Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) probably never visited the nation of Poland. But, next best thing, one of his operas will be performed on April 17 and 18 in Poland, Maine, when Opera in the Pines goes on the road again to mark its fifth anniversary.

The production of the master’s “A Masked Ball (Un Ballo in Maschera)” from 1859 will be immersive and promises to be extraordinary, as was the company’s prior production of “The Crucible,” performed in a legendary haunted church in Standish.  The two performances will be held at the historically important Maine State Building, a part of the Poland Spring Resort complex, about 35 miles from Portland. 

Though its original libretto is based in European history, Verdi reset “A Masked Ball” in colonial-era New England under pressure from sensitive censors who were worried about its themes of political intrigue and assassination.  A bit of romance and a few laughs will likely leaven the heavier moments in the Maine production, which is set in 1895 with a rogue governor at its center.

Artistic Director Sable Strout, a co-founder of Opera in the Pines alongside General Director Lauren Yokabaskas and Aaren Rivard, describes the company as “scrappy” and “in the business of providing an alternative to typical opera experiences.”  She acknowledges that this production, though maybe not quite to the level of “The Crucible,” will nonetheless have its share of dramatic chills.

Audience members and most performers will have to wear masks in this latest production, which has a libretto crafted by Strout and a musical adaptation she created with Musical Director Kellie Moody.  

The opera will be sung in English. And the audience (required to be age 21+), will be served drinks (nonalcoholic also available) and be located unusually close to the action. The crowd, at times, will become “participants and not simply viewers,” Strout asserts. 

Strout, who also directs this production, claims that “the adaptations I create are love letters rooted in survival” of opera and wanted to emphasize, as did other interviewees, that this production is dedicated to the late Ellen Chickering, “a beloved pillar of Maine’s operatic community” who helped to keep the art form alive in the Pine Tree State and who particularly loved “A Masked Ball.”

Moody, who will provide the piano accompaniment for the production, noted the “balance of light and dark” elements within “A Masked Ball,” an opera that features “loads of overlapping moods and styles.” Considering herself as much a collaborator as a director, Moody will be in costume and wearing a mask at times. She will conduct the singers with “nods and audible sniffs” but will receive some welcome help from Assistant Music Director Jeff Mosher, who will be stationed offstage.

Choreographer and soloist Grace Koury acknowledges the small space and proximity to the audience at this event are issues in her planning during the “short window of time” she has in which to prepare for this production. She is working with Strout and Moody in identifying “the exact moments in the score where they need the dancing to go.”

Koury has enlisted fellow Portland Ballet regular Eugene Mesheryakov for “a little more from the ballet world” stylistically but adds that “social dancing from the gilded age” will figure prominently in “some moments of dancing with almost the entire cast of singers.”

Mezzo soprano Jazmin DeRice will be performing in her first Verdi role as Ulrica, a “mysterious sorceress and a powerful prophetess.” DeRice has undertaken a lot of extra training to be ready for the “big range” required in her role but relishes the challenge of “micro acting” in an immersive production which will be “more compact and digestible” by design.

Baritone Joshua Miller, in his first Verdi leading role, will portray Reginald, “an abusive power hungry politician.” Like DeRice, he sees the immersive approach of Opera in the Pines as providing the performers with “the potential to make smaller and more delicate choices with our acting and singing.”

It is safe to say that Miller likely speaks for most involved with “A Masked Ball” in hoping that the audience will be “entertained” and that the opera will “expose them to the art, engage them in the story and leave them wanting more.”

Steve Feeney is a freelance writer who lives in Portland.

IF YOU GO

“A Masked Ball” by Verdi will be April 17 and 18 in the Maine State Building at Poland Spring Resort, 37 Preservation Way, Poland Spring. For more, go to operainthepines.org.