Bend Don’t Break: Jason Stein, Executive Director of Opera Bend

In this episode of Bend Don’t Break, Aaron Switzer sits down with Jason Stein, Executive Director of Opera Bend, to talk about building and sustaining an opera company in Central Oregon. Jason shares his journey from studying acting in New York City and performing on major stages to putting down roots in Bend and helping fill the void left when Obsidian Opera closed. Along the way, he reflects on what drew him to opera, how his voice shaped his career, and why Bend became home.

Jason and Aaron explore the role of opera in a growing community, the balance between local talent and visiting performers, and Opera Bend’s mission to make opera welcoming and accessible. They discuss the “Fear No Opera” philosophy, the realities of producing large-scale performances, and what audiences can expect from upcoming productions—including Die Fledermaus, performed in English with supertitles. It’s a thoughtful conversation about art, risk, legacy, and why live performance still matters in Central Oregon.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the Ben Don't Break Podcast. We are powered by the Source, Ben's locally owned media company and weekly newspaper. This podcast is our eddy in the rushing waters of local journalism. We are glad that you're taking some of your time to listen to us chat with people who shape our local community. Support us through our member program at BenStource.com.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Thank you to our presenting sponsor, Remax Key Properties, a family-owned, full-service real estate brokerage specializing in residential, luxury, commercial, new construction, and ranch and land properties. Their new state-of-the-art facility at 42 Greenwood Avenue is a modern collaborative space and the new home of the Bin Don't Break Podcast Recording Studio.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

I'm Aaron Sweitzer, publisher of The Source and co-producer of this podcast with Megan Burton, off-screen off mic. Today we have Jason Stein, executive director of Opera Bend, with us. His background includes both performing and directing, producing musicals and operas. As a performer in Central Oregon, Jason has performed the roles of Don Jose and Carmen, Eisenstein and Dai Flutermaus, Tamino in The Magic Flute, Count Almavia and Bartolo in separate productions of The Barbara Seville, Rodolfo in La Bohine, and Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. Jason has also performed many lead roles with theater and opera companies in New York and New Jersey. His educational background includes a Bachelor of Fine Arts where he studied acting with Stella Alder in New York City, Adler, sorry, my bad, and Master of Science degree from NYU. He's a co-founder of Opera Bend in 2014, has been since 2014 and has been producing and sometimes directing its operas since. I think I stumbled over that one. It started, you started Opera Bend in 2014.

SPEAKER_03 1:56

My wife and I started it in 2014.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:59

You know, the Obsidian Opera was the opera up until 2008. Okay. And we felt like uh we could do this.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Um had you worked with them?

SPEAKER_03 2:09

Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Okay. So one of the uh several of those productions that you listed, uh the Eisenstein and Deflader Mouse. Uh I did uh a production with Obsidian Opera that Monica Torrey directed. Um with my wife singing Rosalinda. Uh kind of how we fell in love with each other singing opposite uh yeah, I'm thinking this is an opera house. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So um yeah, and uh Labo M, we've we've produced uh you know many, many different operas since 2014.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

My wife so then when um obsidian opera ceased, you you decided to step into the void.

SPEAKER_03 2:53

Yeah, um exactly. We felt like there was a need here, there was uh lots of folks that wanted to perform. Um and you know, my wife and I went to Michael Gesmi, uh, who of course everybody knows in this town, and um this is a special year for him because he's retiring. Um and uh, you know, we we we wanted to see if we could launch this, and uh, you know, he's been amazingly supportive. Sure. Uh and you know, he was our conductor from the beginning. And uh how lucky are we for that, yes.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Right, right. Uh when you're I I'm fascinated because I um we're continually pulling in for podcast guests, people from Ben Film, um the the cabaret, the Green Cabaret, play all these connections to New York, like these folks that uh that's interesting, have come from much bigger markets, places where like yourself. Okay, where did you get your start in opera?

SPEAKER_03 4:00

Oh boy, where did I get my start in opera? Okay. Um, you know, I was uh an acting student under Stella Adler, and I uh since I was 11 years old, was uh performing in Summerstock in musicals and dramas. Um, and it was just amazing.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

Where were you living?

