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4^** lanapolis Dera Fall 2008 Open: Volume 1 Indianapolis Opera 2008/2009
II Trovatore Hansel and Gretel Indianapolis Open 2008/2009
CONTENTS
Letter from the Artistic Director 1
Opera Center 2
Corporate Contributors 4
Online Learning 4
The Indianapolis Opera Ensemble 5
Met at the Movies 6
Opera Ball 7
// Trovatore 8
II Trovatore: A Flawed Masterpiece or Just Flawed? 9
Troubadours and Their Songs 12
Hansel and Gretel
Hansel and Gretel: Lost in the Arts 13
A Conversation with Maurice Sendak 14
The Mainstage Hansel and Gretel 19
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FORTHE ARTS
A great nation Indianapolis Opera production photos by deserves great art. Denis Ryan Kelly, Jr.
C H R I S T E L DEHAAN FAMILY FOUNDATION ' OUR Artistic Dlrecto
Dear Friends,
The start of a new season is always an energizing time for all of us at Indianapolis Opera, but this year we have two special reasons to be excited. First, we are back to producing four main stage operas in our season, and this season has something for everyone. We begin with Verdi's // Trovatore, known for its beautiful melodies and thrilling choruses, including the famous "Anvil Chorus," We follow it with a remounting of our very popular production of Hansel and Gretel, with sets and costumes by world-renowned children's author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, After the holidays, we pick back up with our first Gilbert & Sullivan production in a number of years: The Pirates of Penzance. Both Pirates and Hansel and Gretel are ideal for introducing your friends to the wonderful world of opera, and would make perfect outings for the entire family. Finally, to end our season, we are collaborating with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra on a semi-staged version of Wagner's monumental opera Das Rheingoid. It's a piece that neither organization could pull off by itself, but by combining forces we are sure to have a spectacular production that will long be remembered by those who attend.
Our second bit of exciting news is that, near the close of the season, we will be moving into our new Opera Center at the former Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church on the corner of Pennsylvania and 40th Streets, It will be the first time in the company's history that we can house all of our activities under one roof, and expand our offerings to the community through recitals, education programs, and even small productions, We hope that you will visit us and allow us to show // Trovatore Friday, October 3 at 8:00 p.m. you our new home as we move in and start to discover the unlimited Sunday, October 5 at 2:00 p.m. possibilities that such a facility can make possible. As always, I am grateful to our wonderful staff and Board of Directors Hansel and Gretel for their tireless efforts and leadership, to both of the terrific orchestras Friday, November 21 at 8:00 p.m. Sunday, November 23 at 2:00 p.m. with whom I have the privilege to work during the season, and to our Tuesday, November 25 at 7:00 p.m. fabulous chorus under the leadership of John Schmid, who will be celebrating his 25th year as chorus master this season, I look forward to sharing our excitement with all of you as well throughout the coming months, and thank you for your support and enthusiasm,
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OPERA TO REMAIN IN MERIDIAN KESSLER- MOVES TWO BLOCKS NORTH!
On July 11, Indianapolis Opera announced that negotiations were complete for the Opera to occupy the former Holy Trinity Hellenic Ortho dox Church at 4011 North Pennsylvania. The move allows the Opera to bring rehearsals, set design and storage, and administrative offices under one roof, as well as realize the dream of creating an Indianapolis Opera Center, "Indianapolis Opera is thrilled to be able to consolidate all of our resources under one roof," says John Pickett, Executive Director, "Through this larger space, we envision an expanded operatic program in Indianapolis, including enriched educational offerings for children, teaching studios, and space for recitals and rehearsals, as well as expanded performance opportunities for the city." On August 16, the Opera announced the naming of its newly acquired Opera Center as the Frank and Katrina Basile Opera Center, in recognition of a major gift made by local philan INDIANAPOLIS OPERA thropists Frank FRANK AND KATRINA and Katrina Basile. ASHE OPERA CENTER AKatrina and I are pleased to have to new home — j Sp this opportunity to participate in the
establishment of Katrina and Frank Basile The Frank and the Opera Center, which we believe will help take our Indianapolis Opera to the next level," said Frank Basile. "We Katrina Basile became convinced that it would be transforma tive when we recently visited the opera center in Memphis and saw what it did for their company Opera Center and the entire cultural community."
-Z Y (nMM/yrf^disUpent -3PCS-&GJ The opera center concept became a reality when Angie's List CEO Bill Oesterle purchased the Holy Trinity Hellenic Orthodox Church, located tzaidtii at 40th and Pennsylvania Street, and leased the facility to the Opera. The 24,000-square-foot church will require little renovation in order to accommodate the Opera's needs, Changes to the existing space involve converting the sanc tuary into a smaller performance auditorium with seating for 400. Plans are to offer it as a functional venue for the presentation of cham ber music, small operatic productions, recitals, and related intimate forms of classical music, The two-story cultural center addition contains a large, open hall suitable for rehearsals, meet ings, and other events, plus space for offices, individual practice studios, and conference rooms. The Opera's Board of Directors and adminis trative and artistic staff believe the Basile Opera Rehearsal room Center will: 03 Raise the profile of the Opera and further showcase it as a major contributor to the cultural life of the city and surrounding communities; 03 Increase the Opera's capacity for working with other cultural organizations and enhancing collaborations; os Provide excellent rehearsal space to replace inade quate facilities that now must be rented for rehearsals os Provide classrooms for the Opera's nationally acclaimed Music! Words! Opera! curriculum program, with access to larger and more flexible spaces to enhance opportunities for teacher professional development and coaching; eg Enable the Opera to institute a summer opera camp; os Provide an attractive venue for other performing arts organizations presenting a variety of non-amplified music; os Enhance the Opera's national reputation among Indianapolis native and international opera star Angela Brown professional musicians, entertains the guests at the July 7 7 press conference.
