Jamie Logan and the Wonderful World of Opera

You Are My Song is the final book in my “Carousel Trilogy,” a trio of books about three high school students whose lives are changed by a small town tragedy in the 1950s. When we first meet Jamie Logan, in How I Grew Up, he is performing the role of Billy Bigelow in Carousel. His leading lady is Melanie Stewart, a high school senior whose parents have just been shot to death by her estranged brother-in-law.

My thanks to Anita Lock for this excellent review of the book in this week’s issue of Underground Book Reviews, a great website which encourages and promotes independent authors in many ways. It was exciting that this was the second book the website selected for an in-depth review. Eli’s Heart was also reviewed by Ms. Lock.

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The Rundown
Jamie Logan’s love for singing was set in place at a young age. By high school Jamie gets involved in theater and his lilting tenor voice wins him the lead role in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. Although he’s attracted to the lead lady in the musical, Jamie is too enamored of Sarah, his longtime sweetheart—so much so that Jamie dreams of the day when he will be a dad. A few years pass and Jamie and Sarah finally wed. But the marriage is not a happy one since Sarah forbids Jamie to pursue his other dream of singing. Dissension brews eventually leading to divorce. Now with his dreams dashed, Jamie feels like a failure, especially when Sarah snidely comments that maybe he’ll “find a job as a professional rainbow chaser.”

Getting back on his feet, Jamie decides to contact Ed Davidson, his high school vocal teacher who inspires him to train for entrance into the University’s opera program. Passing with flying colors, Jamie slowly begins to build his career as an opera singer. Yet as highly talented as he is, Jamie has no idea the trials he will have to face on his musical journey. Jamie periodically finds himself plagued with nervousness prior to performances and low self-esteem as competition auditions become more taxing. It doesn’t help that a family crisis gets added to the mix. Amid all his problems, Jamie knows that the only one who can help him achieve the highest career goal is the woman he loves. But whether or not Jamie can overcome his worst enemy in the process will be his ultimate challenge.

In the final novel of The Carousel Trilogy, Jordan gathers the featured characters (Melanie Stewart, Krissy Porter, and Jamie Logan) from her series together in one glorious romance tale. Based on her “experiences as a voice teacher and stage director” and “inspired by real people she has encountered,” Jordan’s 1960’s plot shines a light on the complexities of professionals in the opera realm. While men and women’s roles were defined differently in general as well as in the musical arena, so too were issues of race and gender—all thought provoking concepts for readers to ruminate on to compare then and now. As she weaves in these troubling aspects in the midst of Jamie’s intriguing life, Jordan includes a delightful array of all things opera.

The Recommendation
You Are My Song creates a nice closure to a great trilogy! There is no doubt that the largest draw of readers will come from those who are musically inclined—whether instrumentalists or listeners. Yet Jordan incorporates so much more than the opera scene to grab the attention of anyone looking for a captivating read.

The Rating Reviewer Rating: 5 Stars
5 Stars (out of 5): Highly recommended. This book did exactly what it set out to do, with originality, style, and maybe even a twist. It stands out next to popular, traditionally published novels in its genre.
The Pros & Cons
Pros: Believable, Characterization, Page Turner

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Here's a link to the page: https://www.undergroundbookreviews.org/review-of-you-are-m…/

You Are My Song (Kindle edition) is currently on sale on Amazon for ninety-nine cents. A great chance to pick up the book! 

https://www.amazon.com/Song-Carousel-Trilogy-Book-Three-ebook/dp/B00SZAHWWG/

Cover by Tristan Flanagan

Jamie Logan and His Children

Jamie Logan made his first appearance in my first novel, How I Grew Up, as a high school senior playing the role of Billy Bigelow in his high school’s production of Carousel. He’s handsome, talented, and a super nice guy, and despite having a long-time sweetheart he has a romance of sorts with his leading lady, Melanie Stewart. Something that often happens in high school productions.

