Opera loves a good fire. Don Giovanni gets dragged to a fiery hell, Norma perishes in a sacrificial pyre, and Brunnhilde, once trapped in a ring of fire, ultimately lights an inferno that destroys Valhalla in Wagner’s Ring Cycle. So, it’s no spoiler that a massive on-stage conflagration is the climax of the contemporary opera “Elmer Gantry.”   

The burning of evangelist Sharon Falconer’s tabernacle is how Sinclair Lewis concluded his 1927 satirical novel calling out the hypocrisy of fundamentalist religion. It also burned in the 1960 film “Elmer Gantry,” starring Burt Lancaster, who won his first Oscar for the title role. 

“Elmer Gantry” was adapted for opera by composer Robert Aldridge and librettist Herschel Garfein and debuted at Nashville Opera in 2007. The recording of Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera production won two Grammy Awards, including Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2011.

Kostis Protopapas, Opera Santa Barbara’s artistic and general director, saw the Milwaukee production, and staged one at Tulsa Opera in 2014. He calls it his “favorite contemporary American opera.”

“I always wanted to do this opera in Santa Barbara, as our audience is so well-versed in literature and film,” he said. “It’s also a comedy, and there’s a lightness to the story and accessibility of the music.”

This weekend’s performances at the Lobero Theatre will be only the fifth professional production of the gospel-infused opera “Elmer Gantry.” Tickets are available for Friday and Sunday performances at operasb.com, and a dedicated webpage offers insights into its history.

A Scandalous “Gantry”

A real-life scandal inspired Lewis’ book about greed, lust and old-time religion, set during the 1920s evangelical revival movement. 

The character of Sharon Falconer resembles infamous evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, whose claims of kidnapping during a five-week absence were later seen as a cover-up for an affair with a married man.

The novel’s plot centers on Gantry, a boisterous and hard-drinking former college football star who attaches himself to Falconer after attending her revival meeting. A natural salesman, he becomes a charismatic preacher and her lover. However, at heart, he is a self-serving con man and philanderer, triggering the combustible and tragic conclusion.

The book’s release was also scandalous. Lewis received death threats, and it was condemned by religious leaders and banned in several cities. Yet three years after its publication, he became the first American to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature for this and his other satirical works. 

“I watched the movie and read the book, and I feel that the opera is more like the movie,” Protopapas said.

He pointed out that there’s no prostitute in the book, but there is one in the movie, famously played by actress Shirley Jones, who also received an Oscar for the role.

“But this opera is perhaps more scandalous,” he said. “Character Lulu Baines is a married minister’s daughter having an affair with Elmer. In this telling, her husband is the one who frames Elmer.”

OSB Alumni Return

The character of Frank Shallard, a sincere but troubled minister, does not appear in the film, but he is the lead tenor in the opera. 

Last week, singer Matthew Greenblatt rehearsed Frank’s aria, “Is Belief a Gift,” at the Alhecama Theatre with Protopapas accompanying on piano and assistant conductor Alexis Enyart conducting.

It’s an emotional scene conveying the character’s crisis of faith. At one point, he falls to the floor in anguish while singing.  

“Frank’s the moral voice throughout the opera,” Greenblatt said. “This aria is a genuine human moment in an opera filled with showmanship and connivery. He’s Elmer’s best friend, but is stressed out about keeping him on the straight and narrow.” 

Greenblat and several other cast members are familiar to Santa Barbara audiences as alumni of Opera Santa Barbara’s Studio Artists program.

In 2023, he and his wife, Brooklyn Snow, sang the romantic leads in another contemporary work, “The Light in the Piazza.” She’s Lulu in this production. Among other program alums are baritone Evan Bravos, who sings the title role.

That young training program has been replaced by the Chrisman Emerging Artist Fund, which supports rising artists by funding principal roles in the company’s main-stage operas.

“There isn’t enough work for singers,” Protopapas said. “Now, instead of bringing new singers in every year to improve their skills, we provide a ‘next level’ opportunity to those we’ve already trained and other talented artists.”

Directing for ‘a Different Beast’

“The most important thing I do as the director of this company is to hire directors,” Protopapas said. “It’s a different beast from regular stage directing.”

For this show, he turned to longtime collaborator Tara Faircloth, who previously staged “La Rondine” and “La Traviata” for the company.

“I got a text from Kostas asking me if I wanted ‘to direct a rip-roaring, good-time opera,’” she said, laughing.

Faircloth has directed operas around the nation, and recently made her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut with “The Barber of Seville,” which the Chicago Tribune called “wickedly funny, elegantly sung and cleverly directed.” 

The pair met early in their careers at the Opera of the Ozarks (which Protopapas called “a boot camp for young singers”), and have worked together more than a half-dozen times since. 

“In opera, the director is a servant of the music, which has specific confines. It’s a musical event,” he said, likening it to a train that must stay on track. “But for the audience, opera is a theatrical event. The director is the intellect that helps translate a musical experience into a theatrical one.” 

“Elmer Gantry” features eight leads and a chorus numbering 24 on the Lobero Theatre stage. 

“We get to know the singers’ skill level and mold the piece around their strengths,” Faircloth added. “Every person brings a new shading, a new texture, a difference. We’re helping each singer to the best they can.”

For his production, Faircloth recalled her upbringing in the Baptist Church in Georgia and her travels in the Midwest, where the opera is set.

“I got a glimpse of that part of the country, seen here through a 1960s lens,” she said. “There’s an element of nostalgia to the piece, and it has a uniquely American sound.” 

She revealed she had not seen the film before viewing it as research.

“The movie feels so different from the opera,” she said. “I decided to just stay with the opera itself while directing.”  

“The movie is so over the top!” Protopapas said. “But we’re opera people. ‘Over the top’ is our natural environment.”