For the upcoming Opera Theater of Connecticut production of La Passion de Carmen, Alan Mann and Kate Ford evaluated potential cast members for quality of voice, vocal technique and range, musical knowledge, acting ability, past experience, and training, just as they have for past productions.

But this time, they also had to ask two more questions.

“‘Are you allergic to horses?’” Mann asked.

“And hay. ‘Are you allergic to hay?’” Ford asked.

That’s because this production is a one-of-a-kind collaboration created by their Clinton-based Opera Theater of Connecticut working with Clinton-based Patricia Norcia Dressage and Idlenot Farms, which specializes in horses that can dance. Also on the team is High Hopes, a therapeutic riding community in Old Lyme, which will provide an arena as a performance space.

Mann and Ford, who have been involved with theater and opera for more than three decades, say they’ve checked and, as far as they can tell, this is a first of its kind production. Tickets are going fast, and it’s attracting opera-goers and equestrians alike, both young and old, along with those who just love a great show. The one-act opera, which will run about 90 minutes, will be presented on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 10 and 11 at 3 p.m., at the High Hopes Arena, 36 Town Woods Road, Old Lyme. More information about the show and how to buy tickets is available at www.operatheaterofct.org.

“Opera and dressage. This hasn’t been done anywhere here in the states. And we’re doing it right here on the shoreline,” says Mann.

Carmen With Horses

Opera and dressage or, more specifically, Carmen with horses, has been a twinkle in Patricia Norcia’s eye ever since she saw Carmen performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York several decades ago.

“There were always horses, but not the beautiful Spanish horses that I felt would be perfect for it,” says Norcia, who lives in Clinton and runs Idlenot Farms and Patricia Norcia Dressage. A graduate of Yale Drama School, she was an actor and director for years, and was intimately involved in the world of opera. Carmen--which has as its lead character a strong, passionate, fiercely independent woman--an opera she had directed, was one that she loved.

Her other love was riding and horses, and, after 25 years in theater, she turned her full attention to dressage, a system of training a horse so that it moves and dances in complete harmony with its rider. Working and training in Spain and Portugal, she bought several Iberian horses. “They have been known for centuries as the Horse of Kings. They were the most prized and most beautiful horses in Europe.”

Among her horses, she realized some had astonishingly good rhythm, naturally so. Her horse Polo, for example, can find the beat in any piece of music, and adjust his trot to it, not necessarily because of his breed but because, Norcia says, “he is talented and has sensitivity to it.”

Norcia’s life later brought her to Clinton, and she was delighted to find the Opera Theater of Connecticut (OTC) performing at at town hall. “What a coincidence that I should move to a town with an opera company and run by Kate Ford and Alan Mann, who I knew from New York.”

She shared with them her dream of doing Carmen with horses.

Talking For Years

Mann gives credit to Ford for seeing the full potential in Norcia’s idea, and working with her to make it happen. “So I like to tell this story because it has lots of praise for Kate and Patricia,” he says. “Patricia came and sang in our chorus. And then her daughter and son came and sang in the chorus. And through that we got to meet her husband, who’s a sound engineer who travels and works with the likes of [Italian opera star] Andrea Bocelli, when he does his stadium concerts in the United States,” Mann says.

“So Kate and Patricia, you know, are talking and everything,” says Mann.

“Talking for years,” says Ford.

“Yes, this really goes back to 2015,” says Mann.

Everyone involved in the ongoing discussion thought it was a spectacular idea, and they puzzled over the hurdles. What kind of venue could accommodate both opera singers and horses in a way that Norcia and Ford envisioned?

“We needed a really big arena. Because dressage requires a certain fixed space and so you need something even bigger than that,” says Mann. So the team forged a relationship with High Hopes, which was able to offer that space.

That solved, there was another hurdle. What about an orchestra? In a horse arena? But then, in 2019, “we discovered a beautiful, beautiful soundtrack recording of Carmen, with no singers. No singers, just the soundtrack of the opera,” says Mann. The team negotiated the rights.

Then, another hurdle. How could the team make the soundtrack work, for the audience and the opera singers, in a huge horse arena? The Andrews Memorial Theater, for example, where OTC often performs, is renowned for its outstanding acoustics. Same for the Met. These are halls built to carry sound. Most horse arenas? Not so much. Enter Norcia’s husband, Duncan Edwards. Edwards has not only worked with opera stars, he’s also known for creating gorgeous sound at events as large as the opening and closing ceremonies for the olympics, and paralympics. He was recruited to help.

So, all set?

No. By now it’s late 2019.

“And then came The Great Quarantine,” says Mann. So, there was that.

Eventually, as restrictions began to lift, the team got back to work.

Majesty, Pride, Power

A preview of the production, held as part of a fundraiser in June, was a huge success. The opera singers were amazed by the horses. The horse people thought the singers were spectacular. Who knows what the horses thought, but they stepped right up to the beat.

“We have been choreographing and practicing with the horses since March,” says Norcia. “Our six riders, three men and three women, all accomplished dressage riders, have put together dances that weave into the opera and set the stage for many of the scenes. The horses are quite musical, matching their steps to the beats they hear, so it has been a dream come true to ride to this glorious music. There is nothing more fascinating than horses moving to the music, their majesty and pride and power are riveting.”

Ford says she and Mann are also thrilled with the singers who were cast, and that a great deal of effort also has gone into costuming. “Not only is it fully costumed for the singers, but also for the horses. It’s a Baroque style of costuming, including tails and manes and saddles and saddle covers. Of course the riders will be costumed also. They will have a slight militaristic look in the beginning. And then they merge into a celebratory look, when they get into the arena for the bullfight scene. The final scene is quite dramatic.”

One thing this show will not have is supertitles, often offered at operas to help attendees understand the lines. While that is the case, it will be easy enough for those who are going to read a libretto or synopsis beforehand. Mann recommends searching on Google for “Carmen English language libretto,” or checking on the synopsis of Carmen on the website of the Metropolitan Opera House.