Two books later, and Jamie and Sarah’s marriage has failed, mainly because Sarah wanted to be a bride but not a wife. Jamie, who has an unusually fine tenor voice, has been taking lessons with his former high school music director (that’s quite a story in itself) and is encouraged by that teacher and his parents to go back to college and pursue a career. You Are My Song follows Jamie’s journey as he aspires for a career in opera. Self-doubt, family crises and even a hate crime are stumbling blocks he has to deal with along the way, as well as the rivalry and politics he didn’t expect. Jamie just wants to do what he loves: sing.

Equally important to Jamie is having a family, and he and his wife (and who she is may surprise you. It did me!) have two children, Laura and Niall, both musically gifted in very different ways. Jamie’s Children, to be released July 15, is their story. Each of them has life challenges they strive to overcome in order to be the artists and the people they want to be.

Here’s a brief excerpt from You Are My Song. The Kindle edition of this book will be on sale this coming weekend, July 2-4, for ninety-nine cents. While Jamie’s Children is a standalone book (as is You Are My Song), it’s fun to meet characters in one book and get acquainted with them again in a sequel. The year is 1958.

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The final piece for his audition was an aria from Puccini’s opera Tosca, “E lucevan le stelle” (“The stars were shining”). Ed had a portable record player in his studio and he had brought a recording of the opera. He played the recording of the aria for Jamie, first explaining to him a little about the opera and what was happening in the story when the aria was performed.

It was a defining moment for Jamie. Hearing this aria sung with orchestra by the great tenor Giuseppe di Stefano transported him. He thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard in his life. Ed saw the look on Jamie's face and knew Jamie had stepped beyond the limits he had set for himself and had caught a glimpse of an entirely new world.

When the aria ended and Ed turned off the record player, he turned to Jamie, intensely interested in hearing what his student would say.

“I want to do that,” Jamie said immediately, his eyes shining. “I want to sing that aria with an orchestra, standing on a stage. I want to sing opera.”

Ed put the record back in the album sleeve and handed it to Jamie. “Why don’t you take this home with you and listen to the whole opera when you have a chance? The aria I assigned you is wonderful, but the entire opera is full of the same kind of music. Puccini was one of the greatest of all opera composers.”

Jamie took the album eagerly. “Thank you so much, Ed. I’ll sure do that. I can’t wait to hear it. See you next week!”

Ed watched Jamie leave. His whole demeanor had changed since he had walked into Ed’s studio two weeks earlier. His head was high, he walked with purpose. The uncertainty Ed had seen was gone. Hearing di Stefano sing inspired Jamie as nothing else could have; Ed had made a good choice with both the singer and the aria.

Jamie’s entire world had changed in two short weeks. He had a goal. He had a purpose. He no longer felt like a failure. His marriage had been a mistake, but his whole life lay ahead of him.

A life in music.

 You Are My Song on sale July 2-4, Kindle edition, $0.99

http://tinyurl.com/z5d8cde

Meet Jamie Logan, Laura and Niall’s Father

The Consummate Tenor

I just re-read You Are My Song, the novel all about Jamie Logan and his journey into opera world, and his trials along the way. I like Jamie Logan. I wrote the consummate tenor when I wrote Jamie: he is unusually gifted and learns his craft well. He is an accomplished singer. I also made him a good guy with very little ego, something that tends to be a rare attribute in tenors.

Jamie goes through a lot in his journey, which takes place in the 1960s. His first marriage, to his high school sweetheart, ends acrimoniously. He doesn’t start to study music seriously until he’s twenty-three, and he almost immediately experiences how bitterly jealous a rival can be. He has to sing a performance of his first opera while his mother is lying in a coma as the result of an auto accident. He falls in love again, but that is very complicated because … well, no spoilers. His college accompanist is the victim of a hate crime. Another family crisis causes him to drop out of graduate school. His old college nemesis resurfaces at the most important audition of his career and does his best to sabotage him.

