Publication Date: Friday May 28, 1999

An up-to-date conductor for a 20th-century work

When it comes to presenting 20th-century works, West Bay Opera has a distinct advantage over other companies: a 20th-century composer to do the conducting.

Saratogan Henry Mollicone will be at the podium this weekend when West Bay opens Gian-Carlo Menotti's 1950 opera, "The Consul," at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto. Besides being one of his major influences, Menotti was, at least for a few weeks, Mollicone's boss: In New York in the early '70s, Mollicone played piano for rehearsals of "The Consul," which Menotti was stage-directing.

As with many productions throughout his career, Menotti at the time was pulling off the rare triple role of composer/librettist/stage director. Mollicone credits this multitasking feat to the way in which Menotti separates his creative roles.

"When he puts on his stage-director hat, he takes off his composer hat," said Mollicone. "He doesn't get in the conductor's way; he lets him work it out with the performers. There are very few people who can do that."

For those who know Menotti from his popular Christmas opera, "Amahl and the Night Visitors," "The Consul" might be a bit of a surprise. The first opera written expressly for American television, "Amahl" was written to be musically accessible, whereas "The Consul" makes free use of dissonance and atonal passages, as well as a very dark plot about political refugees and totalitarian bureaucracies.

"As we were rehearsing," said Mollicone, "I kept relating to the orchestra the events of the opera that went with each passage. Finally, our bassoonist said, 'Oh please, don't tell us anymore--it's too depressing!'"

The story has had its effect on the singers as well. Mollicone spoke of having to take brief breaks during rehearsals while his on-stage performers tried to stop crying.

Nonetheless, said Mollicone, Menotti has a way of inserting overtones of hopefulness into even the darkest of scenes--such as how he reprises an uplifting melody from Act II even as things fall apart in the final scene.

"A lot of his operas tend to do that," said Mollicone. "It's not like 'La Boheme' or 'La Traviata,' where everybody's dead or crying. It's in Menotti's nature that he's always looking for hope. It's that '40s idealism."

Mollicone also pointed out that, though "The Consul" is one of Menotti's most musically experimental operas, it also can be surprisingly accessible.

"He wrote it to be premiered on Broadway. He wanted to be perceived as someone who wrote theatrical dramas instead of opera, which can be perceived as elitist. I think people will be enthralled by the drama, and anyone who's skeptical of 20th-century composers will see that there's a lot of melody here. When there is dissonance, it really brings out the suspense of the drama."

Though Mollicone is doing pretty well for himself, including regular productions of his popular "The Face on the Ballroom Floor" and a recent release of his "Coyote Tales" opera on Newport Classics, he describes the state of the living composer as decidedly "not good."

"Audiences really want to hear just the old standards. West Bay's doing a brave and vital thing in presenting these contemporary classics. What they're trying to do are pieces that are out of the standard repertoire--they're trying to stretch.

West Bay produced Benjamin Britten's 1954 "Turn of the Screw" last spring and plans to present Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's 1930 "Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny" during its '99-'00 season.

As for Mollicone's works, Peninsula audiences will have to wait until next winter, when the Nova Vista Symphony performs his piece for accordion, saxophone and strings, and when the El Camino Youth Symphony presents "A Rat's Tale," a retelling of the Pied Piper legend by a descendant of Hamlin's sole surviving rodent.

What: West Bay Opera presents "The Consul."

When: Opens tonight and continues through June 6. Show times are 8:15 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays.

Where: Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto.

How much: Tickets are $33 general; $17 youth (available Sundays only).

Information: Call 424-9999.



Back up to the Table of Contents Page