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University of Utah
School of Music presents
U Opera and the Utah Philharmonia

alice

by Amy Scurria / Libretto by Zane Corriher

April 12-13, 2024 

April 12 & 13 – 7:30 p.m.
April 13 - Sensory-friendly viewing 2 p.m. 
Kingsbury Hall
Salt Lake City, UT

Dr. Robert Baldwin, conductor
Dr. Robert Breault, stage director
Melissa Bobick, choreographer
Dr. Conlan Miller, rehearsal pianist

Director's Notes

Tonight, we request that you “suspend your disbelief” for two honest hours on a trip to Wonderland.  Travel with Alice as she encounters friends and foes through time both fluid and free.  You’ll be the first, not the last, to encounter this telling of A.L.I.C.E. and it’s fresh from the “pen” of Amy Scurria and Zane Corriher.  

All in the golden afternoon 
Full leisurely we glide;
For both our oars, with little skill,
By little arms are plied,
While little hands make vain pretence
Our wanderings to guide.

Ah, cruel Three! In such an hour,
Beneath such dreamy weather,
To beg a tale of breath too weak
To stir the tiniest feather!
Yet what can one poor voice avail
Against three tongues together?

Our cyclical journey tonight begins with Alice and her sister who reads to Alice these words lifted from the preface poem in Lewis Carroll's 1865 iconic book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  In real life, Carrol would often spin his yarn to three young sisters while on Sunday picnic excursions; Alice being “Secunda” in the sequence, was known to be more a dreamer than a thinker, more interested in nonsense than in sense itself.  Bored with life at home, she seeks to escape.  

The term “Down the Rabbit Hole” has slowly become part of the English vernacular.  It can mean getting deep into something or going somewhere strange.  We chance upon some rabbit holes; some, we choose.   Carrol, acting as a wise guide, allowed the girls to row the boat.  They seemed to love his stories and they insisted he write them down.  Thankfully for us, he did; and thusly was created the most prodigious rabbit hole digger ever known.   

Our Alice falls into a hole where hostile voices are channeled in a variety of ways including through the media.  She runs into veiled guides along the way, most especially the flowers which, in our story, talk and dance beautifully too!   

In our telling, Alice’s journey is one of self-realization in a world of judgment, ridicule, and uncertainty.  In the end, she realizes that she is “enough.”  Our Alice barely avoids becoming a victim because she trusts what nature provides.  Our Alice follows a path to herself that is partly taken and partly made.  Armed with her wit, she resists losing her head. She lives partly in fantasy, partly in real, and it all sounds amazing to those who can feel.  

We hope you enjoy A.L.I.C.E  and always remember that “We’re ALL mad here!”  

Amy and Zane, thank you for this most amazing gift.  It’s been the best rabbit hole of all for me as a director and teacher. You’re the best and that’s no blatherskite!!  

Dr. Robert Breault
Director and Producer
Artistic Director, U Opera

Producer's Notes

Thank you for joining us for our production of Scurria and Corriher’s World Orchestral Debut of A.L.I.C.E.  This marks U Opera’s 25th production in Kingsbury Hall dating back to 1999.  Our thanks to Kingsbury Hall Executive Director, Chloe Jones, Ashley Behunin, Aja Vogelman, the rest of the wonderful folks who help make Kingsbury Hall available to our students.  The University of Utah opera program has been a part of the Kingsbury Hall season for over 90 years; in fact, we’ve been doing operas in Kingsbury Hall since 1931, the year this beautiful venue opened.   

We would also like to thank John Scheib, Dean of the College of Fine Arts and our wonderful College Marketing and Development team!  We deeply appreciate the support from the entire College.  Special thanks to our School of Music Director, Kimberly Councill, to my dedicated colleagues for their inspired teaching, and to the School of Music staff for their tremendous efforts on our behalf.