frtAvuwpvks "Opem We wish to thank the following corporations and OPERA America, the service foundations that contributed to the success of organization for professional Indianapolis Opera's 2007-08 season. opera, offers multimedia online courses for opera fans wishing Allen Whitehill Clowes The Indianapolis Charitable Foundation, Inc. Foundation, an affiliate to learn more about the art Arthur Jordan Foundation of the Central Indiana form. From September 2008 Community Foundation Arts Council of Indianapolis to April 2009, three courses will and the City of Indianapolis MacAllister Machinery Company, Inc. be available and will focus on Baker & Daniels Matthew Holbrook Modoma Butterfly, Le nozze di Barnes & Thornburg Structural Engineer, Inc. Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) Bitwise Solutions Melvin Simon & Associates, and the world premiere of Brief Christel DeHaan Family Inc. Encounter, Andre Previn's new Foundation Meridian Music opera. Each course offers an Citizens Energy Group Merrill Lynch Clarian Health National Bank of opportunity to explore the many Cummins, Inc. Indianapolis dimensions of opera — litera Delta Faucet Company Nicholas H. Noyes, Jr. ture, music, visual art — as well Memorial Foundation, Inc. Direct Brands, Inc. as learn more about the artists Nordstrom Dow AgroSciences who make a night at the opera Duke Energy Ogletree Deakins Law Firm truly unforgettable. The courses Eli Lilly and Company Pauline K, Stein Fund, a fund of the Indianapolis run for four weeks, and cover Gershman Brown Crowley Foundation topics such as the world of the Ice Miller LLP Piano Solutions composer, the opera's source Indiana Arts Commission Printing Partners materials and music analysis. Indiana Farm Bureau Roman Brand Group Insurance An interactive comments sec Saks Fifth Avenue IPL tion allows discussion between Simon Property Group Jungclaus-Campbell Co., Inc. The Tarpening-LaFollette participants and the instructor. Kosene 8c Kosene Company The general public can register KPMG Tiffany & Co. for the courses online at $10 Krieg DeVault Tom Wood Management each. Visit www.operaamerica. The Kroger Co. The Westin Indianapolis org/onlineleaming or email edu- Legacy Fund, a CICF affiliate WISH-TV [email protected] for Lilly Endowment, Inc. more information, or to sign up. *? /iv-liAMprtts Vpem £CC3- THE INDIANAPOLIS OPERA ENSEMBLE 2009 SEASON Joanne Um, Emily Fons Matthew Dingels Chad Reagan Thanks to our Ensemble San Francisco, California Milwaukee, Wisconsin Washington, DC Denver, Colorado sponsors: FUMBELINA RESIDENCY: THE PIRATES OF m,Duke Music by Gilbert & Sullivan PENZANCE cWEnergy Story adapted by Denise Page Caraher Gilbert & Sullivan's ever-popular The Pirates of \{( Clarian Health Poor, clumsy Fumbelina, She doesn't do well in Penzance is the focus of our 2009 multidisci- sports, in cooking class, in school—in anything, plinary residency program, A curriculum packet so it seems. Set to the frolicking music of Gilbert provided to the school enables students to & Sullivan, Fumbelina's adventures abound with explore British arts and culture while they build • :LEGACY mishaps and lots of memorable characters sets, props and costumes and decorate the FUND A CICf Affiliate Inspiring philanthropy such as the charming rodent, Mr. Mole, When school for their own production. The perfor she finally performs an unselfish act of kindness, mance features our Ensemble singers as the Fumbelina realizes that doing something for leads, with students in secondary roles and as others is more satisfying than doing something the chorus, for herself. In the act of truly helping someone else, she no longer worries about what people THE INDIANAPOLIS OPERA think of her. We all have that something special ENSEMBLE IN CONCERT inside of us, and when we discover and use it for A concert by the Ensemble in your local com others, we soar! munity arts center or other venue is the perfect OPERA A LA CARTE complement to a school tour, A discussion on careers in opera is an optional addition. The Ensemble members will take you on a magi cal journey through some of the world's great For more information or to arrange a est operas with this program of arias, duets and performance call Indianapolis Opera, scenes—many with audience participation, 317-283-3531 After the performance, the artists will answer questions about singing and their careers in opera, /nsiuiMpzks&pe/7iZCC8-ZCCJ 5 MET AT THE MOVIES The Met The Metropolitan Opera announces expansion of live, high-definition broadcasts to eleven in 2008-09. ropolitan The 2008-09 season of The Met: Live in HD will feature 11 transmissions, beginning with the Met's Opening Night Gala celebration, starring soprano Renee Fleming, Opera HD on September 22. The new series will also feature a live broadcast of five new LIVE productions, including one Met premiere, and will reach up to 800 venues worldwide, See The MET: Live in HD at the following area theaters: AMC Castleton Square 14, 6020 E, 82nd St., Indianapolis, 46250 Kerasotes Indianapolis Showplace 16, 4325 S. Meridian St,, Indianapolis, 46217 Regal Galaxy 14, 8105 E, 96th St., Indianapolis, 46256 OPENING NIGHT GALA LA RONDINE - Puccini Monday, September 22,2008 Saturday, January 10, 2009 (6:30 p.m. - EDT) (1:00 p.m. EST) Starring Renee Fleming in fully staged Starring Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna. performance of scenes from three operas: Conductor: Marco Armiliato, Verdi's La Traviata (Act II), Massenet's Manon (Act III), and the final scene from R, Strauss's ORDEO ED EURIDICE - Gluck Capriccio. Saturday, January 24,2009 Starring Ramon Vargas, Thomas Hampson, (1:00 p.m. EST) Dwayne Croft. Conductors: James Levine and Starring Stephanie Blythe, Danielle de Niese. Marco Armiliato. Conductor: James Levine. SALOME - Strauss LUCIA Dl LAMMERMOOR - Donizetti Saturday, October 11, 2008 Saturday, February 7, 2009 (1:00 p.m.-EDT) (1:00 p.m. EST) Starring Karita Mattila, Juha Usitalo. Starring Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazon, Conductor: Mikko Franck, Conductor: Marco Armiliato. DOCTOR ATOMIC - Adams MADAMA BUTTERFLY - Puccini Saturday, November 8, 2008 Saturday, March 7, 2009 (1:00 p.m. EST) (1:00 p.m. EST) Starring Gerald Finley, Sasha Cooke, Starring Cristina Gallardo-Domds, Eric Owens, Richard Paul Fink. Marcello Giordani, Conductor: Alan Gilbert. Conductor: Patrick Summers. LA DAMNATION DE FAUST - Berlioz LA SONNAMBULA - Bellini Saturday, November 22,2008 Saturday, March 21, 2009 (1:00 p.m. EST) (1:00 p.m. EDT) Starring Marcello Giordani, Susan Graham, Starring Natalie Dessay, Juan Diego Florez, John Relyea. Conductor: James Levine. Conductor: Evelino Pido. THAIS - Massenet LA CENERENTOLA - Rossini Saturday, December 20,2008 Saturday May 9, 2009 (12:00 p.m. EST) (12:30 p.m. EDT) Starring Renee Fleming, Thomas Hampson. Starring Elfna Garanca, Lawrence Brownlee, Conductor: Jesus Lopez-Cobos. Simone Alberghini, Conductor: Maurizio Benini. fmiivt.iprfisDpem ZCo8- You are cordially invited to join Indianapolis Opera for a thrilling evening of dinner, dancing, and mysterious masked guests. In celebration of the Opera's acclaimed production of Hansel and Gretel designed by renowned children's author/illustrator Maurice Sendak, the WestinTndianapolis will be Where the Wild Things Are* The offerings of our silent auction will tempt you. A feast will delight you. The Steve Allee Orchestra will enchant you. It all adds up to an evening that is sure to bring out your "wild side." Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball) Where the Wild Things Are Saturday, November 15, 2008 6:30 p.m. The Westin-Indianapolis 50 South Capitol Avenue Enjoy being Where the Wild Things Are with Black Tie and Mask R.s.v.p. by November 7 Cover art: Lou Romano, "In the Woods/' part of the exhibit "Hansel and Gretel" by contemporary artists from The New Yorker. The exhibit, on loan from the Metropolitan Opera's Gallery Met will be on display November 8, 2008 through January 15, 2009 at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art. //(AU/Mpo/bS Upem, ZPCS--ZC&3 7 AN OUTLINE OF II TROVATORE BEFORE THE OPERA • The old Count di Luna, believing Azuce- na's mother had cast a spell on his infant son, had her burned at the stake, • Azucena kidnapped the Count's baby, ntending to throw him into the flames, but killed her own child by mistake. • The Count, refusing to believe his son was dead, charged his older son to devote his life to searching for his brother. • Azucena raised her enemy's son as her own and kept it a secret. DURING THE OPERA • Leonora is in love with Manrico, the leader of the rebel army, and he is in love with her. • Count di Luna is also in love with Leonora. • There is a duel between the two men. • Leonora thinks Manrico has died in battle and, brokenhearted, decides to become a nun. • Count di Luna plans to abduct Leonora Music by Giuseppe Verdi but is thwarted by Manrico. • Azucena is captured and is sentenced to Libretto by Salvatore Cammarano death by the Count. With additions by Leone Emanuele Bardare • Manrico is about to marry Leonora, but After the play El Trovador by Antonio Garcia Gutierrez when he hears of Azucena's capture he rushes off to rescue her. First performance: Teatro Apollo, Rome, January 19, 1853 • Manrico is caught by Count di Luna's Place: The provinces of Aragon and Biscay in northern Spain men. Time: 15th century • Leonora agrees to marry the Count in THE CHARACTERS exchange for Manrico's life. Leonora, a noble lady of the court of the Princess of Aragon, soprano • Leonora poisons herself rather than marry Manrico, a knight in the army of the Prince of Biscay, tenor the Count. Azucena, an old gypsy woman, mezzo-soprano • Manrico, furious atfirst over her bargain, forgives her when he sees she has given Count di Luna, a nobleman in the service of the Prince of Aragon, baritone her life for him. Ferrando, a captain of the guard under Count di Luna, bass • Leonora dies and Count di Luna executes Inez, attendant to Leonora, mezzo-soprano Manrico. Ruiz, a soldier in Manrico's service, tenor • Azuena tells the Count that he has killed An Old Gypsy, baritone his own brother and that her mother has at last been avenged. A Messenger, a Jailer, Soldiers, Nuns, Gypsies, Attendants 3 /ndiAnAptrfls Vperst ZPC8- ZP&3 IL TROVATORE: A FLAWED MASTERPIECE OR JUST FLAWED? by Dr. Michael Sells lthough II trovatore enjoyed a huge success with the public at its premiere in 1853, the Adebate among critics on its place in the pantheon of romantic opera has continued to the present. How does one explain that // trovatore has been called "rubbish" and "vulgar/' and represents "the death of bel canto," on the one hand, and that it is lauded as "the Italian St. Matthew Passion" on the other? Even the preface to the 1898 vocal score, published before Verdi's death, is openly critical and suggests that "...what // trovatore needs and deserves is Verdi's careful, restrained rewriting of it..." . Further, one suspects that the popular satires of aspects of // trovatore by Gilbert and Sullivan and the Marx Brothers, found on stage and screen in the late 19th and early 20th Leonora Mary Elizabeth Williams centuries, have only served to confuse the issue. The truth no doubt lies somewhere between the extremes. Simply put, Verdi was pushing structural and musical boundaries, mak ing efforts at change that had often met with resistance throughout the history of opera. Also, the fact that Verdi apparently wrote the score in the span of only one month no doubt has led some to question the depth of his inspiration. True, the libretto is challenging, but is it so dif ficult to follow, as many claim, or just difficult to believe? It does contain the requisite themes in romantic opera of love (sexual, filial, and mater Manrico nal), vengeance, and war. Most important, the libretto gave Verdi the Arnold Rawls /nduiiAprfis&peni^pcS-^tCf) 3 opportunity to underscore the characters' human emotions with music of incredible passion and beauty. // trovatore was not written on commission. Verdi himself suggested the play on which the opera is based, Gutierrez's El Trovador (1836), to his librettist Cammarano and carefully monitored its development with his usual keen dramatic intuition—in particular, the shaping of the character of Azucena, the opera's most interesting female character and Verdi's first major role for mezzo-soprano. So it is to the score, and in particular to the vocal writing, that one turns for evidence of // trovatore's quality. The vocal demands on the major characters are significant and require singers of agility, range, and stamina. Any weakness in the casting of Azucena, Count di Luna, Man rico, or Leonora can sour the overall impression of the opera. Verdi pro vides Azucena, a woman torn between maternal love for Manrico and revenge against Count di Luna, with a vocal range of over two octaves, displayed most often for dramatic purposes in ensembles—yet her Act II, Scene 1 aria, "Stride la vampa," is what most audiences remember. The Count, an enemy of Manrico who vies with him for Leonora, is challenged Azucena Count di Luna in vocal range as well as in tessitura, which is extremely high and tiring Laura Brioli Todd Thomas for a baritone. In addition, he must sing lyrically and not, as sometimes € fit- (i/in/ipoiis Vpem <&&8- Dr. Michael Sells is Professor of Music at Butler University's Jordan College of Fine Arts. /nduw/iputcs Upem <&CS'-2PCJ TROUBADOURS AND THEIR SONGS by Ruth Beyer Troubadour Trovatore, indifferent to her serenader's homage, thus enabling the singer to express Minnesinger: French, Italianextreme s of anguish and devotion, using those complicated verse forms mentioned earlier, and German words mean Courtly love was not the communing of kindred souls. Rather, it was ing essentially the same a willing service from the lover to his mistress based on constant wooing thing—a finder or inventor of specific and constant refusing. Sensual impressions, imagination, pride, and honor were much more important than the heart, The mere fact that the mistress kinds of songs. Originating in Provence, anof the troubadour was usually the wife of another illustrates the general area of southern France, these 12th- and air of unreality that prevailed. 