Made for TV?

After our discussion in class, I went back and re-read the reviews of Willie Stark by both Donald Henahan and John J. O’Connor. It would seem that the two commentators were reviewing completely different performances of the same piece, even though it would seem that they had seen the same production. But did they?

Henahan’s review was based on what he saw sitting in the audience of the Houston Grand Opera while Willie Stark was being performed before his eyes. He had the opportunity to take in the entire production as it was originally presented. O’Connor, on the other hand, reviewed a television broadcast of the production complete with camera panning and close ups that took attention away from the all encompassing “stage-filling flight of steps” and allowed him to focus on the individual performances of the singers and the music.

This would make one question the staging or even perhaps the media for which the opera was produced. An opera created for television would not have been unprecedented, Menotti having already opened the door with Amahl and the Night Visitors for NBC’s Opera Theater. In fact, PBS’s Great Performances series would have been a perfect platform on which to launch the opera.

The discussion also brought to my mind a recent production of Korngold’s Die tote Stadt by New York City Opera. They revived their 1970s production using a scrim in front of the singers on which they projected images. If not for the projections, I don’t think anyone would have really made the connection to the 1970s production (they were VERY dated with hair, makeup, clothes, etc.). Although I can’t be completely certain, I thought the scrim actually impeded some of the sound getting through. That being said, the images projected on the screen revealed characters’ inner thoughts, and even gave the stage itself a bit of a washed out sort of antique look. You didn’t realize exactly how vibrant the costumes were until the scrim came up!

However, I think this style of production might actually have worked very well for Willie Stark. Instead of having the stairs physically on the stage, a projection of them with the doors on the scrim might give them a more metaphorical feel and not feel as imposing to the folks in the audience. I also think it might be an interesting tool to show a character’s inner emotions, or to help bring attention to reactions from other characters to what is being said. There are times when a good close-up on someone listening and reacting to what is going on is wonderfully appropriate in revealing to audience members their opinion on what is going on. With one of the criticisms being the obviousness of Willie Stark’s characters with “villains [who] smoke black cigars,” and “intellectuals [who] wear glasses,” this would be a great change to bring take attention away from the cartoonish nature of it. I can’t help but wonder if Henahan had taken home a CD of the music and listened to it the way some folks did with Antony and Cleopatra, if his opinion might change.

We also brought up the topic during Tuesday’s class of whether or not Willie Stark would work without the music as a straight drama. I'm currently downloading both the original and remake versions of the movie "All the King's Men" (1949 may have been a version Floyd had seen prior to writing his opera). Will discuss on similarities/differences after watching. Yay snow day!