By Robert K. ElderTRIBUNE REPORTER
When Rose Guccione walks into aroom, people notice.
Maybe it’s the viking horns. Orthe long blond braids. Maybe it’sthe spear.
But even if they miss those de-tails, they can’t miss the ear-split-ting climax when she sings “HappyBirthday.”
That is what happened recently atNola’s Cup, an Oak Park restau-rant, when the owner bought anOperaGram for one of the wait-resses.
Heads whipped around and con-versations hushed as Guccioneasked, in a booming voice, “IsSarah here?”
Moments later, as Guccione’svoice jumped several octaves to singthe final “Toooo yoooou!” the birth-day girl’s eyes popped open, hersmile peeled back—as if in a windtunnel—and she burst into giggles.
“The recipient often looks embar-rassed and honored at the sametime, which is a rare thing,” Guc-cione says.
A voice teacher and chorus mem-ber at Chicago’s Lyric Opera, Guc-cione started OperaGram.com inDecember 2006 as a part-time gig. Ithas become a surprising source of
income during the recession.Guccione has been singing all her
life, but not always opera music.Over the years she has been cajoledand pushed into the spotlight atoffice birthday parties, family cele-brations, etc.—whenever the occa-sion required a song. Then, at ababy shower a few years ago, afriend said to her, “You know thatbirthday message you sang on myanswering machine four years ago?I dig it up every year on my birth-day and play it.”
Hmm, Guccione thought, maybepeople would pay for this. Thus,OperaGram.com was born. Guc-cione coupled her Web design skillswith her singing experience andnow does six to eight jobs a month,
some in person ($150) and others overthe phone ($20) and by e-mail video($30). Of the dozen or so singing tele-gram services in Chicago—whichinclude everyone from Blues Brothersimpersonators, Frank Sinatra-likecrooners and exotic dancers—Guc-cione appears to be the only one dedi-cated to opera. Guccione sings tradi-tional celebration songs, arias—evenoperatic songs with lyrics she tailorsto the occasion.
On this day, it was an in-person job.At 9 a.m., Guccione began to “diva
up” in the bathroom of her west sub-urban home. Sheet music and operaposters decorate the house she shareswith her husband, a lawyer.
“Shock value is really important when showing up.”—Singer Rose Guccione
Rose Guccione prepares for an appearance. Her OperaGram.com offers a dramatic spin on personalized greetings. TOM VAN DYKE/TRIBUNE PHOTOS
Diva at your doorSinger readyif the occasioncalls for someoperatic drama
Guccione serenades waitress Sarah Hudelson with a birthday song at Nola’s Cup in Oak Park. What beganas a part-time pursuit has become a dependable source of income, the singer says.
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Let me count the ways. We’ve gotGibbs and McGee and DiNozzo andAbby and Ducky and Vance. Have Iforgotten anyone else in the—oh, right!And there’s Ziva, who is likely to retali-ate for my forgetfulness as only a for-mer Mossad agent can: cleverly, stealth-ily, leaving no forensically discerniblemarks.
Spring is here, and I’m in love again.But it’s not some unreliable humanbeing who has snatched my heart away.It’s a TV series: “NCIS.” The initialsstand for “Naval Criminal InvestigativeService,” a real-life federal agency that,like its fictional avatar, handles law-enforcement cases relating to the Navyand Marine Corps. The series pre-miered Sept. 23, 2003, as a spinoff of“JAG,” and has been airing at 7 p.m.
Tuesdays on CBS ever since. In TV years, that length of time trans-
lates to “forever, give or take.” A TVseries typically sheds viewers as it ages.“NCIS,” though, is that rare thing: avenerable franchise whose audience isactually increasing. The show movedinto the top 10 in its fifth season. Be-tween its first season and the currentone, it rose from No. 26 to No. 5. Inrecent weeks, more than 18 millionpeople have tuned in each Tuesdayto watch it. Among scripted shows,“NCIS” regularly lures more viewersthan anything on NBC, ABC or Fox,a CBS spokesman reports. And it’smore popular among young people thanshows such as “The Simpsons,” “Family
JuliaKeller
TRIBUNECULTURALCRITIC
Signature “NCIS” moments:
J Gibbs’ (Mark Har-mon) back-of-the-head slaps at DiNozzo(Michael Weatherly)
I Abby’s (PauleyPerrette) yen for Caf-Pow, a gigantic bever-age reminiscent of a 7-Eleven Big Gulp
n McGee’s (Sean Murray) affection forfantasy video games and manicures
J Ducky’s (DavidMcCallum) habit of chatting with corpses
n DiNozzo’s appreciation for apretty face (Trans-
lation: He’s a horndog)
n Gibbs’ favorite conference room: anelevator with the “Emergency Stop”button pulled
What to watch for
By Chris JonesTRIBUNE CRITIC
In “The Lightless Room,” thenewly discovered Nelson Algrenmasterpiece read in public for thefirst time ever at the SteppenwolfTheatre Monday night, we meet anill-fated boxer, Blackie Cavanaugh.He was played by Willem Dafoe, noless, who wisely let the words do thefighting on lines like: “Then it wasjust me and the big cool dark and nowind near at all.”
“I couldn’t tell you straight,” saysBlackie’s manager in the story, “if hewas a contender or a bum.”
That was, of course, Algren’s not-so-secret insecurity. Although betterveiled these days, it is also the inse-curity of Chicago, his paradoxicaltown. It is the insecurity of a writ-er—especially, right now, this writer,frantically pecking out words on aBlackberry after being ejected from aBorders, the kind of joint Algrenwould have hated anyway, since suchplaces now occupy the kind of streetcorners he once immortalized.
Waubonsia and Bosworth, Madisonand Aberdeen, 1958 W. Evergreen. Allwere extolled from the Steppenwolfstage, the hookers, pimps and, yes,poets, who once hung on their cor-ners lingering like shadows clearedaway to snag the Olympics.
The ubertext of “Nelson AlgrenLive,” a literary evening that had thegreat Don DeLillo happy merely toread little bits of narration, and fea-tured the truly delicious casting ofMartha Lavey as Simone de Bouvoir?Algren spent a life writing aboutothers and kept this hitherto-unpub-lished story hidden, because BlackieCavanaugh, a gaping, emotional,closed, taciturn wound, was far toomuch like himself.
I’m sold. Algren had to run be-cause he was always at the center ofan American paradox, Chicago truth.
Aside from the new piece, the gath-ering of Algren aficionados, thesense of mutual hometown discovery,the endlessly repeatable puncturingof the pretensions of de Bouvoir andall those who had it easier in someother town, the best parts of thenight were the snatches of Algreninterviews. As played, movinglyplayed, by Barry Gifford, Algrencould be heard revealing everythingand nothing, an essential figure con-vinced of his own marginality.
Willem Dafoe studies his script beforegoing on stage at the Steppenwolf.TERRENCE ANTONIO JAMES/TRIBUNE PHOTO
Algren fightsfrom pageto stage
live!TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 2009 | SECTION 3 D
Naval gazing: How ‘NCIS’helped me learn to love again
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A highnote
Come along as operasinger Rose Guccionewarms up and thenoutfits herself withhelmet, spear andlong blond braids fora special delivery inOak Park.chicagotribune
.com/operagram
Farrah’s struggleThe 1970s icon and actress battles a spreading cancer. PAGE 2
The fix is inMaureen Ryan is now liking “Dollhouse” and “Fringe.” PAGE 5
Product: CTTEMPO PubDate: 04-07-2009 Zone: ALL Edition: HD Page: ATEMPO1-1 User: rohap Time: 04-06-2009 23:55 Color: CMYK
