Operas KO Shouldn't Do

Bloggers have a great tradition of creating endless lists. "Best sci-fi movies," "greatest moments in web history," "things not to do on a date," "most boring lectures in UT Engineering," etc. The technique is an easy "out" for the regular blogger and is somewhat self organizing. Plus, given the blog's primary purpose--expressing opinion--it's a shoe in.

Since we're here in the doldrums of summer (already double-digit days of 90-degree weather here in K-town), it's a time to look back and reflect on the previous opera season as well as anticipate the productions of this coming season. So, guess what? A list of operas that the KO needs to lay off for awhile. Thanks to Jeff Koehler's excellent record keeping, we have a list of recent history of KO opera performances (reproduced gratefully on my kocpics.com website) and can make some quantitative and qualitative analysis thereof. Though the list on the website is not quite up-to-date (#497 on my to-do list), I've accounted for the missing data. Again, this is just my opinion and not any sort of suggestion or gripe or condescension of anyone. Also, it stands to reason that some of the most popular works in the genre are included here, just because they're so well-known and are such crowd pleasers, particularly in a smaller market like Knoxvegas that has a cash-strapped company always looking for sell-outs.

1. Carmen. Right. Like you were real shocked about that one. By my count, we've done three in my tenure with the company (ca. 1990). Not too bad. And, to be fair, since we did it in 2007, we're probably not going to be seeing the smuggler's chorus anytime soon (especially given the experience, which will become lore of KO choristers). Still, it's probably one of the most well-known of the operas, no thanks to Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal, and, of late, Billy Bob Thornton. Add to that the fact that it requires quite a few sets and a larger group of performers (imagine a chorus of ten smugglers or townfolk--see what I mean?), and you just can't afford to throw it up on the stage but every six or seven years.
   
2. La Bohème. Another gimme. Another popular opera. And, like Carmen and so many of the ones on this list, a seminal work of the genre. It's a great chorus show with its spectacular Act Two, which makes it particularly attractive to a company that wishes to keep a consistent core of easily-distracted choristers on the payroll. But, again, you gotta have a good sized chorus, some kind of banda of gala-like proportions, plus beaucoup of extras to run around and fill the stage. And even the occasional opera-goer who loves its familiar tunes must say, "They're doing Bohème again?! They just got through doing that."
   
3. Marriage of Figaro. Yes, it's Mozart; yes, it's a work of a genius; yes, it's funny. Nevertheless, outta here! Too long, too complicated for a modern audience used to attempting to comprehend 30-second commercials. Also, probably seen as a bit silly by modern eyes... eyes that, oddly enough, may have rented Dumb and Dumber from Blockbuster last week. And I wonder how many well-versed opera lovers even in the chorus can say they have an appreciation for recitativo secco? Get on with the arias, for godsake!
   
4. Madame Butterfly. I hate to list this one, I really do. As wonderful as Bohème is, Butterfly is on another level. Puccini knew Paris well, as did most of his audience, so he had no problem recreating the look and feel of it for his operas. But, ah! The Orient! Strangeness! That was something that had to be conveyed in the music! He went one better later on in Turandot, both in musical intensity and conveyance of setting. Alas! Again we've done it at least three times in my tenure. And since we've also recently cycled through a production, it should be awhile before we see it back, anyway. Not a great chorus show by any means, except to say that Puccini (as in many of his operas) uses us most effectively.
   
5. Magic Flute. Given the controversy surrounding our last production, I wouldn't expect to see this one back on stage any time soon. Add to that the fact that this is a singspiel, an opera form not well understood by Knoxville operagoers simply because Flute is about the only singspiel we've done. Then there's that German language thing, which drives singers well-versed in the "pure" Italianate sounds crazy. Oh, yes, we could do it in English (and have), but the translations are always horrible. You either attempt to be true to the German meaning and lose all the wonderful poetry of the German, or attempt to rhyme the English and send the Germanic meaning to its grave, all the while sounding exceptionally silly. And nobody in Knoxville is going to come hear anyone recite German verse on stage as part of a play, especially given the complexities of the usual Mozart opera stories. Then there's all those complex deus-ex-machina sets, the myriad and grandiose costumes, and trying to find three child singers that can sing in tune and not freak out while hanging from wire rope thirty feet off the ground in front of 800 people. I have to admit some favor for this one, though, as it was the first opera that so engrossed me that i actually sat down and watched it (on PBS) beginning to end. Still, too complex and expensive to produce very often at all, even using sets that weren't designed by world famous artists.
   
6. Aida. Money, space, time, singers, animals, sets: These are four things that the KO doesn't have enough of to produce this massive spectacle. And it certainly is the only opera we've ever done that has required a local wildlife agent to sit in the rafters and point his gun at us on stage.
   
7. Barber of Seville. This has just been over-performed in K-town due to its accessibility, the fact that it's by Rossini, and has a good distribution of characters that makes it easy to perform with both students and pros.
   

Surprisingly enough, I found that (counting this coming season) we've performed Pagliacci four times since the early 90s, but I'm leaving it out of this list, as it's short, not particularly well-known (unless you're a Godfather or Kevin Costner/Sean Connery fan), and easy to put up on stage. Also, I suspect that, after this fall's performance, that I, personally, will be pretty over Student Prince. It's just not that memorable a piece. That being said, if we can keep doing it (on the cheap, as we have been) and people still come and see it time and time again, I can probably hold my mustard about it.

So, what's next? Operas we ought to be doing. Stay tuned.