Who says opera is an artificial art form
unable to deal with issues of today?
Surely not composer John Adams, whose operas continually tackle
contemporary subjects. His first opera, "Nixon in China"
(1987), dramatized that president’s historic 1972 visit, and
"I Was Looking at the Ceiling and then I Saw the Sky"
(1995) was inspired by the large-magnitude Southern California
earthquake of January 1994.
But Adams’ most significant and prescient opera is 1991’s "The
Death of Klinghoffer," in which poet Alice Goodman’s libretto
tackles a complex subject that, sadly, remains relevant today
– terrorism.
Specifically, "The Death of Klinghoffer" is about the
October 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro
in the Mediterranean Sea by four Palestinians. The title character
is Leon Klinghoffer, a wheelchair-bound Jewish American passenger
murdered by the hijackers, who then tossed his body and wheelchair
overboard.
Adams’ music, which often recalls the stately elegance of Bach’s
choral works, lends itself to a stylized visualization of Goodman’s
libretto, which brings us to Obie award-winning stage director
Bob McGrath, whose work with the experimental Ridge Theater makes
him the perfect choice for the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s "staged
concert version" of "Klinghoffer," with Robert
Spano conducting the Brooklyn Philharmonic on Dec. 3, 5 and 6
at the Howard Gilman Opera House.
"I’m sure one of the reasons they asked me to do it is because
of our style, the way we use projections and lighting,"
McGrath told GO Brooklyn between rehearsals. "We often put
our performers in tableau situations, so this opera lends itself
to this kind of staging. We can put big visuals on it with our
films and projections. A lot of the movement of our pieces is
not the performer moving, it’s the media moving."
Ridge Theater has made a name for itself with its adventurous
stagings of theater and opera, innovatively utilizing scrims
and projections to create different planes of viewing for audiences.
For "Klinghoffer," McGrath is again working with longtime
collaborators Bill Morrison (film projections), Laurie Olinder
(visual design), Kaye Voyce (costumes) and Matt Frey (lighting).
Notwithstanding the volatile politics that permeate this explosive
piece, McGrath explains that his concept for this staging is
very simple.
"I approach it as a drama," he says. "I try to
focus on what happened on the ship over those couple of days.
Our projectionist and filmmaker went out on a cruise ship and
got a bunch of images and footage, and we’re really trying to
place [the staging] within the ship it happened on. We’re not
trying to make it too abstract – we’re keeping our focus on the
reality."
Of course, since "Klinghoffer" has aroused such extreme
passion, both pro and con – the latter typified by a New York
Times critic’s screed that the opera was essentially worthless
– McGrath is aware that even avoiding taking sides is, to some
people, a way of taking sides.
"It’s such a hot issue," he says. "It’s so inflammatory
and incendiary that people have a lot of really strong feelings
about this. That’s just inherent in doing the thing. But this
is an historical thing that happened, that’s how I’m approaching
it."
McGrath actually found a kindred spirit from a most unlikely
source: Penny Woolcock’s acclaimed film of the opera, recently
released on DVD by Decca. Woolcock reworked Adams and Hoffman’s
original concept to make it better suited to the film medium,
and the results are stunning.
"I didn’t think I was going to like it – I don’t know why
– but I really thought it was great," says McGrath. "I
pretty much had my whole concept together when I saw it, but
I’m sure it impacted my ideas a little, because I was really
impressed, especially by the way [Woolcock] did things I can’t
do – she created back stories for the terrorists and the passengers
on the boat."
Woolcock’s film used a recording of Adams conducting the London
Symphony Orchestra; for BAM’s version, McGrath is thrilled to
be teaming with Spano and the Brooklyn Philharmonic for the first
time.
"This is my ’debut’ with a full orchestra," he says
with a laugh. "It’s been fantastic working with Bob Spano,
because he’s energetic, he’s got great ideas, and he’s been supportive
of my concept from the start."
But, in the end, it all hinges on how audiences respond to this
musical and dramatic recreation of an incident that will live
in infamy for the many people that it impacted on.
Its director wants to downplay everything except the essentials:
what happened to 400 innocent passengers and crew at the hands
of some violently misguided individuals.
"I don’t want to fan any flames," McGrath insists.
"I just want to show the horribly sad events that happened
over these two days in this gorgeous spot in the Mediterranean."
Ridge Theater’s production of "The
Death of Klinghoffer" will be staged in the BAM Howard Gilman
Opera House (30 Lafayette Ave. at Ashland Place in Fort Greene)
on Dec. 3, 5 and 6 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $20, $40 and $55,
and they can be purchased by calling BAM Ticket Services at (718)
636-4100, or by visiting the Web site at www.bam.org.
