CLASSICAL MUSIC : Comic Opera’s ‘Rose Marie’ Is Calling Youuuuuuuuu

Mention the classic 1936 film “Rose Marie,” and most people will recall Nelson Eddy in his Canadian Mountie uniform or Jeanette MacDonald crooning “Indian Love Call.” San Diego Comic Opera hopes there will be sufficient nostalgia for this tuneful romantic saga when it stages the original 1924 Rudolf Friml operetta “Rose Marie” Thursday through April 7 at the Casa Del Prado in Balboa Park.

“Rose Marie” is the local company’s first full-fledged operetta production since it transformed itself a year ago from a Gilbert and Sullivan repertory company to a more broadly based comic opera ensemble.

For the company’s inaugural offering last fall, director Leon Natker chose the 18th-Century “Beggar’s Opera,” a frequently revived British period piece that many consider to be the forerunner of operetta and musical comedy.

This time, to test the local waters for vintage American operetta, Natker chose “Rose Marie,” which was the most popular American operetta of the 1920s. He was also attracted to the progressive innovations of its plot and construction.

“It was the first operetta to deal with the issue of racism,” Natker observed. “We know from (librettist) Oscar Hammerstein’s later works such as ‘South Pacific’ that this was an important issue to him.”

In the plot of “Rose Marie,” the Native American characters are treated with typical disdain until the heroine, who appears to be French Canadian, reveals that she is one-quarter Indian.

“The 1936 movie version of the operetta obscured this theme almost entirely,” Natker added.

Hammerstein and Friml, along with musical arranger Herbert Stothart, made a serious attempt in “Rose Marie” to integrate the music, drama and dance. Although this appears to be an axiomatic stage principal today, the popular American stage of the 1920s relied on a few hit tunes and grand production numbers, for which the plot was no more than an excuse to get characters on and off the stage.

To solve the myriad musical problems of “Rose Marie,” Natker received unexpected assistance from La Jolla resident Constance Stothart Bongi, Stothart’s daughter. Because so many versions and arrangements of the operetta had been made over the years, notably simplified versions for high school and community theater productions, it was difficult to find a reliable score.

“The publisher does not rent a genuine conductor’s score,” Natker explained, “only a piano-vocal edition. The Stothart family in Los Angeles owns the original conductor’s score--the only such score in existence--and they allowed me to consult it. Stothart had conducted the New York opening of ‘Rose Marie’ as well as the subsequent European productions. Since his daughter attended so many of these performances, we relied on her to tell us what music was authentic. She also solved the mystery of certain cryptic notations in the score.”

Although Constance Stothart revealed that one of the scores mysterious, unexplained “specialty numbers” was actually a fan dance in the Sally Rand tradition, Natker decided that his audiences were not ready for that degree of authenticity.

When Natker directed Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Gondoliers” last April for San Diego Comic Opera, he gave it a pop Southern California updating complete with skateboards. For this production of “Rose Marie,” he promises to be faithful to the 1920s period setting, right down to the women’s marcelled hair styles.

“It’s a very American piece that can’t be taken out of the 1920s without descending into pure camp. This is our experiment to see if San Diego is ready for a classic operetta,” Natker said.

Back in town. After guest conducting in Paris and Oslo earlier this month, San Diego Symphony music director Yoav Talmi returns to the local podium to conduct Gustav Mahler’s mighty Second Symphony (“Resurrection”) Friday through April 7. Talmi will also give the preconcert lecture for these concerts, during which he will provide musical insights into Mahler’s sprawling score. Talmi’s devotion to the Austrian composer is evidenced in his long-term plan to conduct a major Mahler opus each season. He opened the 1989-90 symphony season with Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. Besides an augmented San Diego Symphony, Talmi will be joined by the San Diego Master Chorale, soprano Michal Shamir and mezzo-soprano Donna Bruno.

More authoritative words. Opera composer Carlisle Floyd will give a personal, backstage view of his upcoming “The Passion of Jonathan Wade” in a noon lecture Thursday at Civic Theatre. San Diego Opera will present the West Coast premiere of Floyd’s recent revision of his 1962 Reconstruction-era opera April 13 at Civic Theatre.

Following Richard Wagner’s precedent, Floyd writes both the libretto and the music of all his operas. Because Floyd is also the stage director of “Jonathan Wade,” it would be difficult to find a more authoritative source on the opera. In addition to his composing, Floyd teaches at the University of Houston’s School of Music and is co-director of the Houston Opera Studio, a joint endeavor of the university and Houston Grand Opera.

Kudos. San Diego Opera Scenic Studio will build the set for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s October production of “Antony and Cleopatra,” a major revival of the opera Samuel Barber composed for the opening of the Metropolitan Opera’s new Lincoln Center in 1966. This is the third contract the local studio has received from the prestigious Chicago opera company. The studio also built the set for the recent Los Angeles Music Center Opera production of Richard Strauss’ “Elektra.”

Music and politics. Celebrated violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who grew up in San Francisco and celebrates his 75th birthday next month, had harsh words for California politicians who cut school budgets for music instruction.

“They never cut taxes; they cut budgets, art and culture, whatever it’s worth living for,” Menuhin stated in a New York Times interview Tuesday.