Justice at the Opera

"Justice at the Opera” there could not be a better title for this once in a life-time experience.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg curated 90 minutes of arias from various operas relating to justice and the law at the Lensic Performing Arts Center with wonderful apprentice singers from the Santa Fe Opera.

For those not seriously interested in opera, it may not be well known, but Justice Ginsberg’s love of opera is legendary. She has been coming to Santa Fe for the opera season a very long time. In fact she told the Washington Post that she, “considers the Santa Fe Opera the finest summer opera company in the world.”

It has also been commented upon that until his death Justice Scalia, her archrival on the Supreme Court, would accompany her since, regarding opera, at least, there was a certain meeting of the minds.

Justices Ginsberg and Scalia last year

I am going to take a liberty here and I hope my readers, and most of all our favorite Supreme Court Justice, will forgive me, but in order to save space and not repeat Justice Ginsberg 10 more times, I will refer to her as others have, as RBG.  This is not the first time that RBG has done this program. In 2013 the New York Times reported on Justice at the Opera at the Glimmerglass Opera Festival in Cooperstown, New York and earlier this year the Washington Post had an article about a program similar to the one in Santa Fe at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

The late afternoon performance started with introductions by the Executive Director of the Lensic, Joel Aalberts, welcoming the audience for this momentous occasion and introducing Charles MacKay, retiring General Director of the Santa Fe Opera to this joint benefit.  Both received energetic applause and cheers.  But when Mr. MacKay introduced Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg saying that she was Ambassador at Large for the Opera and must never retire from the court, everyone in the sold-out theatre rose to their feet and would not stop applauding and cheering.  It was most heartening.  When the Justice finally calmed the audience she quoted Justice O’Brian’s two favorite responses,  “Thank you and thank you again” and adding her own “Mille Grazie”.

RBG’s props were a podium and an armchair in an exaggerated Louis XV style, lent by the Santa Fe Opera, where she sat in rapt attention after making the introduction to each scene.  There were eight selections from famous operas. Justice Ginsberg’s commentary explained what was happening in the opera itself as well as some juicy tidbits from the law.    The first scene was a quartet from Verdi’s “Falstaff” and RBG explained that it was about mail fraud since two women received the exact same love letter from a suitor who was actually after their husband’s money.  She explained with mock seriousness how this had been responsible for a U.S. law regarding mail fraud.

With the aria from Puccinis’s “Tosca” where the hero anticipates the Firing Squad, the Justice mentioned that some in this country sentenced to death, who have been averse to the needle, have asked for a firing squad instead, but so far all have been denied.

In L’elisir d’Amore by  Donizetti during the quartet from Act II RBG was asked to notarize the  the contract. She rose to the podium to do so and the singer held it out to the audience for all to see.  These antics and comments added zest and laughter to the afternoon!

The most moving piece and only one that one felt quite convinced RBG had insisted on was from the opera, “Appomattox” by Philip Glass, a composer I do not care for.   The emotional aspect of the piece, however, cannot be denied. Terrence Chin-Loy, an African-American tenor who is also a wonderful actor, recounted the “Colfax Massacre” on Easter Sunday of 1873 in Colfax, Louisiana, where over a hundred black militiamen were cut down by white supremacists upset to see the freed “colored people”.

When a Supreme Court Justice, who sits on a  pedestal as the idol of many, joins the rest of us in a cultural experience, it gives one an exceptional feeling of belonging and edification.

Planning a Season

I am back at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe, this time with the new Executive Director, Joel Aalberts.  Actually, he is not that new having started a year ago tomorrow.  He comes to Santa Fe having been Director at the Eastern Kentucky University Center for the Arts since 2013.  He also served in other Midwestern theatres, as a performer as well.

He had several concepts not tried before at the Lensic.  One was that the season’s program should be ready to be announced in May for the following August though May of the next year. This would allow his audience to plan, and most importantly buy tickets in advance.  Personally, we have already booked tickets through next April.  Here is Joel with his family at the announcement of the coming season.

An important goal for any theater is not to lose money on a season.  If you are a theatergoer, beyond Broadway or the Las Vegas strip, you are always told that tickets only fund a percentage of any year.  They cannot cover the tens of thousands it costs to book the entertainment plus supply the additional lights, other tech and musical instruments that might be needed through tickets alone.  The care and feeding of the headliner for the evening is also vital to the reputation of the theater and staff in the industry.

Joel with Actress Rita Moreno

Joel with Jazz Singer Dianne Reeves

The Lensic, being a converted 1930’s Movie Palace in a small town, has 821 seats.  I asked Joel whether we could have a particular political satirist whom I like and I think would do well in multi-cultural Santa Fe.  Joel said he would like to have him as well, but that he would probably not be interested in playing to an 800 seat theater when there were 2,000 plus seat auditoriums in Los Vegas or even where Joel worked previously in Kentucky.  When planning a season you have to be realistic as to whom might play the house.

If the Lensic would charge $10 for a family event, that would bring in only $8,210, which would not cover costs.  If you bring in a star the costs can come to $50,000 or  even much more. If all seats cost the same you might have to charge $100 per seat and you would lose much of your audience. Currently the most expensive seat in the house is $79 for a few shows and prices go down substantially from there.  In fact, the less than ideal seats at the Lensic are usually priced in the neighborhood of $25.

Joel with Nancy Zeckendorf, founding director, at the Lensic

Practically speaking when planning a season you need to know as much as you can about your patrons.  Joel’s first season he had a very short time to do this, but he could look at past seasons and see which events sold out and which had less than perfect attendance.

Last year there was only a week between his start date and one of the arts conferences he attends every year.  There are three in the United States: one is the Western Arts Alliance Conference which he goes to at the end of August, one in the mid-west and one on the East Coast.  These conferences try to focus, as much as possible, on the arts that appeal to that part of the country.  The theatre directors are pitched from morning ‘till night by the agencies trying to book their programs and talent. 

