Kurt Weill's Lost in the Stars at WNO

Kurt Weill's last work Lost in the Stars is set in South Africa, but in the new Washington National Opera's production it could be set in the United States or India any other country beset with racial and class divisions. Weill's opera - I would call it a musical - based on Alan Paton's 1948 novel Cry, the Beloved Country explores common humanity among divided people that emerges in the face of tragedy.

I read Paton's book as a teenager and I'd never seen or heard Lost in the Stars before Friday night, so I could watch the WNO performance with an open mind - almost. I lived in South Africa for four years in the early 1980s when apartheid was still firmly in place and that experience could not be entirely ignored.

Sean Panikkar as The Leader in WNO's Lost in the Stars

The first thing I noticed in the WNO performance was the scarcity of the distinctive South African accent except for the valiant efforts by Wynn Harmon, Paul Scanlan and Thomas Adrain Simpson to emulate it. All three were portraying white South Africans: farmer James Jarvis, his son Arthur and the judge. The black singers spoke in accents that could have been from anywhere on the continent or in the United States, but I would not immediately place it in South Africa.

The lack of insistence on the authentic accent works in favor of this production. The more I watched, the more I was reminded of Ferguson and Black-Lives-Matter movements in America, and less of the segregated South Africa I knew. The opera's distinctly American music idiom added to the sense that the story unfolding on the stage is taking place in the United States.

In the Maxwell Anderson's adaptation of Paton's novel black pastor Stephen Kumalo travels from his small village of Ndotsheni to Johannesburg to check on his sister Gertrude and his son Absalom. The former has become a prostitute and the latter a robber.  But when Absalom accidentally kills the son of white neighbor James Jarvis during a botched robbery, the reverend is faced with a dilemma: would he prefer his son alive and a sinner, or dead and righteous. 

Eric Owens owned the role of the rural minister whose family, or "tribe," fell apart after most of it moved to Johannesburg in search of a better life. Owens has distinguished himself in Wagner roles, but it is hard to imagine anyone else doing a better Kumalo than he did.  He shined in the title song Lost in the Stars.

Soprano Lauren Michelle was a charming Irina, the pregnant lover of Kumalo's son Absalom, whose inner strength overcomes her shyness and helps her deal with the ultimate loss. Michelle was a little stiff in her first major aria, but warmed up considerably by her next big number, Stay Well, in the second act.

Eric Owens and Caleb McLaughlin in WNO's Lost in Stars

Other outstanding performers were Caleb McLaughlin as Kumalo's grandson Alex and Cheryl Freeman as fun-loving city girl Linda. They lit up the stage with energy and charisma. One couldn't but wonder how high McLaughlin (sparkling in the Big Mole song) will reach when he grows up. He is already more confident on the stage than many adults. His talent was especially obvious in a joint scene with a peer portraying Jarvis's grandson Edward. Tenor Sean Panikkar was an attractive and striking Leader, although I could not quite understand what his role in the play was  (narrator?). But that's just me. There were also a lot of characters listed in the playbill that I could not identify on the stage. Aleksey Bogdanov as Burton (prosecutor?) was a commanding presence in the courtroom scene. Manu Kumasi's Absalom was earnest, but not quite convincing.

The challenge of Lost in the Stars is in its structure, which is part spoken play and part musical so it requires competent actors as well as singers. The singing in this production was magnificent, with moments of real brilliance and an excellent chorus throughout. But the acting abilities were uneven. Owens's included. Poignant as he was in the moments of tragedy, the acclaimed bass-baritone failed to produce the variety of expressions and nuances required to keep the spectator breathless throughout the performance. The scene in which he comes to plead with James Jarvis to intercede for his son was simply awkward.

Eric Owens and Wynn Harmon, grieving fathers in WNO''s Lost in Stars

In the end, the action of Lost in the Stars actually seems like it is taking place in South Africa. The shared tragedy brings the two grieving fathers together. Their connection, as well as the black and white children playing together in the final scenes, hint at a wider national reconciliation, which for me is more believable in the South African context than any other one.

When they dismantled the apartheid in the 1990s, South Africans established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that invited victims of egregious human rights violations to give statements. Perpetrators of violence also could testify and request amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution. Many culprits expressed sincere remorse and many were publicly forgiven by their victims. The process is widely regarded as a key step to a successful transition to democracy in South Africa. Lost in the Stars is a good reminder that we could benefit from it too. 

WNO Opens 60th Season

Washington National Opera opened its 60th Season on Saturday and what an eventful season it promises to be! In addition to the complete Wagner Ring, it includes a Philip Glass opera, a Kurt Weill work, Hansel and Gretel and three brand new 20-minute operas based on contemporary American stories. With so many works rarely performed in Washington coming up, it is hardly surprising that the season started with a warhorse such as Carmen.

