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Joseph Dalton Reviews "Blue” And “The Ghosts Of Versailles” At Glimmerglass

To anyone who thinks opera is an old fashioned art form that has nothing to say to today’s world, I say, go see “Blue.”  The new opera debuted on Sunday July 14 at the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown.  It is a tense and powerful depiction of an African American family in contemporary Harlem.  The teenage son, innocent but earnest, gets shot and killed by a police officer at a peaceful protest.

We never see the shooting.  In Act One we get to know the family.  In the opening scene, three chattering girlfriends coo over the pregnant mother.  Hearing that she’s expecting a boy, they turn grim and declare, “Thou shalt bring forth no black boys into this world!”  The stoic father is a police officer who has to be coached on how to hold an infant.  Act One ends with him and his now-teenage son arguing.  It’s a familiar kind of father/son scene, except that this son faces constant danger.  The father declares:  “Stay alive. That’s what you’re supposed to do.”    

After intermission, the father and a preacher share their fury, the minister adding rather hollow words of consolation.  The mother convulses in bitter grief, as her helpless friends look on.  The community gathers at the funeral.

These scenes could easily become polemic or clichéd or just too much to take in.  But opera has the power to elevate human proceedings and to sustain emotions.  And this is tragic opera for a new era.

The libretto was written by Tazewell Thompson, who is African American and also directed the staging.  His script is urgent and immediate, full of authentic detail and genuine voice.

Rather than mimicking any of the musical styles that could be used to depict black culture, composer Jeanine Tesori goes for dignity and nobility.  The vocal writing is often lively and contemporary, but stately brass chords tell us this is more than the passing struggle of any single family. 

“Blue” was commissioned by the Glimmerglass Festival and its visionary director Francesca Zambello.  It will also be seen at the Washington National Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago next year.  It plays at Glimmerglass through August 22.

The final mainstage work in the 2019 season in Cooperstown is a mostly light-hearted romp, “The Ghosts of Versailles” by John Corigliano.  The opera imagines Marie Antoinette languishing in heaven, bored to death.  To amuse her, the smitten Beaumarchais produces a sequel to his previous hits, “The Barber of Seville” and “The Marriage of Figaro.”  The score places the ghosts in clouds of modern dissonance, while the opera within the opera is a quick moving pastiche on Rossini and Mozart.

At one point, a cranky ghost complains that he could never follow the third act of “Marriage of Figaro.”  There’s a lot to keep up here as well, but remember that the goal is good music and a good time.  “Ghosts” offers that in heavenly profusion. 

The Glimmerglass season, which includes on-going performances of “Show Boat” and Verdi’s “La Traviata” continues through August 24. 

Local arts writer Joseph Dalton is the author of Artists and Activitists Making Culture in New York's Capital Region.

The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.

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