Once the actual season begins Joel can get direct responses by seeing not only how the house fills but also by comments made to him by members of the audience.  He attends many events in the house and is very open to the public’s comments, which surprised me since everyone has an opinion!

Agencies continue to pitch via email all year long and Joel will try to find an opening in the schedule if he thinks a particular act will appeal.  Two such sell outs this season were Trombone Shorty and Chris Botti neither of whom I had ever heard of.  Trombone Shorty, as his name implies, plays trombone and has a band.  Having played at the Lensic, he is going on a European tour this fall.  Chris Botti is a Grammy-winning trumpeter.  My point being that Joel has to know a lot of different parts of the entertainment industry and learns more all the time, including the tastes of his audience.  Here, like New York, you have great ethnic and age diversity.

Every theatre Director will have personal goals and one of Joel’s is to offer a diverse choice every year to expose people, not just to the same success as last year, but variations on a theme.  I have written a couple of times on Taiko drummer groups; each was different, so our experience was varied and our horizons broadened.

Steve Jobs Redux

Even before we had seen the new Steve Jobs opera called “(R)evolution of Steve Jobs” my wife suggested that I should write about it. My reaction was, “Why should I?” I thought it would be very contemporary atonal music, which I usually hate and, even though I was definitely curious, I had just written about Jobs a couple of weeks ago.

Seeing the opera, however, I was totally bowled over. It has wonderful music, sometimes amusing and sometimes gut-wrenching lyrics and is produced in not only an original manner, but one that works perfectly!  From me it gets 5 stars!! 

The music is by Mason Bates and the libretto is by Mark Campbell.  It was co-commissioned with Seattle Opera and San Francisco Opera.  This is no surprise since Jobs lived and worked in the area.  The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music joined them as co-producers.  The world premier was right here at the Santa Fe Opera.

The conductor on the night we went was Michael Christie.  As was written by John Stege in our local weekly magazine, The Santa Fe Reporter, “Bate’s score works just fine on several levels.  Forget the fearsome, distant electronic days… Bates offers and performs a kinder, gentler use of electronica that works right along with his multi-hued and often brilliant orchestral patterns.”

At the beginning of the opera a 10 year old boy is given a work table made for him by his father so he will have, “a place to take things apart and put them together again”.  Panels that serve for projections, often of circuit boards, slide back and forth as the characters move along.  Soon a grown Jobs takes the boy’s place.  If you force me to critique anything it is that the plot jumps back and forth in Job’s short life from 1955 to 2011 and it is sometimes difficult to keep track.  Still by the time it is over, you feel you understand the story of his life.  Here is Edward Parks as Steve Jobs and Jonah Sorenson as the young Jobs.

Photo Credit: Ken Howard for the Santa Fe Opera

The opera gets going with an aria or really a song called “Tap, tap, tap” which imitates all of us pressing on the icons on our iPhones.  I believe I forgot to mention how good the entire cast was!  We have heard wonderful voices in the past and sometimes they were good actors as well, but one usually picks them out individually.  In this performance we found all were good in both categories and some excelled.  The chorus is made up of Santa Fe Opera apprentices who in other productions sometimes have been given solo roles.  Opera companies from all over come in the summer to hear then sing and make some choices.  A bit like job interviews at major universities.  Steve Jobs and the Santa Fe Opera Chorus.

Photo Credit; Ken Howard for the Santa Fe Opera

Every story comes from a different point of view: my Missive, “Fearless Genius” dealt with Jobs creativity from the positive perception of the photographer Doug Menuez; the opera has a far more personal and in some ways tragic point of view.  In fact my wife and I were both in tears by the time it was over.  The part of Laurene, Job’s wife, was played by Sasha Cooke, a fabulous mezzo-soprano and actor, though I would prefer actress, because she symbolized the most wonderful strong but sympathetic wife!  Others who stood out were Job’s original partner Steve Wozniak, Garrett Sorenson and Jobs’ Zen Priest, Kobun Otogawa sung by Wei Wu.

Photo Credit: Ken Howard for the Santa Fe Opera

Photo Credit: Ken Howard for the Santa Fe Opera

If you want quite contrary thoughts on the same opera we saw, read the New York Times review. It is hard to believe that Zachary Woolfe, the author of this piece, saw the same production. We stayed until the last hand was clapped.  It was at least a five-minute standing ovation with more Bravos, Bravas and Bravis than I have ever heard in Santa Fe.  Mr. Woolfe seems to also believe that people are either all black or all white.  I read the same book he did by Walter Isaacson revealing Steve Jobs as an often insensitive SOB who clearly had another extremely charismatic way of enveloping people and having many totally devoted to him.

Photo Credit: Ken Howard for the Santa Fe Opera

I have gone to an awful lot of opera in my 70 plus years, starting with Aida in the Baths of Caracalla in Rome when I was 11.  I can honestly say I have been bored out of my skull by many operas since.  However, when you see and hear an opera put together so expertly with music, story line and performers at their best, and even an amazing set that cast and stage crew slide through effortlessly, for me it counts as a success and wonderful evening!

Abel Sepulveda - Lighting Supervisor

I am not sure which was my first play or  how old I was.   I remember being frightened by Cyril Ritchard as Captain Hook in Peter Pan on Broadway, sitting at the top of the house with my mother and grandmother at The City Center to see The Merry Wives of Windsor, and the Gilbert & Sullivan operettas, “Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado.  All that exposure early on gave me a love of theatre.  Now I am on the board of the City Center equivalent in Santa Fe, the Lensic Performing Arts Center.  I have been taking full advantage of the opportunity and am able to ask questions and get behind the scenes that I have never been able to do before.

