After May鈥檚 devastating EF-3 tornado, 最新杏吧原创 Shakespeare Festival performed a miracle, salvaging its production of 鈥淗amlet鈥 in Forest Park and opening on time. But 鈥淗amlet鈥 isn鈥檛 your sole chance to see Shakespeare locally in June.
At the summer solstice, Opera Theatre of 最新杏吧原创 mounts a new production of 鈥淎 Midsummer Night鈥檚 Dream,鈥 Benjamin Britten鈥檚 1960 opera closely based upon the Bard鈥檚 play. SLSO Conductor Laureate Leonard Slatkin leads a stacked cast in Britten鈥檚 dreamlike score which boasts many lovely moments.
鈥淏ritten鈥檚 second act ending... When I heard that for the first time I just started crying,鈥 Slatkin says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so gorgeous. And then the very end, as they鈥檙e saying goodnight and goodbye to everybody, so beautiful.鈥
Britten鈥檚 鈥淢idsummer鈥 lives in the penumbra of opera鈥檚 standard repertory, not truly rare, but more seldom performed than his dramas 鈥淧eter Grimes鈥 and 鈥淏illy Budd.鈥 OTSL staged it once before, in 1992. Among its challenges, it requires 19 principal singers, who operate almost as three separate casts, the fairies, the Athenians and the mechanicals.
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Britten and his life partner and librettist, Peter Pears, dispensed with Shakespeare鈥檚 first act and streamlined the text. Set pieces for the King of the Fairies, Oberon, as he utters his turmoil-creating spells, structure the opera. Slatkin notes influence from one of Britten鈥檚 favorite composers, Felix Mendelssohn, in creating a dreamy atmosphere.
鈥淏ritten has these four chords that he鈥檚 going to use as the basis of his second act. There鈥檚 another composer who wrote music for 鈥楳idsummer Night鈥檚 Dream鈥 and also starts his work with four chords鈥攖hat鈥檚 Mendelssohn. I think that鈥檚 the key to this whole piece, that Britten is acknowledging Mendelssohn.鈥
James Laing as Oberon and Daniel Abelson as Puck in Opera North's 2024 production of "A Midsummer Nights' Dream." Laing will be Oberon in OTSL production.
As usual, OTSL rosters a fine blend of experienced singers and young artists. And the vets range in experience with their roles, from role debuts, to the r茅sum茅 of countertenor James Laing, now in his 11th staging of 鈥淢idsummer鈥 as Oberon.
鈥淢idsummer鈥 lacks a villain as such, but Oberon manipulates his wife Tytania and the four Athenian lovers in fairly dastardly ways. In opera, low male voices usually play the antagonist, but Britten cast Oberon as a countertenor, with the legendary Alfred Deller at the premiere.
Laing began his career as a bass-baritone but quickly transitioned to countertenor and relishes the chance to revisit Oberon at OTSL with its thrust stage and 987 seats: 鈥淏ecause of that thrust and the fact that you have those sides, it retains that intimacy. You don鈥檛 often get the chance to perform (that way) from an acting perspective. I鈥檓 an actor who sings, is how I see myself.鈥
Erin Morley as Tytania and Nicholas Brownlee as Bottom in Santa Fe Opera's 2021 production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
Laing views that closeness to audience as how opera will survive. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how I see the future of opera, that鈥檚 for sure. It鈥檚 obviously changed over the last 40 or 50 years. I think the art form is moving forward to become more of an intimate dramatic thing, and it鈥檚 interesting.鈥
鈥淢idsummer鈥 probably categorizes as a dramedy rather than strictly comedy, and as 鈥渋ntimate dramatic鈥 moments go, it鈥檚 hard to beat the prolonged squabble between Helena and Hermia in Britten鈥檚 second act. Most productions feature frenetic stage business between the women, and their lovers Demetrius and Lysander.
Soprano Teresa Perrotta, an OTSL debutante but a veteran of 鈥淢idsummer鈥 at Santa Fe Opera, says that Britten and the Bard have done most of the work of making the scene funny. 鈥淚 laugh at every single rehearsal. Shakespeare is so brilliant in his writing and so is Britten, and the way they set up the world and how they set up the music and the text for Helena... as long as you just lean into that craziness, I feel like that takes care of the comedy.鈥
Jennifer Johnson Cano will play Hermia in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Opera Theatre of 最新杏吧原创.
Perrotta is happy to return to the role. 鈥淚t was actually the first principal professional role I鈥檇 ever been cast to do. I did it in Santa Fe in 2021, and it fits like a glove.鈥
Her frenemy in the show, Hermia, is sung by a mezzo-soprano beloved of 最新杏吧原创 audiences, Jennifer Johnson Cano. (Where鈥檇 she go to high school? St. Pius X in Festus). Cano is closer to Laing鈥檚 mid-career seniority in opera, but makes her role debut as Hermia, one which she didn鈥檛 anticipate getting to sing since 鈥淢idsummer鈥 isn鈥檛 frequently programmed.
She too stresses Britten鈥檚 writing in producing comedy. 鈥淭he trickiest part of the role is the rhythm, which I think is most often true in something that鈥檚 comical because the composer is choosing to write your music in such a way that it comes out as funny.
鈥淗e is very precise about what he wants, and again, the beautiful thing about Britten鈥檚 compositional style is it takes you a while to wrap your head around it. But then you hit a day in the process, and you go 鈥極h, it makes sense.鈥 You just have to live in it for a bit.鈥
Coming home, Cano happily greets OTSL for the first time since her success there as Orpheus in Gluck鈥檚 鈥淥rpheus and Eurydice鈥 in 2018. And she reminds us what a treasure we have in OTSL.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so meaningful. This was the first place that I ever saw an opera. It鈥檚 the first place I had a professional contract as a Gerdine Young Artist. It鈥檚 the first place I ever sang a principal role. To come back and do a title character is incredible. And then, to be here for the 50th anniversary season, when the company itself has really been a part of my life for half of that. It鈥檚 incredible.鈥
Leonard Slatkin, conductor laureate of the 最新杏吧原创 Symphony Orchestra, talks about his love for American music and his legacy in 最新杏吧原创, during an interview聽at his home in Clayton.
