GREAT WHITE WHALE
OPERA IS OUT OF SIGHT
By Paul Hertelendy
artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music
and dance
Week of May 10-17, 2010
Vol. 12, No. 99
DALLAS, TEXAS--- Jake Heggie's
world-premiere
opera-tragedy "Moby Dick" is a gripping and touching sea saga,
with the Dallas Opera far more focused on strong musical execution than
on
theatrical-dramatic impact. And Heggie manages to bring it off without
a single
sea-shanty.
The San Francisco
composer has matured considerably since his earlier "Dead Man
Walking." His orchestra is a veritable dancer stepping fast to meet
many
moods, his choruses are the most stirring I've heard in New-Millenium
opera,
and several soliloquies are powerful personal statements by the doomed
crew of
the good ship Pequod that we all remember from Herman Melville's epic
book of
the same title written a century and a half ago.
The theme is
that the wages of obsession are death. And
Captain Ahab's single-minded obsession with attacking the great white
whale (which symbolizes almost any unattainable
goal) costs the lives of the
crew, the ship, and a huge potential whaling profit. His obsession in
fact may
also be a death wish obliquely alluded to in the first scene.
Heggie's style
is quite consonant but not derivative. His
music is sensitive yet rarely very pictorial, given the considerably
opportunities
of storm scenes, fight scenes and death scenes. Working off the Heggie
matrix
come strong performances by a large cast of singers.
This being a
co-production by five companies in America
and Canada,
look for it to come to the
San Francisco Opera within a few years, with some of the same
principals.
Unlike the
classic movie that had featured Gregory Peck,
this version never takes you back to Nantucket
or dry land, and there is no romantic or feminine element---something
that
almost every successful sea-saga opera of the past included.
Powering the
opus instead were the visuals of masts and
hawsers, plus dazzling projections to convey whale-boats, capsizes, and
other
challenging elements of the story. Robert Brill's scenic design blended
brilliantly with Elaine McCarthy's ingenious, shifting projections and
the
lighting by Donald Holder.
The major
protagonist as the peg-legged Capt. Ahab was the
Wagnerian tenor Ben Heppner, a mountain of a man recalling the film
actor Peter
Ustinov. He projected forcefully and at times lyrically into the
farthest
reaches of the Winspear Opera House when heard at the third performance
May 5.
His soliloquies were moving, as were the similar outpourings from
baritone
Morgan Smith (as Ahab's antagonist Starbuck) and tenor Stephen Costello
(Greenhorn) who voiced the swan song with an extraordinary voice to
watch in
varied roles over coming years.
No great
credit goes to the director, Leonard Foglia, when
scene after scene is sung in 19th-century tableau style. The one
riveting
personality on stage visually was the invincible Samoan Qeequeg,
animated by
Jonathan Lemalu.
Patrick
Summers, an ex-SFO apprentice, did admirably leading
the Dallas
orchestra.
The Winspear
Opera House last fall became the latest addition to Dallas’ “Arts District,”
and some would call it the best, but the symphony hall gives it close
competition.
"Moby Dick" world premiere at the
Dallas
Opera, through May 16. Winspear Opera House. Three hours with one
intermission.
Sung in English. For info: (214) 443-1000, or go online.
©Paul Hertelendy 2010
#
Paul Hertelendy has been
covering
the dance and modern-music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area with
relish
-- and a certain amount of salsa -- for years.
These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never
weakly)
will focus on dance and new musical creativity in performance, with
forays
into books (by authors of the region), theater and recordings by local
artists as well.
#
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