I mean, I knew Bernstein was a conductor, but as a composer, I always just associate him with West Side Story. Musicals are a perfectly valid art form, but not the one I'm passionate about. But he wrote a few operas also? Well, at any rate, this came up on Operavision, so I watched it. And, yup, it's undeniably an opera, although you can also see how Bernstein's talent could easily be turned to musical theater.
It's a short one-act affair, about a fifties suburban white-picket-fence-style couple, Sam and Dinah, who love each other on some level, or at least remember feeling that way and wish they did again, but have lost the ability to communicate with each other. Those are the only two solo roles, but there's also a trio who does commercial-jingle-style numbers evoking the greatness of suburbia. There's not much of a plot; their son is in a school play, but Sam has a handball thing he has to instead, which creates conflict, although then Dinah doesn't end up going either (they should bond over how much they hate their son). Instead, she goes to see a cheesy Hollywood musical Trouble in Tahiti. In the end, will they work things out? Unclear. Bernstein did write a sequel to this thirty years later, A Quiet Place (the title coming from the libretto here), but it doesn't seem to be very popular or well-known.
Well...yeah. I thought this was rather subtle and good. Sometimes the music feels a bit thin, but at less than an hour, it doesn't overstay its welcome. The number where Dinah is describing Trouble in Tahiti is a definite highlight. The Opera North production on Operavision really nails the sort of hyperreal fifties atmosphere that we're going for here. I was sufficiently invested that I would not mind seeing the sequel, but that may be easier said than done. Still. Cool. Bernstein could write operas. I'm sure he's relieved to have my seal of approval. Here it is:
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