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Sheryl Woods talks about American opera

By Robert Wilder Blue

Sheryl Woods

Soprano Sheryl Woods has been a respected singing actress on the American circuit for over twenty years. She got her big break in 1978 when as an apprentice at Santa Fe Opera she stepped in for the leading lady in Rossini's Le Comte Ory and, as she puts it, "has been on the road since." She has triumphed in the traditional repertory in the title roles of Lucia di Lammermoor and Manon and as Violetta in La Traviata, Gilda in Rigoletto and Marguerite in Faust as well as in leading roles in operas by American composers, including Andre Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, Gian Carlo Menotti's The Telephone, Kurt Weill's Street Scene, Dominic Argento's The Voyage of Edgar Allen Poe and Carlisle Floyd's The Passion of Jonathan Wade. She has appeared in musical theater as well (Song of Norway, Sweeney Todd, Brigadoon) and toured the country and appeared on Broadway as Magnolia in the Houston Grand Opera production of Showboat. She recently sang in the world premiere of Tobias Picker's Thérèse Raquin in Dallas and will soon play Birdie in Marc Blitzstein's Regina at Florida Grand Opera. USOperaWeb was anxious to talk to Sheryl about her career and about some of our favorite operas.

Even though she grew up surrounded by music, Sheryl Woods nearly avoided being an opera singer. "I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, but spent a lot of my childhood out of the country. My father is a physician and took parts of his training in Panama and then served as a medical missionary in Ecuador. When I was ten we returned to the States and settled in Minnesota. Music was a big part of my upbringing; my parents' tastes are fairly catholic and I grew up listening to almost everything, except opera and heavy metal [she laughs]. I went to Wheaton College in Illinois and got a degree in psychology and then went to DePaul University and got another bachelor's degree in music therapy and I worked in that field for several years. I sang a great deal during that period in the smaller, community opera companies in the Chicago area and fell in love with singing and being on stage.

Sheryl Woods and Erich Parche in Carlisle Floyd's The Passion of Jonathan Wade. photo©2001 Ken Howard - San Diego Opera

"Eventually, I got to a place where I felt singing was what I was being called to do, so I started looking for a place to train. I had met Italo Tajo at Lyric Opera of Chicago while I was covering something for what is now the American Opera Center. I auditioned at Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and got into their artist certificate program for opera performance under Tajo's supervision. Concurrently with that I got an apprenticeship with Santa Fe Opera and made my professional debut there in 1978."

A debut at New York City Opera followed in the world premiere of Thea Musgrave's Mary, Queen of Scots. "My memories of that are a little faded. I was awed at being onstage there and I was very nervous, even though it was a small role. It was really my first solo outing in a contemporary role and I remember the music was difficult to learn. Looking at the score now, it doesn't seem nearly as complicated as things I've done since; in fact it seems quite tame."

In the mid-'80s, Carlisle Floyd revised his 1962 opera The Passion of Jonathan Wade, which was based on an original story that takes place during the Reconstruction era. Sheryl was chosen to sing the role of Celia Townsend in the premiere of the revised version at Houston Grand Opera, as well as in San Diego and Miami. We told her it was one of our favorite neglected operas. "It's a wonderful opera and it was one of the most intense onstage experiences I have ever had as a singer or actress. Floyd's music is interesting and accessible and his way with melodies is fabulous. Celia is a wonderful role. The whole historical context of the story was complicated and I think some people had difficulty with that. We are used to looking at that story through a simplified lens - if you're from the North you see it from the Northern point of view, if you're from the South you see it from the Southern point of view. Carlisle really made an attempt to convey all the facets of that era. The Reconstruction period was a horrendously difficult one for this country - especially for the South. Carlisle dramatized this in the incredible relationship between Jonathan Wade and Celia. It's the kind of a relationship one dreams about in terms of being invested with idealism, passion, and integrity. Jonathan ends up completely torn and caught in the middle and unable to please anyone - he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. It ends so tragically with his death. And Celia issues a huge indictment of all sides, singing, 'you all murdered him.'"

