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Running For Covers

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By KURT LOFT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 20, 2008

TAMPA - When a starting quarterback breaks his leg, the backup comes in and tries to save the day.

When an opera singer goes down, the company still has to score with fans and adopts the sports strategy: A replacement takes the stage.

So it was when the star of Opera Tampa's new production of Puccini's "Tosca" unexpectedly withdrew, leaving everybody in the lurch. Soprano Patricia Stevens, a 1979 graduate of the University of South Florida, was to sing the title role next weekend at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

"Tosca" nearly went from an opera to a requiem.

"When there's a situation like this, you get on the phone with all your contacts and ask who you can bring in," says Maria Zouves, associate general director of Opera Tampa. "Singers have personal problems, throat problems, travel problems. But we were extraordinarily lucky."

Opera Tampa officials would not say why Stevens canceled. But their luck came in the form of a young New York singer named Rosa D'Imperio, who had just sung "Tosca" in South Florida. Not only was she familiar with the role, but she also was available.

"So we had a Tosca in our pocket," Zouves says. "It was one of those weird things where she was able to come in and sing. We are really fortunate."

D'Imperio was in New York rehearsing for two upcoming productions, Dvorak's "Stabat Mater" and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Then she got a call from her agent: They need you back in Florida.

"It wasn't even a 12-hour notice," she says moments after settling into her Tampa hotel. "I just packed my bags and made sure all my bills were paid and flew down here."

The trick to pulling it off is having lots of contacts who know what roles singers are singing and where, says Jim Ireland, president of the Orlando Opera.

"So you ask where you can get a Tosca at the last minute," he says. "You look for singers who have just done the opera a few days before. And with our airport here Orlando International, we can get someone in quickly."

Sometimes, even the best plan falls flat. This month, illness nearly derailed a Pittsburgh Opera production of Verdi's "Aida." The leading mezzo-soprano, Stephanie Blythe, came down with a virus, as did both of her substitutes. The bug also got to the lead tenor, Vladimir Kuzmenko, who became so weak he could sing only three of four acts that night.

Without anyone waiting in the wings to replace Kuzmenko in the final act, the conductor got creative: He sang the part himself from the orchestra pit.

The fabled Metropolitan Opera in New York takes great pains to avoid fiascos because of cancellations or illnesses during a performance. During a new production of Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde," illness through the ranks forced no less than four tenors and two sopranos to sing two roles.

But the Met - the wealthiest opera company in the United States - literally had the problem "covered."

"That's why we have a cover system," says Peter Clark, a Met spokesman. "Every major and minor part in our operas has a paid cover to go on in case a person gets sick. A lead singer might even have two covers."

Ticket buyers often are frustrated when they pay to hear a certain singer who backs out, Clark says, but cancellations won't bring down the curtain at the Met.

"It's a normal part of the opera world that singers get sick," he says. "A singer with a throat infection can't sing. But here, the show always goes on."

Many smaller companies, such as those in Tampa and Orlando, are building apprenticeship programs to train young singers. So if someone cancels down the road, a young understudy could, in theory, step in and save the night.

"Part of why we're doing the apprentice program is to build in covers," Zouves says. "In the future, we want very much to have apprentices covering all the main stage roles."

ON STAGE

Tosca

WHAT: Opera Tampa production of the Puccini classic

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Morsani Hall, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa

TICKETS: $29.50 to $99.50; (813) 229-7827

Reporter Kurt Loft can be reached at (813) 259-7570 or kloft@ tampatrib.com.

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