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by Béla Bartók / Arnold Schoenberg, directed by Robert Lepage

Canadian Opera Company, Hummingbird Centre, Toronto

September 21-October 6, 2001

“Lepage Double-Bill Still Thrills”

Robert Lepage's double-bill of Béla Bartók's "Bluebeard's Castle" and  Arnold Schoenberg's "Erwartung" is still one of the most perfect theatrical realizations of opera I have ever seen.  Every element of the mise en scène – gesture, pose, movement, light, shadow, set and costumes-is married to the words and music in such minute detail the link seems inevitable.  As is seldom the case, the mise en scène is not an imposition of a concept onto the work but rather enhances every aspect of meaning in both operas while not compromising their mystery.  The two works are fascinating in themselves, but Lepage has also fully brought out the parallels between them so that we gain more from the operas and their staging with every acquaintance.

This is the third time the COC has presented this double-bill.  It premièred to unanimous acclaim in 1993, toured to Brooklyn and Edinburgh where it reaped more awards and praise, returned to Toronto in 1995, before touring to Hong Kong.  Yes, with this third appearance, restaged by François Racine, the element of surprise has worn off but it has been replaced with a deeper sense of wonder at how brilliant the staging really is and how marvellously the COC performs it.  This double-bill marked a turning point for the COC and become their calling card to the outside world.  It also marks a turning point for opera in Canada in general since it shows that works no matter how abstruse or "difficult" can be immensely popular and draw a diverse audience if the staging can rise to the imaginative level of the opera.  This double-bill drew an exciting mixture of people: bejewelled women with blue rinses along with young people with punkish hairstyles and multiple piercings.  So diverse an audience is itself a sign of success. 

The mise en scène so completely suits the two works that it gives us a rare glimpse of the "Gesamtkunstwerk" that Wagner imagined opera should be.  Levine's sets and costumes, Robert Thomson's lighting, Laurie-Shawn Borzovoy's media effects, the singers' positioning and gestures are precisely integrated with the words and music.  Together they become an artwork in itself uniting all the arts.  As with the greatest artworks, new times brings new interpretations.  In "Bluebeard's Castle" when Judith has entered Bluebeard's low hall with its forced perspective and has seen all the terrifying secrets behind each door, her horror seemed not be merely a realization that she too was now one of the dead but that, as Bluebeard's last bride, the apocalypse had finally come and all would return to darkness.  In "Erwartung" the emphasis seemed to shift from wondering whether or not the lone Woman wandering the stage did or did not murder her lover to a queasiness at how accurate Schoenberg's depiction is of what it is like to be engulfed by an unknown terror that changes all one sees.  The claustrophobia of Michael Levine's set for Bluebeard's hall gives way to the agoraphobia of the open space in "Erwartung".  Lepage and Levine show us the two sides of the same fear, the ineluctable entrapment of the mind by time.

The COC orchestra by now has these two works in their bones.  They play so naturally and with so much beauty the question of the scores' "difficulty" simply does not arise.  On the evening I attended Richard Bradshaw, who toured with these works, stepped in for Bernhard Kontarsky, who had to return to Germany for family reasons.  Bradshaw's exact pacing brought out the gradually mounting sense of tension up to the spectacular opening of the Fifth Door and beyond it to the greater mental horrors of the Sixth and Seventh Doors.  In "Erwartung" he brought out the atonal score's inherent lyricism linking it clearly back to Wagner.

The singers in both works are superb.  Peter Fried uses his magnificent bass to communicate the full emotion of Bluebeard's situation, trying to shield Judith from learning too much about her fate yet aware of its inevitability.  Mezzo Sara Fulgoni with her clear, ringing voice, details Judith's transformation from curiosity and wonder to apprehension, terror and acceptance.  As beings with human emotions but greater destinies, their interaction seems to echo that of Wotan and Brünnhilde in Wagner's "Die Walküre".  Their clear portrayal of complex emotions that humanize their roles provides the best point of entry to this symbolic work. 

Soprano Nina Warren gives a fearless performance of the Woman in "Erwartung".  She, too, finds the lyricism the jagged vocal line of Schoenberg score.  Her acting does not efface memories of Rebecca Blankenship's portrayal in 1995 in what has been called the longest mad scene in all of opera.  But Warren's voice is powerful and dramatic without sacrificing beauty of tone despite the role's punishing demands.  As in the double-bill's previous appearances, non-singers Pamela Sue Johnson (Bride/Mistress), Noam Markus (Bride/Lover) and Mark Johnson (Bride/Psychiatrist) amaze us with their slow-motion acrobatics. 

It's an immensely satisfying evening that proves yet again how richly this pair of operas deserves its past acclaim.  If you have seen them at the COC before, renewed acquaintance will bring increased rewards.  If you have not and care at all about art, theatre, music or opera, see them now.

Photo: Nina Warren in Erwartung. ©2001 Canadian Opera Company.