Before Night Falls - Opera Premiere in Fort Worth

I've just come from the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, where I attended the staged premiere of my friend Jorge Martin's opera, "Before Night Falls," based on the memoir by Reinaldo Arenas.  I can't be unbiased about this, of course, because I've known Jorge for many years and have heard some earlier incarnations of this material, but I can say that I found this to be a totally gripping musical theater experience.  The singers, the conductor, the orchestra, the chorus, the sets, the production.... everything came together to make this an overwhelming experience.  Martin's music sticks in the memory.  He really rises to the big moments in the score, and the libretto he fashioned with the assistance of Dolores M. Koch, who was Arenas's translator, is superb as well.

I was prepared to be impressed, because I had heard the cantata, Stronger Than Darkness, that Martin fashioned out of some of this material for the Monmouth Civic Chorus a few years ago, so I already had some familiarity with the musical material.  But that was an abbreviated concert performance, about 40 minutes out of a full-length opera.  (The performance tonight began about ten minutes after 8 and finished up at about 10:50, with an intermission of about 15-20 minutes between the two acts.)  Martin's use of the orchestra is sure, the pacing is superb, the dramatic arc of the two acts is unerring, and there are some arias, duets and trios that are just stunning in their emotional effectiveness.  He has managed to make a transformative ending out of what could have felt like a terrible tragedy, and he has managed to make Reinaldo Arenas come alive in a new way -- different from the memoir, different from the very fine film.  One must experience all three, to experience the poet's language, to appreciate the extraordinary assumption of the role by Javier Bardem in the movie, and then to experience the extraordinary combination of artistic contributions of an opera.

So, the creative team must be acknowledged here.  Director David Gately, Conductor Joe Illick, Scenic Designer Riccardo Hernandez, Costume Designer Claudia Stephens, Makeup and Wig Designer James P. McGough, Lighting Designer Harry Frehner (especially the lighting designer, whose contribution to the staging was enormous), Projection Designer Peter Nigrini, Choreographer John de los Santos, Fight Choreographer Jeremy Stein, and on and on and on.... 

And the cast for this production.  Wes Mason totally mastered an extraordinarily demanding role.  Reinaldo Arenas, the central character, is on stage throughout the opera and sings in virtually every scene.  This is a marathon for him, and he nailed it totally tonight. 

The supporting cast were all worthy of the occasion as well.  As the two muses of the poet, the sea and the moon, Janice Hall and Courtney Ross were exquisite, and Hall was additionally touching in early scenes as Arenas's mother.  Jesus Garcia was deeply affecting as well as Ovidio, a composite character to represent the older Cuban poets and writers who were Arenas's mentors.  Javier Abreu and Jonathan Blalock were superb as Arenas's friends and companions, and Seth Mease Carico portrayed all the necessary menace as Victor, the ardent Revolutionary who becomes Arenas's persecutor.  Corey Trahan rounded out the cast superbly in the comprimario roles of the port official and visa official. 

And the Fort Worth Opera Chorus, prepared by Stephen Dubberly, and the ballet members made an extraordinary contribution.  The chorus is like a character in this opera, and the dancers for the beach scenes were breathtakingly good.  And, amazingly, Wes Mason fit right in with the dancers and participated with a degree of athletic vigor one would not expect from a leading singer, as did Javier Abreu in that early beach scene.  I was actually a bit concerned about Mason's participation in the strenuous acrobatics of the beach scene so early in the opera, thinking that I would be hesitant to risk a physical injury to my lead singer...  But he did it with style and apparent ease.

There were Spanish and English surtitles.  The opera was sung almost entirely in English, with just a few Spanish words here and there.  The English surtitles were prepared by Keith A. Wolfe, the Spanish surtitles by Gabriela Lomonaco.

I felt like a part of history tonight, attending the unveiling of a new operatic work that deserves to take on a life going forward.  I hope many other opera companies rush to pick this up, especially the NY City Opera, which would be a logical company to put this on and, given the subject matter and the high quality of the work, I expect it would be a real "hit" in New York. 

Victoria!

Comments

[John Boyer]

Hear, hear! For those who know Jorge it is difficult to remain unbiased, but even taking this into account I came away from the performance firm in the opinion that "Before Night Falls" is one of best new American operas in some time. It has so much to recommend: beautiful ensemble pieces, masterful orchestration...but who needs lists?

Let's hope that other companies interested in contemporary opera are paying attention.

[Art Leonard]

Agreed. I understand that the critics down in Texas are comparing it unfavorably to Jake Heggie's "Moby Dick," which premiered a short time ago in Dallas. Of course, these are the Dallas newspaper critics, on the whole, and the usual Dallas-Ft. Worth rivalry may be playing a role there.

I was amused that one of the critics noted Jorge's lush melodies, while another other cracked that like most contemporary composers Jorge could not write melodies. My own view is that people tend to be at different stages in the process of finding melodies in the music they hear. I find melodies today in pieces I considered sheer cacophony years ago. One's ear grows over time. And what counts as melody grows over time.

My favorite example of this is Sergei Prokofiev. When he was a youngster writing brash works like the first two piano concerti and the first violin concerto, he was scorned for writing noise without melody. In retrospect, he was one of the most gifted writers of melody of his time. It's just that what we hear as melody has expanded and grown. The beginning violin solo in the First Violin Concerto is just the kind of long, spun-out melodic line, with occasional quirky intervals, that Jorge writes in this opera.

To me, Jorge's music in this opera is very melodious, and some of it could easily be included on opera aria recital recordings and hold its own. I'm thinking in particular of that great duet in the second act between Arenas and Lazaro - the "farewell" duet when Lazaro has his visa to go to the USA and Arenas will be left behind. I thought this duet was worthy of a 21st century Puccini, which is a great compliment from me, as I can think of few 20th century composers with a greater melodic gift than Puccini.

But reactions to works of art are very individual. I trust there will be enough favorable reactions to give this work a healthy life and many fine productions, with opportunities for the composer to continue thinking about ways to improve it -- for every work of this scale and complexity can be improved.