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by Craig Galbraith, Kevin Morse, David Ogborn, Andrew Staniland and Anthony Young, directed by Tom Diamond

Tapestry New Opera Works/WorldStage 2008,

Enwave Theatre, Toronto

February 15-23, 2008

Opera to Go is the product of Tapestry New Opera Works’ ongoing experiment in uniting young composers and librettists for the creation of opera.  In this case on of the seven works presented, including one on film, is longer than 15 minutes.  As with any experiment, some succeed and some do not.  As it happens the most successful two works happens to be The Shaman’s Tale by Kevin Morse to a libretto by Krista Dalby and the Bravo!FACT film The Perfect Match by Anthony Young also to a libretto by Dalby. 

In the first a Shaman (Calvin Powell) tells the archetypal story of a couple (Carla Huhtanen and Keith Klassen) who are unable to have children and must complete an extraordinary task to achieve their goal.  Tom Diamond, director for all seven works, uses larger than life-sized puppets for the couple and wonderful shadow puppetry to portray the couple’s quest.  Music and text support each other admirably.  Though it is a gem in its present form, the work could be expanded to a one-act format.  The film is a delight.  Diamond reports it must be “the first-ever gay sock-puppet opera”, for, indeed, it concerns two single male-voiced socks who find each other.  In its innocence and whimsy it reminds one of the best NFB animated shorts.

As a runner-up to these is The Colony by Morse to libretto by Lisa Codrington.  This funny, fanciful tale concerns the Queen of the Amazon ants (Jessica Lloyd), who confronted with the death of all her possible mates decides to produce a new species with the Pest Exterminator himself (Klassen).  Both words and music are witty and full of invention, but the works seems like an excerpt from a larger piece one would really like to see. 

See Saw, a comic interlude by Andrew Staniland to a libretto by Anna Chatterton, also seems like an excerpt rather than a complete work.  There is joy in Chatterton’s wordplay in Staniland’s score but its drama is unfocussed.  Craig Galbraith’s music for She sees her lover in the light of the morning is probably the most complex of the evening, but it clashes with the distinctly down-market tone of Leanna Brodie’s story of first night together of two lesbians. 

The two operas by David Ogborn came off least well, not because of his electronic scores and intriguing use of distortion but because of the libretti he set.  The Translator, also by Brodie, is a throwback to 1960s-style agitprop theatre even though the topic is the US Army’s use of torture in Iraq.  Ogborn’s soundscape of waterboardings and beatings is stronger than the cliché-ridden text that descends in to a general anti-American screed. 

Peace of My Heart, a would-be satire of the medical profession by Dave Carley, operates at the sophomoric level of a Skool Nite skit, far below what one has come to expect from Tapestry.  For all its flaws Opera to Go 2008 is a great showcase for the talents of the four singers and the expert Tapestry Orchestra under conductor Wayne Strongman.  Even when they go off-kilter Tapestry’s experiments still help expand the notion of what opera can be.    

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2008-02-18.

Photo: Jessica Lloyd, Keith Klass and Carla Huhtanen in See Saw. ©2008 Bruce Zinger.