Park City Opera is a new arts organization, founded in 2024 and now in its third season, that offers a fresh vision for vocal arts performances in Utah. Its three co-founders seek to engage local audiences with accessible productions, outstanding talent, and nontraditional — often intimate — venues. Artistic Director Benjamin Beckman contacted me and invited me to attend their current production of David Conte’s The Gift of the Magi. I was thrilled to do so because I love O. Henry’s classic story, I was familiar with baritone Shea Owens from other productions (He is cast in the role of Jim.), and I have wanted to experience Salt Lake City’s historic Clubhouse on South Temple firsthand. This experience was a win all around!
In 1997, composer David Conte and librettist Nicholas Giardini created a one-act opera with a 14-piece sinfonietta based on O. Henry’s story. While the original story is set in early 20th-century New York City, Park City Opera’s production updates the time period to the 1970s. Della (Théodora Cottarel) and Jim (Shea Owens) are a young couple, deeply in love, but lacking the money to buy each other gifts for Christmas. Della enters the couple’s simple apartment alone with a box of Christmas ornaments and a small bag of groceries. She tidies up, imagines turning the apartment into a beautiful Christmas scene, and then combs out her long, luxurious hair — her one prized possession — as she goes deep in thought. Jim arrives home and marvels at Della’s beauty. They picture having a wonderful Christmas but remind each other of the promise they have made not to spend any money on gifts. Jim goes out for a bit to take care of something important, leaving Della alone in the apartment to count the money she does have and contemplate how she might scrape together enough to buy a meaningful gift for Jim. Della realizes that cutting and selling her long hair would give her the amount she needs, so she calls her best friend Maggie (Sarah Neal) to come over and cut her hair. (Maggie is a character added to the opera who is not in O. Henry’s story.) Maggie is horrified at the idea, tries to talk Della out of it, and refuses to do it. Undeterred, Della knows that Madame Sophranie will cut and pay a large sum for her hair. Della convinces Maggie to go with her to Madame Sophranie’s, and the two leave to accomplish the task.
The Magi (David Silvano, Logan Reid, and Sam Plumb) are heard off stage offering wisdom and warning similar to that of a Greek chorus: many among us follow the Magi’s way of giving “gifts that are precious and pretty and smart,” but the “gift of the Magi is not one of jewels. If this be mistaken, the wise become fools.”
Jim returns to the apartment with his friend Henry (Riley Findley), also a character added to the opera who is not in the original story, carrying a Christmas tree up the stairs. Jim reveals to Henry what his errand entailed: he has pawned his grandfather’s watch to buy Della an item she has admired in a nearby shop. Henry dislikes what Jim has done but reassures him that his heart is good. When Della returns, she and Jim excitedly exchange their gifts. They quickly realize that their urgent desire to sacrifice their most valuable personal possessions on behalf of each other has resulted in an ironic mistake. Their MOST valuable treasure is their love for each other.
Park City Opera’s production of The Gift of the Magi features an accomplished and finely matched cast whose vocal qualities complement each other beautifully. Théodora Cottarel, Shea Owens, Sarah Neal, and Riley Findley all have warm, rich singing voices that make their solo parts easy and enjoyable to listen to, and their voices harmonize well during their characters’ duets. When Cottarel enters as Della, she vocalizes for several measures while combing her hair before singing any words. Her voice glides gracefully over the notes without any tension. She also sings an exquisite aria in Della’s conversation with Maggie in which she expresses her love for Jim. Owens mirrors Cottarel’s smooth, resonant tone in his recitative, and he sings an expressive aria describing Jim’s love for Della as the rationale for pawning his grandfather’s watch. Owens and Cottarel exhibit natural chemistry in their character portrayals that makes their recitative fluid and conversational and their emotion authentic. Neal and Findley offer strong supporting voices as the main characters’ best friends. Tenors Silvano, Reid, and Plumb as the Magi brilliantly resonate in their a capella lines. The sinfonietta accompaniment under the direction of Benjamin Beckman also shines as the music aptly aligns with the action and emotion on stage. Composer David Conte is a self-professed lover of Chopin, Ravel, and Copland, so elements of those composers show up in the score, and the nuances in the music are as critical to telling the story as the words, singing, and acting. I particularly enjoyed the first violin and soulful brass lines.
There are two more opportunities to see Park City Opera’s heartwarming adaptation of The Gift of the Magi: Friday, December, 19 and Saturday, December 20 at PC Community Church. Doors open at 6:00 p.m., and both evenings include a holiday artisan market with local vendors, the opera, and a Q and A with the creative team. Click here for information and tickets. Stay tuned to see what this innovative new company does next!
Clubhouse, located at 850 East South Temple in Salt Lake City, is “The House that the Women Built.” Constructed from 1911-1913, it originally housed the activities of the Ladies Literary Club. It is currently a venue for a variety of community and private events — many of which continue its legacy of storytelling.
The Good Life 
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