Minnesota Opera has raised a lot of money and a lot of expectations with its new works initiative. I didn’t see Ricky Ian Gordon’s Grapes of Wrath so I can’t say much, except that judging from recordings it’s more musical-theatre than opera. (Which raises the question, what’s an opera? But we’ll leave that aside.) There was a plan to present another Gordon work only three years later, an adaptation of The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, which disappeared from the season without a trace. The other “new” works MNOp has programmed in this initiative have been the American premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Pinocchio and a revival of Dominick Argento’s Casanova’s Homecoming.
So. One very messy “real opera,” one sort-of opera, one developed by MNOp in 1985, and one not developed by the company at all. I wonder what is going on with their process. Actually, I can guess. It’s big and unwieldy, it’s expensive, it wants to make its mark for the company. SOP in the large, nonprofit theatre scene.
It’s always difficult to do opera. And creating new work…well, most things are going to fall short. I try to walk into a theatre with a clear mind and no expectations. But there are moments–like when Silent Night’s creaky turntable intruded, to the accompaniment of orchestral fill, or when the Guthrie Theatre decorated a set with an unplayed grand piano–that I get a little pissed. If you have that much money, could you please get it right? Or spend less money?