Good things happen to him as well. His ability is recognized wherever he goes, and he begins to achieve some success. Doors open for him, and sometimes luck is the determining factor in a career in opera. He meets the love of his life and marries her, and with her love and support he begins to overcome his self-doubts. When he becomes a father, it’s the fulfillment of a life-long dream.

Jamie had no idea how complicated being a father could become. He never considered that his daughter Laura would be a violin prodigy. Or that his son Niall would develop bipolar disorder. And that’s the story you will read in Jamie’s Children.

You Are My Song is available on Amazon, paperback and Kindle. The Kindle edition is a measly $3.99.

Cover by Tristan Flanagan

www.susanmoorejordan.com

http://www.amazon.com/Susan-Moore-Jordan/e/B00IBZ731U/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1457388708&sr=8-1

Jamie's Children

Sibling Non-rivalry?

Family dynamics are never simple. They can be complicated and even convoluted. I’ve been working on a book for some months now about a brother and sister, children of a highly successful opera singer, tenor Jamie Logan.

Laura, the older child, is a violin prodigy who begins a career at the age of nineteen. To call her an overachiever is an understatement, to say the least. Discovered at four to have this huge talent, Laura is driven to perfect it and to become the best in the world. She finishes high school early and graduates from Juilliard in three years, and during her final year at Juilliard wins the prestigious Queen Elisabeth competition.

Niall, her junior by not quite two years, is a placid, pleasant child who seems fine with being in his sister’s shadow. But in truth, those shadows contain more than anyone realizes. Niall’s real troubles begin when he is twenty-two. He begins to display symptoms of bipolar disorder. And sadly, this happens just as he is beginning to have a sense of who he is and what he can be as an artist in his own right.

Growing up in the fifties in a small town in East Tennessee, Jamie Logan was the “boy-next-door” personified. But he had a gift ─ an unusually beautiful tenor voice and the potential to take that voice and develop it. Every knowledgeable person who heard him sing encouraged him to consider pursuing a career in opera. His voice teacher at the state university he attended told Jamie he had “the whole package” – not just the voice, but innate musicianship, an ability to learn quickly, an ease with languages, unusual acting skills, and one thing more – he was blessed with physical beauty.

He was also plagued with self-doubt and lack of confidence. His first marriage ─ to his high school sweetheart ─ failed, shattering his belief in himself. Until he found a woman he could love and trust, Jamie’s demons plagued him periodically. Family crises threatened to stall his career. He was not prepared for the jealousy and rivalry he experienced.

The final element for most performers is luck, and Jamie eventually had his share of that. It’s a sad but true fact of life in opera world, and it’s also sad but true that the best singers don’t always get the breaks. But Jamie’s trajectory, while convoluted at times, is basically upward, and he achieved success. He became a star.

So what does that mean for Laura and Niall? Jamie’s family is at least as important to him as his career. He spends as much time with his children as he can, though the demands of his career sometimes make that difficult. How do they see him? How do they see themselves in relation to this loving father who is also a major figure in the world of opera?

Children of famous parents are fascinating … whether real or literary. Look for Jamie’s Children, hopefully sometime this coming spring. As soon as Niall and Laura finish telling me their stories!

In the meantime, you may enjoy reading Jamie’s story

in You Are My Song.

On Amazon, paperback or e-book.

http://tinyurl.com/jkj5lq7

cover by Tristan Flanagan

Who Is Jamie Logan?

You Are My Song

Jamie Logan, my book blurb reads, is from a small town in Tennessee, and is “a good-hearted young man with a superb tenor voice.” He gets off on the wrong track when he marries his high school sweetheart two years after they graduate; and two years later it’s apparent Sarah never wanted to be a wife. The year at this point in 1958, so here is Jamie, with an associate’s degree in business administration, running a car dealership because he thought that’s what his girl wanted.

Pretty depressing, to be twenty-two and feel that you’re a failure. Jamie has always wanted to be a father. His own family means the world to him: his father Jim, a good husband, father, and provider; his somewhat mystical mother Laurie, third generation Irish; his six-years-older sister Carol, her husband Larry Sweeny, her children, Jamie’s niece and nephew Anna and Steven, whom he doesn’t see nearly enough of since Carol’s family lives in Florida.

