Michael Ballam

Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre is celebrating a milestone this year. It’s been 20 years since Michael Ballam decided to bring opera to the Cache Valley, and he’s happy to report that UFOMT is doing well and going to be around for years to come. “We’ve got our fingers into the future and we’re going to be here for your great-great-great-grandchildren,” he told Reichel Recommends in a phone interview from Logan.

The company had its share of rocky times during the recession, but it’s on solid footing now, Ballam said. “Of all the festivals that were born in the 1990s, most are long since dead. But we did OK. Our ticket sales went up and more and more people keep finding us. We’re very solvent.”

In fact, the summertime festival has a strong national presence. “Fifty percent of our audience comes from out of state. We publicize nationally and internationally.”

Ballam has certainly put northern Utah in the musical spotlight with his festival, but he is quick to point out that it wasn’t an original idea with him. “We didn’t invent bringing opera to the Cache Valley,” he said. “Brigham Young sent out various ethnic groups (Germans, Scots, English and others) to bring their culture to every corner of the territory. In 1900 there were in fact five functioning opera houses within the block where we play (the Ellen Eccles Theatre in Logan).” But by mid-century these companies had disappeared and the northern Utah city was without an opera company until Ballam established his festival in 1993.

"Tosca" (From left: Jeffrey Snider as Scarpia; Jonathan Burton as Cavaradossi; Carla Thelen Hanson as Tosca. Photo: Tamara Brown)

This year’s festival starts on July 11 and runs through Aug. 11 with two operas and two musicals on tap, along with several other shows and concerts.

The two operas are Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca and Charles Gounod’s Faust. The former is a perennial favorite with audiences, while the latter, even though it has many well known tunes, isn’t done today nearly as much as it deserves.

“Faust was one of the most performed operas in the 19th century and on up to about 1950,” Ballam said, “but it requires a lot of resources. You need a quartet of major singers and a gangbuster male chorus,” all of which Ballam has assembled for this production.

Singing the leads are Marc Schreiner in the title role; Kristopher Irmiter as Mephistopheles; Jessica Medoff as Marguerite; and Kyle Pfortmiller as Valentine.

For the chorus, Ballam has brought in 70 singers he calls “soloists,” because “any one of them can go and sing a solo role.”

Ballam takes a strong interest in the singers he hires and personally interviews and auditions each one. “I audition a thousand singers each year,” he said. “They come from around the world and have studied at places like Juilliard and Indiana University. Many have just begun their careers and they can cover the leads or also sing comprimario roles.”

"Faust:" (From left: Kristopher Irmiter as Mephistopheles; Marc Schreiner as Faust. Photo: Tamara Brown)

Most general directors of opera companies don’t spend so much time auditioning singers. They usually rely on the recommendations of the artists’ agents. Not so with Ballam. “That’s why I don’t go with my colleagues to auditions,” he said. “I spend time with each one. I take 15 minutes to talk with them and get them to relax before asking them to sing something.” And even though Ballam has auditioned singers in the past and hired them, he still auditions them when he’s considering bringing them back. “I want to hear them every year because voices change.” As an example he mentions Medoff, this year’s Marguerite. “Four years ago I would not have thought of her in that role. But her voice has grown big and she has that full throated sound that you need for the French repertoire.”

"My Fair Lady" (Vanessa Ballam as Eliza Doolittle. Photo: Tamara Brown)

A singer whose voice Ballam knows quite well belongs to his daughter Vanessa Ballam, who will be singing in both Broadway shows this year. She’ll be seen as Eliza Doolittle in Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s melody rich My Fair Lady and as Lilli/Kate in Kiss Me, Kate, Cole Porter’s witty and smart take on William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.

And as fate would have it, there is going to be a real life relationship in My Fair Lady, because Michael Ballam will be taking on the role of Alfred P. Doolittle, Eliza’s father. He hadn’t planned on playing it, but as he explained, “I was drafted.”

In fact, Ballam wasn’t going to do My Fair Lady in the first place. “There were three things that changed my mind,” he said. “First, because it’s a great piece of music and tops in hit tunes. Second, because I heard Kyle (Pfortmiller) sing ‘Why Can’t the English’ without trying to recreate Rex Harrison. Third, because my daughter was born to do Eliza.”

"Kiss Me, Kate" (Vanessa Ballam as Lilli/Kate; Kyle Pfortmiller as Fred/Petrucchio. Photo: Tamara Brown)

Pfortmiller is going to be one busy singer in Logan this month and next. Besides singing Valentine in Faust and Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, he’s also singing Fred/Petrucchio in Kiss Me, Kate. “Kyle is a workhorse,” Ballam said. “He’s indestructible. I asked him which of these three roles he would like to do and he said, ‘I’ll do all three.’”

UFOMT has staged a lot of operas and musicals over the past two decades. And one would think that it might be difficult for Ballam to pick a favorite production. But when asked about it, he has a ready answer. “My favorites have been all of the ones that have children in them. Children are special. I stand in the wings teary eyed listening to them.”

Below is a listing of the four main stage productions. Evening performances begin at 7:30 p.m. and matinees (marked by an “m”) begin at 1 p.m. Besides these, there are other events scheduled during the festival as well. All performances take place in the Ellen Eccles Theatre, 43 S. Main, Logan. For concert and ticket information log on to www.ufomt.org or call 435-750-0300 ext. 106 or 800-262-0074, or click here to go to the Reichel Recommends July calendar.

• Faust: July 12m, 21, 27m, Aug. 3, 11m; March Schreiner (Faust), Kristopher Irmiter (Mephistopheles), Jessica Medoff (Marguerite), Kyle Pfortmiller (Valentine); Barbara Day Turner, conductor; Daniel Helfgot, director.
• Kiss Me, Kate: July 12, 14, 20m, 26m, 27, Aug. 4m, 9, 10m; Kyle Pfortmiller (Fred/Petrucchio), Vanessa Ballam (Lilli/Kate), Ben Houghton (Bill/Lucentio), Siobhan Doherty (Lois/Bianca); Barbara Day Turner, conductor; Maggie L. Harrer, director.
• Tosca: July 13m, 21m, 26, Aug. 2, 4, 10; Carla Thelen Hanson (Tosca), Jonathan Burton (Cavaradossi), Jeffrey Snider (Scarpia); Karen Keltner, conductor; Jack Shouse, director.
• My Fair Lady: July 13, 14m, 19, 20, 25, 28m, Aug. 3m, 9m, 11; Vanessa Ballam (Eliza Doolittle), Kyle Pfortmiller (Henry Higgins), Michael Ballam (Alfred P. Doolittle); Karen Keltner, conductor; Valerie Rachelle, director.

• CONCERT INFO
• What: Faust  by Charles Gounod
• Venue: Ellen Eccles Theatre, 43 S. Main, Logan
• Time and Date: 1 p.m. July 12
• Tickets: $48-$304 series, $12-$76 single
• Phone: 435-750-0300 ext. 106 or 800-262-0074
• Web: www.ufomt.org
• ALSO:
• What: Kiss Me, Kate by Cole Porter
• Venue: Ellen Eccles Theatre, 43 S. Main, Logan
• Time and Date: 7:30 p.m. July 12
• Tickets: $48-$304 series, $12-$76 single
• Phone: 435-750-0300 ext. 106 or 800-262-0074
• Web: www.ufomt.org