Operatic genealogy

Opera Pacific vice chairman’s stately lineage includes characters in an upcoming show.Their most recent encounter came on a weekday afternoon inside Opera Pacific’s headquarters in Santa Ana.

Fillmore Wood, vice chairman of Opera Pacific, caught up with Kristine Winkler, one of the principal performers in the upcoming show, “The Italian Girl in Algiers.”

“Rehearse well; do the family proud,” Wood told Winkler as they exited the office.

It was a seemingly unusual salutation given that the two are not related. But those familiar with Wood’s lineage and the characters in Gioacchino Rossini’s opera would likely understand the intended meaning.

In the performance, which begins Tuesday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Winkler plays Elvira, the wife of Mustafa, the Bey of Algiers. Wood said it’s unknown whether the characters in the opera are based on the actual 19th century Algiers royalty of the same name.

In preparation for a dinner with the cast, Wood began doing research on the plot and on a few historical aspects of the performance.

“I didn’t want to be a fool going in,” he said. “As I read the story, it was a surprise to me. I noticed a connection to my own family, and I kept coming up with more details.”

Oral family history revealed that Wood is the descendant of Elvira DeShazer, the daughter of the last ruling Bey of Algiers. There is some uncertainty in the family tree, but Wood said DeShazer is likely his great-great-great- or great-great- great-great-grandmother.

As Wood explained, DeShazer became pregnant by a French baron in the early 19th century. When this Frenchman refused to marry her, this was deemed unacceptable and the Bey declared war on France. With a larger army, France won the war and began its occupation.

Wood said a friend of his, who is an historical scholar, has verified this information.

DeShazer eventually moved to southern Virginia, where generations of the Wood family lived.

Fillmore Wood, a Corona del Mar resident and husband of Newport Beach Assistant City Manager Sharon Wood, said he wishes relatives would have kept better records of their ancestry.

“As with all family history, it’s who remembers what,” Wood said.

Wood is confident that he is directly related to North African royalty. It’s anyone’s guess, he said, whether Rossini, the composer, based the opera on one of his ancestors.

Rossini set the piece in the early 1800s Algiers. Opera Pacific’s version is set in the late 1920s, when there was no longer an Algerian monarchy.

The performers and the director have taken artistic licenses in changing the tone of the show from its original version, Winkler said.

This incarnation of “The Italian Girl in Algiers” is a tale of interwoven relationships and includes a strong-willed woman who outsmarts her male companion.

“We’re taking it as a fable and creating this world,” Winkler said. “The women of this time are more liberated. She [Elvira, Winkler’s character] is doing what’s good for her.”

Winkler said her character’s possible connection to Wood gives her more of a connection to the show.

“It gives the character a sense of realness. Being able to relate to her as a human being is important,” Winkler said.

IF YOU GO

* WHAT: “The Italian Girl in Algiers.”

* WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26 and Jan. 28; 2 p.m. Jan. 29.

* WHERE: Orange County Performing Arts Center’s Segerstrom Hall

* COST: $27 to $191

* INFO: (714) 556-ARTS or www.operapacific.org20060118it9hzwncDON LEACH / DAILY PILOT(LA)”The Italian Girl in Algiers” actor Kristine Winkler, and Opera Pacific Vice Chairman Fillmore Wood at Opera Pacific in Santa Ana