Featuring worn-out khakis and blue blazers - not the characteristic blonde braids or brass breastplates - "The Medium" is not your father's opera.
Presented by Brown Opera Productions, "The Medium," which will run tonight through Sunday in Alumnae Hall, is a tragedy that explores love, loss and the harrowing path to madness.
"It is about a charlatanic medium - a swindler, basically - who, during one of the phony séances, feels an other-worldly presence gripping her throat," said Jordan Elkind '08, the opera's director. "This precipitates a destructive mental crisis."
The writing of the opera was originally commissioned by Columbia University in the 1940s. Only one hour long, it was chosen by BOP for its accessibility to those unfamiliar with this form of theater. BOP's goal, according to its co-founder, Michael Hadley '07, is "to bring opera to the broadest possible audience."
In addition to picking a particularly short and English-language opera, BOP made the decision to project the words of the libretto over the stage. This move underscores BOP's effort to make "The Medium" as accessible to the public as an opera can be.
As a result, "The Medium" feels more like a theatrical musical than a stereotypical opera. It is only when the actors exercise the full range of their classically trained voices, often leaping beyond the recognizable vocal ranges typical of musical theater, is one reminded that it is an opera.
Although "The Medium" doesn't necessarily feature a catchy show-stopping number - what Elkind called "everyday people in a filthy slum"- Christie Gibson '06, who plays Madame Flora, an "alcoholic abusive single mother," said some of the songs do occasionally "get stuck in (her) head."
The actors, many of whom have never performed in an opera before, sing the libretto in a way that is strongly reminiscent of a Broadway musical. They use exaggerated hand and body gestures and at times do more acting than one might expect to find in an opera.
Despite the similarities, many of the players said performing in an opera was more difficult than in a musical.
Sonia Nayak '08, who plays the lead character Monica, a 16-year-old who is in love with a mute, said though she has seen many operas in the past, she never before realized the kinds of obstacles specific to the theatrical genre.
"When we started rehearsing, it was really hard to move around and act and sing at the same time," she said. "Adding the classical element makes it a little more difficult than musical theater because you're more concerned about abiding to the laws of classical music. In theater you can just sort of belt through a song and get away with it, but with opera you have to use very specific vocal techniques."
Gibson said performing in an opera is difficult because "it's hard to get all the music synched up. There's a lot less liberty you can take with timing and inflection (than in a musical). You have to prepare more."
She also added that she does not believe in comparing opera to theater. "I feel that opera is a form of theater, just a highly stylized form of theater in that so much is written out by people who wrote the show."
BOP, which was founded last semester, boasts a membership of over 30 people and is the only currently performing opera troupe in Providence. Despite BOP's relative youth, Elkind, who makes his operatic directorial debut with "The Medium," said he did not have trouble finding classically trained singers for the production.
"It's a little known secret that there are a great number of very talented classical singers at Brown. Not an overwhelming number, but more than you'd expect," he said.
BOP succeeded in earning category III status from the Undergraduate Council of Students and was thus able to enjoy the expertise of a professional voice coach and makeup artist, as well as a professional conductor to lead a small chunk of the Brown orchestra. The end result is a professional-looking opera that is sure to surprise audiences, said BOP co-founder Clara Schuhmacher '06, who also stars in "The Medium."
Performances are tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. at Alumnae Hall. They are free and open to the public.
