Arts and Entertainment

Anchorage Opera director Bill Fabris, known for witty productions, dies at age 57

In 2014, Anchorage Opera-goers were stunned to see a sled dog team dash across the stage at the top of the second act of the bubbly operetta "Die Fledermaus."

It was director Bill Fabris who dared to cast those fast four-legged guest stars.

Fabris, who helmed eight Anchorage Opera performances from 2007 to 2016, died on Feb. 28 at the age of 57 in New York City. The choreographer and director was from Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

"The thing we'll all miss the most is his kindness," said singer Kate Egan, an Anchorage Opera regular and longtime friend and colleague of Fabris. "He just had room in his heart for everybody. Everybody has their own Bill Fabris story."

Fabris had a busy and successful career directing and choreographing musicals, plays and operas in cities including New York; Boston; Barcelona; Bruges, Belgium; Shreveport, Louisiana; Eugene, Oregon; and San Antonio, Texas.

Reviews often noted his flair for comedy and masterful use of movement.

The New York Times praised "the sunny, graceful wit" of his off-Broadway production of Gilbert and Sullivan's "H.M.S. Pinafore," and The Washington Post mentioned Fabris' "outrageously comic choreography" in a review of "The Mikado," also by Gilbert and Sullivan, at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia.

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Fabris' final Anchorage Opera production was Mozart's "The Magic Flute" in 2016. His take on the whimsical, mythical opera transferred the story from ancient Egypt to Mount Olympus, the playground of the Greek gods.

"He set it as a battle between Greek gods and mortals and it worked very well," said Anchorage Opera Director Reed Smith.

Smith also admired Fabris' rapport with performers. "He was just a very collegial director and friendly with the cast and chorus," he said.

Fabris' other Anchorage Opera directing credits are "H.M.S. Pinafore," and  Bernstein's "Trouble in Tahiti" in 2007; Donizetti's "Don Pasquale" in 2008; Rossini's "Barber of Seville" in 2009; Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music" in 2012; Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance" in 2013; and Johann Strauss' "Die Fledermaus" in 2014.

Anchorage Opera enthusiasts are most likely to recall his unconventional "Die Fledermaus" (The Bat.) Fabris based the production on an Alaskan-ized treatment of the story, written by Juneau-based playwright Deborah Brevoort.

"Die Fledermaus" is originally set at a New Year's Eve party in 1870s Vienna. Brevoort's version, renamed "The Polar Bat," moved the merriment to modern-day Alaska.

Egan, who sang in the production, said Fabris and Brevoort added a bunch of tongue-in-cheek Alaska political references, in-jokes and surprises, including the special-guest sled dog team.

"Director Bill Fabris brought his knack for well-turned slapstick to the show," ADN's Mike Dunham wrote in his review. "Something amusing was always underway and clever choreography accompanied the musical numbers … The transformation of the shows best-known waltz number into a chainsaw 'ballet' was a highlight."

Fabris also directed a handful of plays at Cyrano's, including the 2010 production of "Souvenir," a play by Stephen Temperly about lovable wannabe opera singer Florence Foster Jenkins. Jenkins' story was recently told onscreen in the eponymous film starring Meryl Streep.

Egan played Jenkins in the show.

"When we were doing 'Souvenir' we went out many nights in search of the best calamari in Anchorage," Egan said. "I don't know that we (found it) but we sure had fun doing it."

Fletcher's, Orso and Glacier Brewhouse were stops in their calamari odyssey.

Egan said she and Fabris have worked together more times than she can remember. They met in 1986 while they were both in the chorus of the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players.

Fabris also had a close relationship with Anchorage arts patrons Jim and Flo Rooney. Their home was his homebase while working in town.

"We hosted Bill at least nine times and it was always a pleasure to host this most pleasant person and such a wonderful cook," Jim Rooney said. "He was just the most comfortable guy to have around the house and we learned a lot from him just sitting having dinners and breakfasts."

Rooney will never forget a Cajun feast complete with etouffee and alligator meat that Fabris prepared for them. The Rooneys also took Fabris on excursions to destinations like Homer and Cooper Landing.

"He got to see quite a bit of the state," Jim Rooney said.

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