SPEAKER_03 4:22

In that was at that time it was central Pennsylvania. Okay or not. And I knew once I graduated from high school that I had to go to New York.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

It was Yeah, we had to escape central Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER_03 4:33

Yes, there was a little bit of that for sure. Uh, but I had to be where all the action was. Yeah, and so I did, um, and you know, learned a lot uh in New York. Um and I was studying my uh vo voice um privately during the whole time I was in New York, but really my concentration was in theater world, and uh trying to make a living as uh an actor is very difficult. You know, it's they there's a reason that people say that they're starving artists because they are um and I, you know, I on a fluke, um, I I went to uh an audition for an opera, and gee, I was you know one of four tenors, I believe it was. I was like, geez, I've got 25% chance of of actually making the part. Whereas when you go to a um a musical theater audition, you're one of 250 people, right uh, you know, and so the chances were a lot better. Uh and and at my voice teacher at the time, I was really kind of following my voice, uh, which wanted to be bigger and bigger and bigger. Yeah, um, bigger than musical theater voices typically. Yeah, um, and I I really loved that challenge of singing um higher notes than in typical musical theater and louder and you know.

SPEAKER_02 5:55

So it wasn't all just following where the work was. I mean, you you were it was a little bit about you were enjoying the work itself.

SPEAKER_03 6:02

Yes, yes, very much. I felt like um my voice fit yeah a lot better than in opera than in musical theater. Um, and I think I'm right about that.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Uh I'm sure l listeners can hear right now.

SPEAKER_03 6:16

It's you got a voice for right here. Yeah, okay. Well, that's good to hear. Um, you know, so I you know, I followed that uh and started getting so many parts in New York, um singing opera, you know. Uh of course they were initially small roles, and uh, you know, the music is just amazing. Verdi, Puccini, Gonazzetti, Mozart. You know, I could go on and on. There's just so many uh good hits. Um, Flatermouse is one of those, by the way. Uh, it's actually considered an operetta just because typically there's dialogue in uh the middle of it, uh, and it's most of the time done in English uh in America. Of course, not in Europe, but uh in America, it is typically at least the English is done. Uh sorry, the dialogue is done in English. Um and uh yeah, um, so that was that was kind of my kickoff into opera. Um and then I came to Central Oregon visiting a friend and staying in New York for just a second.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

Where the what size houses were you performing for at that time?

SPEAKER_03 7:29

Um they were big YMCAs, big churches, okay. Uh the group opera that I performed in mostly performed in big churches, which was really cool. I mean, it was full orchestra. Um, in those days, uh my friend who was uh a chorus, uh regular chorister at the Met, uh, he was the uh director of the group opera. And so I would sing the second tenor roles to uh singers who were singing at the Met at the time. So, you know, I I I was amazing. It was it was great, it was such a great experience working with uh those people that you know you you could see uh a week later doing uh a big role at the Met.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:15

Um and and there were you know many, many other singers as well. Um, they weren't all Met singers, but they were all uh having careers, operatic careers.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

And were you aspiring to get on that stage at the Met at the time?

SPEAKER_03 8:28

Um, of course. I mean, I think everybody was, but I also knew that I had a long way to go at the time. Yeah, you know, I was a young singer. Okay, so it it's also really kind of strange the way, you know, careers in opera work, they don't typically start when you're young, like a little ballerina might, you know, where the dance career is very young sometimes to um, you know, I don't know what they get injured or or I guess that's a premature ending, but you know, that they don't go very far into uh adulthood. Right. Um and an opera career doesn't start until you're an adult, until your voice has really changed and you can handle the roles.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 9:15

Um, I mean, I think Pavarotti's uh Met debut was uh late 20s, maybe it was early 30s. I don't remember the exact uh number, but you know, he was laid into his adult hood before he was even singing. Now uh he maybe is an exception to that, but um because just how amazing he was. But but most uh tenors, you know, I'm I'm a tenor, most tenors, you know, you your your voice has to fully develop before you can have a career. So I felt like um I could still do this. I could still, you know, here I am in my early 20s, uh yeah, and singing, you know, I I could still do this.

SPEAKER_02 9:55

Yeah. Were you trying to hurry hurry that growth up? Are there ways to like get yourself to become older?

SPEAKER_03 10:02

Um, not to become older, not to change your voice. There's I don't think there's any natural ways to do that. Um, but you you throw money at it, you know, you spend lots of money studying and coaching and learning languages. Um, you know, in there's so many things to learn in opera. Of course, you're on stage, so you you know, you have to be an actor as well, which uh my background was in that, so I felt like, oh, I I've got that covered. I just need to start studying languages, and of which there are, you know, like four of the main ones Italian, French, German. Sometimes we sing in English, of course, but but more and more it's you know a foreign language that you're singing in. Um, you know, and so uh there's just there's just a lot of work that you have to put in and a lot of money, and it's a huge investment. Um then, you know, when I came out here, I was like, well, I'm not gonna throw it all away, all that all that work that I've done.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

How old were you when you decided to leave New York? I was and was it direct from New York to Central Oregon?

