Opera to Present ‘Semiramide’ for Company’s Debut : Music: The fledgling Garden Grove troupe labors with a limited budget and a little-known Rossini work as it nears tonight’s opening.

On the eve of its debut, the fledgling Garden Grove Opera has learned that launching a new company is even more difficult than the founders thought when they decided last July to give it a go.

“We’re struggling along financially,” said Don Hayes, director for Rossini’s “Semiramide,” the troupe’s first venture which plays tonight and Sunday afternoon at the Don Wash Auditorium in Garden Grove.

“We’ve discovered that the other arts organizations within the city have pretty much drained local sources. Since this is our first offering, we’ve not been able to apply for any major grants. . . . We still need support. . . .

“It’s been very difficult, but we’re hoping that when people see this, things will maybe become a little more favorable.”

The troupe’s choice of a Rossini rarity--”Semiramide” is not often performed--has proved a mixed draw.

“Interest has been really good from the standpoint of people who really want to see this particular opera,” Hayes said. “On the other hand, it is not as popular as other operas, and it’s a little difficult to stimulate people’s interest in it.

“But the music is full of melody. The duets are wonderful. Musically, it is very beautiful to listen to, and I’m hoping that we can please people with our stage pictures.”

Hayes insists that the show will go on. “There’s no danger of (the production) falling through. We’re going to do it.”

Still, he declined to reveal the budget under which he is laboring. “I prefer not to announce it,” he said. “It does fluctuate. I’d just as soon leave it unknown.”

Casting for the opera includes Karon Poston-Sullivan in the title role, Gail Dubinbaum as Arsace and Paul Johnson as Idreno. “We’re all boning up on some Italian,” Hayes said.

James Sullivan, Poston-Sullivan’s husband, will conduct an orchestra of about 35 free-lance musicians. (It will not be the Garden Grove Symphony.)

As director, Hayes is approaching the work as “a fantasy piece.”

“Semiramide is the subject of many legends and folklore, and yet, people don’t know that much about her,” he said. “But she is referred to in the Bible and in a lot of 19th-Century literature, all the way to Kipling. But it is difficult to find out exactly what she did.

“She is credited for starting the building of Babylon, including the hanging gardens. Some legends have it that she simply disappeared; another legend has it that she turned into a dove.

“We’re trying to bring out some of those elements in terms of folklore. We’ve (also) read old plays, including the play Voltaire wrote on which the opera was based.”

Hayes also will be using the services of 10 volunteer actors.

“We’re using actors on stage to do a lot of the pantomime of the action,” he said. “We’re trying to integrate actors into an opera. A lot of the actors have worked locally with the Grove Shakespeare Festival, Cal State Fullerton and the Alternative Repertory Theatre (in Santa Ana). We’re using them quite a bit to advance the action.”

No matter what the turnout this weekend, Hayes and other troupe members are already looking ahead.

“We hope to work all summer long so that we can present an opera in the fall, probably an opera by Benjamin Britten,” he said. “We had thought of (Britten’s) ‘The Turn of the Screw,’ but Los Angeles Music Center Opera has announced it for their next season.

“So we will do something that is a little smaller musically in terms of ensemble and size of orchestra. But it will be a piece that will be very dramatic.”

Garden Grove Opera will stage Rossini’s “Semiramide” at 8 p.m. today and at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the Don Wash Auditorium, 11271 Stanford Ave., in Garden Grove. Tickets: $10 to $25. Information: ((714) 892-5907.