Newest Elkader Opera House show anything but Ordinary
Perry Leffer as Claire in the the Elkader Opera House Players’ newest production, Ordinary Days. (Submitted photo)
Leffler and Andrew Lange on stage. They will play two of the four roles in "Ordinary Days."
By Steve Van Kooten
In April, the Elkader Opera House Players will present their newest production, and it’s anything but ordinary.
Ordinary Days by Adam Gwon is a unique play: there is minimal dialogue, with most of the story told through the music.
According to Cheri Moser, the story is a “heartfelt musical” about four New York residents and their tumultuous lives.
The play only has a four-person cast: for the OHP version, Perry Leffler, Andrew Lange, Jonathon Moser and Maria Stavroplus comprise the entire on-stage roster. The production will be directed by Craig Strutt and feature Lori Frailey on the piano.
“Prairie du Chien’s Lori Frailey is our pianist and plays the entire show non-stop,” said Moser. “She’s pretty incredible.”
Strutt first worked with the Opera House Players since 1972 and has been with the troupe since 1992. He made his directorial debut with Nunsense in 1994.
“Ordinary Days is definitely a musical with a bit of dialogue thrown in for accent. We are always looking out for new material we think might be a good fit for the talent we have available and that would be enjoyed by our audiences. This show fit the bill on both fronts. Normally we do a major musical in the fall and a smaller play in the spring. This past fall we did a major play and thus were looking for an appropriate smaller musical,” wrote Strutt.
The small cast and heavy emphasis on music give the cast members a set of new challenges compared to previous productions, such as The Play That Goes Wrong from this past spring.
“It’s definitely different than anything I’ve done.The sung-through aspect reminds me of singing opera in college, which typically doesn’t have spoken dialogue. The hardest part of learning and memorizing the music is how fast you have to sing the words — you’re recreating a conversation through music and lyrics, so there is little room for error,” wrote Leffler. “I like having a small cast; it gives the audience the opportunity to get to know and understand the characters and their stories. It also gives us as the actors an opportunity to better connect with our characters, since we are spending so much time on stage alone in character or with one other person — few times are all four of us on stage together and even then, we do not interact with the other couple.”
Leffler has participated in several plays and musicals with the Opera House Players, but in Ordinary Days, she will portray a different type of character than she’s used to.
“This is definitely new material for me, especially since this is set in NYC in the early 2000s. Conveying Claire’s thoughts and emotions is imperative since so many people lived through and remember 9/11, which the musical takes place a few years after. Throughout my theater experience, I’ve only played one other character who experienced loss and grief: Violet in the musical Violet, where she is physically maimed in an ax accident by her father and then loses her father. Claire experiences loss and grief in a different way and buries it away until it all comes out in the end,” wrote Leffler.
“We’ve done several small musicals in the past, and most focused on lighthearted humor and great music. This show has all of that along with an underlying depth as we get into the lives of our characters and feel all sides of the changes that are happening in their lives. Yes, that means it can make you laugh, cry, and think,” wrote Strutt. “Or you can simply come and enjoy the music.”
Performances are April 5, 11, and 12 at 7 p.m., with matinees on April 6 and 13 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at elkaderoperahouse.com.
