Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – PROTOTYPE shocks and awes its way to a triumphant 2016 edition

• By drediman
• January 19, 2016
• No Comments

Since the demise of Dicapo Opera Theatre and New York City Opera (33 years and 70 years in operation, respectively!), it seemed that the hulking Met would have to shoulder the weight of presenting opera in New York City all on its own. However, those of you bemoaning the state of opera and music theater in the city need not worry. Out of the ashes of those beloved opera companies have emerged leaner, meaner, and artistically more adventurous opera-producing organizations and platforms. Leading the pack is Prototype, an extraordinary festival whose mission is to present contemporary opera and music theater from around the globe. This year’s iteration of Prototype has proven to be their most successful and exciting yet – more on my thoughts in a bit. In only three short years, the 12-day festival has become an unmissable cultural happening for any serious operagoer (and theatergoer) in the city. Together with other young and scrappy companies, like Brooklyn’s democratic and very popular LoftOpera (which unconventionally uses “pop-up” warehouse-type spaces to exciting effect) and the resurgence of City Opera in the form of New York City Opera Renaissance (their inaugural production of Puccini’s Tosca at the Rose Theater occurs later this week), Prototype has signaled that that all is well and good with this age-old yet vital art form.

At this year’s festival, I managed to see five* out of the seven offerings. What struck me most about this year’s edition was its willingness to explore opera’s ability to shock and awe. This was opera as unrelentless heavy metal, and Prototype’s risky strategy (even the sound design for a number of the productions was set at an unprecedentedly high volume) proved to be triumphant for the festival and the art form. Thanks to an uncompromising and individualistic set of operas and music theater pieces, my view of the possibilities of the art form has expanded – with the help of some incredibly well-integrated multimedia staging and sound design techniques, opera can indeed induce the same visceral response as watching a Tarantino movie. Even more than in previous years, the level of polish in both production and musicianship was astonishingly high.

All the way down at 3LD Art & Technology Center, I caught the world premiere of Angel’s Bone. Du Yun and Royce Vavrek’s new opera is heady mix of cautionary fairytale and social commentary. And although Ms. Du’s music is relentless and some of the graphic stage violence oppressive, director Michael McQuilken managed to assemble a series of intensely dramatic (bordering on heavy-handed) and striking stage pictures. Despite some minor misgivings about Mr. Vavrek’s somewhat overwrought libretto, the brute and poetic force of Angel’s Bone’s music and imagery has stuck with me. Special mention must also be given to Abigail Fischer, who gave one of the most dramatically charged performances of the festival.

David T. Little and Royce Vavrek’s (also of Angel’s Bone) Dog Days received its New York City premiere at NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. The opera is a hard-hitting dystopian fable that builds dramatically to an unforgettable, almost unbearably watchable, climax (the savage final scene has bulldozed its way into my consciousness). Dog Days, smartly and unflinchingly directed by Robert Woodruff, is this festival’s “The Revenant” – the opera was at times difficult to sit through but it’s undeniably an important piece of art that’s mature, ruthless, and ultimately hugely rewarding. Although the cast is uniformly excellent, I would like to single out Lauren Worsham for her unforgettable, deeply committed performance. And even if I admired more than loved much of Mr. Little’s foreceful score, the overall theatrical effect of Dog Days was certainly more than sum of its parts.

The Last Hotel, which recently received its American premiere at Brooklyn’s St. Ann’s Warehouse (in a Land Productions and Wide Open Opera production), is an opera about suicide. I would liken the experience of watching Donnacha Dennehy and Enda Walsh’s opera to sitting through a David Lynch flick in that it simultaneously utilizes both a naturalistic and surrealistic approach to tell its story. The opera, meticulously directed by Mr. Walsh, is probably the most accomplished and sophisticated of the bunch – from a technical, theatrical, and musical level perspective. But even if it’s impressive work all-around, the opera failed to make quite the same dramatic impact as the previously discussed Dog Days. And although Mr. Walsh has written a thought-provoking look at assisted suicide, it’s ultimately a muddled piece of storytelling (at least to this audience member). Mr. Dennehy’s driving music, however, is superb throughout, and it sounded great under Alan Pierson’s baton. Kudos also to the fearlessly committed quartet of superb singer/actors who muscled their way through this mostly searing piece of music theater.

In its American premiere, Belgian indie band Dez Mona, B.O.X. (“Baroque Orchestration X”), and vocalist Gregory Frateur’s collaboration – an ethereal concert presentation entitled Sága – sparkled at Williamsburg’s stylish new music venue, National Sawdust. Sága is a deeply personal and soulful song cycle. It’s a meditation of sorts on the journey “home” that is as unswerving as it is delicate. Sága proved to be a mesmerizing repose from the thrashing of the festival’s other offerings. I particularly took to Mr. Frateur’s intense, soaring Thom York-like vocals and B.O.X.’s gorgeously expansive orchestrations.

This is, indeed, a swell time to be an opera lover – in large part due to Prototype’s adventurous and indispensable programming. I, for one, can’t wait to see what’s in store next January.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

PROTOTYPE
Opera/Music Theater, Festival
Presented by Beth Morrison Projects and HERE
Last day was January 17

*Note: This includes Heidi Rodewald and Donna Di Novelli’s atmostpheric The Good Swimmer, which as a “First Look Presentation” is not being reviewed.