A few days ago we met up with Abel Sepuldeva, the young man (28) who is the Lighting Supervisor for the Lensic Theatre.  Abel comes from El Paso where he was already interested in Theatre and decided that he wanted a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. He had two choices, the University of Florida or the College of Santa Fe.  The latter offered him the best package and, like so many mothers, his did not want her son too far from home so there he went.  He lucked out in having good teachers, one of whom was George Johnson, the first tech director at the Lensic!  I always tell young people who are looking for a certain name college that who will be teaching them should be the primary criteria for their choice.  One of the requirements for Abel’s degree was to have a professional internship. A summer internship at the Lensic led to becoming an over-hire, part of a team of available techies who can fill in when extra trained hands are needed in the theatre.  In 2011 he was hired full time as Master Electrician and in 2015 he became the Lighting Supervisor … the guy who makes the decisions.  If you want to have a spot light on you, be nice to Abel!

Seriously, he is in charge of the lighting for all the groups that come in to use the theatre.  If he has worked for them before he usually knows what they want and expect, but a year or two ago the well known comedian, Dave Chappelle, showed up for 2 shows.  He wanted only red lights, not only on stage, but also in his dressing room and the corridor between, so red gels had to be placed over those lights.  His DJ, however, had to have blue light. 

As an aside there was an incident and an audience member threw a banana peel at Chapelle, a story that went viral.  The perpetrator then ran out of the theatre and Abel, being in that glassed in booth at the back of the house, jumped out and collared him until security arrived! 

Such excitement is not the norm, and Abel’s is a very tough job.  He works with some very heavy equipment and the electricians who mount the lights on the bars above the stage, known in the jargon as “line sets” and once they have the lights on them “electrics” on which the lights are placed.  There are the old fashioned par lights weighing about 20 pounds each and they use those large bulbs like you might have seen in any older art space.  At my father’s gallery in the 1950’s we had a smaller hand held one, which I used to focus on players in our school performance.

In more recent years digital lamps came in and Abel was authorized to purchase a few of those for the house.  The Metropolitan Opera uses the same, in still more sophisticated versions.  What astounded me was the price tag.  The lamps bought a year or two ago cost $12,000 each and have dropped in price slightly.  No wonder theatres are always looking for funds. The Lensic has a capacity of 400 dimmers (lights) and has 360 in house.  The Mag Vipers, the digital lamps with fans require a DMX board.  They can be rotated digitally and have “Gobo’s” which are cut out disks so they can project anything onto a set, such as trees, ocean waves or even “The Yellow Brick Road”.  The Mag Vipers can be controlled digitally, while the par lamps have to be put in by hand.  For digital lamps, for instance, the more you pay the more built in gobos you get.

Behind the last row of seats of most theatres is a person at a board, which controls the sound.  He needs to hear what the audience hears.  Behind that there is a windowed booth with the board from which all lighting for the stage and house is controlled.  The board is set up in a certain way and Abel, alone in the booth, knows what lights should be on when for a particular show.  I asked what happens when a show from elsewhere come in such as a Rock ‘n Roll show and they have their own special effects that they want.  Not a problem,-- with the new digital boards they can just plug in their own flash drive and have much control over the lighting, which Abel would still supervise.

Every time I write a missive, it is educational but often leaves me with more questions than I had before.  Maybe sometime I will have a chance to learn even more about what goes on backstage at the theatre!  In fact I looked up some of the theatrical lighting language and found THIS ...

A bit more than one could digest in my morning visit with Abel!

Building the Wall

Santa Fe is an arts town with a great Performing Arts Center, The Lensic, but we have sorely missed a black box theatre where small serious theatre productions could be done.  A bit over a year ago Maureen and Bruce McKenna opened the Adobe Rose Theatre to fill the need.  I hope to do a Missive in the near future on this dynamic duo but that is not my focus today.

The Adobe Rose recently held a gala where they presented a show called “Building the Wall” by Robert Schenkkan.  The unusual aspect of this play according to the author was that there were less than 6 months between conception and the first production.  Also, that the author wanted the play to roll out in multiple venues, each venue with their own interpretation.  The McKenna’s and their team felt the mood for the show would be properly set if we were given blue or red dots when we arrived, had to come through a small door and go through a security check with a simulated scanning device, standing on the foot prints and raising our arms. On the other side was another agent who sent sent those with blue dots through one aisle and the red through another.  We, of course, all arrived in the same seating area in the round.  The Adobe Rose has variable seating for different productions from 87 to 140 seats and for this production there were 116 seats.   According to Bruce McKenna, “Geoff Webb, the theatre designer, wanted for this production a "flies on the wall feel: the audience would be pressed not only close to the action, but to each other.”  During the founders’ intro they made a pitch for the theatre and said with particularly relevant insight, “Theatre can act as a mirror on ourselves”. 

The play takes place in 2019, and projects the harrowing consequences of the current administration’s policy towards law and order and illegal immigrants. It is a two character piece; a prisoner in an orange jump suit, played, in Santa Fe, by Todd Anderson and a black (though it could be any minority) history professor who studied psychology and sociology, played here by Danielle Louise Reddick. She is interested in getting a story for an article or a book on why the prisoner, a former security officer, did what landed him in prison. The latter makes an excellent case for his discontent with his country which he feels needs to be given back to white Christians, though he repeats over and over again that he is not racist and seems to believe it. Under continuous questioning he slowly reveals how things can go too far and seem out of our control, not wanting to reveal even to his wife what he has allowed to happen. - Just following orders, Sir.

Photo Courtesy of Adobe Rose Theatre

Directed by Kristin Goodman, this is a morality play which like the late medieval piece “Everyman” tells the story of a time when man had forgotten about God, gotten carried away but ultimately must pay. Here the director in rehearsal with her cast.

Photo Courtesy of Adobe Rose Theatre

Last November, after much thought, I wrote a blog stating my fears about the direction our country was going.  We have a number of friends who said it could not happen here because we were protected by our Constitution and our system of checks and balances.  I have now learned from a Pulitzer prize winning author that I was not alone.   In the play the professor is getting more and more upset by what she is hearing but drawn to learn more.

