Great Performances: Little Women From Houston Grand Opera.Great Performances: Little Women From Houston Grand Opera The Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is a Houston, Texas-based opera company. It was founded in 1955. David Gockley was its longtime general director, serving 33 years from 1972 to 2005 before moving to the San Francisco Opera on January 1, 2006. * Music and libretto libretto (ləbrĕt`ō) [Ital.,=little book], the text of an opera or an oratorio. Although a play usually emphasizes an integrated plot, a libretto is most often a loose plot connecting a series of episodes. by Mark Adamo Mark Adamo (b. 1962) is an American composer and librettist born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While his choral works include Canticle, for the chamber choir Chanticleer, and Cantate Domino * Starring Stephanie Novacek, Joyce DiDonato, Margaret Lloyd, Stacey Tappan, Chad Shelton * PBS PBS in full Public Broadcasting Service Private, nonprofit U.S. corporation of public television stations. PBS provides its member stations, which are supported by public funds and private contributions rather than by commercials, with educational, cultural, * Premieres August 29, 8 P.M. Eastern (check local listings) At a time when prosaic pundits proclaim the death of classical music, the August 29 PBS premiere of composer-librettist Mark Adamo's 1998 opera Little Women has the potential to shame the little darlings into silence. Adamo's writing is so good, and the production so strong, that Little Women is likely to earn a chance at the title of "greatest American opera." Based on Louisa May Alcott's 1868 novel, the opera revolves around the maturation of four sisters from "little women" into adulthood. The key to their growth is their transition from familial love to a love that involves relationships and sex, i.e., the love of men. With its validation of family and the "natural" evolution into marriage, the plot may seem like a tired 'advertisement for nuclear heterosexuality het·er·o·sex·u·al·i·ty n. Erotic attraction, predisposition, or sexual behavior between persons of the opposite sex. heterosexuality . Instead, in the hands of Alcott and Admno, it is a moving treatise on change, growth, and love. The opera is in two acts, with most of the plot set in the house in which the four March sisters--Jo (Stephanie Novacek), Meg (Joyce DiDonato), Beth (Stacey Tappan), and Amy (Margaret Lloyd)--live with their parents (Gwendolyn Jones and James Maddalena). As the production opens, Jo, the staunchly independent sister of the bunch, reconnects with her childhood friend and former suitor SUITOR. One who is a party to a suit or action in court. One who is a party to an action. In its ancient sense, suitor meant one Who was bound to attend the county court, also, one who formed part of the secta. (q.v.) , Laurie (Chad Shelton). Laurie has returned to tell Jo of his marriage to Amy and his plans to give Amy the love that would have been Jo's had she not scorned Laurie a few years before. Over a series of flashbacks, music, dialogue, and action flow effortlessly in a winning succession of monologues, arias, duets, quartets, and even an octet An eight-bit storage unit. In the international community, octet is often used instead of byte. (jargon, networking) octet - Eight bits. This term is used in networking, in preference to byte, because some systems use the term "byte" for things that are not 8 bits long. . The acting is convincing, the singing first-class, and the music consistently engaging. Some may cry that this unabashedly un·a·bashed adj. 1. Not disconcerted or embarrassed; poised. 2. Not concealed or disguised; obvious: unabashed disgust. lyrical, seductively tonal work is as derivative as The Ghosts of Versailles, the opera by Adamo's lover, John Corigliano, that achieved national telecast a decade ago. So what? By avoiding sentimental cliches while giving us music that makes us feel good, Adamo has melded the best that Broadway and classical tradition have to offer into a fresh, wonderful work that will likely have you replaying the arias again and again. Serinus is a music reviewer, musician, and editor of Psychoimmunity & the Healing Process. Find more on composer Mark Adamo and Little Women at www.advocate.com |
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