SPEAKER_03 11:10

Yes, it was direct from New York. I was about 28, I believe. Um, maybe 29, something like that. And and what year was this? What time? 1995. Okay, January 95.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

Oh, you got here a couple years before me.

SPEAKER_03 11:24

So, and I've been in Central Oregon since. Uh, so I have to guess say Central Oregon's my home now. It's kind of weird to say that. Um, I always used to say, Oh, I'm a New Yorker. Well, not really. Not really. Um, of course, I don't know what the rule is for that. Is it how many years you've spent in I feel like 95?

SPEAKER_02 11:43

You you can check the local box. I we started the paper in 97. I'm checking the box. Yeah, so I'm I feel like I can give those out now.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

I mean, if you could remember before the parkway existed, I suppose that that was right.

unknown 11:57

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Yeah, I remember riding down the parkway before they uh before they opened it to cars. You know, they had time where they were like, come on down and ride it, we're having them there, you know. I'll never forget it.

SPEAKER_03 12:08

And do you remember all of the people who were against it in the world? Oh, yeah, picketed, yeah, picketing stuff.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

Yeah, because the idea was if you didn't if we didn't have the parkway, we wouldn't grow. You know, somehow, if there was no parkway, then there wouldn't we wouldn't have the infrastructure to keep keep growing? And I think that's a misnomer.

SPEAKER_03 12:26

Yeah, I mean it just grew no matter what. Yeah, it was gonna grow. Yeah, maybe the parkway helped it a little bit. I remember you know, getting north to south, and Ben was so quick at that time. It was like half the time, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Right. Well, what what brings you from New York to Central Oregon? Is this have to do with um the other part of the opera house? The other part of the opera house. Your wife?

SPEAKER_03 12:50

Oh, no, uh, I wasn't with her at the time. Okay, so no, I can't blame anything on her. Uh no, yeah, I just was visiting a friend, came out to Central Oregon, uh, and more or less fell in love with Central Oregon and threw my resume around and got a call uh a few months later with a job offer. And I was like, oh wow, okay. Can we do this? You know, it's gotta be cheaper to live in Central Oregon than in New York City, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:19

At least it it it was then.

SPEAKER_03 13:21

It seemed like it. Although there's a lot of things in New York that you know, you don't have to pay for garbage. That's part of your rent. You don't have to pay for water, that's part of your rent. So, you know, it was deceptively more expensive there in New York, but uh, you know, I'm I made it work and uh yeah, and then once you're here you you pretty much like the quality of living. I mean, that's the quality of life here was just so much better.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

I I'm trying to imagine 1995, and I imagine when you got here you jumped right in and started performing.

SPEAKER_03 13:57

A little bit, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

I mean uh I mean opera here in Bend in 1995, 96.

SPEAKER_03 14:03

Well, Obsidian started in 1997, so that wasn't that far away. Um before that, I think we did something. I did something with Sun River um when Larry uh Smith was there. Uh he did a uh Oedipus Tex, yeah, which is a PDQ Bach. I don't know if you're familiar with PDQ Bach, or um it's a a takeoff on Oedipus Rex, and the tenor part is the narrator. Uh it's pretty hilarious, pretty out of this world. And Peter Schickley is the the composer's name, and he uh coined uh the PDQ Bach uh is his um pseudonym.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 14:46

So he wrote all these operas or music. It wasn't just operas, it was he's written a lot of music, uh satire, all of it, yeah, and really hilarious stuff, some of it. Over the top, some of it. Um, and this one was Oedipus Tex, and uh Larry the conductor um played the mouth harp. I don't know if you're familiar with what a mouth harp is. Yes, looks like a little keyboard about that long, and you blow into it, and that was written in the role. Oh, I thought you meant those ones that are like oh no, no, I don't is that also a mouth harp?

SPEAKER_02 15:21

It's it's uh I don't know what the official name is, and I don't want to get it wrong.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

So yeah, maybe maybe what I'm saying is not official, but I don't know. It was uh it looks like a toy, okay. And and Larry would press the notes, and hopefully I would get my pitches. And I remember during that performance, he would press notes that I don't think were right. I know they weren't right. It's like okay, I don't know where that came from, but uh but we had a good time, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

And well, I gotta think in 19 oh I I remember. I mean, I remember Obsidian Opera at the time, and I remember, I mean, Bend was uh I mean uh opera isn't everybody's cup of tea, it's uh and it's a higher I think it's a pretty higher aesthetic. You um and it's 1997 when Obsidian Opera started, and yeah, I mean we were there maybe 40,000 people here, not I mean I think you were I mean Obsidian Opera introduced a lot of people to opera.

