This is the show that started it all. I am referring to Canadian stage director Joel Ivany’s brilliant re-imagining of that perennial Puccini favourite, La bohème, premiered in the spring of 2011. Its fresh take on youth, life, and love wowed Toronto audiences and propelled the Against the Grain Theatre on an upward trajectory to what it is today, widely regarded as Canada’s premiere small, “Indie” opera company, innovative and risk-taking, bringing the revered art form into the 21st century.
Its hard to believe Against the Grain has only been around for six years. One of the most imaginative performing arts companies in the city, it has reinvigorated opera, oratorio and even lieder with entertaining, accessible productions, pleasing aficionados and embracing newcomers.
Pittsburgh Opera expended its best efforts on this production, and audience reception at the premiere on April 29, with Gibson’s great-grandson in attendance, was far more positive and enthusiastic than is usual here for a new or unfamiliar work. The Summer King is a compelling theatrical experience and a serious, thought-provoking addition to the repertory. There are some weaknesses, mostly in the libretto. While the action moves swiftly in a cinematic succession of flashback scenes, some segments go on a little too long, and there is a confusing assortment of supporting characters, several taken by a single singer. The final scenes, following the protagonist’s death are anticlimactic, detracting from the impact of the situation. The score is quite strong. Sonenberg’s eclectic aural landscape incorporates jazz, ragtime, swing, even extending to mariachi in a scene where Gibson goes to Mexico to play for the Veracruz Azules. Sonenberg’s vocal writing is demanding—he favors extremes of the range—but almost always idiomatic and gratifying. Alfred Walker sang colorfully in the leading role of Josh Gibson, capturing the player’s contrasting sides while swinging a bat with ease and confidence. In an aria that describes his wife’s death in childbirth and his determination to concentrate only on “the game,” the versatile baritone expressed the gamut of feelings, later managing to convey the less likable aspects of his character. Veteran mezzo Denyce Graves, as Josh’s girlfriend Grace, stole the show every moment she was onstage. At fifty-three, her low range remains a grand phenomenon, although her high notes are not quite in the same realm of richness. But that’s irrelevant given the way Graves illuminates the stage and makes her audience feel that she is making direct one-on-one contact with each of them. Her solo turn, in which Grace laments the dreary life she must return to when she leaves Josh, brought the emotional level of the show to its highest point. The sheer beauty of Sean Panikkar’s tenor sound enhanced the role of Wendell Smith, the journalist from Pittsburgh’s black newspaper, The Courier, and this most appealing artist made the most of every word and phrase in a memorable solo about “lightning,” the quality that sets Josh apart from the others. That scene has a counterpart in Act II, when Josh’s friend Sam, movingly portrayed by dark-toned basso profundo Kenneth Kellogg, compares Josh to Moses, “the Summer King,” who led his people to the Promised Land but could not enter it. Jacqueline Echols sounded shrill but was touching as Helen, Josh’s ill-fated wife; Jasmine Muhammad was fetching in both sound and presence as the coquettish Hattie. Multiple smaller parts were handled with expertise by tenors Martin Bakari, Norman Shankle and Raymond Very, along with resonant bass-baritone Phillip Gay.
Pittsburgh Opera has given its all to this show: a multi-racial chorus and large cast in which each principal is individually excellent but fits into the dramatic scheme, superb musical realization under Antony Walker, scenic designs by Andrew Lieberman that allow flash changes, and direction by Sam Helfrich that moves the action fleetly to its inevitable ill-fated conclusion. In the title role of Gibson, baritone Alfred Walker swings a bat with the same ease and naturalness that allows him to manipulate his burly, resounding baritone voice. He can be tender in a love duet with his young wife Helen (bright and edgy coloratura Jacqueline Echols), heartbreaking in an aria describing her death during childbirth, and yet, in the second act, elicit the viewer’s admonition for the character’s dissolution and self-destructive behavior. Portraying Gibson’s girlfriend Grace, Denyce Graves at 53 retains the booming chest tones and riveting persona that made her Carmen and Dalila world-class enactments for more than two decades. When this woman is on the stage, everything around her disappears into her own luminosity. The third principal, honey-voiced tenor Sean Panikkar, plays Courier journalist Wendell Smith, who describes Gibson’s gift as “lightening” – a quality that each of these three singers possesses in abundance. Deep-voiced bass Kenneth Kellogg is an asset as Gibson’s sympathetic friend, Sam Bankhead, while Jasmine Muhammad’s luscious soprano enhances the lines afforded to the flirtatious Hattie. In multiple assignments of smaller parts, high tenors Norman Shankle and Martin Bakari, dramatic tenor Ray Very and bass Phillip Gay all do yeomen’s work, although the proliferation of humanity that surrounds the opera’s central figure is too often overwhelming.
