Opera Theatre takes the stage with moving production "The Consul"
As someone who has never seen an opera, I went into “The Consul” with next to no expectations. What I got was a pleasant surprise that made me completely rethink my perspective on theatre. This weekend Lee’s Opera Theatre class put on “The Consul,” written by famous composer Gian Carlo Menotti, premiering in 1950. Mr. James Daniel Frost and James Daniel Frost II are the directors for this masterpiece of music and theatre. With 2 rotating casts, every night was something to behold. As to why it was so captivating, let me explain.
From the beginning, the directors are pulling you in to their special world. As the audience walks into Dixon Center, they’re welcomed by the stone-faced Secret Police, who show the way into the stage. Rather than going to the normal seating area, you’re taken backstage, where the actual set is. The set, props, costumes, and makeup were all done by Opera Theatre students, who do a phenomenal job of keeping the set minimal yet atmospheric. Cascading rows of paper surround the consul office set. The home of the main characters, the Sorels, descends into view as needed. The floor has painted-in papers, scrawled with everything from Bible verses to “ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE.”
“The Consul” takes place in an unnamed, European, totalitarian country. The Sorels—John, (played by Esteban Salazar), Magda, (played by Caitlin Overton and Ivy Roberts), their sick infant child, and John’s mother (played by Nathalie Alcime)—are hiding from the tyranny of the secret police. They want John, a political freedom fighter, to give up the names of his contacts. They threaten and hound the family constantly. Because of this, John decides to flee the country. The perspective then shifts to the consulate office, where a group of people are all trying to leave or enter the country. These people are caught in a seemingly infinite loop, always being told there’s another form or questionnaire, and then they MIGHT be granted. This idea touches on recent, controversial issues such as manmade borders and political refugees.
Magda wants desperately to get out of the country, to reunite with her husband. She’s been plagued with nightmares that her son will be stolen by the secret police, that John is dead and that the secretary will steal everything, but she continues to return to the consulate office. She is not a citizen of the country, which prevents her from getting some of the “necessary papers” and makes her part of the “many cases just like yours”.
This shows a sad picture of our world. There are so many that hurt and need help refused to them. They feel like there is no hope, no possibility of ever getting relief. This despair is what all the people in the consulate office face—rows and rows of files that never seem to end. The people even symbolize their plight by walking in circles around their chairs in an endless cycle.
As time goes on and Magda keeps returning to the consulate, she faces more troubles in her already hectic life. As soon as she’s received a good word from John, her mother-in-law informs her that her baby son is dead and that she herself is dying. Magda, defeated and broken, returns yet again to the endless cycle of papers. After asking the secretary again in vain for help, Magda finally snaps. She rants to the secretary of her need, in the most powerful song in the opera, “To This We’ve Come.” After finally being told she can see the consulate, she finds that the secret police have infiltrated even there and she flees in terror.
I wish I could say that this opera has a happy ending—that John is reunited with his wife, that they escape and live full lives. But this is sadly not the truth. With her son and mother-in-law dead, she somehow keeps trying, with no will to even live. While in the consulate office, a wealthy person comes through and is immediately given passage.
With this Magda hangs her head in defeat and then is given the worst news of all: her husband is coming back. If John returns, he will be captured, tortured and made to give up his important freedom fighter friends. They plead Magda to convince John not to come back. Magda scribbles a letter and assures, “It will work. It’s something I’ve thought of for some time.” She then leaves the office, goes home, blocks the windows and commits suicide by turning on the gas in the oven.
This is not a pretty ending, not storybook by any means. But this was the reality for many in Eastern Europe in the 1940s and 50s, and sometimes even today. Manmade borders and forced immigration are observed in many cultures all around the world, even in our own country. Sometimes it can seem hopeless, but we have to move forward, respecting the past and changing the future. The cast delivered a wonderful performance, with both actresses playing Magda showing all the emotions this poor woman experiences to reunite with her husband. They make you feel the desperation and near madness that overtake her as she comes to the end of her rope. Another extremely well-done performance was the secretary to the Consul, played by Kaylee Good and Sarah Parker. The secretary is initially shown as a cruel and evil character with no compassion, but as the plot progresses you begin to see that she is human, too. In “All Those Faces,” she laments on the endless amount of people that need help and wishes to do more. Once again to the credit of the cast, the full picture of the character is explored. In the end you feel bad for the secretary having to be the one that tells people no.
There's another interesting aspect in this opera: a recurring character, the magician Nika Magadoff, who seems minuscule, but whose important role is revealed in the end. Throughout “The Consul,” he tries to make light of heavy situations and help others. His solo, “My Charming Mademoiselle,” sees him attempting to get a visa with no paperwork and using his magic as his documentation. At one point, he even hypnotizes the other people in the office, having them dance around the floor as if at a ball.
In the end, as Magda is dying, who comes back to guide her into the afterlife? The Magician. He tells her again, “You are getting sleepy. Breathe deep.” The simple mantra takes on an almost morbid sense. As she dies, he takes her by the hand and guides her into the lighted tunnel towards the afterlife. He has become the mind behind the madness, the one moving all these events towards the ultimate end.
I commend all the members of Opera Theatre for putting on such a moving opera, putting us all in the world of these characters. The whole experience was surreal. Each cast member worked so hard to bring out every aspect of their characters, and the singing was simply superb. For the curious, I would recommend getting a copy of the DVD performances online to see this masterpiece for yourself.