SPEAKER_03 16:18

Yes. I I agree, I agree. I I'd like to think that people should give it a shot uh before they just poo-poo opera. It's not all about uh five hours in a theater uh with people singing in a language you don't understand. Uh that's I think the fear. My wife and I, when we started Opera Bend, we got hats and shirts that said fear no opera. Uh, because you know, it it's uh it's kind of a silly fear. Um, just so everyone knows, Deflator Mouse, which we're doing in June, is sung in English and the dialogue is in English. Everybody will understand. And on top of that, we're going to have supertitles. So when they're singing, if there's a word or two that you miss, oh, you just read what the book is.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

Oh wow. So you have a screen behind it.

SPEAKER_03 17:09

Uh it's actually on top, it's it Mount Hugh. So it's uh yeah, it's on the top of the proscenium, basically. Um, and yeah, I mean it really works well. Uh, people will understand all of the jokes. And I don't know about you, but you know, when I'm watching news at home or any sitcom, I've got the closed captioning on all the time because people mumble. Uh yeah, you know, and that's what, and plus I'm getting older, you know.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

So it's hard to do that. I do it too. I think we're aging ourselves. I don't think we want to say that with uh Megan's in the room, you know. Uh R C.

SPEAKER_03 17:45

I think it's a lot of mumbling, is what it is, you know, and um Harrison Ford maybe. I mean, he's a great actor. I love Harrison Ford, but you know, he he kind of got that mumbling thing going. Uh anyway, so you know that's that's what this is all about, is like, you know, the super titles are there, so you miss a word. Oh, no problem. Oh, yeah, that's what he said.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

Yeah, that's great. That's great. Why um why so given the audience and given the given given the market, why opera here? Um I mean, you're still, even for our size, you you you're still, I would say, introducing people to opera in the market.

SPEAKER_03 18:24

I think you're right. I do. Uh I think that um it's a why opera.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

I mean, God, this this is just not just because you're a tenor.

SPEAKER_03 18:36

Well, I mean, I think that has a lot to do with it. Uh you know, people say, well, is your opera company uh just a vanity company? You know, you're just trying to promote yourself. Yeah. There's there's some truth to that.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Aren't all companies vanity companies? I don't know about their base.

SPEAKER_03 18:55

Typically the tenor is not your executive director of the opera company. Right. That I guess that's what I mean. Um, but it's not that I perform in every one of them. As a matter of fact, the older I get, the le less I can perform. Yeah. You know, um, our bodies wear out and voice is part of our bodies, you know. And so it's not that I can't sing anymore, but the amount of uh singing that we do, um I I fatigue a lot easier. Yeah, sure. You know, it's kind of the same way if you do sports, you know, you could play basketball for 10 minutes and then you know, you start going downhill, right? Same same thing with singing, you know, you can sing for however long, it's just you need a little more breaks in between.

SPEAKER_02 19:43

Yeah. I I'm intrigued by that concept of the vanity company. So because I I actually had never thought that that would be a thing. Like I, you know, today I've decided we're gonna do this performance and I'm the lead. And you know, I suppose that's out there, but it's a pretty big load of work for just to put yourself on the field.

SPEAKER_03 20:03

Well, you know, when I was in my 30s, um, I've I, you know, had a list of like a bucket list of operas that I wanted to do before I die, yeah, before I couldn't sing anymore.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Right.

SPEAKER_03 20:16

Um, and I wasn't checking any of those off. I I just wasn't. So I was like, how am I gonna do this? You know, and right the only way you're gonna do it is to produce it yourself.

SPEAKER_02 20:28

Right.

SPEAKER_03 20:29

And so that's you know, a little bit of now of those 12, how many have I done? Uh you know, not all of them. I I wouldn't even say half of them, but I've I've done better get going. I know, right? I I realize that I'm not gonna, but I did some of the ones that I really would was loving to do. Log Laboam. Yeah, and Luci di Lamor, uh, among others, you know, so um and cavalry, that's another one that I did. Um, but now uh my interest is is more in producing or directing these great operas, um, and keeping the company going.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Yeah, yeah. I find that to be uh we we uh I produce theater in the park and once a year, and it's my toe into the this this theatrical world, and I'm happy to put the toe in than pull back out. I mean it's a ton of work, it's a ton of personalities, it's uh but what a what a fulfilling uh thing to to bring to people. But as far as vanity publications go, well, you find out real quick if it's a vanity performance because no one's in the audience.

