Mukilteo studio presents ‘Cosi’ and ‘Edwin Drood’

Published 10:59 pm Thursday, August 23, 2007

If you’ve been reluctant about going to an opera, worried that the investment of time and money will only bring you three hours of confusion, then try this beginner’s version of “Cosi Fan Tutte.”

It’s shorter.

It’s narrated in English.

It’s a bargain at $5 a ticket.

You don’t have to go to Seattle.

The music is “swooningly gorgeous” by a composer with universal appeal, said Sherri Brookfield-Jordan.

“I can’t imagine a soul who doesn’t like Mozart,” she said.

Brookfield-Jordan is the stage and musical director for “Cosi.” She and her husband, Gary Jordan, have been voice teachers, directors and performers for decades. Together they run Mukilteo’s Brookfield-Jordan Studio, where their students learn to sing and perform and do lots more.

This weekend, the studio is putting on “Cosi Fan Tutte” and the Tony-winning musical “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” as part of the studio’s 11th annual recital program. The shows are Saturday and Sunday night at Everett Performing Arts Center.

“Cosi” is Brookfield-Jordan’s favorite opera, and she said her cast this year, which ranges in age from 10 to 60, has some “wildly talented people” to pull off this operatic masterpiece.

The storyline for “Cosi” is one any beginner can enjoy.

It’s a love story about two soldiers who think their girlfriends are the best because they are so faithful. But an older friend intervenes, suggesting that women can’t be faithful because they are all are alike — “cosi fan tutte” — and that the soldiers’ theory be tested. The man suggests that the soldiers hide their identities and woo each others’ girls to see how truly faithful they are. Comic twists and turns ensue, and there is a happy ending.

In the opera, the role of Ferrando is played by a student Brookfield-Jordan said was one of the best young tenors she has seen recently. That is Jayson Wilson, 17.

Other standouts in this production include assistant director and chorus mistress McKenna Milici, 18.

For “Drood,” the director is student Jay Conrad who is assisting musical director Gary Jordan. (The audience should also be prepared to hear some beautiful accompaniment from Ruth Mallery.)

“It kills them not to be able to do the next show,” said Brookfield-Jordan of graduating students like Conrad. “And this is a really good transition and gives them a chance to participate on a different level.”

This performance of “Cosi” will have special meaning for Brookfield-Jordan. She said she decided to do the opera because her students were good enough to take on the challenge and as a dedication to her former director, Genevieve McGiffert, who mentored Brookfield-Jordan while she was a student at the University of Denver and who recently died.

For “Drood,” it was difficult to find an actor to play bad guy John Jasper. So Gary Jordan is taking that role for this murder mystery, which is set in England and has the audience participating by being able to cast a vote on who the murderer might be.

“It’s a very fun piece,” Brookfield-Jordan said. “You can’t sleep through it. It’s quite raucous.”

Arts writer Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424 or goffredo@heraldnet.com.