We deeply appreciate Utah Opera Artistic Director Christopher McBeth whose generous support has helped to establish strong collaborative efforts between the UOpera program and Utah Opera.  Christopher makes available their guest artists, directors, and conductors who give instruction and feedback to our students.  Additionally, Christopher has provided some of our students and faculty with invaluable performing and directing opportunities.  Christopher’s vision and his collaborative energy have helped to raise the level of work we do at the University and we are grateful for all his efforts. 

Special thanks to my teaching assistant, Michael Shoaf, for his tremendous efforts as Assistant Director and the Hare.   Thanks also to my Assistant Directors, Allie Marsh and Michael Shoaf, and to special assistant extraordinaire, Finch Corriher.

We would like to thank our entire production team led by our Department of Theatre’s Stage Management Program Head, Amber Bielinski.  Amber shares her students with us to serve as our stage management crew, Spencer Barber, Irey Oviatt, Skyler Lemelle, and Hailee Walker....you are the best; you’re such pros and such good colleagues too!  Thank you! 

A special thanks to my good friend, Seth Miller, our fantastic lighting director. Thank you for all you do, not only on this project but for the wonderful collaboration you have made with us and your team at the Grand Theatre.  Halee and Arika, I am grateful to both of you for your incredible dedication, talent, and skills.

VERY special thanks to Robin Farnsley-Becker for your work on the costumes.  We’re so glad you’re with us at the University of Utah!!  Amazing work!

To the fantastic University of Utah voice faculty of which I count myself a proud member, thank you. Julie Wright Costa, Kirstin Chávez, Seth Keeton, Carol Ann Allred, Lynn Maxfield…you are the best!!! Our well-trained students rely upon these folks for vocal guidance and inspiration and they know how incredibly important their teachers are to their success.

We all offer huge thanks to Dr. Robert Baldwin and the members of the Utah Philharmonia for their collaboration.  To Conlan Miller, “Dr. Wonderkeys,” thanks to you for the hours and hours spent with us on the piano!

My tremendous thanks goes to Melissa Bobick and our wonderful A.L.I.C.E. corps de ballet who not only dance beautifully but also act believably too.  The flowers act as guides for Alice as she journeys through her Wonderland and they provide key answers to her questions along the way.  Melissa guides and mentors our dancers and has been an amazing creative partner for me.  I deeply appreciate the wonderful leadership that Melissa provides.  She has guided me and our singers and unlocked visions that I had for this opera from the moment I first imagined it.  THANK YOU, Melissa!  We all so deeply appreciate you!  You’re a wonderful example of a person who knows how to create positive synergy under the big tent that is our College of Fine Arts.  

Special thanks to our Associate Director of Opera, Jim Bobick.  Jim and I have been working diligently and closely together to provide the kind of safe and challenging environment where our students can shine and share! 

We are so grateful for our families and spouses and of course you, the audience, for being with us.  Thank you for your support! 

Dr. Robert Breault
Director and Producer
Artistic Director, U Opera

U Opera’s "A.L.I.C.E" world premiere declares: you are enough

By Emeri Fetzer | Finer Points Blog

For composer Amy Scurria, Alice from Lewis Carroll’s beloved “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” was an obvious, albeit unconventional, opera heroine waiting to take the stage.

Historically, women are not often the central characters of opera, as aficionados will know. Even when featured, their fates are dark: murder, insanity, violence, heartbreak.

This has never sat well with Scurria. While completing her PhD in music composition at Duke University, she was validated and empowered by “Opera, or the Undoing of Women,” a 1979 book by French philosopher Catherine Clément, who shared the frustration that she could not find herself represented in a medium she loved. Scurria solidified her creative mission.

“This is my opportunity to change this paradigm in whatever way I can,” she said. “My goal is to create operas with female leads who not only don’t die or befall some tragic fate, but they thrive.”

Enter "A.L.I.C.E."

Scurria’s first memory of the beloved character is at age 3, the same year of her earliest memory of falling in love with music. By age 8, she was composing.

“I got interested in writing opera pretty young because all of my works connect to either stories, or poetry, or some kind of extra musical idea,” she said. “Early in my career, I was composing choral and orchestral music, and was thrilled by the idea that I could combine the two in opera.”

