Description
The Opera Ring Theater was in operation in San Francisco from 1954 to 1967. Founded and directed by Irma Kay, the theater
was intended to produce operas in English and in-the round in order to reach out to and educate audiences unfamiliar with
traditional opera production. It received early success through productions by Gian-Carlo Menotti, Kurt Weill, and John Latouche.
From there, it found a niche in the classical musical comedy genre. Other performance elements were added including concerts
of chamber music and dance of the Renaissance, as well as shows intended for children, “melodramas,” and dramatic productions.
Productions were commonly held in the round and in repertory. Renowned artists occasionally were seen on stage such as Morgan
Freeman, Diane Berman, June Purviance, Donna Petersen, and Marty Balin. In 1967, the theater failed due to the declining popularity
of musical comedy. This collection consists of material collected by Irma Kay documenting the history of the company including
programs, press clippings, staging diagrams, promotional materials, production photographs, photographs of the theater itself,
scrapbooks, awards, blueprints, sketches, lighting plans, costume and set designs, correspondence, and some administrative
records.
Background
Irma Kay, founder and director of the San Francisco Opera Ring from 1954 to 1967, had a broad-based background in the performing
arts before arriving in the Bay Area in 1952. Trained as a pianist, she had derived additional inspiration from her brother,
Hershy Kay, a composer, musical arranger and conductor. When Irma joined Hershy in New York, she studied dance with Martha
Graham and worked at the Neighborhood Playhouse and off-broadway's Provincetown Playhouse. After a time in Los Angeles, Irma
came to San Francisco where she founded the Opera Ring Theater. Irma Kay's vision was to produce operas in English and in-the
round in order to reach out to and educate audiences unfamiliar with traditional opera production. She rented space at the
Theatre Arts Colony building on Washington Street. The Opera Ring Theater Company opened to good reviews with a production
of Gian-Carlo Menotti's The Telephone and The Medium, in July 1954. Irma managed to secure a lease on a warehouse with adequate
auditorium and stage space at 123 South Van Ness Avenue. A Board of Directors was formed to manage the Opera Ring Association.
There, the West Coast Premiere of Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera, opened on September 21, 1955. In June, 1956, John Latouche's
The Golden Apple, music by Jerome Moross, played a three month run. Kurt Weill's Street Scene and Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate
followed. The 30 productions of the next decade would all be from the classical musical comedy genre, i.e. Finian's Rainbow,
Carousel, Lady in the Dark, Oklahoma, Guys and Dolls, to name a few. Other performance elements were added including concerts
of chamber music and dance of the Renaissance. Children's productions such as Hansel and Gretel, and Heidi, were produced
between the main staged productions. Saturday nights at midnight there were "melodramas" complete with olio acts. Productions
often alternated, one playing Thursday and Friday, another on Saturday and Sunday. The Opera Ring had as many as 85 singers,
actors and dancers working on several productions at the same time. Can-Can (1959-1961) and West Side Story (1960-1962) each
ran for two years. There were revivals of The Golden Apple, Threepenny Opera, Pal Joey, Guys and Dolls, and Little Mary Sunshine.
Dramatic productions such as Dirty Hands by Sartre, and Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth were presented under the banner
of the Theatre Ring. Although the casts were primarily composed of local performers, there are renowned artists that came
to the Opera Ring. Morgan Freeman was with the O.R. from 1960-62 and appeared in Once Upon a Mattress, West Side Story, and
as the street singer in revival of Threepenny Opera. Diane Berman was a leading lady in several O.R. shows as was June Purviance.
Donna Petersen of the San Francisco Opera appeared in early Opera Ring productions, as did Marty Buchwald, aka Marty Balin
who went on to create SF Sound and the Jefferson Airplane. Opera Ring's demise was due to two things: the golden age of musical
comedy was coming to an end, and there wasn't new material of a like-kind to choose from. The final production was Weill's
Lost in the Stars, critically acclaimed, but poorly attended, in the summer of 1967. Earlier in the year, a Familiar Faces
benefit for O.R. gave two performances of scenes from earlier productions with as many of the original players as could be
assembled. The Opera Ring closed in February, 1967.