Photo Courtesy of Adobe Rose Theatre

In a Q& A after the show Robert Schennken told us that he started writing in October, 2016.  His first draft was written in a week, but he has been making changes ever since in response to current events. The version we saw was not quite the same as the one that opened in New York.  As Schenkann said his primary concern was not royalties or prizes, the show was not released slowly in the normal pattern, on its way to New York. He wants professional, semi-professional and amateur productions as well as readings so that his cautionary tale can reach as many as possible and get a dialog going about our country’s direction and future.

Bruce McKenna and Robert Schenkkan

Schenkann has published the script, so it is available on Amazon and has been translated into French.  To list just a few of its many venues: Los Angeles, Seattle, Tucson, Chicago, Denver and Austin.  It just closed in New York and is going to Vienna and Tehran. He is also negotiating with London and Costa Rica.  Catch it if you can!

Lensic Performing Arts Intern Program

The Lensic Intern Program was started in 2002 in order to offer the high school students in Santa Fe the opportunity to learn what goes into working back stage in a theater.  The current head of that program is Matt Sanford who joined as a student in its second year.  At the time he was in his junior year of high school, majoring in theater with the goal of becoming an actor. This program began to lure him away from the front of the stage to the back.  Every child must dream at one point or another of becoming an actor.  It looks so easy, and the fantasy is always attractive even after we grow up and call it dreaming!

Matt has now been working back stage for over 16 years.  At the Lensic he was recently promoted from Master Electrician to Stage Manager, all the while being director of the Intern Program.  He was kind enough to let me interview him and sit in on one of his classes.  He explained that he reaches out to all high schools within the Santa Fe school system, public, private and charter. He often has over 30 applications but only accepts somewhere between 8 and 12 students. This makes for a teachable class size, particularly when working in smaller spaces and in potentially dangerous situations.

The students come to the Lensic after school once a week at about 4:30 pm and stay until about 6:30. They do not get class credit.  Obviously, the course will look good on their CV and application for college and it is not something you would apply for if you did not think you were interested in the subject.  Sometimes, however, a student will find out the program is not what he or she thought it was and drop out.  For one thing, as I learned, it is not easy, mentally or physically. 

 The amount they learn is incredible.  In the syllabus that Matt sent me he introduced each subject with the words “Basic training/understanding”.  The meaning being that you should not expect to be expert and able to do everything after 2 hours training.  At the beginning of the program they are issued a pair of thick gloves, a multi-purpose tool and a lanyard on which to hang it.  Matt runs a tight ship and explains why, which is so much better than the teacher who says, “because I told you so”. Each class starts in front of a white board with an explanation of what will be reviewed.

The session I sat in on was about the fly rail high above the stage from where one works the Fly System. Ropes must be weighted and balanced to make back-drops, screens and the curtain go up and down. Matt was very careful to stress how dangerous it can be when one is not paying attention.  Each person manning these ropes needs to not only make sure nothing drops, but announce clearly to those below what they are doing.  This is particularly true when visiting troupes come through that are not acquainted with the Lensic stage.  When Matt showed his students damage done by a falling “brick” the weights that hold the rigs up, that made an impression!

At another session the students study the lighting board including proper installation, application of light fixtures and lighting design for different types of programing such as theater, dance and orchestra.  I quipped that if one mastered that ,one could probably maneuver a 747 plane.  The sound console is another piece of complicated equipment.  The students need to learn about microphones, cabling and speakers.  To learn all this there needs to be a basic understanding of electricity, which can also be very dangerous so they are taught safety procedures.

The students also get the opportunity to follow professional crew members for the larger shows.  If they stick with the program they can apply for a paid summer internship where they will actually assist on a show under the supervision of a professional.  A few come back for a second year.  I met one young woman, a second year student, who came in to reset the marquee for coming programs, a process that is still done manually.   Since the Lensic is a 1930’s land marked movie theater it seemed appropriate.

I asked Matt if he tracks the interns after they leave and he said he does.  He has their phone numbers and emails and, though Face Book is not his favorite place to spend his time, he does interact there as well.  In fact the Intern Program has its own Facebook page.

One of his students that he is particularly proud of has had his lighting design accepted at Carnegie Hall in New York as well as a number of Off Broadway shows.

Taiko - Kodo: Dadan 2017

I have given myself a new challenge.  How do you write about a visceral experience, one that vibrates through your whole body even after it is over.  This was the case the other evening when we heard the Kodo Taiko drummers’ troupe from Japan performing at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe on their National tour.

In Japanese the word Taiko means any kind of drum.  In the U.S. we understand it to mean not just the Japanese drum but an art form of an  ensemble of Japanese drummers which is known in Japan as kumi-daiko.  The Kodo ensemble debuted at the Berlin Festival in 1981 and have been traveling throughout parts of Asia, Europe and North America ever since.

They started working on their Dadan  performance in 2007.  It was such a complicated piece that they were not sure that they could ever finish.   They did, however, and Dadan had its first performance in Paris in 2009.  This particular Taiko performance, which only uses the young men from the company, is incredibly powerful in every sense.

The word Kodo has two meanings in Japanese both "heartbeat," the primal source of all rhythm.   The great Taiko is thought to be reminiscent of a mother's heartbeat as felt from the womb, and babies are often lulled to sleep by its thunderous vibrations… In a different context it can mean, “children of the drum.”  If I counted correctly there were 14 drummer/dancers who would rotate and move across the stage with their drums no matter how large as if they were holding a child’s toy.

Heartbeat was definitely what I was feeling that night.  As a matter of fact I have an arrhythmia and I was thinking, why did I bother with my pills that evening. This was getting directly to me.   It is impossible to know the feeling without hearing the drums themselves and it is difficult to explain something one feels.  As they say an illustration is worth a 1,000 words so at least I can give you a small taste if not the actual experience with part of the performance from YouTube. 

