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S.A.’s Opera Piccola boldly goes where no Mozart opera has gone before

By , Staff WriterUpdated

Most of the time, when tenor Brian Cheney appears in an opera, one of two things happens.

“I’m either falling in love with the soprano or killing the soprano,” he said.

Pacific Opera Project in Los Angeles staged a “Star Trek”-themed production of Mozart’s “Abduction from the Seraglio” in 2015. San Antonio’s Opera Piccola is taking on the piece.
Pacific Opera Project in Los Angeles staged a “Star Trek”-themed production of Mozart’s “Abduction from the Seraglio” in 2015. San Antonio’s Opera Piccola is taking on the piece.Courtesy Pacific Opera Project

His activities — not to mention his dramatic pauses — increase substantially in director Josh Shaw’s take on Mozart’s “The Abduction From the Seraglio.” In that production, which Opera Piccola will be staging beginning Saturday, Cheney plays a character modeled on the one-and-only James Tiberius Kirk, the randy captain of the Starship Enterprise played by William Shatner in the original “Star Trek.”

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That’s right. Shaw took Mozart’s story and set it in the universe of the United Federation of Planets.

More Information

At a glance

What: “The Abduction From the Seraglio”

When: 8 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Feb. 7

Where: Charline McCombs Empire Theatre, 226 N. St. Mary’s St.

Tickets: $15 to $50 at the box office or at

ticketmaster.com.

Costume contest: Friday’s performance will include a costume contest during intermission. The winner will receive $250.

Information: operapiccolasa.com; 210-314-6696.

Celebrating ‘Star Trek’

Opera Piccola’s Trekkie take on Mozart isn’t the only way to boldly enjoy the stuff of “Star Trek.” This year marks the 50th anniversary√ of the sci-fi franchise Gene Roddenberry√ built, which means plenty of final frontier fun to be had throughout 2016. Here are a few “Star Trek” goodies worth beaming down for.

“Star Trek” Forever stamps (available later this year)

“Star Trek” first aired on NBC on Sept. 8, 1966. The United States Postal Service√ celebrates that milestone with four colorful digital illustrations inspired by the original television series. The famous voice-over words “SPACE ... THE FINAL FRONTIER” will appear beneath the stamps against a starry background. But can they give snail mail a dose of warp speed?

Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage (ongoing, startrekultimatevoyage.com)

This concert tour’s mission: Perform some of the greatest “Star Trek” music ever written with a live symphony orchestra as a giant screen blasts “Star Trek” movie and TV footage in glorious high definition. The Ultimate Voyage soars through more than 100 North American cities, with Texas stops in Austin, Houston and Grand Prairie.

“Star Trek Beyond” (July 22)

Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto return as BFFs (as in best Federation friends) Capt. Kirk and Mr. Spock for a third cinematic outing of the glossy, lens flare-riddled reboot J.J. Abrams kicked off with 2009’s “Star Trek.”

The Official Star Trek 50th Anniversary Convention (Aug. 3-7 at the Rio Suites Hotel in Las Vegas)

Set phasers to stunning. This year’s official “Star Trek” Convention in Sin City has so much going on it runs five days. Expect more than 100 “Star Trek” celebrities, including the original Kirk, William Shatner, as well as costume and prop displays and special convention-only giveaways.

“Star Trek: Mission New York” (Sept. 2-4 at the Javits Center)

The first-ever “Star Trek” convention was born in the Big Apple. “Star Trek: Mission New York” aims to give fans a taste of that love of lore with various activities, celebrity guests and exclusive merchandise across three days.

U.S.S. Bexar (ongoing activity, ussbexar.net)

The San Antonio chapter of STARFLEET, the International Star Trek Fan Association√, has numerous “Star Trek” events planned for the year, including a marathon movie night and other activities to help fans and the community live long and prosper. The group meets every second Saturday of the month at Gamelot√, 7088 Bandera Road√.

René A. Guzman

Cheney, who said he’s not usually a fan of updated settings for operas “because most of them don’t work,” vouches for Shaw’s vision. And “Abduction” is particularly ripe for this sort of approach, he said.

In the tale, a young woman named Konstanze and two of her servants survive a pirate attack only to be separated from the woman’s fiancé and then sold at a slave market. The fiancé then goes forth to try to rescue them.

The music, Cheney said, “is incredible. And it’s incredibly difficult music to sing for the five principals.”