So where does he go from here? Devoted son, brother, uncle … and possessor of that splendid voice, which he used to its fullest in high school but hasn’t really used in four years. Jamie knows one thing: he can sing. He starts studying voice with his former high school choral director, now teaching in a private studio in Jamie’s home town.

When he hears a recording of the great tenor Giuseppe di Stefano singing an aria from Puccini’s opera Tosca, Jamie has a life-defining moment. This is what he wants to do – no, this is what he has to do. After a few months of study he auditions for the nearby state university’s opera program and is accepted. And that is his first step into a world that can be exciting, fulfilling, nerve-wracking, stressful, daunting, challenging in ways Jamie never anticipated.

His college teacher tells him he has more than an exceptional voice. He has what’s called “the whole package”: he’s a gifted musician and actor, learns quickly, is adept with languages. Oh, and he’s also an unusually good-looking young guy, a definite plus for a tenor, who usually plays the love interest in an opera.

His voice teacher also cautions him that it’s a tough business. While it can be rewarding almost beyond belief, it can also destroy people. It’s not for the faint of heart. Jamie’s not so sure he’s up for the challenge. He sees himself as a pretty simple guy who tries to get along with people, who sings because he loves to sing. Part of Jamie’s charm is his naïveté.

He battles with his self-doubts. Sarah divorcing him has almost destroyed his self-confidence. In Tennessee at the time, “no fault” divorce did not exist: there had to be a specific reason for the divorce. The only one that will work for them is for Jamie to declare he was impotent during the marriage. He agrees, to please Sarah one final time, but it’s a high price for him to pay.

He also has a rival who does his best to undermine Jamie and get him dismissed from the opera program. But two things happen: Jamie falls in love again, this time with a woman who will do whatever she can to help him succeed. And he sings in his first opera and it’s an experience like nothing he’s ever had. Despite everything that’s happened to this point, he wants to pursue the art he’s become passionate about. He has to do this. It’s why he’s alive.

And the rest of the story is in You Are My Song. There are obstacles in his path. There are also successes. There’s sorrow, but there’s also happiness. There are surprises.

But it’s all about this good-hearted boy from Tennessee who has this gift … he can sing.

You Are My Song on Amazon tinyurl.com/p743ru9

YOU ARE MY SONG

About Jamie Logan, Tenor

    The nineteen-fifties. Elvis is wearing “Blue Suede Shoes.” Country music reigns supreme at the Grand Old Opry in Nashville.

     But in a small Tennessee town Jamie Logan ─ a good-hearted young man with a superb tenor voice ─ stars in his high school’s musical theater production and begins an unlikely, almost magical journey that could take him to the pinnacle of the opera world.

   The path is far from simple. Jamie just wants to sing. He is ill-prepared for the jealousy, rivalry and politics he encounters on his way. Family crises and even a hate crime also sidetrack him and threaten to undermine his journey.

    But Jamie has a voice beautiful beyond belief ─ and the love of a woman who inspires him to believe in himself. His desire to sing becomes his reason for being. Will that be enough?

     I introduced Jamie Logan in How I Grew Up; he played opposite Melanie Stewart in their high school production of Carousel. I like my character Jamie. He has a naturally beautiful voice. He has innate musicianship and an ability to learn quickly, and no ego. He’s friendly, generous, outgoing, considerate. Oh, and unusually good-looking. He and Melanie have a strong connection, and they both wonder if they could be in love. But no, Jamie has a jealous girlfriend he later marries, and she doesn’t want him to sing.

     When You Are My Song begins, it’s four years after Jamie’s graduation from high school, and his marriage has failed. I had to laugh at my readers’ reaction to that; two of them commented they weren’t surprised to learn of Jamie’s and Sarah’s divorce. I wasn’t either. I wanted to see what would happen if I allowed Jamie to reconnect with his love of singing.

