I spent roughly 10 years as a member of New York’s Village Light Opera Group. It’s a classic community theater group comprised of dedicated, hardworking, talented volunteers, who have put on high-quality theater in the heart of New York City for decades.
Tonight I learned of the passing of VLOG’s longtime Music Director, Ron Noll, and it’s hard to type through the tears. Ron’s passion for music shone through everything he did, and came second only to his passion for his family.
One of my favorite memories of Ron dates back to VLOG’s production of “The Desert Song”, back around 1995 or so. In the finale of the first act, Azuri, the “native woman” seduces a French soldier, thereby proving that he’s not a suitable match for the heroine (sorry, that’s not politically correct, but what can you do, Romburg wrote it in the 1920s). At any rate, the ensemble sings this gorgeous accompaniment to her dance, and right before the end, there’s a key change signaled by the sopranos. Every night we did the show, Ron’s eyes would meet mine as the transition happened, and he would smile happily, as would I. It was a perfect little musical moment.
Ron did more than run a community theater group. He won an Emmy, among other achievements. But for me (and I suspect for many others), his work with VLOG was what left the biggest mark on the world.
You like to think that things will always go on as they were … and then, they don’t. It’s a sad fact of life. Luckily we were blessed to have Ron with us for as long as we did.
Rest well, Maestro.
The Desert Song Rachel speaks of was the last show I did with Rachel or for that matter Ron Knoll and Vlog, I no longer live in the city and the additional time would be too much.
Desert Song was my second and my 25th show with the group. I was Master Electrician for the first one, Technical Director for the second one.
Ron and I did not see eye to eye on many things. He made some strange cast choices. The French Legionaire in that first Desert Song was a high school graduate, sock buyer from Gimbels. Who knew he would go on to grace Papp’s Pirates as Fredrick, rising from the chorus to save the show with the Times in the audience that night. And go on to do Candide, the role, at City Opera. Strange but solid.
Oh, Mark now has his Doctorate and is a Professor of Opera at Notre Dame, among other things.