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One ‘sophisticated lady’ returns to CTG
LESLIE MIZELL, Special to Go Triad
(Thursday, March 10, 2005 1:00 am)

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GREENSBORO — The journey from flirting in Seville to stomping at the Savoy isn’t as far as you might think. Just ask Cheryse McLeod.

The mezzo-soprano recently completed performances with the Asheville Lyric Opera and South Carolina Opera in the title temptress role of Bizet’s "Carmen." She opened Wednesday night as a featured performer in the Duke Ellington revue "Sophisticated Ladies," presented by the Community Theatre of Greensboro.

"I never worry about casting when I’m choosing shows for the season," says Mitchel Sommers, CTG’s executive director.

Nancy Sidelinger/©News & Record Performers rehearse ‘Sophisticated Ladies.’ GO!SEE!DO! ‘Sophisticated Ladies’ When: 8 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday Where: The Empire Room, 203 S. Elm St., Greensboro Tickets: $14-$25 Information: 333-7469

"I just assume everything will fall into place. It usually doesn’t happen as easily as this, however: I’m in Office Depot when this beautiful woman comes up and greets me. I’m letting her talk while I’m trying to place her; then I realize it’s Cheryse.

"I hadn’t seen her for years, but she has been involved with CTG since she was a little girl. She was in our first production of ‘Annie’ and one of the original members of the Harlequins performing group. She has always been gorgeous with a lovely spirit."

When Sommers learned McLeod had recently returned to Greensboro to live, he encouraged her to audition for "Sophisticated Ladies." When she won a role, she was able to work her schedule to perform "Carmen" and still rehearse and open in "Sophisticated Ladies" some five weeks later.

"I’ve been really focusing on classical performance since college," McLeod says, "but it’s not like ‘Sophisticated Ladies’ is a vacation. It’s definitely a different style, but I’m still using classical technique. I’m just trying to get the ‘opera’ out, so to speak.’’

Born in Greensboro, McLeod received an undergraduate degree in vocal performance at Carnegie Mellon University, a master’s degree in vocal performance at UNCG and a professional artist certificate at the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute of the N.C. School of the Arts.

After making her professional debut in 1999 with the Greensboro Opera Company, McLeod entered a two-year artist residency with the Connecticut Opera, where she performed Berta in "The Barber of Seville," Alisa in "Lucia di Lammermoor" and Giovanna in "Rigoletto," among other roles.

She has performed as a soloist with Connecticut’s New Britain Symphony and the North Carolina Symphony, and opened a voice studio since returning to the Triad.

But she barely remembers the last time she was in a traditional musical.

"I’m having a blast, especially with the dancing," she says. "There’s movement in opera, but the audition for ‘Sophisticated Ladies’ was the first time in years I’ve done a dance audition.

"I’m enjoying using my dance background in a fun and challenging way. It makes me wish there were dance breaks in opera."

"Sophisticated Ladies" is a revue of some three dozen of Ellington’s 3,000 songs, with lyrics provided by people such as Don George, Harry James, Johnny Mercer, Irving Mills and Billy Strayhorn.

The 1981 Broadway show was Tony-nominated as best musical, and featured Gregory Hines, Judith Jamison, Phyllis Hyman, Gregg Burge and Hinton Battle, who won a Tony for best featured actor. It racked up 767 performances, and its out-of-print original cast recording commands $50 and more on Amazon.com.

The CTG production, staged in partnership with Bennett College and N.C. A&T, features a cast of 17, including featured performers and a chorus.

Among McLeod’s numbers are "It Don’t Mean a Thing," "Solitude" and "Music Is a Woman."

"‘Music Is a Woman’ has got to be one of my favorites," McLeod says. "It’s actually not even sung; it’s performed in a kind of speak-sing."

The ambitious production is also a fund-raiser, with the theater departments of Bennett and A&T and the CTG scholarship fund benefiting equally from the proceeds of the Wednesday’s debut.

The run of the show is also dedicated to four local "sophisticated ladies" who have spent years, if not decades, supporting CTG and the arts: Elizabeth "Betty" Blakeman, Jeanie Duncan, Rebecca V. Graves and Maria Warner.

"Giving back to the arts community is so important," McLeod says.

"Since I’ve been gone for a while, it’s great to become involved with that community again. Some people think anything outside New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Fran is a cultural wasteland. But I’ve seen so much great art produced all over the country, and particularly here in the Triad, where there’s so much going on in a lot of different genres."

Leslie Mizell is a freelance writer who has been covering the Triad’s live theater scene for more than a decade. Her column runs weekly in Go Triad. Contact her at mailto:LAMizell@aol.com?subject=.