SPEAKER_03 21:38

Yeah. I I hope that I've made enough fans now that you know at least some of them uh come. I I know that um the the other folks that I bring in from a lot of them are from out of town, but you know, when I say out of town, Portland, yeah, the valleys, Portland, Seattle is typically who we pull in. Um, I've got favorites now that you know they might live in Portland, but they're loved here.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

Oh, that's great. So yeah, yeah. Do you pull when you're doing a um opera performance here? Are you pulling people from other areas or do you just work with Central Oregonians for the production?

SPEAKER_03 22:18

Well, okay, so we've got various different types of productions. Some of our um productions are only local singers.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:27

Uh we just did one in February, uh, the Ben Singer Showcase in February. And it was only folks local. Um, and the the medium in May that we're producing is uh an already uh completely performed and staged and sung uh show that we're just presenting from another opera company. Yeah, and they are great, and it makes it just you know a lot easier for us. We're just pulling in and presenting kind of like what the tower does, right?

SPEAKER_02 23:02

We did it, we did it with Shakespeare in the park. You know, they come over from Portland, they were a fully formed company, they had practically it was it was great. You could introduce people to levels of quality that unforeseen before here.

SPEAKER_03 23:16

Yes, so and and uh many of those singers have already sung with opera band in the past, maybe not all of them, but many of them have. Yeah, so I know you know a good number of those singers, and it's gonna be great, you know. Uh, and so I would encourage that. That's May 23rd and 24th at Willie Hall at college.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:38

And then Flader Mouse is again, you know, we we cast uh these roles months ahead of time. Um, and they come in knowing their role uh from on day one. And so that's also very different than a theater where where you're learning the learning the play.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

So these are these people come to you, they're they're fully formed. They know the play, they know the lyric, they know everything. Yes, they know the words.

SPEAKER_03 24:02

The only thing they may not have down is the dialogue, you know. Okay, but that's fine. You know, it's it there's not that much dialogue that it's gonna trip them up. But yeah, they know all of the music, and um, and if they don't know the music, then they're fired and we get somebody else sick. I was gonna say, oh yeah, that's uh that that has happened in the past, unfortunately. That has to happen, but right, you know, we don't uh we don't have enough time when we when we put on the operas there, it's two weeks of time, is what we have. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:35

So two weeks for the marking, for the movement, for everything. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:41

As you know, you know, when you that's uh not a lot of time.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:46

Now but that isn't only the only thing we do. Like I said, we have a Ben Singer showcase, uh, and we also have many times we'll do other things that will will not involve out-of-town singers, you know. Lay Miz didn't involve any out-of-town singers. Okay, so that was a pr a co-production with um Short Thing Productions. Actually, they're the producer, they in the tower produced it. Opera Bend was hired to be the vocal and music directors.

SPEAKER_02 25:15

Okay, so um, and for that that had to be an incredible amount of work. I mean, that performance is enormous.

SPEAKER_03 25:23

We spent nine months.

SPEAKER_02 25:24

Uh you told me two weeks.

SPEAKER_03 25:27

I I'm gonna think that was uh we spent nine months working on that one. Yeah, um, it was about five and a half of music only, and then we got the staging in. So um, but that's actually nine months, is is pretty much what you spend on a role when you're um when you're hired to do a role, you start months ahead of time, and you need to get that role in your voice. Um, so that's kind of what I wanted to do as the vocal director uh and music director. Um is get that uh the get the roles into the local singers. And um I that was a that was a great time that we had.

SPEAKER_02 26:08

Did you were you John Valjean?

SPEAKER_03 26:09

I was Valjean, yes. Yes. Um, which is a hard role to sing.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

Uh, you know, oh I can't, I mean, yeah, you know, it's very high, it's very low.

SPEAKER_03 26:20

Um, you you have to have falsetto, and um opera singers don't typically have falsetto, especially not tenors, baritones and basses sometimes do. Yeah, but yeah, not an easy role to sing, but I was up for the challenge.

SPEAKER_02 26:36

Yeah, that's bucket list. I'm sure that was a check. I'm sure that was a check.

