Don Giovanni in New Jersey – Everything Old IS New Again.

By Bruce Chadwick
originally published: 02/23/2023

Wolfgang Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni debuted way back in the 18th century and this coming weekend (Feburary 24 & 26) will be staged in a theater that opened recently, just before the Covid Pandemic, the Sieminski Theater (formerly known as the Fellowship Cultural Arts Center) in Basking Ridge, proving that everything old can, indeed, be new again. The grand old opera, first staged in Prague, will be in a new home, with English sub titles and a new emphasis on its comedy, not its drama.

“No matter how you look at it, this opera is one of the very best. People have loved it – people from all nations - for years,” said Jason Tramm, executive director of the Light Opera of New Jersey, that is staging it.

And the theater will be packed with opera fans from New Jersey and New York.

Don Giovanni will be staged at 8 p.m. Friday night and again at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. It is the winter opera for the theater, which stages three operas each year as it season. The Light Opera of New Jersey also produces its operas in different areas of the state, giving patrons of many towns the chance to see the productions.

“I  had the opportunity to visit the theater in Prague where the opera was originally staged. What a feeling for me – real history. I was very excited by the visit,” said opera director Jason Tramm.

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Tramm  is looking forward to it. “Ironically, the opera depicts Europe in a bad economy, which is just what we have had the last few years here in America. They laughed a lot about it back then to take their mind off of the economy and we do the same here. The arts are not just a part of our lives, but that part of our lives that we use to cope with life. Don Giovanni does that.”

He added that opera is history. “We often do not realize that opera producers and writers are telling us the story of the past. We can learn from them,” he said. “I think a lot of people today understand that from musical theater, but they do not see the history in opera. They should,” he added.

The opera is the story the ups and downs of a Spanish lover who claims to have slept with over 2,000 different women (hey, I thought basketball great Wilt Chamberlain held that record?)

Tramm  said the theater is emphasizing the comedy in the play. which is set in Spain. “It is, serious yes, but there is a great deal of comedy in it. The end, where Don Giovanni has to pay for his life, is very funny,” said Tramm.

Tramm and his colleagues have been at it with the Light Opera of New Jersey since 1995, when two opera singers,  Bill and Lauren Corson, founded the Light  Opera, the only company of its kind in the state.. Then, the Corson worked with new and established talent. The company does the same thing today.

“We have a lot of veteran singers in the company, but we also have many new people from all over. We have New Yorkers and people from New Jersey. I think we even have someone here from Colorado. The result is a nice mix of talent that gives all of our production a rich backdrop for our audiences. I think, too, that it is nice to be to nurture young performers. Most people do not get their start in the Metropolitan Opera, but in smaller, regional operas like ours. You can come to our productions and, over the years, watch a young performer grow and mature.”

The audiences themselves have a rich backdrop. The members of the Light Opera of New Jersey audiences are from New York and New Jersey. They are young and old, experienced opera goers and new ones. “Together, for all of our productions, they make up a wonderful group of opera lovers,” said Tramm, whose company was just awarded a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

“One of the things that pleases me so much is that the people in our audiences do not just enjoy opera. They talk about the opera and its story, and the history of the play, or the era it depicts. That’s the purpose of opera, to get people into discussions about the show,” said Tramm. “That’s why we selected Don Giovanni. People love to talk about it.”

And people will talk about the Light Opera of New Jersey, too.

About the author:

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Bruce Chadwick worked for 23 years as an entertainment writer/critic for the New York Daily News. Later, he served as the arts and entertainment critic for the History News Network, a national online weekly magazine. Chadwick holds a Ph. D in History and Cultural Studies from Rutgers University. He has written 31 books on U.S. history and has lectured on history and culture around the world. He is a history professor at New Jersey City University.

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