5/12/2018

BLO "Trouble in Tahiti": Skid a Lit Day!

The Set Design for BLO's "Trouble in Tahiti"
(photo: Liza Voll)

They had us with the nightclub set, or rather Set Designer Paul Tate dePoo III did, with what can only be described as giving a whole new dimension to the word immersive. Not since the work of Scenic Designer Mimi Lien (who created the visual world of Broadway's Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 a few seasons ago) has a visual encounter been so breathtakingly fabulous. Boston Lyric Opera has done it again, placing one of its seasonal offerings in an unusual and original setting, namely Leonard Bernstein's 1952 one-act opera, Trouble in Tahiti, presented at the Mass Department of Conservation and Recreation's Steriti Memorial Skating Rink in the North End. The venue has been totally made over to provide a smashing environment including all the supper club accoutrements one could possibly have anticipated, right down to the cabaret-style tables. Fittingly for a space that normally features hockey games, BLO has pulled off, with the set, lighting and costumes, the ultimate hat trick. But, as they say, you can't hum the scenery.

Fortunately, things are just fine in the vocal department as well, for the five singers on stage are nothing short of spectacularly well prepared and easily up to the demands of Bernstein's intricate musicianship. This production is a far cry from its relatively modest beginnings at its 1952 premiere at Brandeis. The work was dedicated to Bernstein's close friend Marc Blitzstein (known for his anti-capitalist works) and was the only composition for which Bernstein wrote both music and lyrics. Performed in seven scenes (and two interludes), the forty-five minute work was described by the New York Times as “clever and appealing”. It was last seen locally in 2010 as part of a double bill produced by Boston Midsummer Opera with Judy Kuhn (with Lee Hoiby's Bon Appetit). Much has been made of the fact that Bernstein began composing it as his own honeymoon began. Whether this reflected his conflicted sexual orientation, or was a commentary on his parents' marriage, may never be resolved, but there's no denying its topicality given the lines about the sun's kissing everything, in Scarsdale, Beverly Hills, Wellesley and even Brookline.


The Cast of BLO's "Trouble in Tahiti"
(photo: Liza Voll)

The title Trouble in Tahiti comes from a romantic movie that a couple named Sam (baritone Marcus Deloach) and Dinah (mezzo-soprano Heather Johnson) attend, she for the second time (having gone by herself earlier that day to a matinee). After a day in the life of their miserable marriage, they find they can no longer communicate, or even where to start. The prelude, in the form of scat singing (Skid a Lit Day) by a jazz trio, (soprano Mara Bonde, tenor Neal Ferreira and baritone Vincent Turregano) represents according to Bernstein himself “a Greek chorus born of radio commercials”. The first scene finds the couple at breakfast in a” little white house”, deciding to discuss their marital woes later that same night. Then Sam is shown at work where he treats men applying for loans differently, sometimes because of personal hook-ups such as his handball tournament buddies. Next Dinah tells her analyst about a dream of her standing lost in a field of weeds (but hearing a voice promising to lead her to a “quiet place” in the work's loveliest aria, There Is a Garden), after which she and Sam accidentally run into one another on the street, both claiming prior lunch commitments (both non-existent). An interlude by the scat trio sings about possessions (including children) and “who could ask heaven for anything more?”. Later in the gym Sam sings of being a born winner, and that men are all unequal. Then there's the Island Magic dream. Finally, later that night, they decide to attend the same film, as Sam sings men will pay through the nose, neither having gone to Junior's play. And there is of course the unspoken irony of the title and melodramatic fable of the movie they go to see.


The Cast of BLO's "Trouble in Tahiti"
(photo: Liza Voll)

While not considered one of his masterworks, it was reasonably well received, so Bernstein composed a sequel, A Quiet Place, in 1983, taking place thirty years later, after Dinah dies in a car crash, and the kids (Junior and Dede, neither seen nor heard in the first work) come home. It wasn't generally well regarded, though it is sometimes still found on a double bill with Trouble in Tahiti , or both combined into one opera of two flashbacks. In this BLO version, the opera is combined with Bernstein's 1988 song cycle Arias and Baccaroles, with perhaps a more mature view of marriage and familial love, more informed, with deeper cynical wit. The title comes from a critique by none other than President Eisenhower: “It's got a theme, not just all them arias and baccaroles”. It was the composer's last completed work, consisting of nine pieces, solos and duets: a prelude, love duet, the brief story of little Smary and her lost Widdut (?), the love of their lives, some greetings, a song about a Jewish wedding (Oif mayn Khasneh), Mr. and Mrs. Webb Say Goodnight and Nachtspiel (in Memoriam). While this segment of the performance was less enthralling, it was a clever means of demonstrating the composer's growth over the years, with some atonal touches, cynical wit and whimsy. The pairing of the two pieces were actually redesignated as Sam and Dinah Say Goodnight, (Scenes from a Marriage).

Both principal singers impressed with their delivery of their roles, as did the jazz trio chorus. Superbly conducted by David Angus (also at the piano with Brett Hodgdon), with terrific Stage Direction by David Schweizer, pluperfect 50's Costume Design by Nancy Leary, fantastic Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg, astoundingly effective Video Design by Johnny Rogers, and fluid Movement Direction by Melinda Sullivan, it just simply doesn't get any better than this.

In performances through May 20th, one can only add, in the spirit of a hockey venue: Goal!


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