SPEAKER_03 26:40

Yes, exactly, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 26:42

You have uh deflator mouse. Did I say that right?

SPEAKER_03 26:45

Deflator mouse, yes.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Deflator mouse coming up in June.

SPEAKER_03 26:47

Yes, using June 19 and 21.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

What can people expect from from that performance?

SPEAKER_03 26:53

Uh hilarity.

SPEAKER_02 26:55

Uh this is you mean for people who don't know the opera at all.

SPEAKER_03 26:58

Okay, so it's uh the the music was written by the waltz king. Uh that's uh Johann Strauss Jr., who wrote the Blue Danu waltz and uh many, many, many different waltzes. So it's this um this 19th century waltz music, which is uh just amazing music. It you you hum it uh pretty much the minute you leave the theater. You know, it's it's really uh it sticks to our brains, to our collective brains. Yeah. So that's the music. Um there it's uh it's uh a very hilarious story of mistaken identities and uh uh revenge uh in in a in a fun way, yeah. Uh revenge, uh doing a prank revenge, basically, is what it is. Um, and hence the name Defladermouse. That that's German for the bat. Um, and one of the main guys was had a prank on him, and he had this costume of the bat, and he was uh so drunk uh and left on a park bench and uh woke up the next morning with his costume and everybody laughing. So that was that's the prank that he's uh yeah you know getting back for. Um and uh there's uh a little bit of infidelity, but nothing uh nothing too tragic. Uh and in the end, people um people make up and it's a happy ending. Yeah, nobody dies. You know, that's it's like uh you either have folks dying in in opera, which happens quite a bit, of course, it's uh or you don't, and it's a comedy. Um, so this is the latter. This is comedy.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

And you'll have subtitles for people as it's sung in uh is it in Germanish?

SPEAKER_03 28:46

It's in English? We we had an opportunity to do this in German. Well, well, we voted on it. Um, and I I really wanted to do this particular version. It's written by a friend of mine from the Bay Area named Ross Halper, and uh he it's pretty irreverent, you know. I I I think it's hilarious at times. Um and so uh yeah, I it's it's done in English, but you know, like I said, uh if if folks don't understand a word, they can they can follow along on it.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

Yeah, will you have the subtitles up for people? Supertitles above the the the I think it's a i think it's a pretty snob-free com opera community here. I think they'll be okay with the English.

SPEAKER_03 29:31

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

I I definitely you won't have anybody picketing for the original, you know.

SPEAKER_03 29:37

Um English isn't an easy language to sing. Let me be the first to tell you, but uh people will still hear fabulous voices in this opera. Fabulous. I'm not in this opera, I'm directing it. I've sung uh uh Eisenstein um a couple times. Uh so I I I chose to just be on the other side of this time, yeah. Um and direct the hilarity.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

Right. Well, we are at the conclusion of our time here on the podcast. I told you, I warned you. Um well, we talked about your up two upcoming performances in May and June. Deflatter Deflater Mouse will be at Mountain View.

SPEAKER_03 30:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 30:19

Are tickets available for sale now?

SPEAKER_03 30:21

Yes, they are. Both uh the um the medium is done on a donation basis.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 30:27

Uh, so you pay whatever you want, um, or nothing if you don't have any funds now, but just come and and watch. Um, it's worth it. Yeah. Um, and Deflator Mouse is a ticket of $45. You can go to operabend.org and um get a link to Deflator Mouse. Great. And and that is also worth it. And what um and Michael Gesmi is conducting. Oh, and one other thing. That'll probably be one of the last times it people would see him doing one of these. Maybe, maybe I you got a your arm twisting. I I'm I'm thinking I might be able to pull him in in the future. I'm thinking we'll see. We'll see. He hasn't committed to anything yet. Um, but we're also featuring the Central Oregon School of Ballet. Oh, incredible. So they're doing a performance this month of Giselle. Um, and uh, so if you like ballet, you know, go check that out. And you know, this is a waltz, this is uh dancing. Yeah, so why not have the best dancers in Central Oregon? Uh so we're featuring them as well.

SPEAKER_02 31:29

Terrific. Well, thank you, Jason, for being here. Yeah, this has been the Ben Don't Break Podcast. If you like what you heard, you've heard this before. Go to bensource.com, become a member, please donate. Help us continue to do these crazy podcasts and have opera people come in and talk to us about performances you should go see. Thank you. You've been listening to the Ben Don't Break podcast, powered by the Source Weekly. To read, hear, and see more of what we do, go to Bensource.com.