As a soprano and baritone, respectively, Karen Kanakis and Jacob Lassetter don’t often get to reprise their real-life roles as husband and wife on stage. More often, if they happen to be working together, Lassetter is the villain, father, or wrong man to Kanakis’ heroine.
But for two weekends this summer, the couple will take the stage as Ford and Alice, one of the scheming couples at the center of Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff at Union Avenue Opera.
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“When we’re both in a show, it’s extra special,” says Kanakis. “That we get to go to rehearsals together and create our characters together and have these conversations with each other and bounce ideas back and forth—we really, really love that. We’re able to have that dialogue in the rehearsal process about, well, Why are they still married if they’re arguing? or What led to this moment? What decisions do they make after this?”
Falstaff, running July 29 & 30 and August 5 & 6 at the UAO, adapts (and some say improves upon) Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor for the opera, borrowing from Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2 to deepen the character of Sir John Falstaff and weaving the story’s multiple plots together a bit more smoothly.
“Many of the characters [from The Merry Wives of Windsor] are cut or combined,” says Lassetter. “It’s sort of like a really good movie adaptation of a book. Everything’s just kind of tightened up and I think works a little bit better. Merry Wives has never been even the real huge Shakespeare fans’ favorite of his plays. But I think Falstaff is actually a better piece of comedy according to most people.”
The couple says Falstaff, in which “no one is married and no one is buried,” is a great entry point to opera for audiences. Kanakis likens the plot to a Windsor Real Housewives, with a group of wives plotting to bring the scheming—but somewhat bumbling—Falstaff down a few pegs. Presented in the original Italian with English supertitles, Falstaff offers viewers the chance to hear Verdi’s work as intended without missing any of the fun.
“I think people maybe think opera is more high brow than it actually is. It really is just musical theater,” says Kanakis. “You can think of it like a musical and also think of it as a movie that you might be watching in a foreign language. You’re going to have those supertitles, those translated projections, so that you don’t miss anything, even though we’re singing it in a foreign language. There really isn’t anything highbrow about it, especially when it’s a comedy. It’s just very intricate music.”
The UAO production of Falstaff also offers audiences an opportunity to see some of the local operatic voices that St. Louis has to offer.
“I think what makes this show special is that many of us have worked together,” says Lassetter. “There are a few outstanding artists that aren’t from St. Louis, but Karen and I both live here. Bobby Mellon, who plays Falstaff, lives here. There’s a lot of local talent. The non-local talent is amazing too, and we’re so happy they’re here. But how cool is it to come see a show that has so much St. Louis-based talent?”
Falstaff runs July 29 & 30 and August 5 & 6 at Union Avenue Opera. Tickets range from $35 to $55 and are available at unionavenueopera.org.
