Judge Faces the Music as Lead in College Opera

Most days, Superior Court Judge Steven Perren is the one giving orders from the bench.

But on the stage at Ventura College, rehearsing his leading role in a Viennese opera by Johann Strauss, Perren is at the whim of the director.

“OK, down on your knees!” stage director Geraldine Decker hollered at Perren, who immediately dropped to his knees.

“OK, what you need to do now is swivel,” she told the tenor. “Do you know how to swivel?”

On Friday, Perren and a company of students and community members are set to premiere in “Die Fledermaus,” a comic opera produced by the Ventura College Opera Workshop.

The presentation is part of “Waltz Into Spring,” a musical program to be held at the Ventura College Theatre this weekend.

Like the other cast members, Perren had to register as a student and take a course in opera before auditioning for a part, said Linda Ottsen, who teaches the class and is the opera’s producer.

Although Perren plays the male lead, he shied away from taking the spotlight.

“There are a lot of people involved in this who are as important and more important than I am,” he said. “I’m just somebody who’s in the class like any other student.”

And he doesn’t mind taking a little direction.

“I’m like anybody else, except when I’m in my robe and on the bench,” Perren said during a recent interview in his court chambers. “I’m active in my synagogue and I’m not viewed as a judge there, I’m just Steve. Judges are people, too.”

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The college drama department has produced many musicals, but this is the first opera workshop offered for class credit, Ottsen said.

Ottsen started the school year with a budget of $6,100. She raised several thousand dollars more through fund-raisers and grants to put on “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” a Christmastime opera.

The upcoming production cost about $9,000 to put on, Ottsen said.

Like Perren, several of the cast members are accomplished singers who also hold professional jobs.

Janice Aldrin Schuss, who plays the female lead and Perren’s wife in the opera, works as a medical secretary. She’s returning to the operatic stage after a 15-year hiatus.

“This is a real reawakening for me,” said Schuss, an 8-year member of the Ventura County Master Chorale. She graduated summa cum laude in vocal performance from Cal State Northridge.

“At Northridge, I was always No. 2 soprano,” she said. “It may have been a perfectionist thing I got from my dad. But I thought maybe I wasn’t good enough to be a star.”

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Schuss’ father is Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin. As a young girl, Schuss remembers singing for the many dignitaries her parents entertained in their Camarillo family home.

“Here was this girl singing and dancing around the house in a tutu,” Schuss recounted. “I’ve been singing since I could stand up in my crib. . . . Getting the lead [in the opera] has been a dream come true.”

Perren, too, started his singing career early.

At age 3, the hyperkinetic youngster belted out his first song--World War II jingle “Mairzy Doats”--to his mother.

His parents steered their eldest son toward music, long before mapping out his future in law. His father, who owns a deli in Burbank, made sure Perren accompanied him each week to the synagogue where he sang as a tenor.

They also bought him a violin and paid for lessons.

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“I was worse than awful,” Perren said. “In fact, the violin teacher, after a number of years, turned to my father and said, ‘You know, Sam, maybe you ought to try something else for the boy.’ ”

He stuck with singing, performing in plays while at UCLA law school and with a fellow officer while stationed in Vietnam.

Now Perren sings regularly as a cantor at his synagogue, Ventura County Temple Beth Torah, but until now has avoided operatic singing.

“I hated it,” he said flatly. “I wanted no part of it. I’m a Broadway musical kind of guy. But when I started listening to the people singing, I thought, ‘You know, not only is it beautiful but it’s challenging, and it’s delicate and it’s intricate and it’s demanding. Do you think I could?’

“I envision myself as Oliver, walking up with a bowl in my hand going, ‘Please ma’am, can I study opera?’ ”

FYI

“Waltz Into Spring” performances will be at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Ventura College Theatre on campus. The program includes a performance by the Ventura College Community Orchestra String Ensemble. Tickets are $12 for general admission and $8 for students and senior citizens. They may be purchased in advance at Ventura College Community Services, 4667 Telegraph Road, or at the box office before a performance. For information, call 654-6459.