After relentless verbal abuse and repeated threats of physical violence from both Bob and Herschel, I figured now was as good a time as any to step up. I'm Keith Phares and will be singing the title role of Elmer Gantry for the premiere in Nashville. Thanks to my long-time nemesis, Jenny Rivera (Sharon Falconer) I was introduced to this project last winter and I couldn't be more excited that it's finally getting off the ground. Aside from all of the gorgeous and distinctly "American" music and text,...
it's been a privilege to be a part of the development of a piece that distinguishes itself by the fact that it cannot be labelled as either traditional opera or traditional musical theater.
This comes with its own set of challanges (e.g., trying to project all of this music and text over an orchestra into a theater, still sounding like you come from Paris, KS and not "Operaland."), but in the end, I think, will prove crucial to connecting to audiences who may be turned off by opera, but still don't care to go into see a staged review of the ABBA songbook (nothing against ABBA).
In any case, it's been a blast working with Bob and Herschel and I guess, tolerable working with Jenny. I've done a fair share of new opera, but have rarely had the opportunity to work so closely with those that created it and have cocktails with them.