Vital in the process of her adaptation of the book to opera, which began in 2019, is Scurria’s life partner and astute storyteller Zane Corriher.

“I write poetry, and create music, but combining them was challenging,” she explained. “I had an idea for a nonsense aria. My process for creating that was to go to the thesaurus and look up all the words for ‘nonsense,’ then count the syllables and organize them in some kind of mathematical way.”

Corriher jumped at the chance to write the libretto. “I think our collaboration together was where it really started to take shape,” Scurria said. “We could have conversations together about what was the driving force behind telling the story.”

Pretty immediately, the two discovered themes in Alice’s story beyond typical depictions of unbridled childhood imaginings, and the loss of such freedom in adulthood. The fundamental question asked by the Caterpillar felt central: “Who are you?” Influenced by Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey,” Scurria and Corriher’s “A.L.I.C.E” is a quest for identity and self-worth, relatable for the widest spectrum of audiences.

"[The opera] was always written through the lens of the autistic experience. We just didn't know, we didn’t have the word for it.”

The moral? You are enough.

Then, amidst the writing process, Scurria’s own story was forever altered. She was late diagnosed autistic. The message became that much more poignant, and urgent.

“The autism diagnosis made sense of the way Amy made sense of Alice.” Corriher said. "[The opera] was always written through the lens of the autistic experience. We just didn't know, we didn’t have the word for it.”

“I started to understand my life through a new lens, which was the first time I really understood myself,” Scurria said. “There are many aspects of me that make me feel like other, and that’s another reason I related to Alice. I felt very much outside of the mainstream.”

In 2023, Scurria was shopping "A.L.I.C.E" at the National Opera Association conference when she met Robert Breault, Director of University of Utah Opera. The encounter was kismet.

“I took the opportunity to go back to my hotel room and listen to some of her music, and I got that feeling when you hear something, and it just touches you” Breault said.

Premiering the full orchestra version of "A.L.I.C.E" at the University of Utah is special for myriad reasons.

Perhaps most exciting is that students can interact with Scurria, and leave their unique mark on her work, which is constantly evolving.

“We spend a lot of time wondering what Mozart meant by things –– and it's all conjecture,” Breault said. “The process for this has been entirely different because this is the first time that I've directed a piece by a living composer. Our first rehearsal, Amy and Zane were on the big screen in the room with us, talking about their perception and plan.”

Informed by Scurria’s autistic experience, and a desire to share the piece with all, U Opera is also offering a sensory friendly matinee, for the first time ever.

Thanks to a grant from the Council of Dee Fellows, Scurria and Corriher will be in attendance for the premiere, culminating the entire collaborative process. For Breault, "A.L.I.C.E." is a rare opportunity for singers to develop roles not yet codified in the canon.

“They're not developing these roles based on recordings, which sets up ridiculous standards,” he said. “In this case, they can all take ownership. We're really encouraging them to invest and then enjoy the benefit of that, which is going to mean satisfaction when they get to sing it.” 

Accommodations for the performance include adjusted onstage lighting and sound, no lighting being focused on the audience, no pyrotechnics or sudden loud noises, and the house lights of the theatre remaining on, at a low level, during the performance. In addition, guests are free to talk, leave their seats, or move freely during the performance. Guests are also welcome to bring hand fidgets or use their mobile devices while in the auditorium.

“Essentially, this piece is about the journey of Alice through a lot of challenges, or rabbit holes,” Breault said.” In the end, she has a moment of actualization that is just stunning. The first time I saw it, tears were rolling down my face. I think this opera is going to work at many different levels. Kids are going to see it one way, adults will be able to see it in another –– and hopefully it'll touch everybody.”