13th-century aristocratic composers found Sometimes, though, the coldly indifferent lady succumbed to her troubadour's importuning. Even then, the air of unreality continued. or invented the antecedents of modern Seldom if ever did the lovers see each other alone. Messengers carried lyric poetry, short poems of love. their most important greetings, and the lovers lived in constant fear of spies and eavesdroppers. On the very rare occasions when they could Troubadours placed some rather rigid be together, they remained alert to the arrival of the night watchman or restrictions on their poetry and its subjects, First of the dawn, of all, they insisted that their work be written Not too surprisingly, some of these Provencal troubadours found it in highly intricate verse form, exploiting every convenient to occasionally abandon church- possibility of accent and rhyme. Certain lyric dominated courts for safer and more tolerant forms invented by them have become widely areas in Italy and Germany, In Italy, another imitated and well known: the chanson (dance interesting ingredient was added to the mix: song) and the aubade (dawn song), as well contact with the philosophical and poetical as the pastoral wooing song and the lament. activity of Arabic Spain, It was there that the However, it became an unwritten law among true gentleman was described as "a gentle the troubadours that they would not repeat a man, regardless of his birth, whose innate virtue stanzaic form which had been used before, made him the lover not of the physical charms and although this produced an incredible of his lady but of her spirituality." In a way, then, variety of verse schemes, it eventually led to these troubadours came about full circle. a deterioration of the songs when intricacy From songs pleading with a remote and hostile became an end in itself. mistress to songs in praise of a more compliant Another restriction was subject matter, As one, they came eventually to songs extolling male aristocrats singing to female aristocrats, the spiritual beauty of earthly woman, as their subjects were limited to the concerns of inaccessible as the Virgin Mary, love for whom that class, namely, war, love, and honor. Of these was an inspiration and "a stepping stone to an three, it is not surprising that love soon became understanding of Heavenly Beauty." almost the only subject. However, there was an If any of this sounds familiar to you from even further restriction, for the love described your reading of Arthurian legends, you have good reason to think so, for was not the usual male-female love that we think 12th-century Eleanor of Aquitaine, born in Provence and herself famous of but a remote, unattainable one, Courtly love, for disseminating the concept of courtly love, became the queen of as it became known, required that the object of Henry II of England and the mother of Richard the Lion Heart. Thanks to the singer's affections be a married lady whose her ambitious travels and wide influence, troubadours and their pledges patronage the poet longed for. Frequently the of undying love to remote and high-born ladies contributed significantly lady so addressed was expected to be coldly to civilizing and enriching the often barbarous court, C (nAuvwpokstrpem &08-£pCf) Hansel and Gretel HANSEL AND GRETEL: LOST IN THE ARTS Coming to Indianapolis this Fall! Join the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Follow the trail of bread crumbs throughout Library, the Indianapolis Museum of Contem Indianapolis and make plans to visit Cen porary Art and Indianapolis Opera for a unique tral Library, iMOCA and Indianapolis Opera showcase of contemporary art and music for related Hansel and Gretel exhibits and inspired by this traditional fairy tale. performances. Hansel and Gretel Witch's house Family program on on display at Central Library Hansel and Gretel October 12 - November 14 Sunday, November 16, 2:00-4:00 p.m. Central Library's Atrium The Children's Museum of Indianapolis 40 E, St. Clair Street 3000 N. Meridian Street Check out original pieces of the Hansel and Singers from Indianapolis Opera will perform Gretel opera set, designed by noted author excerpts from Hansel and Gretel and lead and illustrator Maurice Sendak. an informal discussion about opera with Exhibit of local artists9 works the audience. Call (317) 334-4000 for ticket information, on display at Central Library October 12-January 10 Hansel and Gretel at iMOCA Local artists on Central Library's Atrium and South Display Hall November 8 - January 10 display at Explore the works of 18 local artists who have Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art Central Library visually interpreted this classic story and made 340 N. Senate Avenue it their own, Explore a selection of art work from an Dorothy Henckel Opera Lite featuring exhibition originally displayed at the and David Yosha Metropolitan Opera House's Gallery Met, Hansel and Gretel including interpretations of the fairy tale by Emma Overman Tuesday, October 28,5:30-7:30 p.m. internationally known artists Edward Korea ANC Movies Central Library's Clowes Auditorium Lorenzo Mattotti, William Steig, Gahan Bring your family to view the Hansel and Gretel Wilson, and Roz Chast. Scott Grow art work and enjoy excerpts performed by singers from Indianapolis Opera. "Ten Things I Hate About Brian Presnell Call-the-Opera Contemporary Art," Deanne Roth a Spirit & Place event November 3-30 Julie Tourtillotte For the month of November, Central Library's Thursday, November 13, 7:00 p.m. popular Call-A-Story program for children Central Library's Clowes Auditorium Lori Miles will highlight Indianapolis Opera, with pre Tyler Green edits and writes Modern Art Judy Levy recorded Sendak stories read by Hansel and Notes, www,artsjournal.com/man, the Gretel cast members. Each of the four weeks most-read blog about visual art. Join him for Greg Huebner features a different story. Call 275-4444 to a unique discussion on contemporary visual participate. art and the artists who create it, Krista Hoefle Hansel and Gretel preview party Indianapolis Opera presents Cindy Hinant Friday, November 7, after