Monday, November 17, 2008
Problems exist in revised version of 'Grapes of Wrath'
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "When the opera 'The Grapes of Wrath' by composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Michael Korie first was performed by The Minnesota Opera in 2006, the massive dislocation of the population of New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina provided an uncomfortable contemporary parallel."
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Three and a half hours is a LONG show. Even with two fifteen minute intermissions. There had better be a lot of story to support 3.5 hours. I like the fact that this opera is leaning towards musical theater. It shows that the opera world is growing and adapting. It may not be for the better but something new is always good. The fact that they are using wireless mics is an interesting issue as well. Mixing for opera has to be a very demanding task. If the mixer screws up the show they will have proven the point that opera should not use microphones. If the mixer does a great job and the audience cant tell the vocals are reinforced then a precedent may be set for wireless mics. Someday the mixer may be equal to a musician or even a maestro.
i am hopefully going to see this Friday night and i am very excited to see this story transformed into an opera. Now that i hear how long it is, i will be sure to pack a snack, but nonetheless i expect that this will be a very moving and epic performance of a classic american tale. this will be the first Opera i have seen in the states, so i am curious to see how all of these designs are employed with the text.
'Grapes of Wrath' bears fruit for Opera
Opera Review
Monday, November 17, 2008
By Andrew Druckenbrod, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
David Bachman Photography
Pittsburgh Opera's production of "The Grapes of Wrath" tells John Steinbeck's Depression-Era tale of the Joads, including, clockwise from left, Winfield (Joseph Serafina), Noah (Andrew Wilkowske), Ma (Elizabeth Bishop) and Granma (Anna Singer).
While John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" abounds in the raw depiction of displaced sharecroppers' lives during the Great Depression, its most profound moments are subtle and distant. Steinbeck's journalistic style led him to underplay such scenes, in part because he already had heavily weighted the novel with biblical imagery and sobering accounts of corrupt business tactics. Clearly the celebrated novel holds moments of staggering emotion, but Steinbeck left much more on the tree, sentiments waiting to be plucked like the fruit for which the Joad Family wretchedly toils. No better art exists than music to do that.
This is essentially Ricky Ian Gordon's achievement in his work, "The Grapes of Wrath," which opened its run at the Benedum Center Saturday in a top-rate production by Pittsburgh Opera. It is not a retelling of the novel, but an unpacking of its emotional core and even the greater tragedy of the Great Depression itself. Set with unaffected melody and underpinned by an orchestra both evocative and foreboding, transgressions hit the listener harder and tender scenes made the eyes moister, at least than I remember when reading the book years ago. The criterion for whether a novel should be translated into another art form must begin and end with the question: Can it offer something new? Gordon's most definitely does.
Pittsburgh Opera's 'The Grapes of Wrath'
Where: Benedum Center, Downtown
When: 7 p.m. tomorrow; 8 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. Sunday
Tickets: Start at $16
More information: 412-456-6666
Called an opera and sung that way, but like a musical progressing by numbers, with songs rather than arias and with body miking, "Grapes" is better understood more ambiguously as a piece of lyric theater. That is helped by an excellent cast adept at articulating a conversational style with light, clear voices. Gordon applied not only different genres, but also a variety of musical styles such as Copland-esque regionalism, swing, jazz, blues and folk. The orchestra, under conductor Richard Buckley, handled these with precision.
There is no question that Gordon's music was in the service of the plot -- different from most operas in which the story can be secondary to the outpouring of aria after gorgeous aria. But his theatrically driven music drove this tale well and was not without many substantial and beautiful melodies: from the evocative openness of the chorus "The Last Time There Was Rain" to Ma Joad's transporting lullaby "Simple Child" to the strangely appealing vocals uttered above the square dance. And there was a central character among the huge cast -- the rock of the family, Ma Joad (Elizabeth Bishop). Bishop's blue-tinged vocal inflections captured the pain and her acting the willpower of a mother who had no choice but to keep "hangin' on."
Gordon and librettist Michael Korie substantially rewrote "Grapes" for this production. Much of Act 1 was different than it was in its Minnesota Opera premiere last year. Still, the opera started slowly, coming into its own more in the latter two acts. There's unquestionably much material to get to, but I am not sold that the setup needs to be even this complete, especially when it appeared to lose some patrons.
Act 2, starting with a touching portrayal of a diner scene interaction between the Okies and a truck-stop waitress (Anna Jablonski in a marvelous Andrews Sisters-like number) and ending with a visually breathtaking scene in which Noah Joad (Andrew Wilkowske) drowns himself, was nothing short of brilliant. The Third Act went overboard when Uncle John (Robert Orth) sends Rosasharn's (Danielle Pastin) stillborn baby down a swollen creek represented by aggressive group choreography (with a poor young girl "tossed around" above them). But the final scene arrived with more transcendence than I would have thought the actual visual could create -- Steinbeck only hints at it, such was its potency. But with serenity displayed on her face and singing with a silvery timbre, Pastin nourished the starving man in a moving pieta-like pose.
