Jane Shaulis' name popped out from the roster of performers in Anchorage Opera's current production of "The Mikado." Shaulis, who has the role of Katisha -- the only serious role in Gilbert and Sullivan's catalog of musical comedies -- has been a regular at the Metropolitan Opera and other leading companies for the past several years. But that's not a particular claim to fame in this cast. Ryan MacPherson, singing the hapless hero Nanki-Poo, also has an impressive resume, including a part in the world premiere of Charles Wuorinen's much-publicized "Brokeback Mountain" in Madrid, and Anchorage's Yum-Yum, Sharin Apostolou has Verdi roles in her resume; both also have a long list of Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals in their recent performance history.
No, what made us do a double take on Shaulis was her part in the 1978 hit movie, "Foul Play." The detective comedy plot involved an unlikely romantic pair scrambling to prevent the assassination of the pope as he attended a performance of "The Mikado." Singing the part of Katisha in the play-within-a-play was Shaulis, who has since had many performances in the role -- without any murders or international incidents.
"Foul Play" may be unfamiliar to newer generations and probably wouldn't be considered politically correct today by people with no sense of humor. But it garnered Golden Globe nominations for best picture and for performers Goldie Hawn, Dudley Moore and, in his big screen debut, Chevy Chase. It's said to be the best movie ever made by Chase and continues to be recommended to those who want to know what the 1970s were like.
"The Mikado" -- the original operetta, not the movie -- will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 15-16, and 4 p.m. Sunday, April 17, in the Discovery Theatre. Tickets are available at centertix.net.
Concert showed UAA's impact
A follow-up on last week's performance of the "Defiant Requiem" as the concluding concert in the Anchorage Concert Chorus season. The mass of musicians onstage included around 75 members of the University Singers and UAA Sinfonia, a tribute to how much the college's music department has contributed to the local music scene in the past few years.
Even more impressive was a roster of 100 musicians in the concert with ties to the University of Alaska system, either as past or present students at the Anchorage, Fairbanks and Southeast campuses, or as faculty members.
Among the UAA groups that have really shined in the new millennium is Mark Wolbers' Wind Ensemble, which will give a performance at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 15. Previous programs have taken place in the UAA Arts Building Recital Hall, but the Wind Ensemble has become sufficiently popular that the Friday concert will take place in Wendy Williamson Auditorium. Among the rarely heard pieces on the bill is a concerto for percussion and winds by Karel Husa, who won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1969. He turns 95 this year. Tickets are $25, $19 for seniors and military, available at uaatix.com or by calling 907-786-4849.
Coda: Mary Epperson
Music teacher and arts advocate Mary Epperson of Homer died on Monday at age 93. She was well known to music lovers on the Kenai Peninsula, where she homesteaded with her husband, Jack, in the 1950s and attracted national attention when author Daniel Coyle named her a "master teacher" in his book "The Talent Code." Her obituary ran on the front page of the local newspaper, an indication of her impact on the community.
She began teaching piano as a way to bring in a little extra money in those hardscrabble times. She drove to the homes of her students all over the lower peninsula because the road to the Epperson place outside Anchor Point was scarcely driveable even in the best of conditions, and the best of conditions came rarely. The lessons, I vaguely recall, were $5.
But money was only one consideration. She taught people to love music because she loved music. She couldn't imagine life without it. In the gloomy, impoverished community where people heated with reeking coal because it was free and ate cabbage because it's what we had, the delicious sound of "Fur Elise" or a Burgmuller bagatelle sang of the promise of heaven. And the polkas and schottisches we all memorized brought joy to the faces of the old-timers at nearly nightly gatherings during those pre-television times.
There was, at that time, a natural reciprocity to life that is hard to communicate today. We practiced and played not with Carnegie Hall in mind, but only because it made us happy and made those around us happy. Mrs. Epperson's half-hour visit was a high point of the week. Sometimes she brought jams or such produce as the homestead had in surplus. Water being an iffy thing, she sometimes brought her laundry and, if there was enough in the well, did it while cheering my sister, my father and myself through Bach, Beethoven and Brahms.
In the 1960s she moved to Homer, and the lessons moved to her living room and then to her studio and music store; that's a little after my time. She threw herself into all sorts of art events, facilitating performances by local people and appearances by professional musicians on the Kenai, brightening life at the end of the road.
Her life exemplified sincerity, kindness, optimism and enthusiasm. No matter how clumsy our playing, she convinced us that we wanted to play, that making art, however humbly, was glory. Her sessions were not dry drills or lessons but infusions of self-esteem. They gave us a little respite from the meanness and stupidity of our surroundings and let us bask briefly in the goodness and greatness of the best of humanity.
The tiny woman, 4-foot-6, made each student feel like a giant -- a talented giant. I think I speak for all other students when I say we would have done anything -- anything -- for Mrs. Epperson. Including practice. Every day.
Debate night on Thursday
Once again the UAA Seawolf Debate team takes on one of the powerhouses of international forensics as they host the Hart House Debating Union of the University of Toronto. Both teams are ranked among the top 20 in the world. The question before the talented talkers will be whether "Consumers have a duty to buy locally." (The event is sponsored by Kaladi Brothers Coffee. Hmm.) A panel of celebrity judges will give their verdict, but the winner will ultimately be decided by members of the audience voting by text via cellphones.
The debate takes place at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 21, in the Discovery Theatre. Tickets are available at centertix.net and all proceeds benefit the Seawolf Debate Program.
When outsiders write about Alaska
The April issue of The Atlantic magazine has an intriguing story by Alex Tizon, assistant professor of journalism at the University of Oregon, titled "In the Land of the Missing Persons." It's about two Soldotna men, Richard Hills and Richard Bennett, who disappeared in 2004 and 2005, and the bizarre sequence of events surrounding the official misidentification of remains. No spoiler here, but it made for some mighty interesting copy. However, the Alaska reader may feel a little chagrin regarding Tizon's language. A caption refers to Soldotna as "a fishing village," for instance and, in the text, Tizon calls it "a gritty little village trying to be a town."
Little? According to the 2010 census, Soldotna is the 14th-largest city in Alaska, bigger than Valdez, Nome or Seward. Gritty? Not sure whether he means "containing small particles of ground sand or stone" or "brave and plucky," but I can't quite apply either word to Soldotna. But it does have a pretty plucky arts community.
As for "village," I can only assume that the author has never been to what any Alaskan would think of as a village.
He also writes that Anchorage is "the only Alaskan community that can pass as a city." It would be interesting to know what constitutes a city in Oregon. Fairbanks and Juneau are each twice as big as Pendleton, Astoria, The Dalles or Coos Bay, and we're just talking about the city cores, not the surrounding boroughs, and certainly not the Mat-Su megalopolis.