Opera about love during the Lavender Scare to come to Southern Theatre

Michael Napolitano
Tue, 22 Feb 2022 02:53:31 +0000
Arts & Life, Entertainment, Instagram Page, News, arts, arts and life, bruno baker, Carl DuPont, cbus arts, Columbus, fellow travelers, hawkins fuller, Julia Noulin-Mérat, lavender scare, LGBTQ, life, live opera, live performance, local, local theatre, mccarthy era, music, ohio state, ohio state university, opera, opera columbus, osu, performance, red scare, souther theatre, theater, theatre

“Fellow Travelers,” an opera showcasing the struggles of members of the LGBTQ+ community during McCarthy era America, will be playing at the Southern Theatre Feb. 25 and Feb. 27. Credit: Courtesy of Terry Gilliam

An opera showcasing the struggles of members of the LGBTQ+ community during a turbulent time in American history will soon come to Columbus.

Opera Columbus will present showings of the opera “Fellow Travelers” at the Southern Theatre — located at 21 E. Main St. — Friday and Sunday, according to the CBUSArts website. The opera debuted in 2016 and revolves around the relationship between two queer men during the McCarthy era in 1950s Washington D.C., Bruno Baker, stage director of “Fellow Travelers,” said.

“It’s definitely gotten much traction in the opera world,” Baker said. “Of the newer works, it’s become one of the ones that has most been canonized in conversation.”

Baker said the relationship between the characters is heavily affected by the Lavender Scare, which was a mass firing of gay individuals from government offices out of fear that they would pose a risk to national security.

“As a facet of the McCarthy era and the Red Scare, the queer community experienced its own form of terror in this way, and it’s an eye-opening and very personable understanding of that, seeing these characters live through it and be affected by it,” Baker said.

Julia Noulin-Mérat, general director and CEO of Opera Columbus, said she describes opera as the “Olympics of art forms” because it involves singing, orchestra, drama and visual spectacle in one package.

Carl DuPont, the performer playing Hawkins Fuller, a U.S. State Department official and one of the leads in “Fellow Travelers,” said the role has been both the challenge and the gift of a lifetime.

“It is a really intense, passionate singing that really challenges me by going to the extremes of the range, high and low,” DuPont said.

The role of Fuller is different from roles DuPont has previously performed, which he said have largely been comedic characters, such as Basilio in “The Barber of Seville” and Leporello in “Don Giovanni.” He said his own shift in roles reminds him of actors who switched between their tragic and comedic masks with great success.

“I think about those great comedians like Robin Williams and Jim Carrey and Eddie Murphy that have done some of their best work when they are playing serious characters, and so I’m enjoying taking that journey,” DuPont said.

Noulin-Mérat said “Fellow Travelers” is worth seeing, not just because of the music, but because the opera showcases the struggles of LGBTQ+ individuals during a critical time in history.

“We’re at a time where talking about LGBTQ+ is incredibly important, and this is the most appropriate time to be presenting this piece and having these conversations,” Noulin-Mérat said.

Noulin-Mérat said along with the message of the show itself, she values the community presence because audience members play a significant role in any performance.

“We’re not putting on shows for empty rooms,” Noulin-Mérat said. “When you listen to music in a theater together, everyone’s hearts beat together to the same rhythm.”

Tickets to “Fellow Travelers” start at $27.50, and all attendees are required to wear masks and present proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test from up to 72 hours prior, according to the CBUSArts website. Friday’s show will start at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m.