I missed these, which were put on back at the end of November: digital mini-operas by Canadians. Whoo! None of these are related to COVID, except in the sense that we all know that they were made because in-person theater was impossible. Still, digital mini-operas. Regardless of why, that seems to be a thing that's sprung up in the past year. I like the idea; it gives people a chance to get their work out there who otherwise might not be able to. Very democratizing. Well, here are these.
"Rosa"
James Rolfe
So a guy visits a prostitute in a hotel room. Only, surprise, he's not some random john, he's her husband whom she left to go prostitutin' and he wants her to come back. Well guess what? It turns out she ended up where she is after their daughter (Rosa) died. He turned to God, and she turned to...seriously, what the hell IS this? This plot is a weird bad time. I don't know what anyone was trying to accomplish. And the tinkly piano music is WHATEVER.
"(What Rhymes with) Azimuth"
Ivan Barbotin
A man and a woman meet cute in a coffee shop where she's writing, after he, like...looks at stars? I think? I was confused by this; it's worth acknowledging that the lack of subtitles is a real problem that's not the fault of the individual pieces. Still, I really didn't understand this. I didn't find it annoying like "Rose," but...what? I don't know; it was okay. Same sort of music.
"The Rape of Artemisia"
Ivan Barbotin
Well, you'd better know the context for this one. But even with that, it's still on the inexplicable side: Artemsia is sitting at an easel painting, and Tassi is there in the background, she's talking about how she's fallen apart since the rape, and he wants her to kiss him, though really, it's not at all clear whether this is him or some of imaginary him. But really, that's all, and why are all of these having these weird, outsider-art libretti? Will this continue? Odd indeed.
"The Blind Woman"
James Rolfe
There's a woman in a void who sings about having lost her vision, and there's another woman who...I think?...represents her eyes. Or something. This I guess is less inexplicable than the previous, but it's also kind of boring and pointless. Don't take it personally, but that's the way it is.
"The Yellow Wallpaper"
Cecelia Livingston
Well, obviously it's based, kind of, on the widely-read story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I say "kind of" because even though this probably could have encompassed the whole thing, it feels stripped down: this woman is freaking out about something in the wall that she may or may not have seen and her husband tells her not to and that's about it. I will grant you that this is more coherent than any of the previous entries, but I can't say it ultimately did much for me one way or the other.
"A Little Rain Must Fall"
Chris Thornborrow
I should note that for some reason between "The Yellow Wallpaper" and this is another recording of "Rosa," albeit with a different cast. Either way, I'm not a fan. But in this, we have a couple arguing: he asks her whether she killed his ex-girlfriend whom he was supposed to meet, which seems nuts, but then we learn that all of his exes have been dying mysteriously since he met her, and in the end, it is clear that she has poisoned his wine. I actually liked this one; it's an amusingly morbid little comedy. Score one for Opera McGill.
"She Sees Her Lover in the Light of Morning"
Craig Galbraith
Well, I guess the title is somewhat self-explanatory, though the first part is actually the night before: two women meet in a bar and go back to one of their apartments, and there they...kind of navel-gaze a while. Then the next morning, they do that some more. And...that's about it. This is one where it really, really would have helped to have subtitles, but even then, I wouldn't be super-hopeful.
"Beauty Mark from Dark Star Requiem"
Andrew Staniland
What is "Dark Star Requiem?" It's an oratorio about HIV/AIDS. And this is...from it. You would think. Without any context, I can make nothing out of this. It's just a woman singing, really. Big shrug.
And that's it. There were supposed to be NINE of these, but someone screwed up: as I noted, "Rosa" is included twice (albeit with different casts), whereas there's one listed in the program notes called "Lord of the Flies" that isn't included at all: "Mr. McMillan, a high school teacher, has put The Lord of the Flies on the lesson plan for today. Two of his students, Mindy and Cindy, are finding it difficult to concentrate on the lecture." So...don't look forward to that one, I guess.
As you've seen, I was not overly impressed by these as a group. And I feel kind of bad about that, since the creators have a Zoom chat interspersed with the pieces themselves where they all seem super-nice. But the results...well, I do have to admit that the lack of subtitles was a significant issue, but come on, I mostly understood most of them, and I just didn't find much to love. And they all seem to have the same tinkly piano backing...you can do better, people! I have watched a number of Opera McGill productions of baroque operas and been very impressed with their work. But as composers? I just don't know.
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