John de Lancie
Narrating the Cleveland Orchestra's performance of Grieg's Peer Gynt

As the son of a famous orchestra musician who also loved theater, it’s hardly to be wondered at that John de Lancie would share these qualities with his father. (The elder de Lancie was not only the principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra for some twenty-three years, fondly remembered by audiences world-wide for the many orchestral and solo recordings he made there, he was also the inspiration for the well-known Oboe Concerto by Richard Strauss.)

The younger de Lancie came to music and theater in a much different manner. Oh, of course he studied piano and oboe, learning to read music in the process. “In my house,” he says, “if you weren’t planning to be a professional musician, you might as well have been one of the great unwashed.” Then he laughs. He remembers seeing and hearing Danny Kaye and Harpo Marx when they appeared with the orchestra, but sometimes, even so, as a little boy, he was bored. As he listened to the music, he’d make up stories in his head, which were most enjoyable. But then it came time for him to move onward. And he did--in many directions.

Years later, as a grownup actor, he returned to the concept of orchestral/theatrical narratives and discovered a great gap in that repertoire. “There were some, but they were sort of sparse and sketchy, not at all what I wanted to do.” So he set about to change all that.

For several seasons in Los Angeles (for its Philharmonic) he produced (literally) several such programs titled First Nights in which a theatrical narrative was wrapped in and around an orchestral program, bringing the entire story to life in a new way. These garnered new audiences for the orchestra, while delighting the people already there. One of his favorites (if only he could do it here, too!) was the Mahler Symphony No. 1. Actors portraying Mahler and his family sat on stage in the middle of the orchestra, with the music becoming the composer’s biography. Other first nights included Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, (Beethoven Unbuttoned) and the highly excitable Rite of Spring of Stravinsky. (Ooh, to have been in that audience! either one would do nicely!)

de Lancie has since done a new version of Beethoven’s Egmont with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He estimates he’s done (so far) seven or eight of this type of piece: “with actors, dancers, and all that stuff.” He writes his narrative to fit the music, rather than bending the music to fit his words. “It’s great. You have all that power with no responsibility!” However, all that led to his newest career—directing opera.

“People were kind enough to say ‘you should be directing opera’, so now I’m directing opera in Atlanta. Last year I did Tosca and this spring was Cold Sassy Tree. I think audiences want things to be the way they were. But it’s hard. Orchestras and opera (or even theater) companies want more people to come, but I think ‘going to the concert’ needs to be more of an event. An event that’s the music or presentation itself! Endless videos and Vegas lights just don’t get it. They can get that anywhere. The concert hall needs to be special. Creating ‘events’ is great fun; making it happen is even more so.”

He’s not so sure that 95% of concert repertoire should be the established masterworks, either. “After all, when people went to concerts during Beethoven’s time, it was all new music. They didn’t go to hear Beethoven’s Fifth yet again—well they couldn’t, it hadn’t been written yet—but they heard a different symphony or a piano concerto or one of the choral works, and maybe even a piano piece.”

“And look at the Schumanns – Robert and Clara.” He laughs. “It’s so delicious! Clara’s father was doing his best to keep them apart, and these two young lovers are busily writing and playing love songs to each other—right under Daddy’s nose!” He sighs. “There’s so much material available to work with, yet we hear the same things over and over again.”

He started his acting career on stage. Actually, in high school, he did Shakespeare: Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night and Hamlet, among others. In what must have been a dazzling experience for all concerned, he overcame a reading disability by reading out loud. His first girlfriend (with whom he is still friendly—after all these years!) was told, “I need to read to you,” and so he did. What really got him going was the classic science fiction of H. G. Wells, for instance. In short order, his parents removed their TV set because the younger John was reading so much! Although he did like what he refers to as ‘soft’ sci-fi, he really liked the ‘white-knuckle’ sci-fi.

In 1984 and 85, he won the Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role (Eugene Bradford) in a Daytime Soap Opera, for Days of Our Lives. He did that role from 1982 to 1986. That latter year, he was nominated for Outstanding Comic Relief Role for the same program, but didn’t win. He’s been on many classic TV series: ''MacGyver'', Hill Street Blues, The West Wing, LA Law and Picket Fences, among many others. In company with Leonard Nimoy, he produced radio-style dramatization of classic science fiction for their company Alien Voices.

His stage credits are too numerous to list in detail. (Just look him up on the web!)

In the mid-80s, he was appearing in Terranova at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, when his agent called him one day. de Lancie was requested to audition for a movie, but he was busy, and not immediately interested in making a movie, so he didn’t go. Next week, the agent called again. “They still want you,” he said, so de Lancie went. On the way out of the audition, an older man put his hand on de Lancie’s shoulder and said, ‘You make my words sound so much better than they really are.” Turned out to be Gene Roddenberry, the creator and director of the Star Trek TV series and some of the first movies that came out of that series. And yet another direction was carved in the pathway of de Lancie’s life. .

Why Roddenberry wanted de Lancie to read for him is an even better story, which came to light later. Turns out that some years earlier Roddenberry’s attorney had open heart surgery, and while in the hospital was thoroughly miserable. One day he was watching TV and a young actor appeared in a comedy role. The young actor was de Lancie, and as the attorney subsequently told him, “You made me laugh after my by-pass surgery, and I made up my mind then, that if it was ever possible to hire you for something, I’d do my best to make it happen.”

Nearly everyone now knows the result of that audition. John de Lancie began a career as the enigmatic character known as Q in the last several Star Trek series.

de Lancie has portrayed Peer Gynt on stage in New York and Montreal. “He’s a real naughty boy,” the actor chuckles and continues, “so when the Cleveland Orchestra called me for this, I thought that’s what they wanted. But no, they wanted a narrator.” First, however, they also needed a narration. “I can do that,” he said. So, working with an English translation of the Italian version (of the original Norwegian) that Vladimir Ashkenazy used for a similar production in Italy, de Lancie created a narration to accompany the incidental music. “This version contains it all,” he adds.

“It’s very interesting, really. After Ibsen completed the play, he asked the composer Edvard Grieg if he would write incidental music to go along with it. And Grieg did just that, but when Ibsen finally heard it he said, ‘that’s beautiful music, but it isn’t my play’.” Such has been the mournful cry of playwrights through the centuries. “In this one,” says de Lancie, “I’m very much the actor. But Anitra and Solveig have the best parts.”

They may have the best, but he has the most! He’ll be playing three minor roles, in addition to doing the narration: The Old Man of the Dovre, The Great Bøyg, and The Button Moulder. Baritone Joshua Hopkins will portray Peer Gynt. Inger Dam-Jensen will portray Solveig. The Oberlin College Chorus (Hugh Floyd, director); Cleveland State University Chorale (Betsy Burleigh, director) and members of the Cleveland Orchestra Chamber Chorus (Robert Porco, director) will also appear. Narration and spoken parts will be in English. Sung portions will be in Norwegian, with projected English surtitles. The Cleveland Orchestra will be conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Concerts are Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 pm at Severance Hall. For tickets or other information, call (216) 231-1111, or visit the orchestra’s web-site: http://www.clevelandorchestra.com

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz ArtsWriterATadelphia.net

Photo by Kelly Ferjutz (:divend:)