The 2014 Glimmerglass Opera Festival

This year's four Glimmerglass presentations were Ariadne in Naxos, Madame Butterfly, Carousel, and An American Tragedy — the last, a knotty and naughty work by the American composer Tobias Picker, being the edgiest. Premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 2005 and directed by Francesca Zambello, it was revived for just its second set of performances.

Based on Theodore Dreiser’s novel of the same name, Tragedy was inspired by a notorious criminal case from 1906. The plot follows the aspirations of a bellhop turned social climber, Clyde Griffiths, a facile charmer who pursues the American dream of wealth. Things go well for Clyde until he tries to upgrade his station by playing falsely with two women: Roberta, a lowly but honest factory worker, and Sondra, a snooty scion of an upper-class family that owns and influences most of the town. When Roberta becomes pregnant and insists on marriage, Clyde engineers her death to continue his social ascent. As was the case in real life, Clyde is apprehended, tried, and electrocuted.

But Clyde should not fry alone. All of the small-town characters are greedy, snobbish, or crooked, leading us to the eventual realization that more questions are raised than answered. Chief among them: Is Clyde a sacrificial lamb for the profligate Griffiths family — or is he just a bit of washed-up detritus of the American dream gone wrong?

Musically, the performance was tough and restless. Some of the melodies were sweepingly Puccini-esque; others were feisty and angular. Occasional wisps of popular styles like the foxtrot and jazz flitted about. But the composer never stayed long in one mode. During act one, the sheer rate of change was unsettling. During the second-act trial scene, commotion gave way to stasis and then finally to slow laments from Clyde’s mother and girlfriends.

Christian Bowers was perfect as the innocent-appearing, sociopathic Clyde. Vanessa Isiguen was compelling as the luckless Roberta, and Cynthia Cook was good and brassy as Sondra. Patricia Schuman was moving as Clyde’s devout, blinkered mother. Other cast members were drawn from Glimmerglass’s training program and were uniformly impressive. Conductor George Manahan directed the frequently ragged orchestra.

Missing the point

The festival’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel (1945) came as a letdown after The Music Man from 2012. Director Charles Newell’s overly earnest reading swapped gravitas for gaiety. From Newell’s program notes on roughneck Billy Bigelow: “How and why would such a man come into being? It doesn’t take a lot of imagination. This is a man who has fallen so far from whatever his aspirations were — he is now purely an object, a target for the community’s worst instincts.”

Where does that come from? Bigelow’s isolation is self-imposed. He is never targeted by the community, only by Jigger Craigin, another social outcast.

And if we happen to be beguiled by Rodgers’s sparkling chorus numbers, Newell soberly reminds us: “It is clear that [Maine fishermen and their women] were living a devastatingly dangerous and difficult life. You had mill women who had arms and legs amputated after getting caught in a loom. It’s hard for us to have any sense of how physically taxing it was to live in this kind of community, to do this kind of work, to stand against the weather and the elements.”

Excuse me! What does any of that have to do with Carousel? Surely there is no place for broken limbs in the high-kicking chorus numbers, “June Is Bustin' Out All Over” and “This Was a Real Nice Clambake.” What should have been grand entertainment was instead restrained and earthbound. War-weary Broadway audiences in 1945 were seeking festive celebration. It was Rodgers and Hammerstein’s special accomplishment to provide just that while adding a whiff of weightiness to the jamboree. But not here.

Although Ryan McKinny’s portrayal of Billy Bigelow was more Woody Allen nebbish than Gordon MacRae he-man, his singing was always compelling. His best moment came in “Soliloquy,” which concludes Act One. Even Frank Sinatra’s classic performance doesn’t match McKinny’s for brightness and swagger. Andrea Carroll sang beautifully as Julie Jordan, as did Deborah Nansteel as Nettie. Tyler Whitaker made a memorable entrance as Enoch Snow, the bourgeois herring boat entrepreneur who overhears and interrupts Carrie’s singing “(When I Marry) Mr. Snow.” Imagine Luciano Pavarotti suddenly serenading you in the shower, and you will have an idea of the delightful shock of Whitaker’s Italianate tenor rippling through the town folks’ chatter. The orchestra played sensitively under the direction of conductor Doug Peck.

Struggle and reconciliation

Visiting operagoers from Philadelphia had a chance to preview Richard Strauss’s wayward masterpiece, Ariadne in Naxos (scheduled for performance by the Curtis Opera next March). Broadly understood, the opera’s two disparate acts are intended to oppose yet complement each other. The first part is about the struggle between high art and entertainment. The second part, an opera within an opera, is about reconciliation.

In the story, Strauss’s composer — perhaps a surrogate for himself — prepares for a private performance of a serious opera at a historic homestead. His theme is exaggeratedly serious: lovelorn Ariadne despairing over her abandonment by Theseus. But the composer must contend with unruly patrons and low-life clownish interlopers who are determined to turn the show into a burlesque. Four clowns and an errant god help set Ariadne straight.

The clash of conflicting ideals and resultant mayhem was brilliantly rendered by Glimmerglass’s artistic director, Francesca Zambello. Soprano Christine Goerke sang the grieving Ariadne with tremendous élan. Except for persistent pitch problems, Goerke’s seemingly endless power distinguished her character from all others. She was indeed isolated, just as an opera seria heroine should be. Corey Bix was fine as her redeemer, Bacchus. Their concluding duet did not quite reach Wagnerian heights, but it was still thrilling. Catherine Martin was compelling as the beleaguered composer. The sexually obsessed clowns were marvelous. Rachele Gilmore was an entrancing Zerbinetta. Her blithe suggestiveness and easy technical perfection created a winsome and winning character. The orchestra was solid under the leadership of Kathleen Kelly, but greater individuation of the instrumental-part writing would have added to the high-spiritedness.

Note: Please note: The review mistakenly credits Tyler Whitaker for playing the role of Enoch Snow. The role of Enoch Snow was taken by Joe Shadday. Mr. Whitaker played the role of Enoch Snow, Jr. (correction posted 9/13/14)

For part two of Karl Middleman's review of the Glimmerglass Festival, click here.

Above right: The Glimmerglass Festival's 2014 production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel. (Photo: Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival.)

Above left: Christine Goerke as Prima Donna in Ariadne in Naxos. (Photo: Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival.)