Opera House Payers show the importance of connections with Ordinary Days

By Willis Patenaude | Times-Register

In their latest production, the Elkader Opera House Players (OHP) will take audiences on a one-day trip through New York City—the city where King Kong famously scaled the Empire State Building, where Jay-Z made the Yankee cap more famous than the Yankees and where Marvel villains destroyed numerous landmarks over the last decade. 

While OHP won’t have the pop culture iconography that sometimes defines the “City That Never Sleeps,” what they will have is no less important or meaningful because, on the streets of “The Big Apple,” are the people. People walking the sidewalks, dodging taxi drivers, following dreams and sometimes caught in the hustle and bustle, struggling to make connections. 

Making connections is the seminal point of Adam Gwon’s “Ordinary Days,” a musical that features the interconnected stories of four New Yorkers struggling to connect with the people and world around them. They’re struggling to find purpose for all the puzzle pieces in their lives, but that struggle is sometimes only a matter of perspective. 

Once a perspective is shifted, all the pieces scattered off to the side of the table that don’t appear to fit will suddenly fill in the missing spots. Lives will start to add up.

Bringing this story to the stage over the next two weekends is a small, yet intimate, cast featuring Perry Leffler of Prairie du Chien, Wis., as Claire, a 30-something in a relationship with Jason, a heartless romantic played by Andrew Lange of Edgewood. Jonathon Moser of McGregor plays Warren, a cheerful and optimistic artist who finds beauty in the simple things. Rounding out the cast is Maria Stavroplus of Marquette as the cynical Deb, a graduate student who meets Warren. 

They will bring an “intimate musical of four New Yorkers navigating love, ambition and unexpected connections” to the Elkader Opera House stage. 

Directing their talents will be Craig Strutt, marking his 32nd time in the director’s chair and the 72nd production he has been involved in, including “Songs for a New World” (2004), “Forever Plaid” (1997), “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” (1999) and “Matilda!” (2021). 

The choice of Ordinary Days, which is an almost entirely musical production with minimal dialogue and a four-person cast, was OHP’s desire to feature some of the group’s more popular vocalists in a smaller musical setting that would also be a good fit for the audience. 

For Strutt, the choice of actors is less about who the best actor for the role is, but which four actors would comprise the best cast. They need to look, sound and perform together in a way that brings the story to life in a way that, when the final curtain closes, it’s impossible to conceive how it could’ve been cast differently. 

One of the cast members charged with meeting that high bar is Leffler, who has been in four productions since finding her way back to the stage almost two years ago in Peter Pan. Life sent her on a detour from the stage, but now that she has found it again, she intends on staying. 

“Being back on stage has been like finding a piece of myself that had been missing since performing in college. It is not something that I want to live without from now on,” she said.

Leffler was drawn to the production because of the setting. It’s set in a real-life time and era; an ordinary Saturday in New York happens 52 times a year. It’s not an “outlandish storyline,” but something everyone can relate to in a time period the audience has likely experienced. It creates a “very unique experience” that “will leave you thinking about everyday things in a new way,” Leffler said. 

In the role of Claire, Leffler portrays a character navigating a serious relationship after suffering some past hardships. This is something she relates to because “we have all had hardships in life and have had to go forward and live our life regardless of our past.” 

Playing the part of Claire’s boyfriend Jason is Lange, another Elkader stage veteran and self-described “natural extrovert” who finds joy in being a “bright spot in a person’s day.” Coming off performances in “Arsenic and Old Lace” and “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” Lange was “graciously asked” by Cheri Moser to return as a member of the Ordinary Days cast. 

“I was excited, also, to see that Jonathon, Maria and Perry were also cast. I feel the chemistry between all of us is natural and we feed off of each other well, creating a better overall performance for the audience,” Lange said. 

Jason is head-over-heels in love with Claire, constantly trying to make her happy but sometimes missing the mark. Lange said it’s a role that “speaks to me personally” because, in his quest to make others happy, he sometimes “forgets to listen to what they truly need or want.” 

Like Leffler, one challenge for Lange is learning music verses over just learning lines.

As Leffler explained, “This show has less catchy and fun songs and more ‘if you miss a word or an entrance, you are screwed.’” 

Lange noted the rhythms of the song are not always the same as the piano. The sparse set and staging put more emphasis on character development. 

“It goes beyond listening to a cue for your next line. It’s really listening to the others you are singing with to create balance. One where individual voices can be appreciated but no single one overpowers another,” Lange said. 

The production will also feature longtime OHP veteran Moser, who has been in over 40 productions, but Ordinary Days is no ordinary musical. There is an intimacy. 

Moser, like Lange, commented on the development of characters. With only four cast members, “there’s nowhere to hide and every song, every line really matters. You’re constantly engaged because the relationships between the characters drive the whole show,” he said.

Moser’s character is Warren, described as an “eternal optimist” who hands out motivational flyers and watches the world go by. Warren wants to bring joy into people’s lives, while also finding joy in small things. Although Moser isn’t exactly like Warren, he finds the character’s outlook on life “refreshing to play.” “I think all of us should strive to have more positivity in our lives and bring joy to others,” Moser said.

Rounding out the cast is Stavroplus, a senior at MFL MarMac who will take the stage for the last time. Stavroplus started performing with OHP 12 years ago and has since appeared in over 13 productions. She said the upcoming show is a “bittersweet moment,” as she lets go of something that’s been a part of her life since she was 5 years old. 

“It breaks my heart a little knowing that this time next year I won’t get to be on that stage with all the amazing people, but I am excited to come back and support everyone,” she said. 

Through her time performing, Stavroplus went from an “extremely shy, quiet kid” to an outgoing and confident young adult who has become more talkative and empathetic. Being on stage has given her the confidence to speak and taught her the value of putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, becoming more “emotionally aware and connected with others.” 

On stage, Stavroplus has looked up to Cheri Moser, longtime director of OHP productions and “role model,” who Stavroplus watched “awestruck” while sitting in the audience. In Moser, she saw the person she wanted to emulate on the stage. 

“I wouldn’t be who I am or have the same ability and skills without her guidance. She has shaped me in more ways than one, and I am forever grateful for everything she has done,” Stavroplus said. 

Drawn to Ordinary Days because of how different it is compared to her other performances, Stavroplus, like Leffler, appreciated that it is about “plausible stories” and how perspectives and world views can change. Like her character, Deb, Stavroplus is navigating the early stages of her life and trying to figure out the “big picture.” 

“Like me, she comes from a small town and is excited to see what the world outside of it can offer. From the moment I started singing the songs, Cheri and I laughed about how eerily similar I am to the character,” she said. 

Though Stavroplus will continue performing after graduating, over the next two weekends, she will experience life on stage with the OHP for the final time. That brings a heightened sense of emotion to the rooftop scene in the musical that stands out as the most meaningful to Stavroplus. 

It is one of few moments where the entire cast is on stage together. In her final bows, for anyone lucky enough to have seen Stavroplus perform over the last 12 years, remember the “passion and love” she showed for singing and performing. Remember “there is so much beauty in every day. You just have to look for it,” Stavroplus said. 

Dates for the Opera House Players production of Ordinary Days – A Musical are April 5, 11 and 12 at 7 p.m., and April 6 and 13 at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at operahouse.booktix.com, by emailing operahouse@alpinecom.net or tickets@icsbbs.com, by calling (563) 873-2378 or at Elkader Floral.