Satyagraha

The Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera presentation of Satyagraha , an opera in three acts by Philip Glass, live in HD.

Directed by Phelim McDermott  Conductor, Dante Anzolini.

Vocal text by Constance DeJong, adapted from the Bhagavad Gita;

Book by Philip Glass, Constance DeJong.

 The Met's breathtaking production, which critics have called "a work of genius" (Los Angeles Times) and "a transcendent evening of theater" (Variety) "exceptionally fine" cast in this "imaginative staging" (The New York Times) returns this November 2011 for seven performances only.

I have been going to the opera for almost 30 years in all that time there have been moments of awe, wonder, astoundment, profound sadness and tears of joy. Wheter it was my love handing me tissues’ during La bohème or moments of family history, when my nephew leaned over and asked “that’s Placido Flamingo right”. (Thank you, Jim Henson.)  Too having Luciano Pavarotti invite me as his guest to Un Ballo in Maschera.  

This was the Second time I went to see an opera in High Definition. The experiences were to say the least stunning. Think 8th row center forever. The Idea that being out of town and not missing an opening. Living in Oklahoma or Osaka enjoying the show not just reading about what I missed in Opera News. I for one am glad to live in this golden age of information technology. One interesting point at the end of the Opera the audience in New York stood and cheered. In the theatre where I was sitting everyone was taken aback at what to do, clap, the artists don't hear me, sit quietly and wait for the credits, what, a new form of etiquette is needed, demanded by new technology.  

Never in all world history has there been an opera to match this. Do you remember in Moulin Rouge when the characters need a name for their show and called it Spectacular Spectacular.

Richard Bernstein is Lord Krishna

This staging of Satyagraha is just that Spectacular Spectacular. I never have been at a loss for words, god knows, even a flip response if nothing else. Yet it has taken me a while to update. Not being insightful enough on how to explain from my mind to your mind what transpired on that stage using the wholly inadequate form of written language. I perceive that hieroglyphs or the Sumerian Cuneiform might make a start. Opera by its very nature is a conglomerate of the arts.  

Now nearly three decades since Satyagraha premiered at The Met. Glass’s opera has been transfigured by two bleeding edge contemporary artists. Creating the operatic coequal of performance and installation art. Co-Director /Designer Julian Crouch and Director Phelim McDermott from London's Improbable Theater.

Richard Croft, standing center, as Gandhi, along with puppets and The Metropolitan Opera Chorus

 Their careers skyrocketed in 1998 with Shockheaded Peter  A 'junk opera' based on a book of cautionary tales for children. Having seen Shockheaded Peter in New York, Glass was intrigued by "the radical kind of images [Improbable] was capable of putting on stage."  http://www.improbable.co.uk/

Satyagraha  reveals the narrative of Mohandas K. Gandhi’s development of his philosophy of nonviolence Satyagraha (Sanskrit for “Truth Force”) and civil disobedience. Relating his formative years in South Africa, from mobilizing the oppressed Indian Minority to the newspaper he published Indian Opinion with his revolutionary use of the media to disseminate his ideas. These techniques of passive resistance he began in South Africa were later use in his native India. All of which are common in contemporary political life today.

The set uses corrugated steel, a common element in colonial Africa and newspaper. A corrugated cyclorama backing a large, circular playing area.” we wanted to use pure but recognizable materials and hopefully create a sort of alchemy with them  to create something magical out of what seemed to be pure poverty materials" says Crouch. Periodically the backdrop breaks apart or suddenly perforates itself with doors and windows that form multiple min-stages within the principle space.

Newspapers are transformed into puppets in front of the audience, echoing components of Gandhi's work: "With a little newspaper and a lot of people you can make something that looks like a large creature, which is what happens in the first scene," Crouch points out. "But you can't do it on your own. The idea was to create something that needed people working together—which is what the Satyagraha movement was all about." The incredibly large, elaborate apparitions of puppetry of Act Two need to be seen to be believed.

The action takes place in a one day span, dawn until nightfall.The time and space of reality shift all around us continually with dreamlike sequences against striking, often spare, tableaux. The continued relevance of Gandhi’s beliefs is underlined by references to three historic figures: Leo Tolstoy, Rabindranath Tagore, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

New York. AP

The opera is sung in Sanskrit with projections of words and phrases on the set and sometime newspaper held by the cast. There are no titles leaving us to understand the work itself and the meaning conveyed by the visuals and music. Host, for the live in HD, Eric Owens told us during the first intermission that this was intentional, because Glass wanted the opera to make its impression through picture and sound rather than text.

 Although rooted in real-life events, the story unfold as in a dream, with the composer’s self-described “music with repetitive structures” moving the action forward, sometimes gently and sometimes urgently. “It’s a meditative piece,” Crouch says. “In the process, your heartbeat slows down.”

One of the many memorable moment happens when the newspapers on stage and in the hands of actors coalesces slowly into an undulating ball 15-20’ in diameter that swallows up Gandhi. His words are greater than the self.

The Opera ends with an impressive feat of theatrical thaumaturgy, the amalgamation of theatrical, musical and metaphysical aspirations – alone on the infinite stage, of life – we are left with the two icons of our better self’s. Gandhi and the inheritor of his legacy Martin Luther King Jr. one stands behind the other.

As Robert Levine wrote “The performance could hardly have been bettered. The Metropolitan Opera Chorus took on what must be one of the most arduous parts in the repertoire with impressive discipline. Outstanding were Rachelle Durkin’s high-soprano in the second act (she played Gandhi’s secretary); Alfred Walker’s dark bass as an Indian co-worker and Richard Bernstein as Lord Krishna in act one. And Richard Croft’s Gandhi is the soul of dignity, sung with superb legato and acted with no fear of stillness. His final number, in which he repeats an upward arpeggio of eight notes thirty times, lingers in the mind and heart. Some tenors feel compelled to endow each repetition with a different inflection or intensity, but Croft kept his even, filled with love and wonder. “Satyagraha” is a perfect example of form equaling content: the message is pacifism, the music brings peace”.