Meet our cast!

This spring our stage is sizzling with talent! Artistic Director Jamie Allbritten recruited talented artists from across the county who have tremendous experience in both opera and musical theater.



Branch Fields (Emile de Becque)

Branch's versatility as a singing actor led to his Broadway debut in

SOUTH PACIFIC, understudying the role of Emile de Becque in the Lincoln Center production, sharing the stage with Matthew Morrison, Kelli O'Hara and Skipp Sudduth. This monumental 2008 revival won 7 Tony Awards.  Mr. Fields has since reprised Emile for Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater (UFOMT) and the historic Ogunquit Playhouse earning stellar reviews.

Click here for a clip of Branch as Emile!
(Video clip from Ogunquit's performance)

Jennifer DeDominici (Nellie Forbush)

Jesse Darden (Joe Cable)

A.J. Fletcher's Jesse Darden received the BM from the  

UNC-Greensboro on a Cooper Music Scholarship studying with Dr. Robert Wells. He received the MM from The Ohio State University under the tutelage of Dr. Robin Rice. While at Ohio State, Mr. Darden performed Fenton in Falstaff and the title role in Albert Herring. Mr. Darden has also performed roles in Carmen and Gianni Schicchi with Capitol Opera and Greensboro Opera.  

Susan Neves (Bloody Mary)
 

Dramatic soprano, Susan Neves, has been internationally acclaimed in theaters such as the Opera Bastille in Paris, the Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Vienna State Opera, Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona, Monte Carlo, and opera houses throughout Italy including L'Arena di Verona, Bologna, Genoa, Parma, Cagliari and Venice  She commands a repertoire of some of the most challenging roles written for a soprano.

 

 

Set in the South Pacific during World War II, two parallel love stories are threatened by the dangers of prejudice and war.  Nellie, a spunky nurse from Arkansas, falls in love with a mature French planter, Emile.  Nellie learns that the mother of his children was an island native and, unable to turn her back on the prejudices with which she was raised, refuses Emile's proposal of marriage.  Meanwhile, handsome and wealthy Joe Cable denies himself the fulfillment of a future with an innocent Asian girl with whom he's fallen in love out of the same fears that haunt Nellie. When Emile is recruited to accompany Joe on a dangerous mission that claims Joe's life, Nellie realizes that life is too short not to seize her own chance for happiness, thus confronting and conquering her prejudices.  This deeply-felt drama remains as relevant today as it was in 1949, featuring such timeless favorites as "Some Enchanted Evening," "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair," "This Nearly Was Mine," and "There is Nothin' Like a Dame."