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BERKELEY, CA
Chrysalis, Berkeley Opera, 4/26/06
from OPERA NEWS July 2006
Genetic engineering, instant cosmetic makeovers and the tension between
money and love are all part of the meat of Chrysalis, a new opera by Clark
Suprynowicz. The two-act, two-hour work, which received its world premiere
at Berkeley Opera in late April, benefits from a libetto by John O'Keefe
that is more involving dramatically and emotionally than, say, Peter
Sellars's book for Doctor Atomic.
O'Keefe's plot revolves around Ellen Ermaine, an increasingly harried,
visibly aging cosmetics-industry executive obsessed with marketing the
Hathor line, a remarkably cheap instant makeover cr譥, to a chorus of
corporate honchos. From the opening scene, she is followed and mirrored by
Nelle, the other side of Ellen, an elegant, supremely confident blond who
eventually takes total possession of her host.
Ellen's other shadow is her lover Timothy, who announces that he has
divorced his wife in order to cement their relationship. Alas, Ellen's
career ambitions and internal conflicts leave little room for love. In the
middle of all this sits the psychiatrist, Doctor Zehn. In response to
Ellen's fears that her other self is taking over, and that beauty is a far
more powerful force than she had recognized, Zehn offers medication a
little something to take the edge away without taking your edge away.
Suprynowicz, a jazz musician who performed and recorded with John Zorn,
Bill Frissell, Art Lande, Max Roach and Tom Waits, has composed a taut,
engaging score, whose compelling air of anguish and dreamlike mystery is
occasionally punctuated by intentionally regressive strains of
nineteenth-century romance. Only in the coda, after the chorus has
intoned, There is nothing that we can't change, nothing that we can't
arrange, does he falter, the final duet between Nelle and Ellen lingering
too long after the audience has gotten all there is to get from the story.
Buffy Baggott triumphed as Ellen, spitting out words lower in the range of
her strong, vibrant mezzo with ultimate clarity. Marnie Breckenridge's
soaring soprano provided the perfect complement, as did her may I always
be adored looks and bearing. Brazilian baritone Igor Vieira was a fine
Timothy, his ebullience most amusing after his Hathor application sprouted
women's breasts, and John Min৲o's intentionally placid bass proved ideal
for Dr. Zehn.
Musical director Jonathan Khuner and the excellent San Francisco Chamber
Orchestra played as if the opera's life depended upon them. Mark
Streshinsky's skeletal set, as well as his direction of Ellen's decline
and transformation, perfectly suited this opera, which deserves more
productions.
JASON VICTOR SERINUS
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