Andrea Mellis (opera singer, actress, director, writer, singing teacher - Website) and her husband Ron Hannah (composer, traveller, teacher - Website) embarked on a cultural mission in March of 2017 to commemorate the anniversary of 25 years of Canadian-Armenian relations. Ron had composed an opera about Armenia's patron saint, Gregory, titled "The Illuminator". It was the particular wish of Andrea (who wrote the libretto and directed the production) that there be many roles within the scope of young professionals just embarking on their career, and also important parts for children.
After the acclaimed premiere (on April 3rd and 4th of 2017) that got 60 young Armenians involved and passionate about performing on stage, Andrea , with the support of the new Artistic Director, Constantine Orbelian, has been asked to launch a production of a Broadway musical at the Armenian National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet in Yerevan. Unfortunately, the Opera's budget is limited and they cannot afford the performance rights, rentals and royalties themselves. With your help we can get this project to materialise - we need 9,000 Euros to finance the rights and rentals for On The Town by Leonard Bernstein, which is Andrea’s first choice, not least because 2018 is Leonard Bernstein's 100th birthday!
If we don’t reach our goal of €9,000 for this production we would use what we have collected to hold workshops in Musical Theater Arts in Yerevan, which are sorely needed. There is very little opportunity for young performers to hone their skills in song and dance with dialogue: the basics for musical theater. In this way we would start building a "stable" of accomplished performers for future productions.
Andrea has almost 40 years’ experience as a teacher of singing and acting; she has already directed "On The Town" as well as dozens of other musicals, operas and plays, and she can get incredible performances out of total beginners (you can see what they can do by clicking on the link to "The Illuminator" above and viewing a video of the complete premiere performance). Young Armenian performers, although they have excellent voices and can sing beautifully, have very few opportunities to perform roles on stage, and this sort of work is vital to their future careers.
Let's work together to bring joy and perspective to young singers and dancers in Armenia, a country in which the shadows of religious and cultural conflicts with its neighbours still linger, where poverty and stagnation affect large parts of the country, and where a symbol of hope and change is greatly welcomed.