work Hansel and Gretel Molly White Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art November 21, 23 and 25 340 N. Senate Avenue Clowes Memorial Hall Hilda Andres A preview of the Hansel and Gretel exhibit 4600 Sunset Ave., Butler University Dorothy Alig and private reception for sponsors, Enter an enchanting world where children dare not wander in the woods for fear Kyle Ragsdale of witches who turn children into ginger Casey Roberts bread! The timeless fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm comes to life in this sparkling produc tion by renowned children's author and illustrator Maurice Sendak. /nMMnApoks Vpera &C8- Z&G3 l3 Han sel and Gretel A CONVERSATION WITH MAURICE SENDAK At the 1997 OPERA America Annual Conference in Phila delphia, a group of education directors, along with then - OPERA America education director Jamie Driver, gathered for a roundtable discussion with Maurice Sendak to hear his Gretel Hansel views about bringing art to young people. These excerpts Mamie Breckenridge Kirsten Gunglogson are from that interview, M* {nAMnspcrflstrpem^pOS-ZpCJ THE STORY Jamie Driver: What criteria do you use when you are thinking of Hansel and Gretel have been left by themselves, developing a performing work for young people? How to you bring it and they sing and dance while they do their into a school? How do you develop works that you feel are suitable chores. Their mother comes home and is so angry for young people? to see them playing instead of working that she Maurice Sendak: Let us begin with books—where knocks over a jug of milk. Since that was the only food left in the house, she orders the children out I literally began, basically as an illustrator and writer— into the woods to pick strawberries. Her husband and what they considered appropriate for children returns home in good spirits because he has had a and what was not appropriate. After a very short successful day selling brooms. But when he learns time, you realize that children have not set these that the children have been sent into the woods standards, but other people have who have atti he is horrified, for he knows the dangers that lurk tudes about children—sometimes bad, sometimes there, The two of them go to search for Hansel and good—and it takes a lot of years (or it did for me) Gretel before it gets dark. In the woods, Hansel and Gretel gather to break through that, to what I actually liked and what I could only strawberries, but they are so hungry they eat hope would mean something to children—and this only comes from most of them. It is getting dark, and the children children themselves. Not from educators, not from teachers, not from are afraid. They begin to imagine wild creatures librarians. among the trees. To comfort themselves, they To answer your question very honestly, there is no "way" I know say a prayer and then lie down close together, A how to develop a work for children, There's something wrong with Sandman comes to put them to sleep, and angels surround and keep guard over them throughout me—congenially, perhaps—that allows me creatively to embrace the night as they dream, them or work directly with them. And I know that is always a disap Early in the morning, the Dew Fairy wakes Hansel pointing answer, because people like to know how to do it. There is and Gretel. The children are cold and hungry and no way that I've even learned how to do it, except in the sense that wonder how they will ever find their way out of children are the most demanding audience in the entire world. You the forest. Suddenly they see a magical sight—a have to approach them with a ferocious honesty. They'll catch you in wonderful house made out of gingerbread, all a lie every time, They'll be too polite to tell you until they get to know covered with candies and cookies and good things to eat! you better. But in fact, they will know when they're being had, And As they hungrily pick the goodies from the house, I think I can honestly say that most things published for children are they hear a shrill laugh coming from inside. The strictly for their parents and strictly for Grandma, because kids have door opens, and out comes a strange old woman. no money, They can't buy their books. So many of my books, when Somehow she knows their names, and she invites they were initially published, came out to a lot of severe criticism, And them to take all they want to eat. They don't know to the surprise of the people who criticized them, kids were going to that this is the wicked Witch of the forest who the library and taking out the very books that these critics said they captures children, bakes them into gingerbread would never like because they were too frightening, too emotional, cookies, and eats them! Before long, the Witch puts them both under a spell and forces Gretel too whatever, That was my first clue that if I could just live through to do chores while she fattens up Hansel so that the critics and bear with those people, then I probably did link up he will be tastier, But Gretel is a clever girl. Secretly with my audience—the children—and that it was going to work. But breaking the Witch's spell, she does what she is it's an intuitive thing. If you plan it, it ain't going to work, You cannot told while she figures out how to release Hansel. manufacture a work, any more than you can for grownups. There isn't Finally, the oven is ready. Gretel is ordered to open any "way" of creating something. the door, but she pretends she doesn't know how. When the Witch comes to show her, the brother So many people start out in publishing with the approach: How and sister push her inside! do you write a book for children; there must be a standard way, and Now that the evil Witch's spell is broken, all there are schools that will teach you how to; and how many pages the boys and girls who had been turned into and how exhausted a child is within three minutes; and their capacity gingerbread come back to life. Hansel and Gretel's for blue as opposed to red, It's all mostly nonsense, I mean, we all mother and father, who had been searching for want to have rules, and it makes us feel safer and more comfortable their children all night, find them at last, and they all celebrate together, to have reasons, but I don't believe that the reasons or rules are valid, in.iivupilis'ffpcr'.i ~ZC£b- I really, really don't, So when you come to opera, you're in the same boat, You have to just do something as vivid and honest and you have to just eliminate the word "children" in designing and dramatizing an opera, I think some of the greatest masterpieces are for everybody. Who ever said they were strictly for adults, or men would like them better than women, or all of that nonsense? We have such a passion for categoriza tions. And kids suffer for being categorized