+ Friday Night / * Saturday Matinee / ** Saturday Night

White Rabbit

Alex Harrelson + *
Sam Plumb **

Alice

Natalia Turchin Champagne +
Isabel Cossa *
Jourdan Elterman (cover)
Margaret Steele **

The Sister (Lorina)

Jourdan Elterman (cover)
Alexandra Marsh + *
Meggie Vincent **

Edith (supernumerary)

MaryBeth Groth

The Duchess

Thia Harris +*
Sage Madsen **

The Queen of Hearts

Nadia Englund +
Karley Swallow *
Mackenzie Williams **

The Caterpillar

John Knight Allen

Cheshire Cat

Aubrey Adams-McMillan +
Meggie Vincent *
Mara Davis **

Mad Hatter

Alex Harrelson **
Sam Plumb + *

March Hare

Michael Shoaf + *
Matthew Tang **

 

The King

Porter Hiatt

The Cook

Dawn Marie Wells

Flowers

Nathalia Alvarez
Jourdan Elterman
Theresa Fassler
Anna Roelofs
Sasha Southwick 
Karley Swallow + **
Mackenzie Williams *

Trees

Emerson Bergenfield
Dillan Burnett
Matthew Tang + *
Junjie Wang
Tiago Weir

Cards

Nathalia Alvarez
Emerson Bergenfield
Dillan Burnett
Jourdan Elterman
Theresa Fassler
MaryBeth Groth
Thia Harris **
Sage Madsen + *
Anna Roelofs
Sasha Southwick
Karley Swallow + **
Matthew Tang + *
Junjie Wang
Tiago Weir
Dawn Marie Wells
Mackenzie Williams + *

Dancers

Fiona Gavin
Tori Gilbert
 Sophie O’Brien
 Haley Parsons
 Kirsten Rye
 Alison Yang

+Concertmaster / *Principal / **Assistant Principal

Bass

Megan Hall
Brenna Kerby

Cello

Milo Nieves *
Kaitlyn Booth
Julia Fierro
Nikei Bowen

Violin 1

Lauren Preck +
Kristen Olson
Alina Baron
Elizabeth LeVitre
Jewelia Spjute
Elizabeth Gardner

 

 

 

 

 

Violin 2

Sidney Lofthouse *
Sadie Swain
Paul Petersen
Ethan Gardner
WenRui Chen

Viola

Caitlyn Curry *
Jack Johnson
Lydia Miller
Dallas Bitter

Bassoon

Luke Pfiel

 

Clarinet

Darrin Thiriot

Flute

Reuben Councill *
Siyoung Lee

Oboe

Anna Larson

Trombone

Kyle Larson *
Kade Gordon

Trumpet

Kyle McLean *
Morgan Staker

 

 

Horn

Ethan Young *
Brian Larson
Justice Nugent

Timpani

Prince Jackson

Harp

Whitney Jensen

Conductors

Dr. Robert Baldwin
Oswaldo Machado

Composer

Amy Scurria

Librettist

Zane Corriher

Director of Opera

Robert Breault

Associate
Director of Opera

James Bobick

Operations Director – UtahPresents

Aja Vogelman

Production Manager – Kingsbury Hall

Ashley Behunin

Conductor

Robert Baldwin

Stage Director

Robert Breault

Rehearsal Pianist

Conlan Miller

Assistant Director

 Michael Shoaf

Assistant Conductor

 Oswaldo Machado

Choreographer

Melissa Bobick

Technical Director

Halee Rasmussen

Lighting Designer

Seth Miller

Assistant Lighting Designer

Sara Clark

Lighting Assistants

Allison Seather
Logan Black
Tyson Brooks
Kai Sadowski

Costume Design

Robin Farnsley-Becker

Costume Co-Design

Roxanne Becker

Costume Maker

Alicia Fairbanks

Costume Assistant
MaryBeth Groth
 
Makeup Artist

Megan Smith

Assistant Makeup Artist

Anna Roelofs

Properties Design

Arika Schockmel

Sound Design

Joseph Killian

Production Mentor

Amber Bielinski

Stage Manager

Spencer Barber

First Assistant Stage Manager

Irey Oviatt

Second Assistant Stage Manager

Skyler Lemelle

Production Assistant

Hailee Walker

 

Meet the Cast

 

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Production Team

 

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Dancers

 

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Last Updated: 5/16/24