During the late '90s, Ms. Woods scored a major success as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire in San Diego and New Orleans. "I loved the role and the opera. I think the idea of turning Tennessee Williams' play into an opera was a great one. I don't think Previn was trying to improve on the play; he moved it to a different medium and it was bold of him to do it considering he hadn't written an opera before. It is a terrific story, of course, and it's very operatic. The role of Blanche is an actress' dream. It's such an intense role, although it's different than Jonathan Wade where the intensity comes from the relationships with the other people on the stage; the intensity in Streetcar is much more about Blanche's self-absorption - the things going on inside her. With intermissions, the opera is 3½ hours long and Blanche is never off-stage for more than a few minutes except for the intermissions. I ended up having such an incredible respect for Renée [Fleming] who did it the first time with only twelve days of rehearsal I believe. She had the wisdom and fortitude to ask Mr. Previn for some different notes in climactic places and for different act breaks which really made a difference in overall wear and tear on the voice. She did such a beautiful job in the role.

Sheryl Woods and Anthony Dean Griffey in Andre Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire. photo©2001 Ken Howard - San Diego Opera

"The music took me longer to learn than anything I've ever done, but once I had it learned, I enjoyed it very much. Now when I listen to it I wonder why I didn't hear certain things when I was first working on it. The harmonic idioms are very sophisticated and the rhythmic idioms are very complex. The set pieces were wonderful. They were not easy to learn, particularly the big confrontation scene with Stella in the first act in which she talks about what had gone on after Stella left home. And of course the scenes with Stanley are grueling. The whole experience was so fulfilling, although this kind of a role takes a huge toll on the voice. I would like to rework it at some point with my current teacher, who is very much a purist in the vocal sense. When I talked about bringing it in to him, he said, 'I want to hear you without sin first!'

"I tend to approach my work from a dramatic point of view. Of course, an opera is nothing without the music. But if there isn't something I can invest my soul in as an actor it doesn't work for me. I think the singers who do new operas or American operas tend to be more like this. Some of these new operas take so long to get to the point where the music becomes second nature, especially when they don't fit traditional tonality patterns, if you don't have a payoff in the heart and soul of the character it doesn't feel like it's worth doing. If I have to spend all night counting and thinking about intervals and so on it's not pleasurable for me as an artist. You have to find the backbone of the character and the elements you identify with so you can invest it with something.

"When learning a new role I generally take the text first. It feels much more natural to me to come at it from that standpoint. I am so word-oriented and sometimes that gets in the way of the vocal technique and has necessitated retooling on various occasions. Singing in English requires a different shape of the mouth. Every language has a different feel in your mouth. But English is my mother tongue so I don't find it particularly difficult to sing. There is more of an immediate connection with the audience because they don't have to rely on surtitles. It would be wonderful if everyone read the libretto before coming to the theater. But in reality they don't, so surtitles are a wonderful way of enhancing the experience. That barrier of reading the surtitles is removed in an American English production, though, and I like that."

"One of the characters I liked the least was Baby Doe [in Douglas Moore's The Ballad of Baby Doe]. There are some gorgeous moments in the score, but I didn't find her to be a very interesting character to play. I felt false putting on that kind of charm. And I had the Beverly Sills aesthetic in my ear. Well, I am not Beverly Sills and I never felt I sang the role as beautifully as it needed to be sung. I did it in Cleveland with Joyce Castle as Augusta. Viscerally for me, I felt so thoroughly ashamed after she got finished with me!"

"I try to take a naturalistic acting approach to everything regardless of the period or type of piece. Vocal styles differ but I want people to be able to identify with the character. It may not come out all the time. I'm thinking now about some of the coloratura roles I've done over the course of my career and I realize that somebody watching might not have considered it naturalistic but it always felt natural in my heart. Certainly with Streetcar, the story and the music lend themselves to that sort of naturalistic acting. The main thing about Blanche is that she just goes so far toward losing herself that it really is imperative to draw some sort of internal boundaries so that you don't completely lose it vocally."

What do you want from a director? "I look for definite ideas but I also want someone with the ability to collaborate. I usually come with ideas of my own but it's nice to work with someone with whom you can brainstorm, who knows the emotional map of the character and the piece, but is not stuck with particular staging or interpretation ideas. I don't like working with a director who is going to try to make me into a puppet. I love minimal sets because they really make you act and get to the core of the character and that's what communicates most effectively, more than just looking like the character. Personally, I would rather see someone who makes me believe he or she is the character - whether or not they look like it - because they are so truthful. That truth doesn't necessarily have to do with naturalism. It has to do with emotional integrity.