The production was excellent, with fluid dramatic interjections and spectacular scene building. Impersonal scaffolding and rusty corrugated siding surrounded the sepia-toned clothes of the cast, and minimalist sets and a video backdrop gave "Grapes" a light-on-its-feet realism. The choreography (excepting that Moses scene) was natural, with believable interplay between Grampa (Joseph Frank) and Granma (Anna Singer), Ruthie (Michelle Coben) and Winfield (Joseph Serafini) and the multiple roles of Gregory Pearson and Theodore Chletsos.
The initial portrayal of Jim Casy (Sean Panikkar) as some sort of vaudeville actor, strumming the ukulele, was odd, but he was developed expertly. Craig Verm captured the smoldering soul of Tom Joad, Peter Halverson the "hayseed" naivete of Pa Joad and Jason Karn the young man's frustration of Al Joad.
Classical music critic Andrew Druckenbrod can be reached at adruckenbrod@post-gazette.com. He blogs at Classical Musings at post-gazette.com.
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Opera review: Superb mini-operas convey heartfelt grief
Monday, November 03, 2008
By Robert Croan, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Love and loss -- more specifically, the loss of one's beloved -- were the issues and inspiration for a pair of hour-long song-cycles by Ricky Ian Gordon, presented by Pittsburgh Opera Saturday evening at the company's splendid new office-rehearsal-performance facility in the Strip District. The works are outpourings of grief over the death of Gordon's life partner, Jeffrey Grossi, who succumbed to complications of AIDS in 1996. As staged, simply but effectively by Crystal Manich, each became a mini-opera, all the more emotionally charged by the presence of the composer in the second row of the small auditorium.
Gordon's full-scaled opera, "The Grapes of Wrath," will open at Benedum Center Nov. 15. The successful Carnegie Mellon graduate is being celebrated by several local events, of which this was perhaps the most intimate and personal.
In the first of the two works, "Orpheus and Euridice," Gordon -- who wrote the words as well -- changes the Greek legend to make the hero a reed player (clarinetist) rather than a singer with a lyre. Lanky, sandy-haired Michael Wayne Dee, a talented Carnegie Mellon sophomore, played with great facility, and portrayed the hero with a geeky charm that made his encounters with Euridice and the underworld gods credible and compelling.
The only singer is a soprano who alternates between the roles of Euridice and narrator, an assignment carried out with clear sound and diction by Deborah Selig, a second-year Opera Center participant. Underpinning all this was the superbly nuanced, technically brilliant pianism of Scott Dunn.
Even more poignant was the more recent "Green Sneakers" for baritone and string quartet (again CMU students). The single singer -- round-voiced Jesse Blumberg, who will have a lead in the big opera production -- represents Gordon himself, and the events described are not mythical but real. The sneakers are a present from the composer to his mortally ill lover. The shoes remained in their bedroom closet after Jeffrey's death.
Gordon's musical style is post-modern (tonal and non-dissonant) and crossover (tinted with Broadway and pop), which gives the work immediacy and makes each audience member a participant in the tragedy. There was less physical action than in the "Orpheus," but more overt sadness and desolation, as well as an intricate oneness of words and music that is, after all, the essence of both opera and song.
Robert Croan is a Post-Gazette senior editor.
Carnegie Mellon alum turns novel into opera
Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath takes the stage in the form of song
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When enthusiastic former Carnegie Mellon student Ricky Ian Gordon came to speak here two weeks ago, he described his fear when commissioned to compose an opera based on John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.
“I thought I was going to melt in my chair,” Gordon explained as he reminisced about receiving the commission from the Minnesota Opera in 1998. Gordon joked that The Grapes of Wrath is really one of those epic books that is so famous, most people think they’ve read it, but actually haven’t. Once Gordon read the book, though, he produced a piece of operatic history with the precise librettist Michael Korie. The opera premiered in 2007 to critical acclaim in Minnesota and then moved to cities such as Los Angeles. Now, The Grapes of Wrath has finally come to Pittsburgh at the Benedum Center through Nov. 23.
Pittsburgh’s production of Gordon’s opera highlights his composing virtuosity with smooth accuracy and desolate beauty. The show opens with a well-constructed patch of corn in center stage and projected images of the sky and clouds as the over 60-person cast and chorus sing about the creation of the infamous Dust Bowl in the 1930s. This rather minimalist and barren set design, along with the stretching sky across the back wall of the stage, provides the audience with Steinbeck’s vision of wide-open space and emptiness as the Okies attempt to make their way to California.
