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Staging Wagner: a daring devotion

For director Constantine Grame, Das Rheingold is a risk worth taking.

By ELENA LESLEY
Published April 29, 2007

TARPON SPRINGS - Mary Anne Boone flutters across the stage of City Hall's auditorium, thin strips of gauze shimmering behind her. The space where city commissioners battle over sewer lines and Wal-Mart has been transformed into a scene from Germanic mythology, and as a river nymph, she's responsible for guarding an all-powerful hunk of gold.

Soon, she's joined by her two fellow Rhine maidens. They each describe their duty in arioso - a mixture of recitation and music - as stage lights dart off their winglike drapes.

The first scene of Das Rheingold is visually - and aurally - captivating.

So much so that viewers could easily miss a figure who sits hunched just beneath the stage, a one-man orchestra who directs cast members while pounding out the entire score on grand piano.

Constantine Grame is a lifelong devotee of Richard Wagner - he saw his first Met production of Das Rheingold via a PBS simulcast when he was 8.

Grame, homeschooled by his two world music scholar parents, was introduced early to a variety of musical forms. But opera - particularly Wagerian opera - was the one that stuck.

"The stories are so evocative, " Grame says of Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen, " a set of four operas, the first of which is Das Rheingold. "The Gods of Thunder, ring of power, enchanted gold. What child wouldn't enjoy that?"

Now 24, Grame is an accomplished vocalist, pianist, director. And he is the driving force behind the ambitious scene on City Hall's stage. For more than a year he has worked toward this night, handpicking singers who could master the German composer's challenging score, who weren't intimidated by Grame's unorthodox "community Wagner" scheme.

"He's daring, " says cast member Pat Agnew, a Clearwater teacher who works in Dunedin.

Other local singers were willing to take on the challenge as well. Through his other endeavors, the young musician has established a devoted following.

"Constantine's the pied piper of Tarpon Springs, " says acclaimed singer and Clearwater High graduate Maria Zouves. "People make what he wants work."

For Das Rheingold, Grame drew performers from throughout Tampa Bay - and even an audience of some heavy hitters in the opera world.

When legendary baritone Sherrill Milnes, Zouves' husband, heard Grame was putting on Das Rheingold, he asked to attend the dress rehearsal. Dress rehearsal night, Grame paced the backstage corridors. A spark of creative energy, he was more wired than usual. But as the curtain parted, mist swirling onto the stage, Grame immersed himself in the music.

Rhine maidens chirped their romantic taunts. The deep voice of Wotan, the Ruler of the Gods, boomed. Fair Freia, goddess of love, fulfilled her role as a maiden in distress.

It wasn't perfect. But the cast - a collection of lawyers and office workers, opera buffs and musical theater fans - tackled the daunting score with gusto.

"Given the budget limitations and pool of talent, it's quite amazing, really, " Milnes remarked during a break in the action. "It's a noble endeavor."

If you go

Das Rheingold

What: Richard Wagner's classic work tells the story of giants, dwarves, gods and water nymphs, and their struggle over love, greed and revenge. The opera will be sung in English.

When: 2 p.m. today.

Where: Tarpon Springs Performing Arts Center in City Hall, 324 E Pine.

Tickets: $16, $14 for center members and students. Call (727) 942-5605.

[Last modified April 28, 2007, 19:36:38]