     

     The best singers don’t just perform. They share their souls with us. Because of the remarkable beauty of the tenor sound, we may feel he does that more intensely.

     Jamie eventually has the tools to pursue a career in opera, but when we first meet him he's a high school senior with a splendid voice and a good heart. Here’s his introduction to the reader in my first book, How I Grew Up, remembering the narrator is Melanie Stewart:

     Alice [Melanie’s sister] was right; Jamie was a very handsome boy. He had very dark hair, but fair skin and startlingly blue eyes. But it was more than that which made him so appealing; Jamie was someone everybody liked. He was friendly and kind, and always had a ready smile. Jamie had a truly beautiful tenor voice and he loved to sing, but he wasn’t conceited about it. When people complimented him on his singing, he always seemed a little surprised. He was just doing something he loved to do, and if people liked hearing him, well, that was great.

     That was Jamie at eighteen. My new book begins when he is twenty-two and follows him through the next seven years of his life, and Jamie goes through a lot in those seven years. You can order You Are My Song, as well as How I Grew Up and Eli’s Heart, in paperback or e-book format on Amazon. People who live here in the Poconos can purchase paperback copies of all my novels at a slightly discounted price at the Pocono Community Theater. I’ve loved writing these books. I hope you enjoy reading them.

You Are My Song,

Here's a link: tinyurl.com/p743ru9

Cover by Tristan Flanagan

About Jamie Logan, Tenor

You Are My Song

    The nineteen-fifties. Elvis is wearing “Blue Suede Shoes.” Country music reigns supreme at the Grand Old Opry in Nashville.

     But in a small Tennessee town Jamie Logan ─ a good-hearted young man with a superb tenor voice ─ stars in his high school’s musical theater production and begins an unlikely, almost magical journey that could take him to the pinnacle of the opera world.

   The path is far from simple. Jamie just wants to sing. He is ill-prepared for the jealousy, rivalry and politics he encounters on his way. Family crises and even a hate crime also sidetrack him and threaten to undermine his journey.

    But Jamie has a voice beautiful beyond belief ─ and the love of a woman who inspires him to believe in himself. His desire to sing becomes his reason for being. Will that be enough?

     I introduced Jamie Logan in How I Grew Up; he played opposite Melanie Stewart in their high school production of Carousel. I like my character Jamie. He has a naturally beautiful voice. He has innate musicianship and an ability to learn quickly, and no ego. He’s friendly, generous, outgoing, considerate. Oh, and unusually good-looking. He and Melanie have a strong connection, and they both wonder if they could be in love. But no, Jamie has a jealous girlfriend he later marries, and she doesn’t want him to sing.

     When You Are My Song begins, it’s four years after Jamie’s graduation from high school, and his marriage has failed. I had to laugh at my readers’ reaction to that; two of them commented they weren’t surprised to learn of Jamie’s and Sarah’s divorce. I wasn’t either. I wanted to see what would happen if I allowed Jamie to reconnect with his love of singing.

     Jamie’s lack of ego is unusual in a tenor. It’s a challenge to be a tenor in the world of opera; everyone wants to hear the tenor’s high notes, and if he doesn’t deliver, there are inevitably negative reactions. There’s a reason many of us love the tenor voice. There’s an intensity to the tenor sound; the response to that sound and those high notes is visceral. It’s a thrill to hear a tenor sing high notes with power and beauty.

     Even more, we love to hear a tenor who can not only sing that high C, but hold it forever and play with the dynamics. All of these things are probably contrary to the laws of physics, or medical science, or something. But the poor tenor is stuck with it. Of course, there is so much more to what makes a good tenor ─ a passion for the music he sings; the sensibility to shape a beautiful phrase; the ability to move the audience with the sounds he makes. He must be able to connect with his fellow performers; he must be believable in the role he is portraying.

     The best singers don’t just perform. They share their souls with us. Because of the remarkable beauty of the tenor sound, we may feel he does that more intensely.