Kennedy Center, Saturday evening, WNO season about to begin

I am happy Francesca Zambello came to Washington and took over WNO in January 2013. She had previously impressed me with her creation of the so-called American Ring, her rendition of the Wagner's tetralogy performed here between 2006 and 2009.  She reconfirmed that impression with her staging of Berlioz's Les Troyens at the Metropolitan in 2012. As WNO's artistic director, she is turning an opera house of mediocre Traviatas and Trovatores into an art organization blowing fresh air into a staid cultural atmosphere of the nation's capital. Francesca (and I feel close enough to use her first name) is my only hope that we may see a Berlioz opera in Washington one day.

Having seen several excellent performances of Carmen in the past few years, most recently a live broadcast from Orange, France, with Jonas Kaufmann and Kate Aldrich, I was prepared for a less than exciting evening. But once the lights went down and the curtain up (in this case a set splitting along a jagged line in the middle) magic happened. The more-or-less standard production directed by Loren Meeker had a few novelties to offer, such as a couple of enter-acte flamenco dancers. Since Clémentine Margaine's Carmen was not an especially skilled dancer, it would have been good to see a little more of Fanny Ara doing it for her.

Flamenco dancers Fanny Ara and Timo Nuñez 

Margaine has a beautiful voice, but her entrance was not impressive and it took a while for her to assert her presence. In the first act one could hardly distinguish her from other factory girls and her rendition of Habanera did nothing to make her stand out. Maybe a more strategic wardrobe and makeup would help. Her singing improved in the subsequent acts, but the wardrobe did not.

One problem most Carmens have is how to be seductive without being ridiculous. This one did nothing different than most others before her (Baltimore Opera's Milena Kitić from a decade ago comes to mind) and her trump card was spreading her legs around a guy. Directors should make a little more effort than have the "Gypsy" girl strut back and forth on the stage, wiggling her hips and hawking her wares like a vulgar street girl. That's not sexy. Furthermore, coming from the Balkans, I have seen more Gypsies than an average American opera patron, and none of their women walk like the operatic Carmen. Kate Aldrich changed the routine somewhat in the contemporary Orange production, but in my view, nobody has done a better job of seduction than Elina Garanča for the Met's Carmen a few years ago. She seemed to have a lot of fun with it and everything she did looked natural. A singer who is not good with gestures can be made more seductive with the right clothes and a suitable wig.

Bryan Hymel was an impressive Énée in Les Troyens recently and thus an artist to look forward to in WNO's Carmen. He was a sensitive and convincing Don José, though sharing more chemistry with Janai Brugger's excellent Micaëla than with Margaine's Carmen.

Bryan Hymel and Janai Brugger as Don José and Micaëla in WNO' Carmen

Michael Todd Simpson was a lackluster Escamillo. His entrance failed to electrify the stage as a celebrity toreador's is expected to do, although there was some improvement in the last act. Kenneth Kellog was well suited for the role of Lieutenant Zuniga and Nicholas Houhoulis did well as tavern owner Lillas Pastia. The sets were a slightly stylized take on the standard for the opera, with the faded image of la Nuestra Señora de Guadelupe hinting that the smuggling might be taking place on the U.S. border with Mexico rather than anywhere near Seville.

Overall, it was a solid performance that should please anyone who has not seen Bizet's masterpiece in a while. It was also an appropriate prelude to the new and rarely seen works such as Appomatox and others that will follow. The 2007 opera by Philip Glass will be WNO's first ever performance of a work by arguably the most celebrated contemporary American composer. The reworked version includes a completely new second act, featuring Washington native Soloman Howard as Martin Luther King Jr.

An important company premiere will be a South African production of Kurt Weill's Lost in the Stars based on Alan Paton's novel Cry, the Beloved Country. Bass-baritone Eric Owens interprets Stephen Kumalo, a minister in apartheid-era South Africa who travels from his small village to Johannesburg to find his errant son.

The highlight of the WNO's 60th anniversary without doubt is Wagner's Ring. The cycle of the four operas attracts the world's attention whenever it is staged and people will travel distances to see the Met Ring, the Seattle Ring, the Melbourne Ring, and others, with the Bayreuth Ring remaining a lifelong dream for many an opera lover. WNO performed the four operas separately over four seasons about a decade ago, with the last one, Götterdämmerung given in concert form as the production money ran out. Oh, but what a glorious concert it was - with South African Gidon Kramer brooding his way into the role of Hagen to create the sexiest version of the evil dwarf's offspring ever seen on the stage. The then-WNO director Placido Domingo did a commendable job as Siegmund in the 2007 Walküre. All in all, it was a memorable Ring, the staggered performances whetting the appetite for every subsequent installment - and now making one eager to see how the next year's complete cycle will compare to the first run.