as a minority: "They're too small for this, they can't understand that; they're frightened by such and such," when in fact, it is the most incredible time of our lives, when our brains are just fulminating, when we're passionate to know everything and, by instinct, we know a lot already. We pick up signals from parents Mother/Witch and know when a subject is taboo; so kids tell each other, Elizabeth Byrne Suzanne Scherr, Lyric Opera of Chicago: When you run a children's theater, all of a sudden there's a whole different complexity on top of topic. Pacing. Presentation. For instance, you could take Hey, Ai, one of my favorites—a scary one too—real spooky, especially to see your children thinking about running away, which is what Hey, AI is about, This could be presented in a very boring and academic way, I'd be inter ested to know your thoughts, MS: Sure. I'll give you an example, I'm now designing, with Frank Cor- saro, a production of Hansel and Gretel. A grand opera by Humperdinck. I've always wanted to do this opera, but I think there are problems with it, I love the fairy tale very much. The fairy tale is historic. It's like a story Father from the Bible—everybody knows it, And yet, a lot of people object to Victor Benedetti the story. "I wonder if it's a story that children should read." It's a terrible story. The psychotic mother who has no wish to see her children live; a >6 /ndcmApdis Vpem /nMMMPvks Upem ZCC8-ZCC0) /7 Hansel and Gret sing and play this music is miraculous to me. So, to answer your question, as a stage and costume designer I get very close to Mozart and my heroes. I'm painting the backgrounds; I'm dressing the people; I'm designing the props; I'm sneaking in; I'm getting in as close as I can, I sit in on every rehearsal, seeing a young woman or young man come out and fumble or coming into obvious operatic poses, and the director saying "C'mon, knock that off." And then in two weeks' time, they're deranged. They're wonderful, So you're inside the music, You're almost in Mozart's head or Janacek's head, or wherever you happen to be, AE: Did you choose to do the Hansel and Gretel, or were you approached to do it? MS: I've been approached to do Hansel and Gretel a number of times and I always rejected it because it seemed too predictable that I would do Hansel and Gretel. You know, "Kiddie book illustrator does Hansel and Gretel." And I wanted to show that I could do a variety of works, The Magic Flute was the first opera I designed, and it is still perhaps my favorite production. And I designed Janacek, Prokofiev, Ravel, and Knussen. When Han sel came around again I thought, since I'd done about a dozen productions, "Now I can do Hansel andGretel." It wasn't predictable any more. I felt that I had earned my oats as a designer, And also I had matured. I think it was wise to wait, I think it's a pro duction that is not going to make everybody happy, because there are things that I think are wrong with the opera—not musically, but in the libretto—which steal away from the intensity of the original fairy tale, And how you repair that without sabotaging the opera is a very complicated problem. AE: I've seen the designs, and they are absolutely spectacular, MS: Thank you, It comes from having illustrated Grimm fairy tales, having made a mission of Grimm fairy tales through most of my creative life. And now coming to the Grimm fairy tale on stage, I want it to be really good, It's been four years now of painting and redesigning, and it's got to be worth it, I know that there will be objections to it, because usually it's played to the crowd—a lot of eye winking from the stage when the witch comes out, as if to say, "no problem, no problem." It's a problem. If it's going to work, those kids have to be in danger, If it's going to work, that mother is a dismal mother. See, you're taking chances right away. But if it works, then the end of that opera is such a triumph. When those gingerbread kids come to life, everyone should break down and cry their heads off, relieved by the salvation of these children. So to get to the end, you've got to earn it by going the hard way. Teresa Robertson, Opera Carolina: Do you think the difference in the reaction to the opera will be huge between the adults and children? MS: Yes, I think there will be some kids who might be scared, But most kids will not be scared. Most kids will be enraptured, with their jaws gaping, I've seen them in audiences; I've seen chil dren when they're trapped, when they even forget to go to the bathroom, That, from a child, is the highest compliment. When they forget their bladders, they are deep into art, That's critical. OPERA America is the service organization for professional opera companies.. /s /nMMJWpclcs VperA. ZP'CS-ZC'C') TT Whenever an opera company commissions W Maurice Sendak to design sets and costumes for a new production, it can expect virtually every time out two distinct things—that people in front of the curtain will arrive in vast numbers, curious about the other-worldly, netherworldly vision Sendak brings to the stage, and that people behind the curtain will have to work double time to make that vision a reality. Why the extra labor? It's the tricky matter of transposing art from one medium to another, Even though Sendak has conceived visions for the opera some dozen times before, his renown, not to mention training, comes as a children's illustrator and author, generations being delighted by and unsettled by, among others, Where the Wild Things Are. The latest example is Houston Grand Opera's new production of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel. The company, along with five other co-producers, has engaged Sendak and director Frank Corsaro, the same team that delighted HGO audiences with its production of The Magic Flute, to put their idiosyncratic stamp on this Brothers Grimm tale, it seemingly so perfect for their talents, Yet things are never as easy as they appear—even n a fairy tale production, Among the more daunting questions the Hansel and Gretel creative team had to grapple with were—How do you translate Sendak's Znduin/ipv{LS'typc/7iZCC3-ZoC3 3 motif-packed illustrations to a stage that usually supports only one dominant image? How do you transpose two-dimensional drawings to a three- dimensional stage? And most pressing, perhaps: How do you create a set that fits six different co-producer stages without homogenizing the results? The answers, of course, are far from grim. What they are, are magical, a combination of inspiration and perspiration. So magical, in fact, that this darkly mythical version of the opera is the centerpiece of HGO's season, opening October 24 and running through November 15, What follows is a behind-the-scenes chronicle of Hansel and Gretel from vision to realization to