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| Starbuck (Justin Ryan) and Queequeg (Ashraf Sewailam) leading the troops. All photos by Pat Kirk. |
February 10, 2019
An opera is the best thing that could have
happened to Melville’s overwritten, sprawling mess of a book. Given the
time-crunch offered by sung dialogue, librettist Gene Scheer was free to remove
all the boring mariner digressions and get to the shining central tale, digging
a pearl out of a bed of dull oysters. The story still philosophizes too much, sometimes seeming like a three-hour
psychological profile of Ahab, but I note that most of these discussions are at
least interrupted by a pivotal plot turn.
Jake Heggie, meanwhile, continues his quest
to save modern opera from itself. His score possesses a propulsive, tidal
quality, reminiscent of film soundtracks in its illustrative qualities, but
he’s crafty enough to break it up with quiet interludes (dast I say “set
pieces”?) and topdeck celebrations that echo traditional shanties and drinking
songs.
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| Richard Cox as Ahab. |
Heggie’s match of vocal character to role
character is masterful, and for the most part the OSJ cast is up to the
challenge. Richard Cox doesn’t carry the necessary power one associates with
Ahab, but his spinto tenor has a certain electric edge suitable for Ahab’s many
flights, and he has a ten-mile stare that has madness written all over it.
His friendly nemesis, Starbuck, sings in
reasoned passages, trying to coax his captain into appropriate behavior, and
Justin Ryan’s well-tempered baritone is just right. Noah Stewart’s soaring
lyric tenor is perfect for Greenhorn’s wide-eyed wonder, answered by the
friendly but gruff bass-baritone of Ashraf Sewailam as his companion Queequeg. Jasmine
Habersham’s limitless soprano gives the cabin boy Pip an affable playfulness
and, after his near-drowning, a psychic edginess.
The highlights are many. Trevor Neal takes
his regal baritone to the theater’s balcony, which provides a good mimicry of
Captain Gardiner’s ship pulling up along the Pequod. Tenor Mason Gates and
baritone Eugene Brancoveanu make high-energy ringleaders for the chorus, which,
equipped with genuine lead voices like Alex Boyer and Babatunde Akinboboye,
fills the California Theatre with more sound than it’s ever had. I also enjoyed
the inclusion of four dancers – Ty Danzl, Joshua Jung, Emmet Rodriguez and
Anthony Shtov – who took great pains to seem more like sailors who were just
really coordinated. For the marshalling of these scenes alone, stage director
Kristine McIntyre deserves a medal.
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| Noah Stewart as Greenhorn. |
Stewart and Sewailam do a superb job with
the crow’s nest friendship duet, an example of Heggie’s willingness to write
unabashedly beautiful music. The libretto goes a long way to sell this
friendship as the core of the story, but I would disagree. The core is Ahab vs.
Starbuck, an ongoing battle between obsession and practicality that nearly
leads to the mate’s execution (a breathlessly suspenseful moment). In a way,
this is an operatic debate that goes back to Puccini (follow the love) and
Verdi (follow the power). This time, I’m with Verdi.
Ryan shines in his subsequent Hamlet-like
monologue on his chances of ever seeing Nantucket again. Stewart’s star turn is
Greenhorn’s realization of life’s bitter truths, “All is vanity!” Cox’s solos
are all of a piece, various broodings on Ahab’s obsessive thirst for revenge.
He demonstrates an admirable ability to keep the energy going through all of
these (particularly with his left leg tied back).
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| Erhard Rom's set. |
Longtime OSJ patrons should take note that
this is Moby-Dick’s second round, an attempt to adapt the production to
mid-sized theaters, and that their partners in this are operas in Utah,
Pittsburgh, Chicago and Barcelona. In other words, Opera San Jose is a player. Founder Irene Dalis always
focused her efforts on training singers for later success elsewhere, but I have
to say, I enjoy the larger ambitions of her successor, Larry Hancock. San Jose
is a major-league city, and it deserves to have productions of this importance.
I was lucky enough to review the SFpremiere of Heggie’s opera, and it’s interesting to note the changes. Where SFO
was able to recreate the actual riggings of a ship, set designer Erhard Rom has
created more symbolic pieces, and covered them with old navigational maps, both
oceanic and astronomical. Pip’s lost-at-sea episode, previously accomplished
with an airborne singer (!) now depends on a slideaway pocket next to the
bridge. It works. The first whale-hunt, initially created with real boats and
onstage waves, now employs boat-like constructs and a turntable that spins
sailors across the briny. This works, too.
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| Greenhorn (Noah Stewart) and Queequeg (Ashraf Sewailam). |
Sadly, what doesn’t work is the pivotal
battle with the white whale. Freeze-frame impacts enacted in the slideaway
pockets don’t really deliver. The turntable does a good job of dispensing with
Starbuck’s crew. When we’re finally down to Ahab and a harpoon, a great whale’s
eye rises from the stage – an effective device. I expected Ahab to turn and
dive at it – blackout, we’re done. Instead, captain and harpoon both crumble to
the stage and a screen of ocean drops from the flies.
Even that
would be passable, but then we go to Greenhorn, adrift on a coffin, hailed by
Captain Gardiner from his ship.
“What’s your name, lad?”
And Greenhorn sings out… (hint: first line
of the novel, Call me…). Perfect
ending, right?
Wrong. Greenhorn stands to wave farewell to
the ghost of his friend, Queequeg, now appearing in that same slideaway pocket.
What is this, the Ewok celebration from Star Wars? It’s opera – tragedy is not
only allowed, it’s encouraged.
Joseph Marcheso turns in an athletic
performance with Heggie’s ever-charging score, and his orchestra shows a great
dynamic range. A new score could not be in better hands. Please note: any
similarity between Ahab and some other leader willing to sacrifice his own
workers in an ego-driven, obsessive pursuit of a great wall… er, whale, is
wholy coincidental.
Through February 24, California Theatre,
345 S. First Street, San Jose. www.operasj.org,
408/437-4450.
Michael J. Vaughn is the author of 21
novels, including Operaville and Gabriella’s Voice.
