Local stars in operatic show at Theatre Northwest
An opera singer would usually have to leave Prince George to get a part like Musetta.
Like sopranos have since 1896, Paige Marriott got the offer to perform the coveted role in Puccini’s beloved masterpiece La Boheme. What was different for her was the geography of the call.
Marriott, who trained her voice at Capilano University, would get to stay right in her hometown of Prince George for this production.
“I screamed a little,” she told the Citizen with a laugh tinged with shyness but also blended with excitement and pride.
She has the technical abilities to fulfill the part – the character herself being a singer, one torn between an attentive admirer who is rich but uninspiring and an exciting old flame who is still smitten with her.
She also has the confidence to flirt with others who catch her eye, since she hasn’t made any firm commitments to either of the two main suitors.
“She is a firecracker, for sure,” said Marriott.
“It’s quite fun to play her because I’m quite shy and don’t like to speak my mind. Musetta is unfiltered, tactless at times, she blurts out exactly what she’s thinking, definitely more self-assured than I am. I’m learning a little from her.”
It has been a long career climb for Marriott, but she was always sure of her performance path. She was a regular medalist at the Prince George Music Festival as a youth (earning attendance at the provincials in the process), and a teenaged finalist in the first Limelight Quest competition when it was still called PG Idol back in 2011.
She was back on that shortlist again in 2012.
In 2015, as part of the city’s centennial celebrations, Theatre Northwest’s Lauren Brotman created an outdoor production called Shakespeare Unfolded with an allstar cast of local singers and actors and Marriott was in that exclusive cast.
Melanie Nicol, the artistic producer of Fraser Lyric Opera, cast Marriott in their Prince George production of Beatrice Et Benedict four years ago.
When it was time for Nicol to assemble the performers for this latest cast, she brought in a handful of hand-picked professionals from across Canada but she also looked to one of the best voices she had ever heard rising from someone local – someone who had returned to live right here in her hometown again. She invited Marriott into the cast.
“It was nerve-wracking,” said Marriott, describing the feeling of entering the first rehearsals surrounded by so many professionally experienced cast members.
“But you just go in, introduce yourself, get into the work, and pretty soon you are becoming friends. Everyone is so excited to perform this for Prince George.”
She needn’t be so modest, said Nicol.
“Paige is perfect for this role, I’m so pleased with how easily she has adapted to this new opportunity.”
Marriott has been back in Prince George for about a year.
Upon graduation from Capilano University’s musical theatre program, Marriott was snapped up almost immediately to be a musical theatre instructor at Excalibur Theatre Arts, and the Sound Factory grabbed her to be a staff voice instructor.
She fronts the rock band Good Juju for their regular performances around town, and she is also in the chorus for Beauty & The Beast later this month, but the spotlight upon her shines brightly in La Boheme.
“I would encourage you to come out to see this show because a full opera is not common in Prince George, we are so lucky to have Fraser Lyric Opera here doing this sort of work, and you will find ways to connect to this story even if opera isn’t your thing. It is a tragedy, it is a comedy, it hits on a lot of big human emotions, and the music is just amazing,” Marriott said, admitting that she has been listening to the recordings of the entire opera on a daily basis and can’t tire of it.
La Boheme will be performed at Theatre Northwest with shows on Friday (7 p.m.), Saturday (7 p.m.) and Sunday (2 p.m.).
Tickets can be purchased online at the TNW website or at the Books & Company front desk.