Ready for a good time? Define good. Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera The Consul (1950) is a good opera, but whether it is a good time depends on your definition. The production that Baltimore Concert Opera put forward on Friday night and again on Sunday afternoon was powerful and enriching, but not fun. The Consul is a thoroughly grim opera about attempts to get a passport to escape a police state. If you want to leave the theater feeling good, this is not your opera, but if you want to leave the theater a little more human, this is a hot ticket. Audiences in 1950 felt the same way; after premiering in Philadelphia, it had a run of 269 shows on Broadway.
Melanie Henley Heyn as Magda singing the famous aria “To this we’ve become”. Photo by Britt Olsen-Ecker; courtesy of Baltimore Concert Opera.
Mr. Menotti (1911-2007) was the most acclaimed composer of America opera early in his career. He composed over twenty operas. The Consul was his seventh and his first full length opera. An opera he originally wrote for television, Amahl and the Night Visitors, is perhaps his best-known work. His operas are not often performed in major opera houses today but continue to receive attention in the small to medium-sized venues, both in the US and abroad. The Consul won the 1950 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best musical and its music was awarded the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Kudos to Baltimore Concert Opera for pulling this one out of the vault. With the enormity of immigration issues today in the US and across the world, The Consul’s message could not be timelier. The courage of today’s small opera companies and their commitment to bring, not only entertaining, but meaningful artistic experiences to their communities could not be more in evidence.
l to r: Jenni Banks as the Mother, Melanie Henley Heyn as Magda, and Ron Loyd as John. Photo by Britt Olsen-Ecker; courtesy of Baltimore Concert Opera.
Magda Sorel’s husband John is a freedom fighter, a political dissident, in an unspecified country. He is wounded by the Secret Police, and before he makes his escape, he tells Madga to go to the consul’s office to get a visa to leave the country to join him. She does this the next day while her mother stays home with their sick child. There she runs into an impersonal bureaucracy and an office full of anxious visa-seekers who have been trying for a very long time to get their paperwork processed, each day being told that there is something else they need or haven’t done. Magda is told by the secretary in the office that her name is a number and her case a request – your hopes will be filed. We get vignettes of other applicants and their stories of dealing with the office. While contending with delays and the Secretary’s apparent indifference and attempts to get messages to her husband, Magda is harassed and threatened by the Secret Police. With time pressing, in order to save her husband, she decides on the final solution.
This concert opera was semi-staged by BCO, essentially fully staged except for a more elaborate set and costumes. Artistic Director and General Manager Julia Cooke said they had decided that given the nature of the opera it really needed staging. I don’t disagree with that decision and it enhanced the delivery of the story, but I also have a concern as well, expressed further down. There are only two simple settings, Madga’s apartment and the consul’s office, however, Menotti employs certain theatrical elements to communicate the story that need staging for effectiveness, such as a dance, dream sequences, and displays of magic. The staging was very well done; kudos to Director Courtney Kalbacker.
Ian McEuen as Nika Magadoff, the magician, and Jeffrey Grayson Gates as Mr. Kofner. Photo by Britt Olsen-Ecker; courtesy of Baltimore Concert Opera.
BCO assembled an excellent cast overall for this production which features a large number of roles. Many of the performers have sung in past BCO productions. The lead performer in the role of Madga was a newcomer to BCO, Melanie Henley Heyn. Ms. Heyn, a young dramatic soprano who has performed previously in roles by both Strauss and Wagner, gave an outstanding performance. The intensity required of this role was such I hope she was able to go directly from the concert hall to a spa. Also giving an excellent performance in the demanding role of the Secretary was mezzo-soprano Kate Farrar. Singing to express an unchanging impersonal attitude and not passionate feeling must be difficult for an opera performer, though near the end we see how her impersonal persona amid the human crises weighs on her soul. With excellent voices and singing, BCO veteran, baritone Ron Loyd as John Sorel and BCO favorite mezzo-soprano Jenni Banks as Magda’s mother were strong additions to the cast; I previously enjoyed both singers in BCO’s Sweeney Todd. Tenor Ian McEuen gave a deft portrayal of the magician which added a surreal moment of levity to the drama; I have now heard Mr. McEuen give several performances in the DC/Baltimore area and he consistently gives fine performances. Bass-baritone Joseph Charles Beutel was impressively imposing and sinister as the Secret Police. Each of the supporting singers had their moments of adding to the drama as supporting characters: Baritone Jeffrey Grayson Gates as Mr. Kofner, soprano Laura Corina Sanders as Vera Boronel, Dana McIntosh as Anna Gomez, and mezzo-soprano Sarah Saturnino as Vera Boronel. The ensembles of singers were also very effective.
l to r: The Secretary (Kate Farrar), the Foreign Woman (Laura Corina Sanders), John (Ron Loyd), Anna Gomez (Dana McIntosh), Vera Boronel (Sarah Saturnino), the Mother (Jenni Bank), Mr. Kofner (Jeffrey Grayson Gates), and above, Magda (Melanie Henley Heyn). Photo by Britt Olsen-Ecker; courtesy of Baltimore Concert Opera.
In her pre-opera talk, Conductor Laurie Rogers said that Menotti’s music in The Consul is Italian-verismo style with notes of Puccini, and she even finds notes of Mahler in it; Menotti studied Mahler with his friend Samuel Barber. I liked the music which seemed appropriate to the story and scenes. There was a lot of dissonance in the music, but this was clearly called for by the story itself. What I especially liked about the music was the beautiful touch and sensitivity displayed by pianist Joy Schreier, who provided the accompaniment. This also brings up an issue I have mixed feelings about. I thought the staging for this production was fitting, but at the same time, staging shifts the focus from the singing and music to the story. The great benefit of concert opera is that it squarely places the audience’s attention on the singing and the music. So, while I give this production high marks, I still don’t know what a concert version of The Consul would sound like. I have mixed feelings about that.
During the performance and even now, part of me wants to label this opera as somewhat dated in its approach and musical style, like watching a movie from that era. Yet, each time I think about the opera, the memory not only returns, it haunts me. Magda being upset with John for having brought such trouble onto the family; the secret police offering to spare her and her husband if Magda will give them the names of John’s friends. Secretary: “You are not the only one, Mrs. Sorel; there are thousands of cases like yours. Magda: Must we all die then, because there are too many of us?” and Mother: “I leave behind me nothing but sorrow, but I believe that God receives with kindness the empty handed traveler”. This production makes us not just see, but feel the human side of immigration – and it stays with you.
The Consul is the story and plaintiff cry of our fellow humans trapped in nowhere land, unable to escape the danger where they are and unable to surmount the blockades to moving to safety elsewhere, a story frequently found in the headlines of today’s newspapers. Baltimore Concert Opera told it well and with impact.
The Fan Experience: BCO’s next production will be Donizetti’s Anna Bolena on February 28 and March 1 – remember this year there is a day in between those two. It is always a pleasure to attend BCO productions in the beautiful and intimate setting of the Engineers Club in Baltimore. The opera was sung in English, but the subtitles in English were still appreciated. Commuting to BCO during Friday afternoon rush-hour traffic from Tysons Corner, VA is challenging, but is much less daunting for the Sunday matinees; worth the trip either day. I continue to be able to find free (after hours/weekends – check the signs) street parking, though paid lots are accessible. And finally, BCO continues to be a bargain for your entertainment dollar.