Preview: Opera Theatre of St. Louis 2026 Festival Season Features Tony Winner Paulo Szot and Tony Nominee Kate Baldwin in The Light in the Piazza
OTSL Festival Season also includes Productions of The Pirates of Penzance, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Romeo and Juliet
In her first season as the new artistic director at Opera Theatre of St. Louis (OTSL), Patricia Racette has programmed a festival season that holds something for everyone. Three of the four Operas being presented are written in English. Two, Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance and The Light in the Piazza, are from the canon of the American Musical Theatre. The other two, A Streetcar Named Desire and Romeo and Juliet, are well known dramas. If you’ve never seen an Opera, this is the season to take in a show at OTSL.
OTSL General Director Andrew Jorgensen says, “One of great pleasures of the 2026 season is the sheer range of experiences it offers. Pirates of Penzance is a piece that delivers pure joy, wit, and infectious theatrical fun! From there, the season unfolds into three additional stories that explore passion, longing, conflict, and resilience in very different ways.” He says, “This season reflects the full expressive power of opera, and it’s a reminder that Opera Theatre can be exuberant, intimate, uplifting, and unflinchingly human – all within a single festival.”
Gilbert & Sullivan’s operettic swashbuckling The Pirates of Penzance opens the OTSL festival season on May 23, 2026. It is the hilariously chaotic love story of Frederic and Mabel. Filled with sword fights, toe tapping tunes, and witty wordplay especially from Mabel’s father Major-General Stanley who is “the very model of a modern Major-General.”
St. Louisan Robert Mellon steps in the role as Major-General Stanley after his gut busting performance in last season’s Die Fledermaus. Mellon moved to St. Louis in 2019 after meeting his fiancée Morgan Fisher. He and Fisher met while he was in St. Louis performing in Philip Glass’ The Trial with OTSL. She was his dresser and is now the senior manager of education and engagement at OTSL.
Mellon knows that singing the role of the Major-General comes with a lot of pressure. “It’s such a recognizable character, and that aria in particular is so ingrained in pop culture that you want to do it justice,” he said. Mellon told Broadway World that singing “I am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” is a bit like singing the national anthem. “Everyone knows it, and everyone has expectations.”
The Pirates of Penzance will be conducted by Broadway conductor and music director Darryl Archibald. Most recently, Archibald was the music director and conductor for the Broadway and National Tour productions of the Tony winning Some Like it Hot. Following his work at OTSL on The Pirates of Penzance, Archibald will remain in St. Louis to conduct, and music direct The Muny’s production of Ain’t to Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations.
Archibald isn’t the only artist doing double-duty with OTSL and The Muny this summer. Tony Winner Paolo Szot and St. Louisan Michael James Reed will both star in the OTSL production of The Light in the Piazza then immediately move into rehearsals for the Muny production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific.
Both Szot and Reed will be making their OTSL debut in The Light in the Piazza. In a previous interview with Broadway World Szot said “he had to say yes to his dear friend Patricia Racette when she offered him the role of Signor Naccarelli.”
Reed told Broadway World that he was playing Roy Johnson, the only non-singing, speaking role in Piazza. He humbly shared, “When working in New York I quickly learned that were many actors who have much better voices.” He laughed and said, “In spite of the fact that I have 17 Muny credits, and now an Opera Theatre of St. Louis credit under my belt, I don’t get hired for my singing.”
The Light in the Piazza premiered on Broadway in 2005 starring Victoria Clark, Kelli O’Hara, and Matthew Morrison. It tells the story of a developmentally disabled girl who falls in love with a handsome Italian man while traveling with her mother in Florence. The production was nominated for 11 Tony Awards, winning six including the Tony for Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations.
The Light in the Piazza also stars two-time Tony nominee Kate Baldwin who will be making her OTSL debut. Audiences will remember Baldwin from her turn as Daniel’s mother in the 2022 world premiere production of the Karate Kid: The Musical at Stages St. Louis. Baldwin is a veteran of six Broadway productions including her Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critic’s Circle nominated turns as Sharon McLonergan in Finian’s Rainbow and Irene Malloy in Hello, Dolly!
Reed says there are many reasons audiences will want to buy tickets to see this show. “The Light in the Piazza” is one of the best new musicals written in the past 20-years. It’s a beautiful show with an extraordinary score that will be performed by world-class talent.” He went on to talk about how the audience will get to experience this in the intimate space of the Loretto-Hilton. “I’m so excited that this is the season I’m working with OTSL. I’m going to get to see all of the shows and I cannot wait to see A Streetcar Named Desire.”
A Streetcar Named Desire opens on June 7, 2026. It will be directed by OTSL’s Patricia Racette and conducted by OTSL’s principal conductor Daniela Candillari. This operatic production of Streetcar, composed by the great André Previn, tells the familiar Tennessee Williams’ story of Blanche, Stanley, Stella, and Mitch.
OTSL’s Director of Marking and Public Relations, Anh Le, told Broadway World that Previn’s libretto is a very faithful adaption of the story. “The actor who plays Stanley yells the famous line “STELLA!” as a spoken interjection versus singing it. The delivery of that specific line was written into the requirements by the trustees of the Tennessee Williams estate,” says Le.
She went on to mention an OSTL connection to the 1998 San Francisco Opera world premiere of A Streetcar Named Desire. She said, “Our then artistic director, the late Colin Graham, was the director of that production.” Le Continued, “It was an Opera Theatre of St. Louis artist who helped birth the world premiere of A Streetcar Named Desire. It is a really neat St. Louis connection to the city that Tennessee Williams grew up in.”
Charles Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet is the only production this festival season that wasn’t composed in English. As is common with all OTSL productions, Romeo and Juliet will be translated from French and sung in English.
“Romeo and Juliet holds special meaning for an opera company that performs in English, especially in a city with such a deep and abiding love for Shakespeare,” says OTSL artistic director Patricia Racette. She continued, “The Shakespeare tradition already lives in St. Louis’ cultural DNA, and opera allow us to experience the Bard’s works anew through music that heightens every emotion.
Racette thinks what makes this production especially thrilling is hearing two extraordinary young artists step into the roles of the doomed lovers for the first time. “Soprano Emma Marhefka (Juliet) and tenor Leonardo Sanchez (Romeo) are rising stars in their own rights. They will bring youthful urgency, fearlessness, and remarkable vocal command to the stage, and their role debuts as these iconic lovers promise an immediacy and vocal electricity that audiences will feel from the very first note,” says Racette.
Each of the festival shows will run from May 23 – June 29, 2026. Audiences will have seven opportunities to see The Pirates of Penzance, and six chances to see The Light in the Piazza, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Romeo and Juliet. The young artists showcase Center Stage concert is on June 23, 2026, and a free community concert titled Our Songs will be held at Third Baptist Church on Wednesday, May 27, 2026. Visit ExperienceOpera.org for more information and to purchase tickets for the festival performances.
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