Endangered Productions | Bernstein and Busoni
28 November – 7 December | Eternity Playhouse, Darlinghurst
Artistic director Christine Logan says, ‘Endangered Productions cherry-picks often little-known musical gems and reworks them for a modern audience in intimate settings. (It is) a double operatic bill not to be missed.’
We stepped into 18th-century Bergamo (Italy) for a whirlwind of witty, mischievous, scathing and farcical drama in ‘Arlecchino’ – Ferruccio Busoni’s brilliant one-act opera inspired by the vibrant world of commedia dell’arte. Best known for his fiendishly difficult piano music, Busoni revives the classic Italian theatre tradition with a modern twist — satirising opera’s grand conventions and poking fun at all of his characters, mercilessly exposing them as fools even if they are clever.
This was a memorable night filled with countless funny moments: The cast interacted with the audience – e.g. the doctor dispensed his quackery medicines – and with the orchestral musicians and conductor. You can’t get this in the Opera House!
The protagonist is married, but he marries another woman anyway? The scorned wife pines for him, but marries another rich suitor anyway? What sort of morality did 18th century Germany / Italy have?
His characters were caricatures and stereotypes of people that were not going to evolve / develop during the opera, but acted totally seriously in the context of their situation. This particular audience member couldn’t believe the choices that these characters were making, and so seriously! That’s what made it so unbelievably funny…
We had:
The womanising alpha male (Arlecchino) who was surprisingly devoted to his current mistress – and used other people and the situation to his benefit – lying about barbarians coming to invade,
The cuckolded husband who was the tailor, devoted to his Dante book, but otherwise oblivious to reality,
The priest who resided in the bar. Plus a doctor who also resided in the bar. These 2 didn’t know what to do with a ‘dead’ body and asked everyone for help (including the orchestra, audience and conductor) as they looked to pass the buck (responsibility) so that they could finally head back to the bar.
A comical rich guy who was wandering about with his guitar / rapier’s blade / whatever it needed to be, who just happened to pick up Colombina, Arlecchino’s dumped wife, in her despairing rage,
Brea Holland, as Colombina, stole the show for me, showcasing a diverse skill set including a passionate and serious ‘Queen of the Night’ type aria, and pole dancing! I was so worried that the pole was going to fall down from her weight, because I thought that props were flimsy and only looked good for the show, but clearly this pole had real substance, unlike a lot of the characters. Other people also danced on the pole, but Brea was the only perfect 10!
A donkey, who was far more interesting than its 2 riders! In fact, the couple behind me were laughing so hysterically at the donkey’s antics that the donkey must be the real star of the show, even if only for 5 minutes.
At the end of the performance, the titular protagonist played by Andy Leonard asked the audience what this opera was all about. I was pleased to hear the theme of this morality play explicitly spelt out: ‘Nothing ever changes. Men (and women) are stupid. A whole lot of nothing is going on.’
The opera even ends with a farcical ‘ballet’ where all singing stops, and the main characters gesticulate and gyrate for about 5 minutes, but never leave their designated spot and nothing is accomplished. This was a good summation of the content and conclusion to the opera.
Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti – based on his memories of growing up as a child and witnessing his parents’ interactions – was a completely different listening experience, full of pathos, sadness and a searing illustration that money does not correlate to happiness. The married couple have everything that the American Dream can offer them, and they have no happiness in their marriage or life. A completely different feeling to the pre-interval opera.
Trouble in Tahiti has 2 show stopping arias: 1 for each main character, who are both very serious and not much fun. The gloom of the marriage is juxtaposed with the lifestyle of plenty that post-war America has to offer rich people. The music is suitably jarring, with classical melodies overlaid with jazzy dissonant harmonies. A chorus of 3 (more on them later) provides commentary on how good life is in America.
Yet the marriage is stale. The wife constantly seeks affirmation and validation from the husband, who never gave it to her, and was, in fact, quite negative to her because he had been trained to be defensive and counter-attack her nagging.
It felt like the husband Sam (Peter Coleman-Wright) missed multiple chances to make his wife Dinah (Cheryl Barker) happy, their marriage never elevated either of them, and they were mired in an uninspired depressive funk. Poor Leonard Bernstein, who had to grow up in that environment.
The singing quality of the whole opera company was of an outstanding quality, of course Cheryl Barker and Peter Coleman-Wright are established operatic singers in their own reputation, but I felt that the other singers were not shaded at all, and enhanced their own reputation by holding their own with these big stars. A big shout out to the 2 singers/actors who participated in both operas (opere) – Damien Hall and Ed Suttle – because the way they were able to portray such different characters, by their acting and their singing, was amazing. All on the same night.
Even with a skeletal orchestra, the conductor is vital, with a lot of the singers using their peripheral vision to get their cues, which they already knew anyway, but the conductor acts as comfort and security.
The costumes were fantastical and amazing. The props were fairly minimal, but did not detract from the story itself. Christine knew how to tell the story effectively even though there were not many props available.
Cheryl Barker: ‘Major theatre venues won’t take risks these days. This gives us a chance to do something totally different. Vocally it’s a real challenge which we love. This company shines a light on a vast, overlooked repertoire well beyond the familiar.’
Side note: My first thoughts after discovering the Eternity Playhouse for the first time: it was a new and exhilarating experience going to a venue that I’ve never been to before. The Eternity Playhouse is quite cosy (a few too many stairs to enter the theatre, and a long way away from the tram and train stations, unfortunately). I did ‘discover’ Gadigal metro on my way to Town Hall, lol!
Photo Credit: Marion Wheeler
