'Hansel and Gretel' ends Kentucky Opera season

By Andrew Adler • aadler@courier-journal.com • November 15, 2009

“I like to give everybody a show,” 13-year-old Riley Morrissey declared recently.

She's getting a chance Friday and next Sunday, when Kentucky Opera closes its season with a production of “Hansel and Gretel” at the Brown Theatre.

Morrissey, a porcelain-skinned young lady with sensational eyes and a quick smile, is among 24 children cast in the company's staging of Engelbert Humperdinck's classic fantasy. Half this group takes the part of angels, confirming the good of the world after the dastardly witch has been suitably oven-stuffed.

The others, including Morrissey, play children who've been trapped in suspended animation for centuries — freed in a brilliant flash from gingerbread bondage.

But before you can perform, you have to look your part, and before you look your part, you must be fitted with the appropriate costume. So on one recent Wednesday afternoon, three children (shepherded by three attentive mothers) came by the Kentucky Opera costume shop. One by one they exchanged street clothes for elaborately styled garments — literally the fabric of make-believe.

“It's all imaginary clothes for imaginary people,” explains Howard Kaplan, chief costume designer at Kentucky Opera. He created clothing for this “Hansel and Gretel” 10 years ago for Florida's Sarasota Opera, and has spent the ensuing decade pinning, nipping and tucking the evocative outfits to fit a range of body types.

Kaplan, 49, says he makes no working distinction between children and adults. Everyone gets paid regardless of how old they are, and the process goes smoothly “as long as you treat any professional with respect.”

Not that there aren't occasional hiccups. “Our only glitch,” Kaplan says, “was when one child dropped out — and I didn't think a boy would be happy wearing a dress.”

One of the boys participating in Kentucky Opera's “Hansel and Gretel” is Joshua Steinbach, who made his company debut in last season's production of Massenet's “Werther.” Now 12, he attends Highland Latin School in the Crescent Hill neighborhood and sings in the choir at St. Francis in the Fields Episcopal Church.

I like opera because you can sing and dance and act,” Joshua says, adding that in “Hansel and Gretel,” one collective challenge is that “We have to look surprised because we have been (trapped) for a couple of hundred years.”

He also mentioned that in rehearsal, “We keep walking over this piece of tape that is supposed to be a tree.” He assured an interviewer — and his mother, Starr Steinbach, sitting nearby — that no tree collisions would occur during an actual performance.

Joshua was slightly vague as to precisely what kind of onstage personality he was portraying. “I come from a wealthy family,” he said of his character, pausing as he considered additional attributes.

“What did Howard say?” his mom chimed in. “You're supposed to be a Tyrolean child.”

Carpooling to school each day from his home in La Grange, Joshua lives the typically full life of a soon-to-be teenager. Besides being a member of the St. Francis choir, he often performs at weddings and sings in his school chorus.

That brings up a potentially sensitive point: “People think it's cool to be on the basketball team,” he says, “but they hate choir, because other people hate choir. But now that I've been all these things (with Kentucky Opera and elsewhere), I've kind of brought choir back to where people don't hate it. The girls are OK with choir, but now the boys in the class are accepting choir. That's one of the things I like.”

Being part of a professional opera production is no small thing, especially when you haven't even reached high school. Gaining independence is a major draw, not just for the children, but also for their parents.

“One of the reasons we've done this,” says Jill Morrissey, Riley's mother, is that “we thought it would be a great experience for her.” Indeed, Morrissey has learned the value of stepping back, even when she might want to do the opposite.

“I find it best when the parents stay out of it,” she says, adding that “It's hard for me, because my personality is a little bit controlling.”

Riley, an eighth-grader at St. Michael Catholic school, was trying to figure out why a so-called “skirt” actually extended to the middle of her chest. Opera is new for her, an intriguing contrast to the many musicals in which she's performed. Next year, she hopes to be accepted at the Youth Performing Arts School (in either the drama or musical theater programs). If that doesn't pan out, Assumption High School is her likely landing point.

Meanwhile, she juggles school assignments with her ongoing “Hansel and Gretel” commitments.

“The teachers are very understanding about making up some stuff that she misses, or that she's just too tired to do at night,” Jill Morrissey says. “They recognize that this is very important, and a good learning experience for her.”

Performing tends to bring out unexpected aspects of a child's nature.

“When she's on stage, she becomes a different person,” Kimberly Booth says of her 10-year-old daughter, Sophie Claire Hill. Sophie is no stranger to bright lights and audiences, having performed in such operas as “Werther” and “Turandot,” plus two years in Actors Theatre of Louisville's production of “Dracula.”

“When I grow up, I want to become a triple threat,” emphasizes this burgeoning singer-actor-dancer, already mapping out a scholastic future that begins with Noe Middle School, continues with YPAS, and ends up in Nashville's Belmont University, known for its performing-arts programs.

In “Hansel and Gretel,” Sophie engages in a gentle bit of gender-bending. “I think I'm supposed to be a Hill Boy,” she offers, “someone who lives in a mountain.”

“I like to do a bit of everything,” Sophie emphasizes, “pretending to be different people. It's fun to see what it would be like to be someone else.”

Reporter Andrew Adler can be reached at (502) 582-4668.