Chapter 2

by Alexis Needham

In the new millennium, Gayle Nason-Churchill was the leading force behind the continued growth and success of Opera-Lytes. She took over as President and principal stage director in 2000 with a spectacular production of The King and I, followed by The Mikado in 2001.

The King and I was the largest production that Opera-Lytes ever performed at the Lancaster Opera House. Each performance featured over 30 adults and 20 children. The children were double cast to accommodate all dates of the show, bringing nearly 40 youth to rehearsals. Deb Jasinski served as the “Child Wrangler,” meeting with the children’s parents and overseeing the entirety of the youth cast. Her job was to work with the children individually and as a group to ensure they knew their lines and choreography before each rehearsal and showtime. The revenue from the extraordinarily popular production of The King and I continued to support Opera-Lytes through nearly two decades.

In the summer of 2001, Lisa Berglund, now the Opera-Lytes President and Director, relocated to WNY. Hours after the moving truck unloaded her boxes and furniture, she caught a flight to the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival across the sea in Buxton, England, where she was performing in a production of Patience staged by Savoynet. Savoynet began life in the early 1990s as an online discussion board, but in the late 1990s it became a production company as well, bringing together singers from all over the world to perform at the Festival. In 2024, Savoynet presented its 26th consecutive production at the Festival, a conceptual staging of “The Mikado” set in a recording studio.

Gayle Nason-Churchill (President and Director Emerita) and her husband, Mel Churchill (retired founding member) were annual visitors at the G&S festival. During their 2001 visit to Buxton, a member of Savoynet told them that Lisa had just moved to WNY and might be interested in joining Opera-Lytes. What serendipity! From that chance meeting in England, where the partnership of Gilbert & Sullivan itself began, the scene was set for Opera-Lytes’ future. At Gayle’s invitation, Lisa joined the chorus of Opera-Lytes for the 2001 production of The Mikado. In 2010, Gayle and Lisa began sharing directing duties.

One of the company’s music directors, Paul Waara, observes that even in its early years: “Opera-Lytes’ strength has always been music. I’ve just noticed we have these incredible voices. And the group never really had a vocal director before or orchestral director at the time.”

Paul has been a member of the company for 25 years, often cast in leading tenor roles. He’s also served as Vocal and Music Director for several shows and numerous concerts and is a former member of the Board. “As I evolved and when I fully became the music director, I kind of evolved with my directing skills as well focusing on the emotion, focusing on the text, helping to support the character motivations,” he remembers.

From a musical standpoint, Opera-Lytes grew steadily. Raymond Herman, long time chorus member and a Board member-at-large, describes how the company gradually evolved from working with piano accompaniment, to having a three- or four-piece group of instrumentalists, to the chamber orchestra that now typically accompanies productions. “There is a richness to the score in a lot of these things you don’t just get with strictly a piano.” He said everything changes with an orchestra. Instruments don’t only add musical texture, they help guide actors through songs and choreography.

In 2006, Opera-Lytes developed a series of educational concerts that included narration about musical and theater history; one lecture included excerpts from all 14 Gilbert and Sullivan operas, for example, while another was themed for “Opera on Broadway.” For the 2013 production of The Pirates of Penzance a pre-curtain lecture before a Sunday matinee was added, and became a regular feature, as Opera-Lytes focused on its educational mission. In more recent years, versions of these lectures have been posted to the Opera-Lytes YouTube page as well.

In 2012 and 2013, Opera-Lytes formally embraced a student-education program. ‘Teaching artists’ from the company (Deb Jasinski, Paul Waara, Sara Kovacsi, and Wendy Swihart) visited local schools to introduce children to the world of opera and prepare them to experience The Sorcerer (2012) and The Pirates of Penzance (2013).

Opera-Lytes provided teachers with an Educator’s Manual that provides interactive classroom activities to share with their students both before and after they saw the show. The climax of the lessons was a special school-time matinee, designed especially for young audiences, which was attended by hundreds of schoolchildren. Opera-Lytes implemented the student-ed program again in 2014 for classic Broadway show The Music Man.

Wendy Swihart has been a member of Opera-Lytes since 2008. She has a teaching degree and spoke on her experience as a ‘teaching artist’ in 2014. She said, “We talked about patter songs because at the beginning of The Music Man, they do The Men on the Train (“Rock Island”). We showed them a little video, and then we talked about how it’s like the beginning of rap music, and how Gilbert and Sullivan used patter songs.” She said, “It was really, really, fun for me to go teach that to the kids in the school. We even sang for them a little bit. It was really a fun opportunity.”

Deb Jasinski adds, “That I think was one of our more successful ventures other than just performing, in meeting our mission which is to keep Gilbert & Sullivan alive and to encourage future audiences.”