 This is not a typical corporate entertainment company, either. This is a trend-bucking, grass roots New York troupe co-owned by Rebecca Greenstein. To get from aspiring singer to co-owner of Opera Manhattan Repertory Theater, one has to go back to when the young soprano walked the halls of Alvarado High School. “I was involved in everything,” she said. “I was in choir, in drama and band — I was actually drum major my senior year.” The singer attended Alvarado schools from kindergarten, and her mother, Ruth Greenstein, is a retired Alvarado Elementary South teacher and still lives in the area. She had several scholarships as a senior and chose to study biology and performing arts at Paris Junior College. It was there she performed in her first musical, “Carrousel,” and she was immediately hooked. After getting her associates degree at Paris she transferred to Texas State to study musical theater. Upon graduation faculty members tried to steer her towards opera, but she chose to work in musical theater in Austin and “wherever I could get a job in music.” In 2001 she made the daring move to New York. She first did musicals in her new home town and “just fell into opera” because, she said, it is similar to musical theater, and except for the singing technique, identical to opera. A chance meeting with another performer helped direct her energy to her new cause — to help young singers such as herself make it in a tough business. She met her business partner and sometimes singing partner, Bryce Smith, at a production the pair sang in. The bass singer from Lumberton, Miss. entertained the idea of starting a performer-friendly opera company, and in spite of the dangerous economic times, Greenstein liked it. “We started our own little opera company because we just got tired of it all,” She explained. “There are companies in New York and all over the country that really abuse young talent. There are companies that actually make you pay to sing — I’m sorry, but after all the coaching and honing of our craft, the last thing we need is to pay to perform. We set up and started our own company where we treat performers right and we refuse to make anybody pay to sing.” As a small company, Smith and Greenstein wear many hats other than management. The partners help with production, sets, promotion and coaching. Greenstein explained that a repertory theater has several major productions it can perform in rotation. The company just finished “Die Fledermous,” and can now add that to their repertory to perform when needed. “Die Fledermous” is the company’s first full production, with Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and Gounod’s “Faust” preceding their latest production. The group currently does not have a home theater, but leases theaters for their productions. Smith and Greenstein have applied for not-for-profit status and hope to, in time, aid the companies with donations or grants. Their own home theater may be two to five years down the road, Greenstein said. One of the advantages of a start-up company like Opera Manhattan is it can draw from fresh, energetic and daring talent. The draw back is everyone has to have a day job. “This is a tough business, but you can make a living at it,” she said. “Eventually I will get there — you just have to pay your dues and climb the ladder. That is why in our company we try hard to work with new talent and do a production that is entertaining and exciting. About 20 co-workers of mine came out to “Die Fledermous” just to support me and they said they didn’t know opera could be so entertaining.” To learn about coaching and performing opportunities at Opera Manhattan, visit the link at www.alvaradostar.net.
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