VIEWPOINTS – Opera is thriving in the unlikeliest of places

The common perception of opera is that it is a static art form, mostly stuck in the past in largely museum-piece productions. However, four productions I caught recently have put opera at the forefront of the arts world in rather interesting and unexpected ways, boding well for the art form and signaling that it is relevant and alive and well (Indeed, I was expecting to write this piece after attending January’s Prototype festival).

IMG_5214South African artist William Kentridge’s knockout new production of Alban Berg’s Lulu (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) for the Metropolitan Opera has merged visual arts and opera in a way that benefits both forms of expression. Lulu is admittedly a challenging opera, especially for untrained musicians in the audience (like myself). However, as with blank verse in the plays of Shakespeare, once one’s ears get accustomed to the opera’s jarring atonal musical language, it becomes integral to the telling of Lulu’s daring – even revolutionary – tale. What director William Kentridge accomplishes in his brilliant production is to find a visual vocabulary that compliments Berg’s turbulent, restless, and often ravishing score. The world’s leading interpreter of the demanding titular role, Marlis Petersen, was sensational as Lulu, brining an irrisistible visceral intensity to the reckless femme fatale. Ms. Petersen is allegedly retiring the role from her repertory after her run at the Met, so catch her while you still can. Conductor Lothar Koenigs led the Met forces masterfully, ably fleshing out the many orchestral details in Berg’s dense score.  There are a handful of performances left; don’t miss it.

IMG_5182Who would have guessed that Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RECOMMENDED) would make for successful fodder for children’s theater? Well, that was the case when the New Victory Theater, a leading producer of children’s theater in the U.S., decided to program the Cape Town-based Isango Ensemble’s production of the Britten opera – ingeniously re-orchestrated for an army of steel drums and playfully performed by an all-African cast – into its season. Britten’s Dream is a challenging work, with or without kids in the audience. Unlike, say, the operas of Mozart, the melodies in this work, as is typical with much of Britten’s operatic canon, aren’t ones you necessarily leave the theater humming. Britten operas are subtle and organic, and his music here melds like butter with Shakespeare’s plot. Musically, I had my reservations about Isango’s production. I admittedly missed Britten’s brilliant original orchestrations (including the enchanting children’s choir) and the vocals were wildly uneven. However, despite these misgivings, the whole affair was magical, beautifully transmitting the spirit of Shakespeare’s underlying work in a way that spoke to children (they appeared thoroughly engaged throughout its two hour running time) and adults alike. Unfortunately, the production closed last weekend. This is the Isango Ensemble’s second visit to the New Victory (after a disarming The Magic Flute last season); keep an eye out for their return.

IMG_5168One of the offerings in BAM’s essential Next Wave Festival this season was Hagoromo (RECOMMENDED), a dance/opera hybrid I had originally pursued when it was announced that the celebrated dancers Wendy Whelan (who just recently retired from the New York City Ballet) and Jock Soto were cast in the two dancing roles. Inspired by a simple Noh play, this retelling enticingly incorporates dance (choreography by David Neumann), opera (music by Nathan Davis), and puppet theater (puppetry by Chris M. Green). Frankly, I was not expecting to be wowed by the score, as I approached the piece with my dance hat on. Ironically, I came away from Hagoromo rather moved by Mr. Davis’s glorious, sensitive score (and, alas, somewhat underwhelmed by the choreography), which was soulfully played by the International Contemporary Ensemble and magnificently sung by Katalin Karolyi, Peter Tantsits, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. In many ways, this piece reminded by of John Adams’ mesmerizing A Flowering Tree – both pieces are gloriously endowed with an ethereal score in the service of a bittersweet fairy tale. Hagoromo completed its short run at BAM on November 8th.

IMG_5344Lastly, on a recent trip down to Washington, DC, I was able to catch a performance of Philip Glass and Christopher Hampton’s revised version of Appomattox (RECOMMENDED), an episodic opera that chronicles key events of both the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement – and beyond. Although I had qualms about Mr. Hampton’s somewhat slack libretto (as, unfortunately, was Tazewell Thompson’s uninspired direction), I was intrigued by the idea of opera as a vehicle for providing relevant social commentary. In this regard, Appomattox is, in my eyes, an unqualified triumph. The evening’s trump card was a stinging scene between two inmates late in the second act that reminded everyone in the Kennedy Center Opera House that racism is very much alive in contemporary America. Up until that point, everyone in the audience (including myself) was content with the history lesson we were receiving. Connecting the dots to contemporary America – one of the many revisions the creators implemented for the Washington National Opera run (the world premiere of Appomattox in its much different original form was at the San Francisco Opera in 2007) – left the audience reeling and made everything that came before it that much more potent. Mr. Glass’s score here is a revelation; I’ve rarely heard him so invested in actually telling a story, resulting in music that’s deeply rooted in the musical vocabulary of the time and yet still very recognizably a minimalist Philip Glass score. What Mr. Glass and Mr. Hampton have beautifully accomplished here is to give us a panoramic view of the history of race relations in this country – at once hopeful yet recognizing that the journey is not over yet.

 

LULU
Opera
The Metropolitan Opera
3 hours, 50 minutes (with two intermissions)
Four more performances through December 3

A MIDSUMMER NGIHT’S DREAM
Opera
Isango Ensemble at The New Victory Theater
2 hours (with one intermission)
Closed

HAGOROMO
Opera, Dance
BAM Harvey Theater
1 hour, 15 minutes (with no intermission)

APPOMATTOX
Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House
3 hours, 15 minutes (with one intermission)
Four more performances through November 22

Categories: Dance, Music, Opera, Theater

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