From 'Kinky Boots' to 'Carmen' to Kelli O'Hara, OKC orchestra pit master shows range

Over the decades, Jan McDaniel has found a solution to the "Monday morning feelings" he gets after a successful show has come to the end of its run.

"On certain casts, certain shows ... you have created a little family that you know is never going to be the same family again. I'm 65 years old, and it hasn't gotten any easier with those shows to say, 'Well, this is it.' But I have gotten to the point where I am accustomed to the Monday morning feelings of regret, and I think there's grieving that happens," he told The Oklahoman on just such a Monday morning.

"My solution is to stay busy thinking about the next thing. This particular summer, I haven't had to really work very hard to stay busy because it's been one thing after another."

A longtime conductor, music director and pianist — as well as a personal favorite of Tony Award winner Kelli O'Hara — McDaniel is often tucked away in an orchestra pit or behind a piano. But if you've attended many Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Lyric Theatre or Painted Sky Opera shows over the years, chances are his work as been integral to the performance, especially if you take a peek behind the scenes.

"Jan is fantastic — and in all styles of music. I heard his work in 'Kinky Boots,' and it was just a great performance.  I loved the show. That he could turn around and one week later perform 'Carmen,' a work that is so completely different with the same level of expertise, that's true mastery," said Painted Sky Artistic Director Rob Glaubitz.

"Obviously, I'm impressed with what he can do ... and his passion is matched only by his knowledge."

After conducting the nine-player orchestra for Lyric Theatre's production of the Tony-winning musical "Kinky Boots" earlier this month at the Civic Center, McDaniel will be the music director for Painted Sky's semi-staged concert presentation of Georges Bizet's iconic opera "Carmen" July 30 at the Hudiburg Chevrolet Center at Rose State College.

"I have become really confident, I guess, at compartmentalizing. When I'm in 'Kinky Boots,' I'm wholly in 'Kinky Boots' mode. ... But when I'm with 'Carmen,' I'm completely in 'Carmen' mode. I sort of have musical blinders on," McDaniel said. "I've always been drawn both to musical theater and opera as equally valid and equally significant to the future of human art and as a means of expression."

The end of his dream job leads to longtime teaching career for conductor

In 1982, McDaniel started what he thought would be his dream job: He was named assistant conductor and vocal coach for the Detmold State Theater in Detmold, Germany. It is billed as the largest touring opera company in the country, which is known for its passion for the art form.

"In a sense, I got to live my dream ... and sometime in that third year — the '84-'84 year — I woke up and I realized I didn't enjoy going to work. I had to have this dialogue with myself: 'What is wrong? Why are you not fulfilled doing the very thing that you wanted to do?'" he recalled.

"In an opera house, when you're working with professional singers, your job is to put on the opera and everybody's sort of focused on that. There was no discovery, there was no light bulb moment, because these are trained opera singers already. I realized part of me needed to be teaching students who didn't have that professional edge yet."

After thinking on it for a week, he resigned his post, returned to the United States and embarked on a career in academia.

"The first full-time academic job I got was at a school that treasured opera and disregarded musical theater and the singing style associated with it. So, for almost a decade ... I was thinking, 'I guess musical theater is a thing of my past now,'" said McDaniel, who spent 10 years as the director of accompanying and orchestral activities at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas.

In 1999, he got a call from Mark Parker, dean of what is now the Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University, about a potential position.

"I came to Oklahoma City with the idea that I was just going to be polite and listen and say no. And before I got through with the series of meetings, I decided this is a place where I can do all the things that bring me great joy: I get to teach young, talented students, I get to conduct operas, and I get to conduct musicals," said McDaniel, whose wife, mezzo-soprano Catherine McDaniel, is an associate professor of voice at OCU.

When the fall semester starts in August, the father of three will embark on his 24th year on OCU faculty, where he is professor of vocal coaching as well as a conductor of the OCU Opera and Musical Theater Company.

At the acclaimed performing arts university, he has wielded the baton for more than 30 productions, ranging from the world premiere of OKC composer Edward Knight’s "Night of the Comets" and the regional premiere of Thomas Pasatieri’s "The Hotel Casablanca" to student productions of venerable classics like Mozart’s "Don Giovanni" and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s "South Pacific."

"Jan is one of the finest musicians I have ever known. His knowledge of the repertoire is encyclopedic. As a pianist, he can play anything, and he is a master in the orchestra pit. He brings together the orchestra, the singers and the audience for a rewarding musical adventure each and every time," Parker said in an email. "He enriches our campus, Oklahoma City and the professional music organizations for which he conducts."

Pianist has become Tony winner's hometown accompanist

Although she graduated from OCU the year before he joined the faculty, McDaniel has become Oklahoma native Kelli O'Hara's hometown accompanist and music director. She's already approached him about her recently announced Feb. 24-25 concerts with the OKC Philharmonic.

"Jan and I really only get the chance to play together when I come home, so when we do, we go back to our old favorites," O'Hara told The Oklahoman before recording a 2021 virtual fundraising performance for the OKC Philharmonic. "So, I come home and sing what feels home to me, (which is) some of the things that we've done."

Along with taking the podium regularly as a guest conductor for the OKC Philharmonic, McDaniel works as the music director for Painted Sky Opera. Along with this weekend's "Carmen" concert, the Edmond resident has led the professional company's productions of Giuseppe Verdi’s "La Traviata" and "Rigoletto," Giacomo Puccini’s "Tosca" and Leonard Bernstein's "Trouble in Tahiti" along with modern operas like Jake Heggie’s "Three Decembers," Tom Cipullo’s "Glory Denied" and Laura Kaminsky’s "As One."

"He's been there since our second show ... and he has always been a huge supporter in some of the ways that are obvious — by helping us find great musicians and connecting us with fantastic singers. But he's also been essential to help us connect with people that we might not have known, people who can help move opera forward in Oklahoma City," said Glaubitz, who co-founded Painted Sky in 2015.

"'Carmen' lives on the vitality of its music and the tension built in the dramatic story. If you want a show where the music is going to be the centerpiece, if you want the most talented and impressive music director in Oklahoma City, at least when it comes to opera, I don't think you can do much better than Jan McDaniel."

‘Master Class’ musician earns first professional stage credit

Before he ventured into the pit this month for "Kinky Boots," McDaniel previously worked as the musical director for Lyric's "West Side Story" in 2017, Disney’s "Freaky Friday" in 2018 and Disney’s" Newsies" in 2019.

"He is a font of rare musical trivia, which I am as well, so we will do deep dives into old musical scores, different versions of shows,” said Lyric's Producing Artistic Director Michael Baron. “It's nice having someone who's got a love of theatrical history and knows where we are now in musical theater and where we've come from."

And he is still learning: McDaniel not only acted as music director but also acted in his first professional stage role when he played accompanist Manny Weinstock in Lyric Theatre's 2021 outdoor production of Terrence McNally’s "Master Class" on the Myriad Botanical Gardens' Water Stage.

"I actually know some of the guys who did that role on Broadway — and they had a national tour as well — so I got some advice from a couple of them. ... I had lines that I had to memorize. I had acted in high school — and not since — but this role was for a pianist. It was a blast," he said.

"It was a wonderful sort of glimpse inside the opera world ... and now I have a theatrical credit other than 'musical director.'"

'CARMEN' IN CONCERT

When: 7:30 p.m. July 30

Where: Hudiburg Chevrolet Center at Rose State College in Midwest City.

Tickets and information: https://www.paintedskyopera.org.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: 'Kinky Boots' to 'Carmen' to Kelli O'Hara, OKC conductor shows range