Opera review: Of Mice and Men

by Steve Smith of West and Clear

Dreams are the fuel of the American psyche. We are a people who have built an entire culture around the quest to fulfill our ideas of what tomorrow could be. The American Dream is the blank canvas that we are free to paint with the vision of what we want our lives to be.

But not every dream is fulfilled, and dreams denied are a fundamental part of the American story as well. And Saturday night as Anthony Dean Griffey and Phillip Addis took the stage as Lennie and George on the lam in the Fort Worth Opera’s interpretation of the John Steinbeck by-way-of Carlisle Floyd masterpiece Of Mice and Men, we saw one of the most tragic ways dreams shatter — when they are just within reach.

When Griffey and Addis rhapsodize about the farm they will have someday and the night skies behind the Thomas Hart Benton-inspired landscape begin to break with dawn, you know that the dreams of these two men will never be fulfilled. That opening scene was the most heartbreaking moment of the entire opera festival for me.

When my wife and I had the good fortune to meet the composer himself at a reception after the show, my wife told him that she cried half her make-up off at that scene.

“That,” said the very dapper 82-year-old Floyd, “is the highest compliment you could pay me.”

Mr. Floyd, the honor is all ours. Thank you for joining us in Fort Worth.

And there are plenty of other kudos to go around. Griffey really owns the role of Lennie and he showed why on Saturday night. His rich tenor really colors the depth of this man-child. I came in with high expectations and left completely gobsmacked. He is, as they say, the stuff.

But Griffey wasn’t alone. Addis’ performance as George was full of power and intensity. Soprano Brandi Icard (Curley’s wife) impressed me with her ability to hit the high notes. People definitely heard her on the back row. Stephen West (Candy) earned enthusiastic applause for his meaty bass-baritone. And North Texas’ own Scott Scully also deserves recognition for his role as the balladeer — a small part, but after seeing him twice during the Festival — he also played Lou in Angels in America — I can see why he has an up-and-coming career.

But one thing I still wonder after seeing a much emptier house than I expected — why don’t people don’t turn out more for American opera? It’s sung in English, based on American themes and has a very American sound. Why wouldn’t more people want to see this?

I believe that Darren Woods has very rightly decided to position this company as an American company. As beautiful as any Puccini opera may be, Fort Worth is a very American city and we should tell American stories. He’s taken on two impressive this year with Mice and Angels and he’s prepared to do it again next year with Dead Man Walking.

Please see for yourself, you have one more chance: Of Mice and Men will take the stage at the Bass Hall again on June 8.

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Anonymous

bobdon000, says:

I will keep my judgement open regarding the operatic interpretation of Steinbeck's wonderful novel.

But for me nothing compares to the 1939 movie in which the musical scoring and arrangement won Aron Copeland an oscar nomination.

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1 year, 6 months ago
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knsherms, says:

I gotta agree with Bob that the movie is wonderful, but nothing compares to seeing it live on stage. If its done well of course.

Stev-o, I wanted to comment more on the folowing:

"But one thing I still wonder after seeing a much emptier house than I expected — why don’t people don’t turn out more for American opera? It’s sung in English, based on American themes and has a very American sound. Why wouldn’t more people want to see this?"

I truly believe that unless a show is a huge commercial success, less and less people are attending live theatre/performing arts. There are simply to many other things to do in a city. That along with expensive ticket prices to these types of shows, the economy and the general lack of exposure to a new audience leave many of these shows less than full. How many younger people were in the audience?

There was a fantastic article several months ago in the NY Times about the new artistic director of the Met and how he really wanted to reach out to a younger audience and broaden the patrons attending the Opera. He basically flat out said that as his base of subscribers got older that it would become imparative to get the attention of a younger generation and turn them on to the Opera.

He has lowered ticket prices considerably for certain shows making them affordable to all, put the Met live in Times Square etc. Really reaching out and finding ways to entice people to give the Met/Opera a try. You are not going to reach out to a new audience by advertising to the same people over an over again.

The article talked about the use of ticket companies such as TKTS in NYC, Bostix.com in Boston and Stubdog.com in Texas that are actively working with venues to give people the opportunity to try these events at a fraction of the cost while leveraging these empty seats.

Basically he said that they needed to use all means necessary to fill these seats to get people to realize how great the opera can be. And hopefully return.

Maybe performing arts companies will take notice of the success of the Met. Or maybe they won't. Either way its a shame more people do not attend the arts.