Unfortunately, your computer or cell phone probably doesn’t give you any better audio than mine does, so you have to imagine yourself in an auditorium.  The Lensic has a capacity of 820 seats but I have been told it sounds just as incredible, if less intimate, in an auditorium of 2,500 in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Amazingly, as loud, as it was it was not a jarring cacophony.

The Lensic is more than just a theater for film, shows, music and spectacles.  It is also a teaching institution and soon I will write about their training program.  They also bring in many school children for their first theater experience and the beams on the kids faces is worth the price of admission.  In the case of Kodo, however, the Lensic brought Kodo to the students at the Santa Fe Indian School.  I am guessing that the Native American kids were relating what they heard to the drums they might hear at a dance on their pueblos, thinking how different this was, but on some level the same.  Unfortunately, we could not get permission to show the students with the Kodo drummers but here are a few of the performers themselves at the school.

St. Joan by George Bernard Shaw

The other evening at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe we watched the National Theater’s “St. Joan” by George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) streamed live from the Donmar Warehouse in London.  It was quite an incredible performance with a number of excellent actors especially St. Joan played by Gemma Arterton.  She is just 30 years old and has already spent a decade in great theatre.  For me it was perfect casting.  She has the most angelic face when she smiles but can turn that into the face of the ardent believer, one might say fanatic when need be.

After Shaw’s play “Pygmalion” (1913) made famous in the last half century by the musical “My Fair Lady” “St. Joan” (1923) must be his best known.  It is certainly most quotable and was written just 3 years after Joan of Arc was declared a Saint.  The play has been called a tragedy without villains and that is a very good description, indeed.  The grand inquisitor, another fanatic, is just as ardent a speaker for his cause as Joan is for hers.

Shaw’s script is based on a well documented history; in 1429 a young country girl known as Joan of Arc though most call her simply “The Maid”, appeals to Robert de Baudricourt asking for men, horses and armor because she has heard the voices of St. Margaret and St. Catherine commanding her to go to the Dauphin of France, have him crowned King and raise the siege of Orleans which was occupied by the British.  Needless to say, she is thought quite daft but she is so persuasive that slowly but surely she has men following her.  De Baudricourt OK’s the expedition and sure enough she wins the day.  Later, she wishes to go on and take Paris because god wants France to belong to the French.  Her arrogance knows no bounds and those that followed her before are not willing to see her killed after her “beginners luck”.  Her insistence that she is doing god’s work is finally too much for the Church.  When an inquisitor is sent by the Pope she is tried and finally burned at the stake.

Joan as Warrior

Many of the lines in this play are so insightful that they get you thinking: Joan comes to de Baudricourt and says “I hear voices telling me what to do. They come from God” His response is “they come from your imagination”.   Joan replies “Of course, That is how the messages of God come to us.”  Who can argue with either statement?

Joan as Persuader

So often we see a production that is updated to the present, and so often I just don’t see it’s pertinence. But while watching “St. Joan” I kept having to remind myself, that though set in a modern board-room by the director Josie Rourke, it was written almost 100 years ago.  There are so many great lines.  For instance, the Inquisitor says ,“ I’ve never seen a fairer trial. It's so fair that Joan doesn't even need a defense attorney, because everybody here is trying to save her.”  Right out of today’s headlines, I can hear our President saying it.

Joan over King Charles

Another gem,  “Political necessities sometimes turn out to be political mistakes.”  Wouldn’t it be nice if our politicians would learn that lesson?  From the preface, “The degree of tolerance attainable at any moment depends on the strain under which society is maintaining its cohesion.” It seems to me that today there is, anything but cohesion in our country.

We should remember, however, that “A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”

The Philosophy in Musicals

I grew up on Musicals.  My parents were opera fans and had seats at the Metropolitan Opera for many years.  While I have always liked opera my first love were musicals.  When I was younger I could still remember the lyrics to most of what I had seen.  Today bits and pieces keep coming into my head.  It is not surprising that the theater reflects our lives but in some cases touches on universal truths.  Setting these truths to music and rhyme make them all the more memorable.

In our home the other night an older person was trying to convince a younger one that the younger generation was being dumbed down by the internet and texting.  The argument was that they no longer had the vocabulary to express themselves.  Right away two songs popped into my head.  The first was the song “Initials” from “Hair”, the musical by James Rado & Gerome Ragni, music by Galt MacDermot, that had its Broadway debut in 1967.

LBJ took the IRT

Down to 4th Street USA

When he got there

What did he see?

The youth of America on LSD
LBJ IRT
USA LSD

LSD LBJ

FBI CIA

FBI CIA
LSD LBJ

Now, this is a half-century old and we were already using texting abbreviations.

Listening to the discussion continue I thought of “Bye Bye Birdie” a take off on the Elvis craze from 1963, with lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse. Every generation seems to think that the next has “gone to hell in a hand basket.”  To wit, the song called “Kids”:

“Kids!

I don't know what's wrong with these kids today!

Kids!

Who can understand anything they say?”…

“Why can't they be like we were,

Perfect in every way?

What's the matter with kids today?”

I don’t know about you but I so often think about what I could have said in a certain situation some hours or even days after the conversation took place.  “Destry Rides Again” the 1959 musical with music and lyrics by Harold Rome.  “Tomorrow Morning” hit the nail on the head with:

“Tomorrow Morning at half past three
All the wonderful things will come to me
That I could have said and should have said today.

Tomorrow morning at half past four
I’ll be thinkin up bright remarks galore
I could have made and should have made today.”

One song that I think about all the time is a serious topic today, prejudice.  It is from “South Pacific” the 1949 musical composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.  “You’ve Got to Be Taught” is worth more than one stanza:

You've got to be taught

To hate and fear,

You've got to be taught

From year to year,

It's got to be drummed

In your dear little ear

You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid

Of people whose eyes are oddly made,

And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,

You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,

Before you are six or seven or eight,

To hate all the people your relatives hate,

You've got to be carefully taught!

