‘Lend Me a Soprano’ is more than a gender swap, WCT director says

Written by Ken Ludwig in the mid-1980s, “Lend Me a Tenor” has become a favorite of community theater groups for nearly four decades.

“Tenor” told the story of a Cleveland opera company in the mid-1930s with a world-renowned soloist coming to play the lead role in “Otello.” When “Il Stupendo” accidentally mixes alcohol with tranquilizers, the opera company’s harried assistant must step into the role.

Ludwig updated the script for “Lend Me a Soprano,” which Wichita Community Theatre is staging beginning next week, in 2023.

And director Mark Schuster said the change is more than just gender.

“The script fixes a lot of problems with ‘Tenor,’” he said. “It hasn’t aged well in a lot of ways, and it has been rewritten several times by Ken Ludwig to fix some of those issues. But ‘Soprano’ fixes all of them at once, which in my opinion makes it a much better script.”

The script includes some dialogue that “may have been funny at one time but isn’t funny anymore,” Schuster said.

“Soprano” puts its female characters in the spotlight, he said.

“That gave us the ability to showcase a lot of strong, female talents in lead roles,” he said. “That was exciting for us.”

Erin Polewski plays world-famous soprano Elena Firenzi, in Cleveland to play the title role in “Carmen.” Holland Lee Kiser plays the mousy opera company assistant Jo, who must step in and save the day.

“It’s nice to see a different perspective on things, the same story told in a different way,” Kiser said. “The comedy also can be done a little bit differently, which has been fun for us to explore.”

The show also calls for each character to do a bit of singing, and Schuster said both are “smashing it out of the park.”

Polewski said with a laugh that she approached local voice teacher Paul Smith with the request, “Here’s opera, teach me opera.”

“It’s still a challenge because opera is difficult music and the music in this show is absolutely lovely,” she said.

‘LEND ME A SOPRANO’

When: June 5-15; 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays

Where: Wichita Community Theatre, 258 N. Fountain

Tickets: $18, with discounts for military, seniors and students, from 316-686-1282