execution. fyvfoWA&_ Tk& Vision When Sendak designs for opera his approach to the work will dictate his visuals, Hansel and Gretel, he asserted, must pivot on the tension between primeval fear and fundamental joy. Too often productions have eviscerated the profundity of the children's conflict, thinking the mythology of losing one's way, one's bearings, metaphysically as well as literally, was too much for audiences to handle or too little, since the story is common knowledge. Sendak hopes to restore the depths by plumbing them; Hansel and Gre tel will evoke the most elemental of fears: being abandoned, one way or another, in the innermost recesses, "There will be no signals that everything will end happily ever after. I want the children appall ingly vulnerable and trusting." Sendak adhered as much to the fairy tale's forbidding undertones as to the opera's agreeable overtones. Sendak envi sions Gertrude, Hansel and Gretel's mother, as "psychotic" and Peter, their father, as undependable in the extreme, the parents abusing alcohol as well as their children. To Sendak, the main flaw of the opera is the libretto, written by Adelheid Wette, Humperdinck's sister, who "toned it down" and 'sweetened it," making Gertrude and Peter more colorful than alarming. In Sendak's offering, "Hansel and Gretel are in mortal danger from those they should rely on most," namely their parents, To this end, the ingenuity with which the children save their lives, and the forgiveness they bestow upon ZP v /ndUnApcdcsUperjiZCCS-ZCCf) their parents, imbue the opera with much of its reverberating happiness. For Sendak, this classic fairy tale has contemporary overtones. "My main purpose in doing this opera, and in doing it now, at this age, is that I'm over whelmed by the plight of children," Sendak considers Hansel and Gretel a powerful analogy to modern-day child abandonment and abuse, "To mount Hansel and Gretel in a cutesy German forest is to limit it," Setting a timely as well as timeless context, Sendak introduces homelessness into the opera in ways best left unsaid here, "Why is the fairy tale so famous?" he asks pointedly. "Because it's terrifying," Once the interpretation took shape, so could the drawings, Apart from Hansel and Gretel's (in)hospitable cottage and the witch's (un)savory trappings, Sendak's sets, for the most part, are swirls and layers of drops and scrims. Sendak's goal is hallucination and fright, to have the audience experience things from the children's perspective, the environment a reflec tion of their emotional and psychological states, alternating between terror and peace, insecurity and protection, rejection and affection, •^^fi Sendak didn't envision Hansel and Gretel all by himself, however, Equal input came from Corsaro, the celebrated visionary who directed HGO's first world premiere, Thomas Pasatieri's The Seagull, in 1974. The origins of this Hansel and Gretel date, in fits and starts, back to 1991, it taking this long to acquire backing and to solve the practical problems of making the conceptions fit, Over the years, Corsaro helped Sendak flesh out a darker mJmjm \ V\H 11 I version of the piece. "Eventually we realized how awful the parents are," Corsaro recalled." (They're) a pair of malevolent drunks, who don't care for ml themselves or their children, leading a potluck life." As the opera's vision was refined, so were the renderings, Corsaro and Sendak constantly modifying their overlapping yet distinct impact. Corsaro classified his contributions for this end of the production as concept, plot, theme, emotion, along with technical considerations of how to deploy whom and what. "Sometimes things were just too complicated and I had to put a stop to it," Corsaro remembered, Like when Sendak envisioned Hansel and Gretel's cottage as a pop-up book, *,.mZJ9m Act One-: The- Re-ztizMion "The pop-up book, well, that was very nice, but for budgetary reasons it wasn't realistic, And then there were the space problems," recalled Peter Hauser who, as associate set and costume designer, was responsible more than anyone for realizing Sendak's drawings, addressing both the viability of concepts and their omissions, This is a job for which Hauser is eminently quali fied, his resume reflecting a long working relationship with Sendak. Hauser is equal parts theorist, critic, adviser, mindreader, and troubleshooter, Sendak originally presented Hauser with eleven drawings, modifications and additions subsequently following. Hauser dissected them, and con structed sundry models of the sets, accounting for what Sendak necessarily didn't: how the visuals applied to the plot and to the characters. He also had to deal with an enduring dilemma—how to reconcile Sendak's expan sive illustrations with an operatic artform that doesn't allow for extraneous fndiMApsfcs Vp&r-i ZCC8-ZPS3 commentary. In other words, on stage, audiences tend to focus their gaze on one point, specifically, the performer(s), all else more or less falling to the wayside, On the page, however, readers can pore over every detail, having the luxury to dwell and prioritize. A superior artist, Sendak frequently packs his illustrations, every corner of them, with symbolism, metaphor, and nuance. Consequently, many of Sendak's Hansel and Gretel sketches burst with emotional, dramatic, and psychological subtexts; Hauser had to negotiate which components were most crucial and which could be downplayed, telling Sendak at one point to draw most vitally inside certain sight lines and to make what was outside them more generic, "Because Maurice is an illustrator, he's used to looking at everything two-dimensionally, not three-," Hauser explained. "Maurice would like to enlarge everything he's drawn, as is, so that all elements are equally visible; he knows this is impos sible, but he wants everything seen," Sendak's vision was so layered he initially drew eight forest scenes for Hauser to realize, it seeming to Hauser that if Sendak had his druthers, there'd be no stoppage of set moving. To make as much happen within the constraints of staging and economics, a forest shell—functioning as a border to the stage—was settled on so that all manner of scenery could be added and subtracted within it, at various longitudes and latitudes. What's more, in another instance of Sendak and Hauser thinking on different planes, Sendak had an idea for a flying witch which, if created as sketched, would have been, in a word, monstrous, Hauser remem bered: "In the drawing, the witch is about three-fourths the size of the panel, Maurice's plan was for a major witch to scare the beje- sus out of 40 urchin children. Well, what we ended up with was a witch one-fourth that, because we couldn't make the scenery do what we wanted." Hauser's responsibilities extended beyond realizing Sendak's drawings. He