The United States had recently finished its experiment with interning all those of Japanese descent even though many were the staunchest patriots.  Now we are hearing exactly the same rhetoric from some of our Presidential candidates!

“Those who cannot remember the past are bound to repeat it,”  George Santayana (1863-1952). Maybe they should have listened to musicals.

A Play Like No Other: DISGRACED

When you go to the theater and see a play you dream about afterwards, can’t stop thinking about it, and continue to debate its meanings ... that is a play worth writing about!

You may have heard of it, “Disgraced” by Ayad Akhtar.  It closed recently in New York and its very next stop was in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, produced by the Fusion Theater Company.  Ayad Akhtar is 45 years old, and a Pakistani-American actor and writer.  This is his first play written in 2012 and it won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

The play deals with questions of identity and assimilation.  The focus is on Amir, a New York lawyer born to Muslim immigrants from Pakistan. He believes himself to be totally assimilated in the United States having shed all the prejudice and any extreme Islamic views that he learned from his mother as a child.  Through a series of events all the psychological protective armor that he has built up is slowly stripped away.  The main 4 characters and Fusion cast are Amir  (John San Nicolas) - Jory (Angela Littleton) - Emily (Celia Schaefer) – Isaak, the curator  (Gregory Wagrowski).

His American wife, an artist, is a bit of a free spirit, whose recent work is based on Islamic art. She sees the good side of the rich heritage brought to the world through so many years of the Persian Empire, which turned to Islam in the 7th century.  We can surmise that this is what attracts Amir to  Emily but it also intimidates him.

Amir’s cousin is a young Pakistani man still trying to find himself.  Although he is attracted to Islam he has Americanized his name to Abe (played by Samuel James Shoemaker-Trejo) in order to ease his way in society.  He wants Amir to help his friend, an Imam who has been accused of sending money to terrorists.  Over his protests that he is not a criminal lawyer, Emily persuades Amir to appear in court even if he does not serve as counsel to the Imam.  The press, however, portrays him as precisely that and Amir’s world begins to implode. 

It turns out that on his job application at his prestigious law firm he had said his parents were born in India since his father was born before that part of India became Pakistan, artificially, carved up by the British.  His mother, however, was born after that fateful date, August 14, 1947.  His law partners use the excuse to view him as anti-Semitic.  We learn that he has something of a chip on his shoulder making him a good litigator but scary as a partner.  He is infuriated when his black female friend and colleague at the firm is made partner when he feels he has worked far harder than she did.  I must add quickly before my children jump on me for describing his colleague as Black that this is a vital part of the story, the law firm being a white Jewish firm.  To add another ingredient to the pot his colleague is married to a white Jewish curator from the Whitney who has an affection for Emily and one wonders how far that might go.  Here is an image from the New Mexican of Jory and Amir still on good terms.

As the ingredients start to mix there is a dinner party with the four main characters, Jew, Black, former Muslim, Islamophile, who is also thrilled to learn her Muslim inspired work has made it into the Jewish curators exhibition.  Will the pot boil over? As the reviewer for The Guardian newspaper put it, “A stirring Greek Tragedy that will put you off your dinner”.

How would we react if we worked very hard to make it in another world culture and then were treated as an alien? It is quite recently that we would find a black person more in keeping with a white Jewish firm than an American-born Muslim who does not wish to be perceived as such.  Can one change one's DNA, or is it that certain precepts have been drilled into us since childhood and they are there to stay?  So many questions to think about.  I am not going to give away the entire plot because if I do you may not go to see or read the play.

To my surprise and delight I believe the Fusion’s cast to have been every bit as good and in some cases possibly superior to the one in New York, judging by the reviews.  Being from New York, I certainly recognized the curator who I may have placed at the Museum of Modern Art and not the Whitney but then the latter does do the Biennial.

The play has already been produced in London and Vienna and it is on track to have the most productions around the U.S. with 18 venues.  I have also read an article about the banlieues (the outskirts or suburbs of Paris where most Muslims and blacks live).  It’s called “The Other France” by George Packer and appeared in the August 31st issue of The New Yorker.  The real story sounded like it was taken right out of the play.  I would not be surprised if “Disgraced” were soon translated into French and if not, it should be.  With all the xenophobia we are seeing yet again in this country, and the immigration issues all over the world, the play is a must see or at least must read.

Everyman

Not only my father’s work but the fact that his family lived abroad meant that some summers when I was not at a camp in Vermont or Maine I was taken with them to Europe.   At about the age of 14, I was sent to a “camp” in Switzerland.  It was not exactly like the camps I was used to.  It was international, a good thing, an Egyptian boy, was the closest person I could call a friend.  The swimming was in a rough cement pool like a basement where they had taken the house away.  We went on forced marches with a British former soldier who carried a crop.  I can’t remember if he ever actually hit one of the boys with it but that was clearly the threat.  It was generally a miserable experience for a spoiled kid from the states.

When my parents came to visit and stayed at a hotel nearby I ran away from camp and refused to return.  Maybe for my future life they should have insisted that I go back but they didn’t and in many ways that was the best decision I ever made.  They did a lot of great things but a few of the best days were at the Salzburg Festival which still today is a summer highlight in Europe.   It is a few days filled with culture in the Austrian Alps.  I remember quite clearly the opera.  We saw Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) the fantasy opera by Mozart conducted by George Szell and the Vienna Philharmonic.  Including the singers Léopold Simoneau, Lisa Della Casa, Kurt Böhme Erika Köth and Walter Berry.  A vinyl recording was made of it a few days earlier so I will always have that as a souvenir.  There was a concert with the then renowned violinist, Erica Morini.  The final event was “Jedermann” (Everyman) staged in the open in front of the Cathedral.  What a spectacle that was with the 17th century sculptures by various Austrian artists outside and skeletons on stage.

