Worst Pies in London
Maggie Gawrysiak

Varen flyktar hastigt
Margaret Gawrysiak and Michael Heaston

Margaret Gawrysiak makes her Seattle Opera mainstage debut as Vera Boronel in the upcoming production of Menotti’s “The Consul.” The American mezzo was a Young Artist at Seattle Opera in 2007/08 and 2008/09; she sang such roles as the Witch in “Hansel and Gretel,” Zita in “Gianni Schicchi,” Mother/Teacup in “L’enfant et les sortilèges,” and Hippolita in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” As Dinah in Bernstein’s “Trouble in Tahiti,” Gawrysiak sang the great aria, “What a movie!”, describing a film she’d just seen: Then she sees him, the handsome American. (I must say he’s really a man, Six feet tall, and each foot just incredible!) Well, they’re madly in love, But there’s trouble ahead; There’s a legend: “If a princess marry white man, and rain fall that day, Then the white man shall be sacrifice without delay.” Sure enough, on the night of their wedding day, There’s a storm like nothing on earth; Tidal waves and siroccos and hurricanes; And to top it all off, The volcano erupts As the natives sing: Ah! Ah! Ah! Olé! They go crazy with the drumming and the chanting and ritual dance, While the lovers sing a ballad of South Seas romance. It’s so lovely, I wish I could think of it; Da da dee da da… It was called “Island Magic,” I think it was. Oh, a beautiful song! I remember it now: “Island Magic, where the midnight breezes caress us, And the stars above seem to bless us, That’s Island Magic, Island Magic.” Well, in any case, the hero is tied to a tree. (Did I tell you he’s a flyer who got lost at sea?)... At this touring performance at the Capitol Hill Arts Center, David McDade and Lara Bolton accompanied Margaret Gawrysiak, playing piano four-hands.