How do you fashion a 21st-century opera buffa out of the most common of chance encounters? Such is the challenge that composer Jack Perla and librettist Rob Bailis undertook when they created Love/Hate, the very San Francisco chamber opera that continues its world premiere at ODC Theater through April 15. Sung by three present and extremely fresh Adler Fellows and one seasoned yet youthful Adler alum, conducted by a second year Adler Fellow, and featuring a quartet of musicians headed by yet another Adler Fellow, the ODC Theater project in association with the San Francisco Opera Center takes perhaps all of 75 minutes to wind up and go not very far.
The story is as old as time, or at least the MUNI schedule (which is slower than time). Two reputedly “middle-aged” singles, Laura (mezzo-soprano Laura Krumm) and George (baritone Ao Li), encounter each other at a bus stop. Attraction is mutual, although, according to stereotypical sex roles, it’s up to George to make the first move, and Laura to coyly feign disinterest.
In the span of five minutes, Laura and George attempt to break through barriers and connect. The present, however, is swept aside by internal dialogues and past realities. It is into the realm of fantasy and memory that most of the opera sinks.
This being San Francisco, our two wannabes bring with them a history of same-sex coupling. Laura used to hang with Samantha (soprano Marina Boudart Harris), with whom we see her smoking lots of dope and engaged in deep process with a distinctly New Age, astrologically focused psychic twist. George in turn was in love, or at least in lust with Darren (tenor Thomas Glenn), with whom he engages in enough stereotypical gay fantasy to convince Focus on the Family that all gay men really do focus on is sex. Color it tedious.
For every warm reflection on Laura and Samantha’s part comes a corresponding sexual fantasy from George and Darren. As if references to organ size were not enough, Bailis even invokes the fear that gay men can only experience total fulfillment with members of the opposite sex. Color that offensive.
Laura, George, and the audience have also to contend with Cupid (Boudart Harris) and Death (Glenn). C&D not only exert a constant pull on the psyches of the hapless bisexuals, but also engage in lots of banter of their own as they seemingly compete for who’s on top. Then again, everyone banters back and forth. And you thought Wagner was wordy?
If I never got totally clear on the death thing — color me opaque on all these black and white polarities — it’s because Bailis has everyone spouting a rapid succession of one-line pseudo-profundities. Here’s one from “Baggage Overload,” the 11th of the chamber opera’s 14 scenes: “Meet me at the corner of me and you.” Deep stuff, huh? Perhaps if developed. But as the former ODC Theater director, librettist, musician, and producer throws out one glib line after another, the libretto devolves from clever to banal.
Music and Singing
It’s a shame that Perla, winner of the USA Songwriting Competition in Jazz and the Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Composers Award, cannot transcend the libretto’s limitations. Stylistically, his crazy overture and opening scene, “I Love When the Phone Rings,” veer all over the place, amalgamating Broadway, film score, operatic, and other elements. There are several hilarious electric keyboard interjections that mimic melodramatic organ interludes in old radio dramas, and a number of slower, more evocative passages that attempt to pull the heartstrings.
The vocal writing is extremely demanding, taking Glenn up to a high D and Boudart Harris to a B natural. (She explains in her blog that Perla initially asked her to hit a high C, but lowered it by a fourth when she found the passage “daunting.”) The final quartet, “The World,” has everyone singing at the top of their lungs over a huge vocal range. If only it amounted to something.
Krumm’s smooth, exceptionally beautiful mezzo and equally smooth stage persona seems tailor-made for Laura, and Glenn’s sly stage mannerisms, comfort before an audience, and superb voice (taxed only at the very top) make for a Death you could easily embrace. Boudart Harris is a delight, handicapped only by the acoustic (see below). Li, who first began speaking English regularly when he participated in the Merola program in the summer of 2010, sings with a formality that suggests he does not feel secure enough linguistically to match his colleagues’ colloquial English. Nor is he very free physically. And no one, not even the older Glenn, looks remotely “middle aged.”
Acoustic and Other Drawbacks
This is the second “opera” that ODC Theater has mounted recently, the first being San Francisco Lyric Opera’s Little Match Girl Passion. In both cases, the presence of so many young audience members in a venue associated with dance makes the space self-recommending. Yet the theater’s absence of resonance robs voices of bloom. As Boudart Harris’ singing grew in volume and intensity, it became clear that the glisten on her voice would sound gorgeous in a larger, far more resonant space. If ODC is intent on hosting more operas, management would be wise to explore adding physical or electronic acoustic reinforcement. As is, it is not a good space for classical vocalism.
There are lots of fun moments in Love/Hate, all of which conductor David Hanlon, director M. Graham Smith, and choreographer Chris Black do their best to exploit. But nothing in either the music or plot makes us want to give a damn about Laura and George. As the metaphoric curtain closes, we are left with nothing much at all.