opera-tions, part II

The other portion of time I spent at Wheeler was significantly more pleasant. It involved attending a portion of the dress rehearsal and the opening night performance of a brand-new opera, Our Town, based on the classic Thornton Wilder play, with libretto by J. D. McClatchy and a fantastic score by Ned Rorem. Interestingly enough, both Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein had sought permission from Wilder to set the play as an opera. Both were denied. Now, Wilder’s nephew Tappan Wilder (executor of his uncle’s estate) has granted the operatic rights to McClatchy and Rorem.

Obviously, the story is abbreviated and characters are cut, so that the opera isn’t ridiculously long, but the essence of the play is never compromised. The opera is in three acts. The acting, set and other dramatic elements are very similar (I think) to what is called for in the original play. Very minimal set, lots of miming.

The music itself is so wonderful. While you’ll frustrate yourself all two-and-a-half hours of the work if you try to find something that looks anything much like an aria, it is a very pleasant-sounding opera. And though Rorem uses many “strange” and “modern” devices (occasional bi-tonality, “wrong-note” effects, poly-rhythms, etc.) one never gets the sensation that it is anything nasty or out of the ordinary. It continues to sound beautiful, not strident or unlistenable. The vocal writing is lively and interesting, though not particularly melodic. The orchestra (which includes a very difficult, exposed, ubiquitous piano part) handles a good portion of the melodic material, while the voices beautifully, if not particularly tunefully, declaim the excellent text. It is, in fact, the drama that makes the opera. One comes away very aware of the story, and less aware of the music. It is as if Rorem and McClatchy turned on its head pre-Wagnerian opera, focusing on a story worth hearing, rather than on fabulous musical moments for the lead singers, regardless of the ridiculousness of the plot. Don’t get me wrong. There are many exquisitely beautiful, breathtaking moments, but that is not the end of the opera. The libretto is king, and the music serves as an excellently beautiful vehicle for the communication of the text.

Another interesting tidbit is that the opera, quintessentially American as it is, contains three well-known hymns (well-known to me, at least). Rorem starts and ends the opera with O God, our Help in ages past, and includes Love Divine, all loves excelling and Blest be the tie that binds at other points. An interesting gesture from someone who very apparently does not believe the texts of the hymns.

The performance itself was wonderful. The lead roles, George and Emily, were especially well-sung, as was that of the Stage Manager/Narrator. A fun/strange touch was that the librettist split the part of the Stage Manager, giving some of his lines only to the supertitle screen above the stage. I had a wonderful evening at the opera. I actually got all dressed up in my tux (a very rare thing in this town), instead of going in shorts and a t-shirt. If you ever get the chance to hear this work, please do so. It has my very high recommendation (whatever that’s worth).