Get Out This Weekend: Seattle Opera's Young Artists @ CHAC

JD con't: But the real drama of the piece is a peculiarly American experience: the conflict between the two human beings, Sam and Dinah, and the Trio, a sort of Greek chorus representing the "Voice of America"--specifically the voice of the radio, of television, of movies, of commercials, selling (with relentlessly cheery music, even at the darkest moments of the show) the American dream, the impossible perfection of the American Way of Life. Dinah and Sam can't communicate because they've been taught how to express themselves by the Trio, for whom the sun is always shining and there are no problems in the world. The couple are screaming out, by the end of the opera, longing for "a quiet place" (not coincidentally the name of the sequel), but the fortississimo voices of the Trio continue to drown them out.

MvB: Donizetti's opera Rita we've never heard of. It's about a woman with two husbands, and neither of them wants her. Give us the high points.

JD: Rita is a totally zany Looney Tunes-esque comedy, with great lyrical music, about the battle of the sexes. In this case it's a life-and-death battle duked out in a rock-scissors-paper game (really, the only rock-scissors-paper game I know of in opera) in which the soprano, the tenor, and the baritone compete to see who comes out on top. Usually, in Italian opera, the tenor and the baritone are both in love with the soprano and are fighting over her. In Rita, both are married to her and neither wants her, since she believes wives should beat their husbands to keep them in line. Gasparo, the baritone, is a braggart and bully and can almost give it back to Rita. But the opera is really about meek little Beppe, the tenor, finally growing a backbone. It's a lunatic, feel-good opera guaranteed to put a smile on your face and a catchy tune (or five or six) in your ears.

MvB: And both these shows feature the Young Artists Program. What's different, for people who've been to the regular opera at McCaw Hall? Do these whippersnappers have what it takes?

JD: "Whippersnappers," I like that. Yes, we get the pick of the crop. Each year around 600 young singers from all over the world compete to be in our program: this year, we accepted six of them. They're young (most are in their 20s), and so not necessarily as experienced as some of the performers you're used to hearing at McCaw Hall. But all of them have extremely exciting, unique voices, great stage presence, and an inner fire driving them to succeed in this tough business. That alone makes for an exciting performance.

The biggest difference between what we're doing at CHAC and what you get at McCaw, honestly, is that there's nowhere for our performers to hide. Because we've been touring these shows, the production is far from elaborate -- not much in the way of scenery and costumes, just a piano (for Trouble in Tahiti, piano four-hands) instead of a full orchestra, no supertitles (the Italian opera is sung in English). It's all about the performers...just human beings, there they are, and they want to sing you a story.

MvB: You've seen both these shows, and the singers, what are you enjoying most? What's surprised you?

JD: I'm the PC police at Seattle Opera, particularly in regard to our school programs, and when we planned this fall we weren't sure which opera to send to our Experience Opera program partner high schools. Frankly, the spouse abuse stuff in Rita worried me...of course it's hard to take seriously, but you never know what's going to happen in a public school. So we've been doing Trouble in Tahiti for high school kids the last few weeks instead. By and large they've loved it, even wept over the tragedy of Sam and Dinah's impossible marriage...but unanimously their favorite part, the moment where they tend to spontaneously burst into applause and howls of laughter, is Dinah's extremely offensive imitation of the bloodthirsty Polynesian cannibal-savage from the dumb '50s B-movie she just saw, Trouble in Tahiti. Nothing could be less PC than the ridiculous dance our baritone, Eugene Chan, does at this moment...and for these kids, nothing could be funnier.

Photo: Scene from Donizetti's Rita, ©Rozarii Lynch.