also had to make sure the set would fit each of the six co-producers' theaters. As such, Hauser traveled to every location—including houses in San Diego, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Toronto, and New York—measuring stages, assessing sight lines, gathering blueprints, all undertaken "to make Hansel and Gretel a Sendak piece wherever it plays." As Sendak observed, "Everything is compromised with co-productions. Hansel and Gretel will look more terrific in some houses, less in others, though terrific in all cases. We're up against the facts of each building." Helping Hauser with these workability issues was Nancy Kritikos, HGO supervisor of the technical department. After all, it's ultimately "HGO's responsibility to ensure that Hansel and Gre/e/fits in all companies," Kritikos points out. Their check list was extensive: the prosceniums at each theater are not uniform height, so masking must be added or deleted accordingly. The houses vary in number of seats, rows, and balconies, yet images must remain centralized, typically by portions of them fading into black. The less Hansel and Gretel wing space a company has in comparison to HGO's, the more retooling must be done. Act Twer- &x&CMUen Scenery was constructed and painted at Sendak's preferred shops, since so much of this Hansel and Gretel is predicated on shapes and colors that are, in effect, Sendak trademarks. Sendak, and particularly Hauser, oversaw the progress. Hauser likened the process to a factory: craftspeople following the instructions of the musing foremen. Cutting along the dotted lines and painting by numbers, indeed, But in reference to the two other major design realizers—HGO resident costumer Melissa Graff and wig and makeup department head Dotti Staker—Sendak acknowledged the fluidity of their relationships, the pivotal balance between offering them direction and allowing them autonomy, "I don't know as much as they do. There has to be a give-and-take. I provide as much guidance as is useful, If I dictate too much, I'd cramp their style. They know I'm not so uptight that I'd resent their input. I don't have a neurosis about my position." For her part, Graff had only one neu rosis about her position vis-d-vis Sendak. His original watercolor sketches for Hansel and Gretel were estimated to be worth $120,000. Graff worked from laser copies instead, Traveling to Sendak's quarters, Graff listened to Sendak talk about the lead characters to get a feel for what his various depictions of them meant, could mean, should mean, Sendak also por trayed four or five children in a drawing apiece; while this number might seem scant information for dressing a cast *! of 48 tykes, it was enough for Graff to understand his overall aim, she variously mixing and matching the pieces and looks Sendak offered to arrive at the total. Returning to her HGO shop, Graff hunted for swatches in all manner of tones and textures. Sometimes Sendak's pictures were exactly what they intended to be, Graff's onus being relatively straightforward then. More often, however, they were not. Occasionally he'd concoct a hue so unique, for instance, it simply couldn't be fabricated, Once Sendak designated something "sea blue-gray," but Graff saw no gray in it. In that instance, and with similar ones, she would give Sendak two or three proximate choices. Much of Graff's job involved one basic function: detail clarification, the issue of transforming a simple illustration into a full-blown costume pattern. Sometimes the details were seeming minutia—that a cloth resembled silk in one drawing but cotton in another or that a vest was tucked in front //ufateipd&sVpem ZCCS-Z^C^ lansel an< iretel but not in back. In other circumstances, however, God, as it were, was in the details. Despite being draped in identical clothes and accesso ries over four drawings, Gretel would end up, if not schizophrenic, then a contradiction in terms: soft, severe, sensitive, or hardy, depending on the picture, "Okay, Maurice," Graff recalled herself in effect saying, "you have four Gretels here. They all have the same pieces but they all look different, Which one do you want?" (Soft was chosen,) Working from the same sketch copies as Graff, HGO wig and makeup head Staker realized that Sendak's drawings not only sidestepped all cosmetic issues, but they also suggested a deep ambivalence about the very idea of adornment (for this opera, at least), Things, in a nutshell, were a little hairy because things, in a nutshell, weren't a little hairy, Sendak's drawings presented Staker with a profound dilemma—his angel depictions, for instance, suggested tresses sufficiently long and flowing to mandate wigs, and other drawings featured char acters with pronounced squiggles in certain locks, again implying hair pieces of some design. But Sendak himself proclaimed an aversion to wigs, damning them as artificial. Did that mean Staker would have to resort to the performers' normal (read: authentic) coiffures? (If the latter were the case, Staker would have to wait until the cast arrived to deter mine if she could make their hair do what Sendak's drawings indicated, because a given performer could have had a permanent since the last headshot, say, or cut it for a prior role.) The final decisions on wigs vs, natural hair had yet to be decided by deadline, but Staker said things should become clear during costume fittings, several weeks before the production's opening, Meanwhile, Staker busied herself with makeup. In half the sketches the characters had no facial color, they the shade of paper on which they were drawn; in the other half they were the type of flesh typically associated with sickliness. Surely, Sendak didn't mean either. In addition, heads were incredibly disproportionate to bodies: big round faces, big round eyes, big round noses, and slits for mouths. If Staker made the cast up accordingly, the results would be alien, possibly outright grotesque. It was now up to Staker to solicit from Sendak how the characters should ultimately appear on stage—and to use her bag of tricks accordingly. &pil&QiAe< In one breath Sendak spoke of Hansel and Gretel's evolution as intu ition, In the next as purposefulness. And, in their own words, so did those instrumental behind the scenes, The moral of the story might very well be that Sendak and company knew what the opera's titular characters don't: to find yourself doesn't necessarily mean you have to get lost. This article by Peter Szatmary was commissioxned by Houston Grand Opera while Maurice Sendak's Hansel and Gretel production was being prepared for its world premiere. The article first appeared in the Fall 1997 issue of HGO's Opera Cues magazine. 2f /nA.OuiApij{isrJperjJZC'C8-ZC0'3 Spring Preview 'ndutmpo&stpem ZCCS-ZCCf) Z5 T„ Hianapolis Opera Jorapo-f isii. diffiii