     Jamie eventually has the tools to pursue a career in opera, but when we first meet him he's a high school senior with a splendid voice and a good heart. Here’s his introduction to the reader in my first book, How I Grew Up, remembering the narrator is Melanie Stewart:

     Alice [Melanie’s sister] was right; Jamie was a very handsome boy. He had very dark hair, but fair skin and startlingly blue eyes. But it was more than that which made him so appealing; Jamie was someone everybody liked. He was friendly and kind, and always had a ready smile. Jamie had a truly beautiful tenor voice and he loved to sing, but he wasn’t conceited about it. When people complimented him on his singing, he always seemed a little surprised. He was just doing something he loved to do, and if people liked hearing him, well, that was great.

     That was Jamie at eighteen. My new book begins when he is twenty-two and follows him through the next seven years of his life, and Jamie goes through a lot in those seven years. You can order You Are My Song, as well as How I Grew Up and Eli’s Heart, in paperback or e-book format on Amazon. People who live here in the Poconos can purchase paperback copies of all my novels at a slightly discounted price at the Pocono Community Theater. I’ve loved writing these books. I hope you enjoy reading them.

www.susanmoorejordan.com

 Cover design by Tristan Flanagan

A Very Different Story

Not a Fairy Tale

     With any luck, You Are My Song should be available for purchase by the end of the month. I’ve included some difficult elements in this story: divorce, alcoholism, a hate crime, a family tragedy. The South in the 1950s and 1960s had its share of problems, especially for people who didn’t adhere to the “norm.” Jamie, mainly through some of his friends and family, faces some difficult moments.

     One of my reader reviews on Amazon for Eli’s Heart states “The story was fairy tale, full of music and wonder.” There is a fairy tale element to the book; there had to be, given Eli Levin’s dual challenges of a serious congenital heart defect and a prodigious musical talent. It could have taken place anywhere and in any era.

     Jamie Logan, on the other hand, the protagonist of You Are My Song, is very much a product of small town America in the 1950s. A product of a small Southern town in the 1950s. He is a good-hearted, naïve boy when the story begins. He has a lot to learn about life, about himself, about what he wants and what he wants to do. About what it will take for him to achieve his dream.

     Jamie is fortunate that he is white, and that he’s straight. He learns through some of his friends and fellow college students that being other than white and straight could lead to complications. To his credit, he does what he can for his friends who face these problems, and grows as a man and an artist because of it.

     Jamie just wants to sing, and it’s not that simple. Despite the many attributes he has, and the fact that he is more than willing to work hard at perfecting his craft, the “gold ring” he is after is not easily attained. Good things happen to him and for him, but there are definitely challenges he has to face, both personal and professional.

     What was most enjoyable about writing the book was revisiting “opera world” by listening to – and watching – recordings and videos of operas, and appreciating all over again those glorious voices I have admired and loved for many years. YouTube is great. I saw full length productions of Carmen, La Traviata, La Bohème. I saw the Met’s HD broadcast last year of Tosca and recently of The Merry Widow (and plan to attend The Tales of Hoffmann soon – a bonus!). I watched again my DVD of Manon Lescaut with the wonderful performers Kiri te Kanawa and Placido Domingo.

     I listened to numerous recordings, both my own and on YouTube, of a number of tenors from the 1950s and 60s: Jussi Björling, Giuseppe di Stefano, Jan Peerce, Richard Tucker, Franco Corelli, Mario del Monaco, Nicolai Gedda, Fritz Wunderlich, and yes, Mario Lanza. Great tenors, all of them.

     I was reminded of both the immense satisfaction an opera singer can experience and the intense frustration he can face. It’s not an easy life. But as Jamie learns, if you are born to do this ─ sing opera ─ you will try to find a way. And there’s a chance if you have the voice and the drive – and the luck – you might know the amazing sensation of standing on a stage with fellow artists and singing with a full orchestra, without a microphone, and feeling your voice soar to the far reaches of the opera house. You will have achieved something few people ever achieve. 

