On a mission to "welcome large audiences who will enjoy and learn from our productions," Anne Arundel Community College Performing Arts chairman Douglas Brandt Byerly is immersed in directing the college's most ambitious production to date, "Phantom of the Opera."
Andrew Lloyd Webber's mega-hit musical is set for a six-performance run April 17-26 at the Robert Kauffman Theatre in the Pascal Center for Performing Arts.
The show features an all-student cast. "Every person performing onstage in the show and every person working on crews — all are 100 percent college students," said Byerly during a recent rehearsal. Nearly all attend Anne Arundel Community College, he said, either part or full time.
"Phantom" opened in London in September 1986 and is approaching its third decade. On Broadway, the musical has also established a longevity record — it opened at the Majestic Theatre in 1988 and continues to run.
Based on the novel by Gaston Leroux and told through Webber's music with lyrics by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe, the production relates the tale of a masked figure who lurks beneath the Paris Opera House, casting a pall of fear over its inhabitants.
He falls in love with young soprano Christine and devotes himself to the development of her career, using the unpleasant means at his disposal.
The opera's resident prima donna, Carlotta, becomes the victim of his methods and must be temporarily replaced. Christine steps in, and after a triumphant debut confides that she was visited by a mysterious angel who instructed her.
In a recent rehearsal for "Phantom," Byerly's cast projected enthusiasm and collaboration as it tackled the rigors of this classic.
Soprano Laura Sparks is well-suited to the Christine role, both vocally and in her acting. She embodies the innocent soprano who enchants the Phantom.
Gabe Taylor, an Anne Arundel Community College music education and vocal performance major, appears in the title role as the Phantom, and displays an impressive tenor voice and acting expertise. These skills enable him to convince audiences that his Phantom controls much of what transpires onstage at the Paris Opera House.
Anne Arundel soprano and actress Emily Sergo appears as Carlotta. Kevin Cleaver, who portrays Andre, is a student at AACC who also works full time at Anne Arundel Medical Center.
Community college music major Jeffrey Walter, who has appeared in Colonial Players' "Little Women" and other local productions, is cast as Raoul. Other players include Leonard Gilbert as Firmin; Tania Rose Bindhoff as Madame Firmin; Lucy Bobbin as Meg and Steve McClure as the opera's principal tenor, Piangi.
Set design by AACC faculty member Sean Urbantke, with the help of design students, created functional set pieces including a curved staircase that is reminiscent of the famed one at Paris Opera House.
Kristin Clippard is the producer, and choreography is by fellow instructor Kristi Schaffner.
The show also brings in talent from other institutions of higher education: The music director and conductor is Blair Skinner, a Peabody doctoral candidate; and lighting design is by Michael Klima of Towson University.
Most notably among faculty members inspiring the student performers is Mary Anne Barcellona, who for more than a decade has served as a professor on the AACC music faculty.
Byerly said Barcellona has "the unique, invaluable experience of performing the role of Carlotta over 50 times as a member of the Hal Prince production of the original Toronto long-running 'Phantom of the Opera' — and now lends this experience to AACC 'Phantom' cast."
Even before the curtain rises, the production has gained a vote of confidence in the form of a $1,000 donation from the Professor Robert "Chief" Kauffman Fund for the Performing Arts.
Kauffman's widow, Dorothy Kauffman, selected "The Phantom of the Opera" production for funding. Her husband, who chaired AACC's performing arts department for much of his 30-year teaching career, established the fund in 1996.
After his death in 2011, the fund was renamed in his honor.
Tickets for "Phantom of the Opera" are $25 ($15 for students, senior citizens and active military and children under age 10). Early reservation is recommended; tickets are available by calling the box office at 410-777-2457 or online at boxoffice@aacc.edu. The Robert Kauffman Theatre in the Pascal Center for Performing Arts is on the community college campus, 101 College Parkway, Arnold.