OU football players tackle roles in ‘Caesar' opera
By James S. Tyree
Published: March 7, 2007
NORMAN — It's time once again for University of Oklahoma football players to put on their helmets, strap on their protective gear, and deliver a hard-hitting show the audience won't soon forget.
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None of it has anything to do with spring football.
Thirteen OU football players are portraying soldiers and guards this week in the OU Opera presentation of "Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar).” Performances are scheduled 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Donald W. Reynolds Performing Arts Center, on the university's North Oval.
"I'm sure I'll come out kind of nervous, but we play football in front of 80,000 people so I'm kind of used to it,” said Manuel Johnson, a sophomore wide receiver turned Roman soldier.
Allen Patrick is poised to become the Sooners' next starting running back, but not before learning about and participating in the opera this semester. He considers the experience "a good opportunity to try something new.”
Director William Ferrara said he realized in October, when casting began, that the opera would need actors who could pass as muscular guards and soldiers. He contacted the athletic department and asked if any football players would be interested in taking an opera course for non-majors, which would include joining the "Julius Caesar” cast.
It was no easy "A,” as students in that class learn of opera's history and major readings. That was just fine with Johnson.
"We're getting class credit for it, so why not?' he figured. "Why not help them out and expand your parameters and what you do?”
Over the past few weeks, Johnson has gained an appreciation for performers and crew in opera.
"They put a lot of time into it, maybe even more than we do in football,” Johnson said. "A lot of people work hard in it, so we should too; we've got to work hard to help them be perfect.”
Patrick plays the head Roman guard in three scenes, but that means plenty of waiting in between. It's given him time and a vantage point to learn what goes into planning and performance of opera.
"There are a lot of things to the opera that everybody doesn't know about,” Patrick said. "You've got to have a lot of patience.”
The 13 athletes are part of a large production that includes 12 principal characters, 16 chorus members, 12 drama students playing soldiers in battle scenes, eight people working backstage, and more than 20 music students in the pit orchestra.
Professors Tom Huston Orr and Matthew Ellis from the OU School of Drama choreographed the combat scenes, and Jonathan Shames, artistic director for OU Opera Theatre, will direct the orchestra.
Ferrara, an associate professor of music, said "Julius Caesar” could be his most ambitious undertaking at OU. The opera has a cast and crew of more than 80 to coordinate, along with many special props, costuming and even body painting that must agree with historical detail.
This week's performance will both adhere to and break tradition. Principal characters will sing in Italian while English lyrics scroll above the stage. The director said it's vital for anyone wanting to pursue opera as a career to learn singing in Italian.
Yet the opera, written in 1724 by George Frideric Handel, will deviate from its original Baroque style.
"Because it is ‘Julius Caesar,' we're doing it in modern interpretation in 48 B.C.,” Ferrara said. "The work itself is very challenging, like the Olympics for singers, and there is a tremendous amount of improvisation, kind of like jazz. Dramatically, the script is like a blank page.
"I think people will really enjoy it,” he said later. "It will be different from anything most people have ever seen, and the performances by the student principals are just unbelievable.”
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University of Oklahoma football players Jon Cooper, left, and Demarrio Pleasant, stand as guards Monday during a rehearsal for the opera "Guilio Cesare (Julius Caesar)” at the Donald W. Reynolds Performing Arts Center. They are among 13 football players participating in the OU Opera Theatre production to be performed Thursday through Sunday. James Plumlee, The Oklahoman
Guilio Cesare (Julius Caesar)
Presented by: University of Oklahoma Opera Theatre
When: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday
Where: Donald W. Reynolds Performing Arts Center, 560 Parrington Oval, Norman
Tickets: $15 for adults; $12 for seniors, OU faculty and staff; $10 for students. OU Fine Arts box office, 325-4101. For group discounts, call 325-7370.
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