L.A. TIMES Newspaper

Singer's brand of opera takes on an outrageous twist
 
 By Joyce Rudolph
GLENDALE -- After I said hello on the phone to opera singer Alison England, she asked me to wait a second, adding "I'm going to take the rat off my shoulder and put you on it."
" Did you say an r-a-t?" I asked.
Indeed, and it's a trained rat.
" Yes. She's missed me," England said. "I just returned from a seven-state tour over the last two weeks."
Along with the rat, she and 6-year-old daughter Molly Billman also share their Glendora home with three cats, seven birds, a mouse, seven fish -- and have joint custody of a duck and a dog with the landlord.
The versatile artist has performed in concert at the Kennedy Center, Radio City Music Hall and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, sung leading roles with the Seattle, Miami and other opera companies and starred in musical theater productions of "The Sound of Music" and "The King and I." She does her one-woman show, "Opera, Broadway & Beyond," Sunday for the Glendale Community Concerts Assn.
Our chat gave me a pretty good idea of her wacky sense of humor and what life is like for a single mom whose work takes her around the country. She does limit her road trips to only two weeks at a time, for her daughter's sake, she said.
" Having animals at our home is a way to keep home life normal," England said. "It's hard on a kid whose mom is an entertainer."
On the other hand, Molly has learned a healthy sense of independence. She stays with her dad while Mom is away, and is capable of relying on herself, England said.
Sunday's show begins with "Juliette's Waltz" from "Romeo and Juliet" by Charles Gounod, and progresses to Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Wonderful Guy" and a medley from Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera."
England admits while she takes her opera seriously, her antics on stage border on outrageous. She likens herself to a combination of 1950s opera singer Maria Callas, Judy Garland and Carol Burnett.
Take her recent appearance on a TV morning news show in Hawaii while she was there performing in "La Boheme" with the Hawaii Opera Theatre. She brought along a feather boa and when she sang an aria to the show's male host, taunted him with it.
" I was hanging upside down on the piano by the end of the aria," she quipped. "I do it to show opera singers can do other things. I love being radical."
Her playful take on the music, she said, helps alleviate the fear people have of opera.
" You will love it, if you will understand it," she said. "We need more of that. Opera has to stay alive. It offers a very deep emotion, any emotion -- sadness, fear, passion, anger, beauty -- it's the deepest emotion said as loud as possible. I love you! I hate you!" she breaks into exuberant song.
England has produced and performed on two CDs, "Opera Broadway & Beyond" and "World's Greatest Love Songs" and appeared as a guest star on the nationally syndicated TV sitcom, "Dharma & Greg." She teaches voice at Citrus College and at her own Hollywood studio. Her Web site is www.alisonengland.com.
Tickets are $10. Show time is 2:30 p.m. Sunday with doors opening at 1:30 p.m. at Glendale High School Auditorium, 1440 E. Broadway, Glendale. For more information, call 248-4080 or 248-3133.

 

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