The biggest applause at Arizona Opera's performance of Emmerich Kálmán's "Arizona Lady" Saturday night was not for the very fine cast of singers or the abundantly talented chorus and orchestra.
It was for a guy doing fancy rope tricks.
He jumped through a giant lasso and twirled it around his body in ways that seemed more befitting a rodeo performance than an evening at the opera.
It was spectacular theater of the bizarre given the setting.
Here's a bit of advice for anyone heading out this afternoon for the final Tucson performance: check your expectations of seeing high art at the door.
That rope trick was one of many silly scenes that defined "Arizona Lady." There also were corny jokes, veiled sexual innuendo, shameless name-dropping of local celebrities, line dancing, a barbershop quartet and a triumphant finale reminiscent of"Oklahoma!" only they were shouting the praises of "Arizona."
This is an operetta. It does not take itself seriously. It does not pretend to offer anything more than three hours of pure entertainment.
You will laugh. You will ask yourself and the person sitting next to you, "Is that 'Oklahoma' I hear?" You will compare notes during intermission about which names and local references you picked up on: Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the state's sticky immigration issues and former Phoenix Suns great Charles Barkley among them.
Arizona Opera is the first American company to mount Kálmán's piece, which tells the story of an immigrant rancher in Tucson who needs to win the Kentucky Derby if she wants to save her ranch. The road to the Derby starts at the inaugural Tucson Rodeo, winds its way through a horse thieving scandal, a love triangle, a case of wrongful imprisonment and circles back to true love saving the day.
"Arizona Lady" had all the bells and whistles of more standard repertoire: Terrific vocal performances from leading lady soprano Angela Fout and leading man tenor Joshua Dennis; the smitten next-door neighbor baritone Octavio Moreno; and the one-time horse thief bass-baritone Calvin Griffin. It also boasted a superb showing from the orchestra, under the baton of Conductor Kathleen Kelly, an Arizona State University graduate making her Arizona Opera debut.
And "Arizona Lady" had dancing — including couples swaying cheek-to-cheek and a scene that was reminiscent of a hybrid Charleston/two-step Western swing — and sets that included a hotel that reminded you of Hotel Congress and a brilliant Sonoran Desert sunset. At the end of the night, you felt like you had experienced something so familial that you wanted to slip into the Congress Street hotel and try to match the set to the spot in hotel that inspired it; or glance up at the early evening sky to see those hues of red swallow the sun.
That's one of the goals of Arizona Opera's "Arizona Bold" initiative, which programs regionally relevant performances alongside standard repertoire. They want you to walk out of the Tucson Music Hall feeling as if you had spent the evening with something so close at hand you can relive it.
"Arizona Lady" is the third performance in the four-year "Arizona Bold" program, coming after last season's "Cruzar la Cara de la Luna" (To Cross the Face of the Moon) and Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin." The opera will mount another "Arizona Bold" program in November, the late Mexican composer Daniel Catán's "Florencia en el Amazonas." Performances in Tucson are on Nov. 21 and 22.
