INTERVIEW: NY City Opera set to stage ‘As One’ with Michael Kelly
Photo: Michael Kelly will perform in the opera As One for NY City Opera. Photo courtesy of Dorothy Shi / Provided by Fortune Creative with permission.
Michael Kelly, the accomplished operatic baritone, is set to star in As One, a topical show from 2014 that features a transgender protagonist. Kelly will portray Hannah May 30 and June 6, alongside Blythe Gaissert, in a NY City Opera production.
Laura Kaminsky composed the opera, which features a libretto by Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed. Hannah features both Kelly’s baritone and Gaissert’s mezzo-soprano.
For those unable to see Kelly and Gaissert, NY City Opera will feature Briana Elyse Hunter and Jorell Williams in the roles June 1 and 4.
Kelly has sung parts all around the world, including Kiss Me, Kate at the St. Petersburg Opera, Leonard Bernstein’s Mass at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York City, Messiah at Seattle Symphony, The Last Rose at Symphony Space and Songs, Drones and Refrains of Death at New World Symphony. He previously performed in As One at Opera Idaho.
Kelly’s awards and recognitions are numerous, including first prizes in the Poulenc Competition and Joy in Singing contest. When he’s not gracing a symphony stage, he’s running SongFusion, an art song ensemble in New York City.
He is particularly excited for this NY City Opera production and how universal and relatable Hannah’s story will be to the audience.
“This is the kind of story that changes you and the kind of music that has the power to touch your heart,” Kelly wrote in an email to Hollywood Soapbox. “Everyone has their own path to self-discovery, and I believe audience members will be hard-pressed not to recognize themselves in the ways in which Hannah searches for answers.”
Kelly said As One takes the intimate form of a chamber opera, providing the audience with a sense of immediacy to appreciate Hannah’s story. A string quartet provide the accompaniment, and the two singers on stage portray the central character before and after her transition.
The baritone singer is inspired by Hannah’s story of bravery and fragility, and he tapped into larger moments in his own life to build a foundation for the role. When Kelly came out as gay to his parents, he experienced emotions similar to Hannah’s feelings in the show.
“Having known the fear of revealing something that could be quite potentially devastating and isolating, I tap into that fear and all the many variations of emotions that came with it,” he wrote. “I also look to the joy I felt in lifting that burden, which we get to see Hannah experience so poignantly.”
The show is challenging from a musical standpoint because of its complex rhythmic patterns and melodic lines. Kelly has spent a great deal of time focusing on the score and perfecting each of his sung parts. He is after simultaneous beauty and naturalism with his performance.
Of course, the social message behind the opera is not lost on him or the company presenting the show.
“As One is extraordinarily topical and timely,” he stated. “The fight for transgender rights is happening now, at both state and federal levels. This opera is not about the fight for trans equality, but I strongly believe in the power that a story has to change the hearts and minds of naysayers. As a gay man, I have found that homophobia is usually found in people who don’t personally know a gay person. If they did, their fears would be washed away. The more visibility that the trans community experiences, with their stories more prevalently featured in mainstream outlets, the less people will see them as ‘others.'”
Kelly detailed one powerful scene in the opera that finds Hannah being verbally threatened. Following the incident, she takes to the internet and finds stories of transgender individuals who have been brutally murdered.
Kelly believes this development in the opera, along with recent news of similar tragedies, will bring the “abstract into focus” for the audience.
“Trans people are targeted at much higher rates than anyone else in the LGBTQ+ community,” Kelly stated. “I hope audience members leave the performance with a sense of the urgent need for protections to be put in place at all levels of government.”
A life in the arts
At 4, Kelly began ballet, tap and jazz, and this dancing continued until his early teen years. He then moved over to singing at age 16, although he never truly left dancing behind: At Juilliard, for example, he was required to bring out those dance shoes once more.
“At the age of 8, I took up playing the alto saxophone, which quickly became my focus throughout my young life,” he wrote. “I intended to pursue this professionally, but at the suggestion of my saxophone teacher, I auditioned for my high school chorus in my sophomore year. I had never sung before, but the teacher, Kristin Howell, was so impressed by my audition that she helped to set me on a path that has led me to where I am today.”
Kelly has found much success in the opera world, despite how competitive the field can be for baritone singers.
“Like any focus within the entertainment business, opera is very competitive,” he stated. “It requires a huge amount of training in much more than simply vocal technique. We have to learn languages and their proper pronunciation, become convincing actors, train in stage combat, become consummate musicians able to sing in many different styles, and even learn skills to essentially run our own business. I went to school for seven years and continue to hone my craft even today.”
He added: “And through all of that hard work, nothing is ever guaranteed. The [number] of singers being pumped through particularly American training programs makes the pool of eligible singers quite large, and unfortunately, the available jobs gets lower each year with the closing and downsizing of many companies. The industry is currently transitioning in the way it functions and how it presents the art form. I’ve been lucky though and have had some wonderful successes, which I’ve worked hard to achieve. But my job is my passion, and I can see no more fulfilling way of spending my days than pursuing this crazy dream.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
NY City Opera presents As One May 30 to June 6. Michael Kelly performs May 30 and June 6. Click here for more information and tickets.