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As for the story …

“The story is notoriously boring,” he said. “There’s really not much to it.”

Enter Kirk, Spock and a chorus of Klingons.

“It takes this story that’s kind of dull and turns it into musical comedy because it perfectly parallels a ‘Star Trek’ episode from the original series, where Captain Kirk beams down to this planet that is being controlled by Klingons,” Cheney said. “They have captured aliens and made them slave girls. And so Kirk — played by me — beams down and rescues Spock and Konstanze.”

Cheney sang the role at the piece’s premiere at the Southern Illinois Music Festival in 2014. He also reprised the role for a sold-out two-week run in Los Angeles and plans to appear in other stagings this year.

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“For me, it’s like a vacation,” he said. “I get to sing some incredible, beautiful music, juxtaposed to over-the-top, crazy Shatner.”

Shaw said Cheney’s portrayal, which includes some moves he picked up from Shatner’s ’80s cop show “T.J. Hooker,” has been a key to the opera’s success.

“He jumped right into the deep end,” Shaw said. “I’m sure if he hadn’t been the right one (for the role), it wouldn’t have taken off quite the way it did.”

Setting Mozart’s story in the “Star Trek” universe is part of Shaw’s drive to make opera accessible to audiences who might not otherwise check it out.

“They come to this, then they’re going to come to the next ‘La Boheme,’” said Shaw, who also is directing the Opera Piccola production.

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As artistic director and co-founder of Pacific Opera Project in Los Angeles, he’s set other classical works in pop culture worlds, including a 2012 “Cosi Fan Tutte” that took its cues from “Gone With the Wind.”

It took him a while to settle on “Star Trek” as the setting for “Abduction.” He first thought about “Star Wars,” a franchise he knew much better, but “Star Trek” turned out to be the better fit.

He wrote the libretto for the piece, a first for him. Since he had gotten some complaints from Civil War re-enactors about historical inaccuracies in the costumes for “Cosi Fan Tutte,” he was concerned that fans might take issue with some of his choices — “I expected to get some flack from some of them about, ‘A Klingon would never say that!’” — but that hasn’t happened.

Instead, fans have embraced the approach, turning out in full regalia — “from Halloween costumes down to the authentic, probably off-the-movie-set costumes,” he said — and sometimes stopping performances cold with their boisterous responses.

They’re also turning out in droves, resulting in sold-out performances.The Opera Piccola staging will be the fourth presentation of “Abduction,” and productions are planned across the country in the year ahead.

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Mark Richter, Opera Piccola’s founder and general director, is a “Star Trek” fan. He found “Abduction” because he was looking for something to produce in honor of this year’s 50th anniversary of the series’ debut.

“At first, I was looking for a ‘Star Trek’ opera. There’s nothing like that. Which is OK, because the music could be horrible,” Richter said. “How could you go wrong with Mozart? I’m almost sure Mozart would go crazy for this.”

As silly as the goings-on are in the piece, Mozart’s music is treated very seriously, Cheney said.

“You see these zany characters, but we’re all legitimate opera singers with technique and chops,” he said. “And I think that’s the whole key that makes it work, is the seriousness with which we sing it is juxtaposed to the craziness of the story and our characters.”

Neither Cheney or Shaw were Trekkies when they started working on this piece, but they’ve come to admire the series.

“What I think is so great about ‘Star Trek’ is that it’s 50 years old this year, so that means everyone — from the oldest person you can find to the youngest person you can find — knows this show,” Shaw said. “If nothing else, they know that the guy with the pointy ears is Spock.

“I can’t think of another series that so may people could relate to, and that’s been the golden ticket with this. People are coming to the opera who would never consider coming to the opera.”

dlmartin@express-news.net

Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN

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Deborah Martin is an arts writer who came to work for the San Antonio Express-News in 1999. She writes primarily about theater – she sees around 100 shows annually -- and helps oversee the paper’s coverage of the fine performing arts. Her first newspaper job was with the El Paso Herald-Post, where she worked as a general assignment reporter before becoming arts and entertainment editor. After the Herald-Post closed, she spent just over a year covering the arts for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times before coming to the Express-News. She has a degree in journalism from UT El Paso, and was a fellow in the NEA Arts Journalism Institute in Theater and Musical Theater at the University of Southern California in 2007. Email Deborah at dlmartin@express-news.net.