SARASOTA – Someone well known on the Suncoast makes a rare appearance on the stage of the Sarasota Opera.
“I think the audience is not going to recognize him,” Victor DeRenzi said.
“No one will recognize him, no one will recognize him,” Stephanie Sundine said.
“In the second scene of the second act,” Executive Director Richard Russell said. “I’m revealed by two banners coming apart, and I’m sitting on a big throne on top of a big flight of stairs.”
Sarasota Opera Executive Director Richard Russell is playing what he called sort of a cameo role as Princess Turandot’s Father, the Emperor.
“It’s going to be quite a surprise actually,” Russell said. “And they are going to have to look carefully at the program because I don’t look hopefully a lot like I do now.”
Russell says he’s been practicing for over a year to get his voice in shape, even if it isn’t too hard to sing. “The score says he is very old,” Russell said. “And they describe his voice as being tired and decrepit.”
And after spending almost a decade behind the scenes at the Opera House, Russell is excited to be back on stage.
“Actually this is the 30th anniversary of my debut with Sarasota Opera,” Russell said. “I sang there in 1989 for the first time, as an apprentice artist and went through the training program that we have there” he said.
Russell says it’s great to interact with the cast as part of the team.
“There’s a difference when you’re in the rehearsal room,” Russell said. “Working with them on stage, I get to know them a little better, I get to know them a little more closely and I’m really enjoying that.”
For more information on performance times and purchasing tickets you can visit SarasotaOpera.Org.
