San Jose Mercury News: With dark orchestral colors and quickening pulse, the final moments of "Heart of a Soldier" are unnerving. We know it's coming -- the destruction of the World Trade Center's south tower on September 11, 2001. A bagpiper's funereal song fills War Memorial Opera House and we see a man and a woman on their knees, coating their arms with fallen ash, attempting to stay physically connected to the hero whose death they are especially mourning, a man named Rick Rescorla.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
S.F. Opera's 'Heart of a Soldier' falters
San Jose Mercury News: With dark orchestral colors and quickening pulse, the final moments of "Heart of a Soldier" are unnerving. We know it's coming -- the destruction of the World Trade Center's south tower on September 11, 2001. A bagpiper's funereal song fills War Memorial Opera House and we see a man and a woman on their knees, coating their arms with fallen ash, attempting to stay physically connected to the hero whose death they are especially mourning, a man named Rick Rescorla.
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4 comments:
The critic in this article has a challenging job. He must critique the production and all of the elements of the production while staying emotionally unattached to the story that it tells. In theatre we create art by telling stories. The critic makes a valid point at the end of this article by asking “is it too soon?” My answer to this: if we as theatre artists don’t tell the story who will? In some cases I feel that it its artist’s duty to represent what is happening in the world, or at least there perception of what is happening in the world. If you see it paint it, if you hear it play it, if you feel it write it, but I never want to be part of an organization that takes front page news and turns it into art to turn a quick buck. I don’t think that this is what the Opera is about. Although I have not seen it, it seems that the purpose of telling this story is to give hope. Hope to all the people of the world that there are still heroes, you probably don’t see them, but they are there. The critic of this article was in a tough situation no matter what he wrote. If the production had flaws he is obligated to remark on them without emotional attachment to whatever the story may be.
I agree with Taylor in that this critic was definitely between a rock and a hard place, with how he reviews this piece. Reading his review, I think he did an fine job at being relatively objective, but I also see the silver lining in the piece. The story itself was strong and had a good message to give, just maybe at times the actual blocking or direction was a little lacking. I think as artists it is our job to put work out there that is important and meaningful. It is definitely a sensitive subject but I think it was also important in honoring a man who saved many people selflessly. Now we will never hear all of the stories of how people helped others and worked together to survive, but I think it is important to acknowledge who we can and prove that there is hope and goodness and that people can still be selfless.
I don't know if it's just me, but this does not seem like a good idea for an opera. Something about the whole thing makes it feel very facetious, like adding singing to this story turns it into a farce and feels insulting. Especially if the performance is done wrong, like the article suggests. I think any performance, movie, and media in general about 9/11 must be very tactful and careful. It's such a sensitive topic, even 10 years later, that any producer has to monitor the production very closely.
In reference to Sophia's comment; one of the best qualities of theater is that it is able to push past those sensitive subjects and make us think about them through another point of view. I am sad that a production with such an important background was so flawed. It almost seems like the creators rushed into the project in an effort to get something done rather than to create a good piece of art. I don't know that I agree with tspeegle's assessment that the critic was faced with a tough decision. I think he went into the production to evaluate its artistic and cultural merit and did a good job of calling out the issues with the production.
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