Thoughts on Camille and La Traviata

The Lady of the Camellias

     Very recently I watched the 1936 film Camille for the first time. It surprises me that I had not seen the entire film before, because I love the story and was very much aware of the Dumas novel being the basis for both Verdi’s beautiful opera La Traviata and this movie. I’ve seen and heard the opera many times and never tire of it. There are musical moments in this opera, as in many of Verdi’s operas, which are so achingly beautiful and so moving it’s impossible not to respond to them exactly as Verdi intended we should. 

     I have to admit, though, I’ve never read the novel, and I’m surprised that I have not. There were moments in the film in which the dialogue is nearly word for word the same as those scenes in the opera; in particular, the scene between Marguerite/Violetta and Armand's/Alfredo's father. I have to correct that; I need to read the novel, but I wish I could read it in French. I’m still not sure I understand why the film was entitled Camille and not The Lady of the Camellias, English for the book title La Dame aux Camélias.

     In the novel, Marguerite Gautier is a Parisian courtesan who lives by being “kept” by men of wealth (I won’t call them “gentlemen”). A woman of great beauty, she came to Paris from the country and grew to love the life of luxury these men afforded her. She’s battling consumption, though, and is doomed to die young. But before she does, she meets the great love of her life, Armand Duval, a younger man who has been hopelessly smitten with her. They have a summer together. She eventually dies in his arms.

     Since I knew the opera better than the film … or the novel … one of the things I appreciated about the movie was learning more about the characters. While the music paints the emotions of the characters as words alone cannot, there are some things about them we don’t learn in the opera. Marguerite is happy in the country because she came from the country, and she appreciates such things as the care of livestock. Verdi’s Violetta doesn’t show or tell us that about herself. However, she has an aria (“Sempre libera”) about her determined pursuit of living for herself that ignites the stage more than any dialogue or monologue ever could.

     Greta Garbo struck me as not just beautiful, but luminous. Radiant. I know it’s an old film, but I thought it was the most romantic movie I have ever seen, primarily because of Garbo’s Marguerite. What a remarkable actress the woman was. A lesson in what an actor needs to do to create and express a character – voice, face, body. It made me curious about how many sopranos who perform the role of Violetta study Garbo’s Marguerite. They should.

     The primary reason I wanted to watch the film was because the protagonist of my book You Are My Song, tenor Jamie Logan, sings the role of Alfredo – Verdi’s version of Armand. I had my own ideas about how Alfredo (or Armand) should be portrayed, and was enchanted with what Robert Taylor did with the role. I believe Armand was Taylor’s first major film role, and I’m sure it was daunting for the young actor to be performing in a film with the divine Garbo, but I found him wonderfully convincing in the role. It was exactly what I had hoped it would be.

     (An aside: Robert Taylor, whose real name was Spangler Arlington Brugh, began life as a musician. He was a serious cello student and followed his teacher from Doane College in Nebraska to Pomona College in Los Angeles. While a student there he became part of a theater group, where he was spotted by a talent scout. Those things do happen sometimes!)

     So here is a brief moment in You Are My Song (to be released January, 2015) concerning Jamie’s first appearance as Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata.

     Meredith attended the final dress rehearsal and loved what she saw. Marco’s staging called for an instant attraction between Violetta and Alfredo, and they were in each other’s arms almost from the moment the two of them were alone on stage. Meredith thought Jamie’s Alfredo was just about perfect; he played the role as a very eager, very young man, almost a boy. Arlene’s Violetta was at first seductive and sophisticated, then became a woman truly in love, entranced by Alfredo.

     Meredith thought of the old film Camille with Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor, which is based on the same story. She had thought the film the height of romanticism when she saw it. Marco was producing the same effect with two fine singing actors who had the voices, the looks, and the chemistry between them to make it work well.

     After the rehearsal Meredith said to Jamie and Arlene, “It’s wonderful. Just steamy enough. Who says opera is stuffy? You are both absolutely fantastic.”