CENTER Stage : THE PERFORMERS : SILLS’ STYLINGS

To reach the offices of Beverly Sills in the basement of the New York State Theatre at Lincoln Center, you follow row upon row of black tiles. The general director of New York City Opera--”Bubbles” to her fans--is a formidable presence. In her middle 50s, she stands ramrod-straight and speaks with a voice of command. Sills sticks to her schedule in a way that would do an admiral proud. Only a back screen, holding memorabilia from her singing career, is a reminder of operatic glories. After a conversation about her company’s role at the PerformingArts Center, Sills is asked about her own changed role. “I can’t remember the prima donna anymore,” she says, before rushing off to watch a rehearsal. “It’s a switch that took place a long time ago. I find ex-prima donnas very boring people.”

Many, many years ago when I was still singing, there was a young man named Stuart Warkow who was the manager of Carnegie Hall. And one day (two years ago) he called--he was now a consultant for new performing arts centers--and asked if he could come to see me with a gentleman named Len Bedsow. I said, “Sure.”

We reminisced and had a nice time giggling. Len told me he had agreed to be temporarily a kind of program chairman of this new performing arts center that would be opening out in California, in Orange County. And he gave me details of the generosity of the people in the community who, with strictly private funding, were erecting this rather spectacular-looking edifice. He said that they were interested in having our opera company come back to California and be part of their opening-year festivities and that we would be the first opera company to perform in the center.

We said we would not be available to come till January, because our own season (at Lincoln Center) closes at the end of November.

We made suggestions of repertory. And as the next step we submitted a budget to the board. And then I was asked if I would come out for a combination business meeting and topping-off ceremony (of the center). A few months later, Henry Segerstrom (chairman of the center’s fund drive) asked if I would come and talk to the board about running a performing arts center. So we came out with our final budget and repertory. It was all agreed to on that day. We talked about the need to commit a long time in advance if you want good attractions. We talked about acoustics and discussed the kind of cultural impact the board would want to have on the community.

Then we had a very good lunch with the board.

Orange County seemed to want us so badly. As I’ve said, the last time we appeared in Los Angeles I was asked if I felt awful that we were not going back to Los Angeles. I said, “No, I never enjoy going where we’re not wanted.” And we don’t. I think the press in Los Angeles has been very anxious for Los Angeles to have its own opera company.

And I agree they should have that. They are not having that. They are instead importing. What did they import? Hamburg or Munich? . . . Berlin! And, incidentally, a great many of those artists in the so-called Berlin opera appearances were New York City Opera artists . . . . Now, if Los Angeles wants to have a star-studded company, well, the first thing they need, of course, is a resident opera orchestra and a resident opera chorus of a very high professional level, such as the one we offered them. Then, I guess, they can import stars.

Of course, we all love going out to California. The climate is so nice, and it’s a lot of fun to go into a new performing arts center. We enjoy touring. From an administrative point of view, there are certain guarantees of employment that must be offered our people, and this certainly helps to meet those guarantees. So all around, it’s very positive.

When we were talking about repertory, I offered them a choice of five or six things. One of the women on the board said to me, “Oh, I’ve seen you do these things in New York, and they’re all so wonderful, I couldn’t make up my mind which ones we should choose.” At which point the board members said, “OK, Beverly, why don’t you make the choice? What do you think would be the most suitable for a gala opening season?” So the choices were based on that.

We’ll rotate “Carmen” and “Madama Butterfly” the first week. Then we will play “Candide” the whole second week.

“Candide” is one of the most brilliant things we do. I don’t think we’ve ever played to anything but a sold-out house. This is the opera-house version of it; it’s not the same as the Broadway version that was seen. It was played on Broadway with a 24-piece orchestra and a microphone in the pit, and we’re using our full 65-piece orchestra--the orchestration arranged by Leonard Bernstein himself. We’re not making something bigger for the sake of making it bigger.

So you’ll be hearing music that you never heard on Broadway. And then, of course, it is totally cast by New York City Opera. We have not imported anybody. Our opera company is doing it. And it’s gotten unanimous acclaim.

I chose the “Carmen.” This “Carmen” has not been seen in Los Angeles, for one thing. It’s the version that brings the opera into the Spanish Civil War, so it’s a little more relevant. It was (director Frank) Corsaro’s idea. “Carmen” is such a high financial investment that what I needed was an interim idea. He uses modern street dress, clothing that doesn’t have to be built or constructed. All the soldiers’ uniforms are from military surplus stores. They’re khaki and sprayed with different colors. In a couple of years we’ll have another new, traditional “Carmen.”

And we don’t change one word or one note of the score to accommodate the Civil War version. You are hearing the (Prosper) Merimee dialogue and the (Georges) Bizet music.

And “Butterfly” is one of our classics, one of our jewels. It’s also, from a practical point of view, very good box office.

If we return, and I hope we will, I’d like to bring more of our contemporary works with us, and things that are not so easy to see from other opera companies.

I think first we must make our presence felt. The way you do that is to perform before as many people as you possibly can so that if we come back next year and perhaps do (Dominick Argento’s) “Casanova,” you’ll have a public that says: “Well, they were so good the last time, I’ll go even if I’m not familiar with this work.” We have a lot of things that we have never done on the West Coast. This company has done more premieres than any other company in the country. We present more contemporary works than any other.

We’re putting our best foot forward. We would be very foolish not to. This is a repertory company. We don’t have any touring cast. We don’t really have “A” and “B” casts here.

I first saw the facility at topping-off. It was breathtaking. In the theater itself, which is really all that concerns me, the suspended trays give you a great feeling of airiness. The balconies on which you sit appear to be suspended trays, they are just sort of suspended out there, and from the stage you get a marvelous feeling of space, yet it’s a normal-sized hall. You’re not singing in Yankee Stadium, and yet you do get the feeling of there being a tremendous amount of space.

I don’t anticipate staying longer than two weeks. It’s plenty long away from home for all of us, and we have a million-dollar musical-comedy season to get on. We have stayed in Los Angeles for 3 1/2 weeks, which for me was torture. It’s a long time to be away from families and a long time to live out of suitcases.

If the public likes us, we’ll make an effort to come back. Notice that I emphasized the word public . Not press. We have lived with unpleasant press for 16 years in Los Angeles, and we survived it. I trust we won’t have to do the same again.

It feels fine to come back (to Southern California), but we’re also going to Wolf Trap, to Saratoga, to Tampa, Fla. I could tour this country morning, noon and night, and we would all collapse and fall apart and the quality would go nowhere. That’s why two weeks is plenty. We can do our very, very best work in two weeks, and put our signature on it.