Sheryl Woods in Andre Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire. photo©2001 Ken Howard - San Diego Opera

"I think it is more difficult now to be a good singer. Quite frankly, as much as I love being onstage, there are times when directors make it very difficult now. There are times when what we do onstage liberates us because you become so engrossed in the role. I have had experiences when what I was asked to do made me freer vocally because I was concentrating more on expression than on technique. On the other hand, if there are weak links in the technique, that kind of staging will ultimately result in more wear and tear on the voice. There is something to be said for stylization certainly. Quite truthfully, I wish we could encourage audiences to use their imaginations more. I think the whole visual thing has come from too much television. That is my soapbox! You lose a dimension of the imagination and the heart when you require exact realism in terms of physical appearance before you can put your heart into it.

In February 2002, Florida Grand Opera will mount a new production of Marc Blitzstein's Regina, based on Lillian Hellman's play, The Little Foxes. Lauren Flanigan takes on the role of Regina and Ms. Woods plays Birdie. "I love Birdie. Even if I had the chops for Regina, I would take Birdie hands down. My heart goes out to her and the wretchedness of her circumstances. She is caught in such a horrible place. She has so much desire for love and so much love to give. The way she cares for her niece, Alexandra, is incredibly moving. There is a part of me that understands why she has allowed herself to be put in that position, having done all the background reading - both Another Part of the Forest, which is a prequel, and The Little Foxes. I feel for her so much. Of course, when you are playing her you have to work against that, which is part of the challenge. The music is wonderful. There's the beginning scene in which she reminisces about her childhood, the Rain Quartet, and the monologue where she talks about her drinking and tries to turn Alexandra away from that whole sordid family mess that she is going to find herself in if she doesn't escape her mother.

"It's always difficult to find someone who can pull off the role of Regina. She really needs to be a dramatic soprano who can invest it with that kind of strength of voice as well as personality. It has to be somebody whose very presence on stages draws you in. I'm not sure why Regina hasn't caught on more. I wonder if some of it has to do with the scope of the story and the size of the larger houses and the fact that it was done first on Broadway. Why does something work in one theater and not in another? Street Scene was done originally on Broadway and that certainly fits in an opera house."

Any thoughts about forging an opera career today? "Singers have to be so aware of the business side now, marketing and so forth. I don't have a superstar career so I don't really think about that too much. If I wanted one, I would have to think about that though. I look at somebody like Dawn Upshaw who has done pretty much her own thing, which I applaud her for. She is a maverick and has charted her own course. She has done what has suited her voice and personality and her life, not just what her management wanted her to do. I think that is terrific. But people really urge you to go the route of the publicist and all of those things. I think many of us want to say, 'just let me sing.' I have had a very interesting career and I am so grateful for it. It has been very rich. I have been singing professionally for more than twenty years and age has become a factor, too. I am trying to decide if teaching or coaching is a direction I want to go in more now. I am probably more interested in coaching, but I think both are important. I sing better when I'm teaching because I am constantly reminding myself of all the things I need to do technically.

"You are going to be so much better in a role after a few years of doing it, although as you get older you have to deal with vocal issues you didn't have at twenty-five. I am so thankful for every opportunity; I don't tend to be ungrateful for what I don't have. With many of these roles, for example with Streetcar and Jonathan Wade, there were more than one production and I had more than one shot at them. I'd love to do Blanche again and I'd love to do Jonathan Wade again. And I'd love to continue doing Birdie.

"At the core of my life is my relationship to God and at first I found it hard to believe that this was what he wanted me to do. It doesn't feel like it is in direct service of other people or really caring and loving other people. I don't know that I ever sat down and fantasized about how my career would go. Now, in retrospect, I realize that a great many of my early years I was trading more on potential, subconsciously thinking about the possibilities. Then you reach a point in time when they have not all been fulfilled and you realize they might not be and you have to deal with the fact that your expectations were greater than you were originally willing to concede. I have taken things as they have come as opposed to charting a specific course. I have a family, a husband and a daughter, and it would have been very difficult to maintain that had I been hell-bent on doing things a certain way. Certainly one has disappointments, but that is part of building our characters. It gives life texture."