Margaret Garner at New York City Opera: So Flipping Insane, Hank Aaron Showed Up

No Oprah @ the opera, but we'll gladly take Hammerin' Hank. The former MLB playa cleverly dragged himself out of retirement last night, and made it to the New York City Opera for a good reason: A delicious evening passed with the season opener and new production premiere of Richard Danielpour/Toni Morrison's opera Margaret Garner, which was sheer pleasurable omg hawtness.

If one was so inclined to get their freak on with the NYCO, tickets (starting at $500), allowed you to join cast and VIPs for a pre-performance dinner and a post-performance toast. Tempting, but a new pair of leopard-print louboutins (or the marc jacobs backward-heeled shoes) remain unclaimed... Tonight's performance also marked, like, the third consecutive official opening night of New York City Opera's 2007-08 season, leading to confusion muddled amid agendas and schedules alike (their 3-night Opera-For-All festival had taken residence in Lincoln Center's New York State Theater for the past three days, throwing-off the official start date, which even the New York Times critics had trouble discerning).

Between the NYCO debuts of just about every principal, the visceral & intellectual & adept acting, the raw RAWR power & energy, and the perfect synthesis of lighting/costumes/sets, this new production proved to be a kicka$$ offering from this season's samplings. Also there were two dead babies. Also two hangings. A poetic, yet narrative, libretto provided the perfect venue to showcase the provocative production. Danielpour's composition was a total synthesis between the classic strains of Verdi, the jazzier sounds of Gershwin, and the playfulness of Lenny.   

Aside from it all: every so often, you get the opportunity to experience a living composer and a living librettist. What's your excuse? 

MOAR tomorrow. RAWR.

Comments

[Chris]

Opera Chic, if you wanna git your RAWR on hanging out with biologically viable composers and librettists, come on up to Toronto later this month for Tapestry New Opera Works' Opera Briefs on teh 28th and 29th.

[Donna Anna]

I'm glad you liked it. We saw it two years ago and perhaps Danielpour has revised his score and it coheres more effectively. There are some gripping moments in it: the opening chorus, the duet between Margaret and her mother in law and her husband's death scene. I'm not as enthusiastic as you; I found the parts are better than the sum. If you heard Lisa Daltirus as the mother in law then it must have rawked. We heard Angela Brown, who stole the show from Denyce Graves.

[Micaela]

I saw Margaret Garner in Philly in February 2006 and am curious as to the revisions. At the time I thought it was mostly lacking in compellingly drawn characters and dramatic tension (though some individual moments were good) and the libretto suffered from telling rather than showing. And I agree that Angela Brown was great (she usually is). I'm not sure if I'm curious enough to see it again, though.