Tony Award winner Paulo Szot
For Tony Award winner Paulo Szot, it was a surreal moment.
He had just exited the stage door at Walter Kerr Theatre after playing the role of Hades in the Broadway production of “Hadestown.” One block away, two-time Tony nominee Kate Baldwin, who was starring as Roxie Hart in the Broadway production of “Chicago” at the Ambassador Theatre, had just exited her stage door.
“We literally ran into each other seconds later, and that encounter was incredible,” said Szot. “It was the same day that Opera Theatre was announcing our roles in ‘The Light in the Piazza’ in St. Louis. I have been a fan of Kate’s voice for many years and am so happy we will be doing the show together. I mean, most of my scenes are with her. We just stood there on the street talking about this great opportunity.”
“Piazza,” which is a tale of love and hope, is set to run May 30 through June 28 at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis at the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts. The story begins with a flying hat and a fateful glance between lovers Clara Johnson (Katrina Galka) and Fabrizio Naccarelli (Roy Hage). Szot, who will take on the role of Signor Naccarelli, Fabrizio’s father, will appear opposite Baldwin, who plays Margaret Johnson, Clara’s overly protective mother. From those first flighty moments in sun-drenched Florence, Margaret harbors concerns about her daughter’s vulnerability and hesitates as the young couple rushes toward marriage.
The world-renowned Brazilian operatic baritone singer and Broadway powerhouse is excited to be performing in a role that requires him to play the part in his own accent.
Kate Baldwin
“It gives me the opportunity to just relax, to immediately immerse myself in the role and put whatever accent I naturally have into the role, without worrying if my accent is too American, or too French, or too whatever,” Szot said. “And because I’ve worked so many times in Italy and at the opera house in Rome, which has allowed me to spend so much time in that country, I’ve gathered a notion of what a father of a traditional family means in terms of how to portray the part. I hope to bring all that information into this character, which exemplifies Italian culture, sophistication and elegance.”
Szot credits his parents for the fact that he and his siblings are all musicians, including his brother, Jan, who is also an opera singer in Brazil.
“For my mom and dad, the most important thing in life wasn’t normal school. It was art school. They motivated and gave us all the support we needed to succeed. They wanted a band,” Szot said, laughing. “I think it was because my parents were kids during the Second World War, taken with their parents from their home in Poland and sent to a forced labor camp in Germany. Once my grandparents emigrated to Brazil, my parents had to start working right away to survive. But they were surrounded by the arts there and passed their love for music and dance on to us.”
At five, Szot began studying piano and later added violin and dance. However, after being sidelined with a serious knee injury at 21, his dream of becoming a professional dancer was dashed. A choral professor at the Jagiellonian University in Poland, where he was studying, encouraged him to switch to singing. And the rest is history.
“I haven’t looked back since,” Szot said.
Kate Baldwin and Paul Szot
After appearing with opera companies throughout the world, he made his Broadway debut in the starring role of Emile de Becque in “South Pacific” at Lincoln Center, winning the 2008 Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. Four years later, he was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for his debut in the same role at London’s West End. Since then, he has returned regularly to Broadway. Following “Piazza” at OTSL, Szot will reprise the role of de Becque in the Muny production of “South Pacific” (July 6 through 12), followed by a two-night concert at Blue Strawberry (July 14 and 15).
OTSL opened its season in May with Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operetta “The Pirates of Penzance” and “Piazza.” Andre Previn’s operatic adaptation of “A Streetcar Named Desire” runs June 7 through 26, followed by the season’s closer, a new staging of Charles Gounod’s “Romeo and Juliet” that runs June 13 through 27.
For more information on the performance or to order tickets, please visit ExperienceOpera.org/piazza.
