Editor’s note: This is the last of a two-part series about summer theater road trips.By Judith Reynolds
Special to the herald
Our summer theater road trip continues this week. From Cedar City, Utah, to international opera in Santa Fe, there are plenty of entertainment choices this summer – if you’re willing to travel.
The ghost of Steve Jobs is hovering over Santa Fe.
On July 22, the world premiere of “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” will open and run only five more performances. America’s emperor of technology died in 2011 at age 56. Four years earlier, he introduced the iPhone. His complicated, stormy rise to fame has long been the subject of books, articles, doctoral theses, biographies, films and now an opera.
Commissioned by SFO in partnership with the San Francisco Opera, “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs,” by American composer Mason Bates and his librettist Mark Campbell, begins in 2007 when Jobs unveiled the iPhone. From that starting point, the opera unspools in a sequence of 18 scenes, flashing backward and forward in time. Described as cinematic in style, the opera is sumptuously orchestrated and combines Bates’ musical signature – a fusion of orchestral texture with electronica, including spoken word. Recently, Bates fulfilled another commission – for the Kennedy Centennial. Bates integrated recordings of JFK’s voice with lush orchestral sound.
Here’s a summary of Santa Fe Opera’s 61st season:
“Die Fledermaus,” by Johann Strauss Jr., opened June 30 with a new production of this waltz extravaganza. Knowing the opera’s worldwide popularity, the company has scheduled a total of nine performances. At the heart of this bubbly, urbane drama, there’s a prank, a disguise, some seductive romancing and flagons of champagne. Lilting Viennese waltzes underscore all the action. “Fledermaus” plays July 14, Aug. 1, 7, 14, 19 and 26.
“Lucia di Lammermoor,” by Gaetano Donizetti, opened July 5 in another new production. Last performed at SFO in 2001, the production features soprano Brenda Rae with tenor Mario Chang as her lover.
Donizetti was the last of the great bel canto composers and incorporated an unusual instrument in the “Mad Scene,” a glass harmonica. Invented by Benjamin Franklin, the mechanism consists of water revolving through graduated glass bowls. For the 2017 SFO production, a guest glass harmonicist, Friedrich Heinrich Kern, will play from the original score as intended.
“Lucia” runs July 21, 31, Aug. 5, 8, 12, 16 and 24.
“Alcina,” by George Frideric Handel will open July 29 in a new production – a company premiere.
On her own enchanted island, Alcina, a magical sorceress, surfs through lust, lovers, sadness and rage. Eventually, she succumbs to the inevitable – six arias, baroque filigree and resignation.
Director David Alden’s imaginative production was first conceived in 2012 for Bordeaux Opera. It traveled to Madrid’s Teatro Real, and now will mesmerize Santa Fe. Alden has transformed Alcina’s island into a theater with a stage-within-a-stage configuration. Along with Handel’s music, it heightens the dreamlike quality of the tale.
“Alcina” runs July 29, Aug. 2, 11, 17 and 23.
“The Golden Cockerel,” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov is a new co-production with the Dallas Opera and a company premiere.
Based on a Russian folk tale as interpreted by Alexander Pushkin, the story centers on an aging, power-hungry tyrant. King Dodon’s outsize ego drives him to constant warfare. A sorcerer from Breitbart suggests a warning system in the guise of a mechanical bird. The tyrant loves the golden cockerel, makes lavish promises of reward, but won’t sign the sorcerer’s contract. Warnings come and go. One leads to another war where the tyrant’s sons are killed. But Dodon doesn’t care because he has met a beautiful foreign queen. They return to his kingdom, and you can guess what the sorcerer wants as payment.
This extravagant fable runs July 15, 19, 28, Aug. 3, 9 and 18.
“The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs,” by Mason Bates, libretto by Mark Campbell, will be one of the most innovative productions in SFO history by interweaving technology into contemporary operatic practice and merging expressive electronics, natural sounds and a traditional symphony orchestra.
The 19-scene work will center on Jobs (baritone Edward Parks) and his wife, Laurene (mezzo soprano Sasha Cooke). “The story exists at the intersection of creativity, technology and human communication,” Bates has written. “I want to give every character a sound-world and see what happens when they collide.”
The opera runs only six performances: July 22, 26, Aug. 4, 10, 15 and 15.
Romeo and Ethel? Viola? Juliet?
We all know the real title of the most famous love story in the world: Shakespeare’s tale of teenage lovers doomed because they are children of feuding families.
This summer, the Utah Shakespeare Festival has programmed “Romeo and Juliet” with a prequel, a modern adaptation of the popular 1998 film: “Shakespeare in Love.” Together, the two plays function as a twin centerpiece for the festival’s 56th season.
“Shakespeare in Love,” the Oscar-winning film for Best Picture of the Year, was crafted by two gentlemen of London: British playwright Tom Stoppard and his screenwriting partner Marc Norman. Their movie dramatized how an aspiring writer became Shakespeare and how his beautiful, fictional muse, Viola, became an actress. It’s a story in which the name Ethel appears as a cheap joke. But it sets a light-hearted tone for an imaginary Will Shakespeare and his muse.
Utah Shakes is a minor miracle, a professional, regional theater that’s been around for more than half a century. Only the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is older. USF has an $8 million budget, a company dominated by Equity actors and directors, and a season that opens in late June and runs through the fall.
Every year, USF opens six productions simultaneously and in rotation throughout the season. Because of the thematic interdependence of “Romeo and Juliet” and “Shakespeare in Love,” the two plays will be performed in true repertory style. They share cast members and sets. If you go, this double bill might be high on your ticket list.
This year’s musical is “Guys and Dolls.” Based on a Damon Runyon story, it’s considered to be close to perfect in the history of American musical theater.
In addition, USF has secured the rights to present Mary Zimmerman’s Broadway production of “Treasure Island.” Zimmerman is known for adapting famous literary works with brilliant, often cinematic staging. Seamlessly combining words with music, this is an epic tale about pirates, power and adventure. It’s clearly the family show on the schedule.
With its reputation for professional acting, insightful direction, spectacular costume and set designs, USF is well worth a trip. The festival is situated on one of the loveliest, tree-shaded campuses in the West, Southern Utah University.
The company offers various backstage tours with modest ticket prices. Free events include a nightly Greenshow, pre-play summaries, and morning seminars with actors and directors. There is always something to do, not to mention spectacular hiking and camping at various nearby national parks.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theater Critics Association.
The Santa Fe Opera
What: Santa Fe Opera, 2017 season, five productions: “Die Foederatus,” by Johann Strauss Jr.; “Lucia di Lammermoor,” by Gaetano Donizetti; “The Golden Cockerel,” by Rimsky-Korsakov; “Alcona,” by Handel; and “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs,” by Mason Bates and Mark Campbell.
When: Through Aug. 26.
Where: Santa Fe Opera is seven miles north of the city on Highway 85. Free parking.
Tickets: Single tickets range from $32 to $225, with group prices and packages also available.
More information: (800) 280-4654 or (505) 986-5900; online sales, calendars and information: www.SantaFeOpera.org.
Utah Shakespeare Festival
What: Utah Shakespeare Festival, Cedar City. “As You Like It,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Shakespeare in Love,” “Guys and Dolls” and “Treasure Island.”
When: In repertory now through August.
Tickets: Range from $20 to $75. Discounts offered to groups, schools, senior citizens.
More information: www.bard.org or (800) 752-9849 or (435) 586-7878.
NOTE: Cedar City, Utah, is a day’s drive from Durango. If you take the northern route, Moab to U.S. 70 West, then south on U.S. 15 to Cedar City, it’s scenic and safer than the southern route.
