience of the time he and the Resident Artists will spend together. “It’s a bonding experience. There are dimensions to explore, like the sexuality inherent in Orpheus, through an approach to direction that provides what they expert.”

Having known of Opera North for decades, David concurs that the company’s reputation is quite good. “There are different steps. Some programs are pay to sing; in others the quality varies. It’s quite competitive to get into Opera North’s program.”

For director David Ronis and the Resident Artist class of 2024, no looking back -- the time is now.