El Consulado

So my original idea for my paper and presentation was to set Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Consul in Cuba during the 1960s. I wasn’t exactly sure how I wanted to play it out, but after talking to my mother I have some more concrete ideas.

I’ve decided to set the opera during the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs. Since John is constantly in hiding, it would make sense that he fought against the new regime. If we stick with everyone’s original names instead of trying to “Cubafy” them, it would even make more sense that they are foreigners currently living in the country. I also think that it would make the trips to the Consulate more plausible. Were they Cuban citizens, they wouldn’t be allowed to leave the country at all.

My father told me stories about growing up with Russians living on the island. He even mentioned that there was a certain kind of segregation where the natives weren’t allowed into certain establishments with the Russians. This gives me a couple of different options on how to set up the Inspector and the Secretary. Most likely, the Inspector will be from the Revolutionary camp. I’ll need to do a little more digging to find out if there were any foreign consulates being allowed to operate at the time.

Anna Gomez, Vera Boronel, and Nika Magadoff seem to fit in pretty well with this sort of setup. I’m also pretty sure Mr. Kofner will fit. The only person I have a little trouble justifying is the Italian woman. I’ll have to do a little more research and see what the chances are that there would be a little Italian woman living in Cuba at that time. She would more likely fit somewhere like Argentina, not exactly Cuba. Assan is a small enough role that I don’t think it will effect the story much to make him a native from the island.
All in all, I think the whole idea will work out quite nicely.