This German version of Jederman was written by Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929) in 1911.  Its first performance in Salzburg, Austria was in 1920 and became very popular and it has been performed annually ever since.  The play is thought to have originally been Dutch and written near the end of the 15th century. It was also so popular in England that it was printed 4 times during the 16th century.

The story is a familiar one: god looks down and sees that “Everyman” has only been interested in self-gratification  and wealth and forgotten The Almighty.  He sends death for “Everyman” so that he can give an accounting of himself.  “Everyman”, however, is clearly not prepared to die and uses every excuse in the book to get out of this predicament.   Death is not interested in his excuses but allows that he can try to find someone to accompany him on his journey. He finds no takers!  Sound familiar?  A little bit of the bible story of Noah’s Arc and god drowning the sinners and a lot from the other English Classic, Charles Dickens’, “A Christmas Carol”, (1843). 

Recently, I had another opportunity to see the play, in English this time.  It was the simulcast performed by the National Theatre in London. This eternal message brought to us since medieval-times must always be updated for contemporary audiences.  Carol Ann Duffy, Britain’s poet laureate and the author of  the National Theatre’s very free adaptation has decided that the best way to do this is to show the debauchery as, to steal a title from a television series, “Sex & Drugs & Rock and Roll.“ Ms. Duffy has a novel way of portraying god, not as an extra terrestrial being but as the cleaning lady.  She is always ignored but sees all! She, of course, notes “Everyman’s” 40th birthday party of drugs and booze and acts accordingly. The role is played by Kate Duchene.

“Everyman” is played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, who has been praised by all critics for this play and before that for his starring role in “12 Years a Slave.”   He is certainly a dynamic actor but it is more than just his craft that we see.  He throws himself into the role in such a way that he becomes the character.  As he goes through his trials and tribulations trying to find his redeeming features one actually sees more and more sweat pouring out from the actor.  You almost fear that Ejiofor, himself, might not survive the evening.

The excitement is accentuated by the frenzy on stage and the frenetic soundtrack.  I found it exceedingly loud but, then, this is the way every older generation feels about the music from their children and grandchildren!  Below is a short sample.

The play is directed by the new Artistic Director of the National Theatre, Rufus Norris with Choreographer and Movement Director, Javier de Frutos.  The latter being as vital to this treatment of the play as is the director and they made an excellent collaboration.

The play continues through August 30 at the National. 

Graduation

We went to the commencement ceremony of the New Mexico School for the Arts (NMSA).  This Charter high school was established by Governor Bill Richardson and granted its charter by the State in 2008.  It opened its door to its first class of 9th graders in 2010.  The founders and inspiration behind the entire effort were Catherine Oppenheimer and her husband Garret Thornburg with a number of other very dedicated backers.

Before NMSA, Catherine, a former ballet dancer, established the National Dance Institute of New Mexico (NDI) modeled on the methods developed by New York City Ballet star Jacques d’Amboise who founded NDI in New York City in 1976.  From a base in Santa Fe, NDI New Mexico. goes into public schools across the state and now has over 8,000 4th grade students who learn discipline and cooperation through dance .  Statistics show that these students have done significantly better academically than those without the training.

We have been attending NDI performances for the beginner to advanced students for some time and you can tell which students stand out.  In 2011 we saw this young girl performing with her older brother in the musical “A Chorus Line”:

I must admit it brought me to tears and in fact I wrote about it at the time. 

We have been following this young woman for all these years and last week she graduated from NMSA.  Her full name is Gabriella Monique Ottersberg Enriquez known at school as Gaby Ottersberg.  Gaby graduated with the highest honors from her class.  This is a very talented class. Though their specialties are in Dance, Music, Theater and Visual Arts, 29 out of 44 students graduated with academic honors.  They receive 3 hours plus every day in their arts specialties and the rest of the time is devoted to the usual high school curriculum.  According to the commencement program 100% of the graduating class is going on to college including schools such as Bard, Lewis & Clark, Oberlin College and Conservatory and the University of Pennsylvania.

Who remembers their graduation?  I just remember that I had to go to my High School graduation but I don’t believe I even attended my college or post-graduate commencements.   I do know that Eleanor Roosevelt spoke at my high school graduation in 1962 and all I remember is an old lady who I thought was going to be inspirational and she wasn’t … at least not to an 18 year old.

My older son, Danny, actually remembers that Mario Cuomo, Governor of New York, spoke at his High School and George H. W. Bush at his College graduations.  He did not remember what they said but found George Bush’s commencement address on the web!  It speaks of grand concepts of freedom but there is no practical knowledge being imparted.

When my daughter, Cathy, graduated from college Mike Wallace spoke, you would think we remember that, but we don’t!

Kathy Bates, the actress, spoke at my younger son, Hunter’s College Graduation, and she did say one thing that we remembered and found important.  She said that the young people should take advantage of every opportunity and if you play the guitar and someone asks you to bring it to a party you bring it because you never know who might be there and hear you. That was how she got her first break.

Gaby was kind enough to invite us not only to her graduation but also to her graduation party for family and friends.  I asked her then who would be speaking at her commencement but she could not remember the name and said she did not have a chance to look her up yet.  She must have perked up, however, when that person announced that she was a spy and former covert CIA Operative Officer.  It was Valerie Plame Wilson.

Photo Credit: Clyde Mueller/The New Mexican

Ms. Wilson had practical experience to impart to the students that they hopefully will remember.  She did give some of the usual individual pieces of advice such as-- college was an opportunity to explore and decide where your passion was and not to be scared to make up your mind, change it and make it up again.  She also advised most strongly that if you were not a morning person, not to take early morning classes!  

