Opera News & Press

Couple makes beautiful music with 'La Traviata' onstage and off

Georgia Jarman and Micah Fortson in the Times Picayune.

Couple makes beautiful music with 'La Traviata' onstage and off

April 17, 2009

Theodore P. MahneHaving previously appeared as the tubercular seamstress in "La Bohème," and now portraying the consumptive courtesan of "La Traviata," soprano Georgia Jarman's love life on the opera stage generally has not ended happily.

Offstage, however, is another story indeed.

As the New York soprano closes the New Orleans Opera Association's season this weekend with Verdi's classic melodrama, she's also wrapping up the final details for her wedding to the company's director of production, Micah Fortson. The pair met three years ago when Jarman made her New Orleans debut in "La Bohème." After a rehearsal for "La Traviata" last week, they recalled how opera brought them together.

When she arrived in town to begin rehearsals as Mimi, Jarman was battling a severe cold.

"The coughs were real," she said. "I had to call in sick for the first day of rehearsal."

"I was stage-managing the show and all I knew was that the soprano wasn't showing up," Fortson recalled. " 'What a diva,' I thought."

Later, Fortson encountered the ailing soprano at the hotel where the cast was staying. Singers are notoriously wary of being near anyone who is ill, and another castmate was begging off as Jarman sought out someone to bring her out to get something to eat.

"I saw her and my first thought was, 'Wow, she's beautiful,' " he said. Fortson gallantly took her to a nearby store.

"We found so much to talk about right away," Jarman recalled.

As rehearsals continued, the pair found themselves growing closer. By the end of the performances, they were in love.

New productions and contracted engagements would keep their relationship long-distance at first. She was based in New York; he had moved to San Francisco. Along with the frequent-flying, jet-setting lifestyle of an opera singer, Jarman also had a flight attendant friend who scored frequent upgrades to help bring the couple together.

Fortson returned home to New Orleans to take over the director of production position with the New Orleans Opera, overseeing such behind-the-scenes details as arranging contracts, rehearsal schedules, housing for guest artists, and production budgets. It allows the couple to have a firm base here.

"When I fell in love with Micah, I fell in love with New Orleans too," Jarman said. "When I'm with him here, I've been able to relax more. To experience the city with him."

Each said that sharing different facets of the same profession has been an asset to their relationship.

"Being in the same business, we've learned a lot from each other," Fortson said. "It's usually a case of producer vs. artist, but we've each been able to see and understand the fundamental needs of the art form."

"Singers don't always see the entire production," Jarman said. "They focus on their part alone. Seeing what Micah does every day, I appreciate much more what goes into getting an opera on stage."

Their wedding will take place next month in City Park's Botanical Garden, with music ranging from a Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra ensemble to the Storyville Stompers.

Jarman wears a permanent reminder of the couple's first meeting: The inside of her engagement ring is engraved with a line in Italian from "La Bohème"; the translation is "No one should be alone in April."

"We're living out our own 'La Bohème,' " she said, beaming at her fiancé.

"Just without the TB," he said, laughing.