AXTELL BRIDGE, Gallatin River — 50 years ago, Norman Maclean published “A River Runs Through It” about his life in Montana.
Thirty-four years ago, Robert Redford made that into a movie filmed around southwest Montana.
This week, the opera version of that story premieres at Bozeman’s Ellen Theatre.
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With fly fishing central to the story, presenting a stage version is challenging. The opera version will find the performers casting as a choreographed part of the story.
That’s why the actors for Norman Maclean and his brother Paul recently spent a morning on the Gallatin River, to help bring the reality of fly fishing to the stage.
“Coming back and being able to be involved in telling the Montana story, the Maclean again, in a new way has been for me something really special,” Jason Borger said.
Borger was a fishing double for the movie back in 1992, and now he’s helping the lead performers develop their skills.
Michael Kuhn, who plays Paul Maclean, says fly fishing is a passion for his character. After spending time on the river with Borger, Kuhn sees his role much differently.
“It’s not fully realistic because we’re doing a staged show. So we don’t actually get to see the line dancing around and gliding flying through the air. To actually get to see someone who is truly a master of it do it. It just really fills in those blanks in like a beautiful way,” Kuhn said.
Schyler Vargas, who plays Norman Maclean, says watching Borger on the river helped him understand Norman’s feelings about watching his brother Paul.
“Watching the beauty of the arks, being outside on this beautiful day and in the water and feeling the rush of water on my legs, now I understand why the world stopped and time stopped when Norman saw his brother fishing,” Vargas said.
Though there will be no water on stage for the performance, both men say wetting lines in a river gives them new perspective on how they will cast their lines when the performances begin.
“A River Runs Through It” premieres Friday, Sept. 18, at Bozeman’s Ellen Theatre. The original book celebrated its 50th anniversary earlier this summer.