But most important she spoke of the need for perseverance and resilience.  This is an imperative for anyone in the arts.   Her illustration was most apt and personal.  In the run-up to the Iraq war her cover was blown and her husband’s reputation was shattered in retaliation against her husband, Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson.  He refuted the administration when he reported on his 2002 fact-finding trip to Niger to investigate allegations that Saddam Hussein was attempting to purchase Yellow Cake Uranium.   He then wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times called "What I Didn't Find in Africa".  Valerie Plame said. “we were called liars and traitors and those were the nice things!”

After they were done with the subsequent inquiries and trials they picked up and left Washington moving with their  twins to start all over again in Santa Fe.  Living well is the best revenge and here they have become very active and influential in the community.

To end on a lighter note, there were as usual a number of speakers but one of the best was the young senior Genevieve Conley from the Music Department.  She gave the Salutatorian Remarks.  Her last line was, “But if your passion is in the arts make sure your parents give you a credit card before you leave home”!!

Lensic Gala: On the Orient Express

I have been to a lot of gala benefits for all kinds of causes but mostly in the arts.  Some are very boring, others are rather off putting in the crass manner in which they try to raise funds.  Some are entertaining but you are not sure what you are benefiting by sitting there!   Every once in a while, however, there is one that works.  It is interesting, enjoyable and worthwhile.

Let me start here with the disclosure that I have just been asked to join the board of the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe.  The Lensic started out as a great old-fashioned movie palace, which had fallen into disrepair by the end of the 20th century.  Nancy and Bill Zeckendorf, the well known real estate developer, saw its potential and with 8 other performing arts groups in Santa Fe raised the 9 million dollars to re-open it as a state of the art theater for the 21st century.  Bill died last year, and Nancy carries on working at the Lensic and volunteering her time and considerable energy.

As I have mentioned before the Lensic under the leadership of its impresario Bob Martin has brought to Santa Fe live theater, concerts, ballet, modern dance, lecture series, as well as simulcasts from the Metropolitan Opera and the National Theater in London.

While New York has to be called a Mecca for the performing Arts, the Lensic offers much of what we miss from there.  Every year there is a committee that sets up a gala event to help raise much needed funds. Like all endeavors some are more successful that others.  This year’s was a grand success and I found this one to actually be lots of fun.

The evening began with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the lobby of the theater and moved into the theater transformed with a rendering of the train heading out of the station adding the appropriate toots and smoke and videos of Paris where the Orient Express departed from.

The dinner was on the stage of the theater, with the 3 rows of tables listed as track numbers and the dining cars (tables) listed by number.  As usual the guests wore many different garbs from costume to black tie to suit and tie.  The ladies, of course, took advantage of the opportunity to dress to the nines.

What makes a successful dinner?  Of course, part of the answer is who you are lucky enough to sit with.  Therefore, most people sat with their significant other.  Penelope and I have a different philosophy.  We always try to separate.  That way we have double the opportunity to meet interesting people.  I had an additional incentive in having just joined the board of the Lensic I need to meet as many in that crowd as possible.  Every constituency has a different group of interested and interesting people and often they don’t cross paths.

The evening was kicked off by Nancy Zeckendorf who welcomed one and all and thanked her Co-chair, Lisa Barker, who acted as Master of Ceremonies.

Nancy Zeckendorf

We were promised some surprises that were not indicated in the program.  The first was Tonia Bern-Campbell accompanied by her pianist, John Randall – both out of Los Angeles.  She sang a number of songs that Edith Piaf had made famous which tied into the departure of the Orient Express from Paris.  Later in the evening she told me that she had met Piaf, Maurice Chevalier and that Jacques Brel was her mentor, three singers that I have always loved.

Near the end of the evening a group of belly dancers from the Mosaic Dance Company from Pomegranate Studios in Santa Fe came on the floor and danced to the appropriate music indicating we had arrived at the train’s destination of Istanbul.   This was enjoyed by all who did not care as much for the singer.  I personally preferred the latter but if there is something for everyone that adds to a successful evening.

For me the biggest surprise was the auctioneer, David Goodman.  He has a not-for-profit company that specializes in charity auctions.  Many charity galas these days include an auction sometimes silent, sometimes live and once in a while both.  This year the Lensic’s auction was live.  I have heard auctioneers that were so bad that the gala chair had to take their places until the hammer fell. Then I have heard others that were quite good on their own but never before had I seen and heard one who was actually fun!

Part of that enjoyment was that it did not go on forever.  There were 7 lots plus one.  As expected at this type of auction there was a trip on a yacht and a stay at a villa in Tuscany.  A more unusual offering was a wine cellar of 100  bottles donated by a number of people with some of the wines from major vineyards and vintages.  During the bidding the auctioneer would come off the platform to walk through the audience and cajole the bidders. When he was auctioning a Private Night at the Movies where you could bring 100 of your nearest and dearest to the Lensic for a movie of your choice he had a bidder at $3,000 and another at $4,000.  He turned to the latter and said I am going to save you $1,000.  He got the $3,000 bidder to reconfirm his bid and announced that he had sold 2 instead of 1 Private Night at the Movies.  Do you know a hundred friends to invite?

The final lot was introduced with a video of youngsters extolling the importance of the performing arts and what it meant to them to be able to attend the free performances for school children that are part of the Lensic education program.  To raise money for the program the auctioneer did not exaggerate and started at $2,500 going in increments down to $100 in order to gather the greatest participation.   The entire auction was done so no one could be offended.  One auction I attended some years ago was so offensive in its style that I have never gone again.

In between the auctioneer did a few magic tricks, which were so out of left field that they were twice as funny and magical.  When it was all over he took what seemed to be an empty glass box and suddenly it was filled with dollar bills demonstrating the success of the auction.

The objective of any charity gala night is to raise funds and if it can be done so people don’t leave saying, “I hate going to those things”, you know you have a success.  I believe the Lensic’s “On the Orient Express” qualified.