A Truly American Opera
Like Lowbrow Opera Collective, Seattle Opera is de-museumifying opera and producing some interesting chamber opera with living, breathing, in the flesh composers and librettists whose subjects are not 18th century Viennese noblemen (much as I like those operas) but about truly American experiences such as immigration. A chamber opera, Bound, which opened this weekend in the intimate space at Tagney-Jones Hall, was just such an opera.
Based on a true story in Texas, Bound recounts the anguish 17-year old honor student Diane Tran experiences, when she is jailed for 24 hours in Texas on a charge of truancy after being forced to miss a day of school because the boss at her second job, insisted she work during the day. This one day was the 10th day of truancy and the school district only allows nine.
In addition to school, Diane works two jobs because her mother has left the home physically and her father is never around. Tran feels bound by the traditional Confucian values to put family first, but at the same time is caught in a web of conflicts.
As Bound opens, a teen-age girl (Diane) is huddled in a hoodie and some stunning music is playing, composed by Huang Ruo, on a 16 –string instrument called a “dàn tranh.” In the program it is called a zither, it has Asian sounding tones, which blended well with the piano music, symbolizing the immigrant experience-a fusion of different cultures, the culture one came from and the dominant culture borrowed from Europe.
In flashbacks, some of the history of how Diane ended up in jail is recounted: the encounter with her nasty boss, the trial and Diane’s mother’s guilt-ridden sorrow at leaving her own parents to an unknown fate back in Viet-Nam, plus, Diane’s feelings about having to shoulder the burden of responsibility for the family.
The strength of this production was the music; it was dramatic, soulful and extremely interesting using only the aforementioned instruments, a piano and the 16 String dàn tranh, expertly played by Vân-Ành Vanessa Vö
However, a major weakness was that the two female leads, Karen Vuong, as Diane Tran and Nina Yoshida Nelson as her mother sang so inarticulately that only about 10% of the lyrics were understood. Part of the appeal of contemporary productions is that they are in English, not German or Italian with subtitles, but if the English needs subtitles there is a problem, even though the lyrics were written in the program.
It was also as if the accompanying music was about showing off high notes rather than punctuating the text, notes were held on words that should never be emphasized and unfortunately Vuong’s voice was very tense on the high notes.
Another weakness was that there was zero comic relief in the libretto. One might say that there is no cause for comedy here, but even in Thomas Keneally’s book Schindler’s List and in the subsequent film, both the author and Spielberg extracted every shred of humor they could, just to make such a grim subject watchable.
One cannot overlook the irony that perhaps Diane actually is an honor student in AP classes precisely because she has missed so many days of school; perhaps she has spent her time more wisely, studying on her own, rather than sitting in tediously boring classes, in my opinion. It is asking a lot for an audience to sit through an hour of horrific suffering, with no comic relief.
The simple set by Carey Wong allowed numerous scene changes as well as created a menacing atmosphere, enhanced by the lighting design by Geoff Korf. Costume designer Deborah Trout accentuated generational cultural differences common to immigrant families by dressing Diane like a typical American teen in a hoodie and her mother in a tradition Viet-Namese outfit (which was super beautiful!)
Having said that, I would like to commend Seattle Opera for producing something new, interesting, significant and like Jazz, distinctly American; that is to say a fusion of non-European culture and European culture. In addition to de-museumifying opera, Seattle Opera is also trying to de-elitize opera and make efforts to reach the younger generation. Friday June 16th is Teen Night. Tickets are as low as $5. (see below
As a chamber opera, Bound is only one hour long and there are several post-show talks, see the schedule below.
Bound. Seattle Opera, Tagney-Jones Hall, Seattle Center 363 Mercer St. Seattle 98109. Fri, Sat 7:30, Sun. 2pm. Til June 18. $25 Parking in the Garage, very little off street Parking. Monorail from downtown, #8 bus from Mt. Baker and Capitol Hill.
N.B. Friday, June 16, is Teen Night. Admission to that performance is reserved for groups of teens, teens with a parent/guardian, or school groups, and all tickets for teens are $15. Additionally, a limited number of $5 TeenTix tickets will be available for Teen Night on the day of the performance. TeenTix tickets
Schedule of Post Show Talks Q & A.
6/9 — Composer Huang Ruo, librettist Bao-Long Chu, and director Desdemona Chiang
6/10 — Mezzo soprano Nina Yoshida Nelsen, moderated by Seattle Opera’s Teen Vocal Studio
6/11 — Friends of Little Saigon, moderated by Seattle Opera Associate Director of Community Engagement Alex Minami
6/16 — Soprano Karen Vuong and Seattle Opera’s Teen Vocal Studio, moderated by Seattle Opera Intern Eleanor O’Brien
6/17 — Composer Huang Ruo and musician Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ, moderated by Seattle Opera’s Teen Vocal Studio
6/18 — Helping Link/Một Dấu Nối, moderated by Seattle Opera Associate Director of Community Engagement Alex Minami
Friday, June 16, is Teen Night. Admission to that performance is reserved for groups of teens, teens with a parent/guardian, or school groups, and all tickets for teens are $15. Additionally, a limited number of $5 TeenTix tickets will be available for Teen Night on the day of the performance. TeenTix tickets