Gordon’s talented composing also highlights this vastness of space with his constant use of open chords, including fifths and octaves. Following in Aaron Copland’s footsteps, Gordon captures the audience with the melody of his main theme, “The Last Time There Was Rain.” The pit is just as prominent as the singers in the show and it includes a soulful harmonica that adds a very effective country feel to the production. If you are coming to the opera hoping for some nice tunes to be able to sing to yourself on the bus ride back, however, this may not be the show for you. Steinbeck’s novel is about moving on in life and driving through the expansive West. By composing music that is harmonically beautiful but does not often stop long enough or repeat often enough to produce a long, recognizable melody, Gordon identifies Steinbeck’s sentiment.
A highlight of the show is Danielle Pastin as Rosasharn, the young lover who is pregnant on the trek to California. Pastin often ends her phrases with beautiful tapers that make it very difficult to identify where her voice ends and silence begins. The principal singers do a terrific job of acting their parts while singing. Craig Verm is excellent as Joad with a projecting voice that never felt forced and a very broad vocal range. Complementing Joad is the struggling but persevering Ma Joad, who sings and acts with sincerity and a genuine Oklahoma accent. With a composer with many musicals, The Grapes of Wrath could turn into a modern day musical with the wrong singers. The Pittsburgh Opera proves its authenticity as one of the finest opera companies in the country, however, with the phenomenal singer actors they employ.
Many adaptations of Steinbeck’s novel leave out the intermediary and poetic chapters, but Gordon and Korie thrive in these chapters. Before the Joads leave their home for California, Ma Joad sings a beautiful aria about what is “us.” “How can we live without our lives? How will we know it’s us without our past?” Ma sings. The more the Joads lose, the more important it is to Joad and Ma to remember what “us” is and how to rely on family. The development of this theme makes the opera a bit too long, perhaps, but it is worth it as the epic story is told the way Steinbeck meant it to be.
The Grapes of Wrath Pittsburgh Opera production is a wonderful combination of talented singers, an effective set, and great musical composition. The expressive acting and voice of this cast visually demonstrate the tragedy and human struggle that are Steinbeck’s novel. Gordon may have been anxious about the production of his opera, but it is clear now that he has composed a resonating show that sticks with the audience long after its conclusion.
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Family and community permeate the heart of the new opera version of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath presented by Pittsburgh Opera. The music is by CMU grad Ricky Ian Gordon and the libretto and lyrics are by Michael Korie, both of whom are best known for creating musicals. But this often compelling and impressive work most sounds and looks like genuine opera rather than something geared towards Broadway, although it has the physical ingredients characteristic of Broadway hits, an immense cast, dynamic visual effects, and props including a life-size truck.
Gordon’s sung-through score surges with drama and often with great beauty, especially in multi-voice singing such as choruses and duets. Korie’s words, which you can read in projected supertitles, contain many elemental rhymes, which sometimes read more simple and lyrical than how Gordon sets them. At the same time, clearly, Korie is attempting to maintain speech patterns of equally elemental characters rather than make their words poetic and eloquent. So it remains up to Gordon to create eloquence, which he does magnificently. There are, of course, many times when the music in The Grapes of Wrath serves to move the story forward, being more narrative than song-like, but during the second and third acts, magnificent harmonies soar time and time again.
You may be surprised to see how much Steinbeck’s story and Korie’s telling of it resonates today, dealing with the oppression of migrant workers, especially brought home brilliantly in the third act when workers sing in Spanish. Then too, there is the subject of people displaced and brought down by nature, akin to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Director Eric Simonson has staged it all compellingly and dramatically, finding ways to keep his large, diverse and colorful cast convincing and believable. Consequently you’ll witness disturbing drama and revelations about recent American history, about hard times, which even now loom on our horizon. Gordon and Korie have created something memorable out of this subject, something which should be seen and heard again for how it sounds, how it looks and for what it tells us about ourselves.
The Grapes of Wrath continues only Tuesday, Saturday and next Sunday at Benedum Center downtown.
Gordon Preston
I find this very funny, my roommate who is a piano major here saw the show on Saturday; he said the same thing that Mark Kanny said about almost every aspect of the show. The Orchestra was incredible, the show was long and the voices didn't need to use mics. I still would have liked to have seen it from an acoustical standpoint. I heard that the first time it premiered, they closed off almost 3/4 of the pit? Very strange.
I can see how the show would end up being LONG. The book was huge and full of overlapping prose. Based on the review I think that the show has the same kind of pace as the book. The volume of the content is part of the content of the "Grapes of Wrath".
"this opera feels too long"
well, it _is_ a steinbeck work...
but 3.5 hours? yikes... that is long... i'm also probably going to see it friday, so i'm going to keep an open mind about it
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