the making of americans

Jocelyn and I went to see the world premiere of the opera, The Making of Americans, last night at the Walker Art Center and it was easily the most avant-garde theatre experience I've ever been through. It was the dramatic realization of Gertrude Stein's novel of the same name (which should tell you something right there) by Boston-based "experimental theatre" director Jay Scheib and New York-based composer Anthony Gatto (not to be confused with the juggler of the same name).

This is not to say that it was bad, per se, but when local baritone Bradley Greenwald (holy crap he is amazing...here's a great article about him) lifted a nearly full-sized, silver-coated tree trunk above his head and then spun around while singing I think my traditionalist brain checked out for the duration. The visual nail in the coffin happened later when the tenor and soprano who played newlyweds had sex on stage while singing at top speed and high volume right in each other's faces. My sense of humor couldn't ignore what was happening at that point (I thought it was hilarious...so sue me) and I lost all concentration on what was going on.

Okay, so it wasn't my proverbial cup of tea. I've certainly been to "weird" stuff like this before, but I think that type of theatre eventually becomes a caricature of itself when the novelty wears off and I find it extremely difficult to look beyond that. But that's okay because it was impeccably performed and we had a great chat about it on the drive home. The music was well-written and I was really surprised by the expressive capabilities of the small ensemble accompanying the vocalists (string quartet, 2 wind players, 2 percussionists and a piano). The music was written in such a way as to provide a real urgency to what you were watching and hearing.

My favorite part of the entire production was the set design. It all took place inside this house or outside in the "front yard". There were cameras inside that the actors periodically engaged and the images they captured were then processed (sometimes a lot) and projected onto the large screen above the musicians. Way cool.

So here's the problem I think I ultimately had with what I saw: it was rich rich rich rich with metaphors...like over-the-top, ice-cream-sundae-with-crème brulée-on-top-with-a-side-of-sweetened-condensed-milk rich with metaphor. They were in everything the actors did on stage (how they moved, what they sang and how they sang it, where they looked, what props they interacted with, etc.). When you were finally able to figure out just exactly what was going on through all that metaphorical haze it was like coming up for a breath of fresh air. Then you gradually sank back down into the metaphor soup again and, when you were finally able to realize you were down in that stew again, it was too late to figure out what you had missed. (I have my suspicions that the original novel is mostly to blame for this.)

All that being said, I'm really glad I was able to attend the performance (1 of only 2 they're doing in the Twin Cities). There was some music that I just didn't like and there was other music that was supremely beautiful (particularly the finale to the first act). Cheers to Mr. Gatto for a fantastic premiere! I hope I'm as lucky some day. I'll get back to We, The Boys when this French set is done.