There will always be dysfunctional businessmen like Bernie Madoff, Wilbur Ross, and Donald Trump, whose pathological greed is insatiable. Others (Chuck Feeney, Bill Gates, Marc Benioff) have chosen to become philanthropic activists. And then there are the self-styled philosophers like Benjamin Stone (as conceived by Stephen Sondheim for 1971's Follies):
To no one's surprise, the hunger to innovate and need to succeed only diminish when challenges no longer motivate a person. Consider the sentiments expressed in these two musical numbers (one with music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Carolyn Leigh and the other with words and music by Richard Rodgers).
If rising to the top is a more arduous trek for women, that may be because doors do not automatically open for them. Sometimes laws modeled on traditional gender roles become their worst enemy. Two recent productions offered Bay area audiences a fascinating contrast between two women struggling with the power they have fought so hard to tame.
- One woman is a historical figure who ascended to the British throne at the age of 25 and reigned as one of Europe's most powerful figures for 45 years.
- The other (a famous fictional character) was an ordinary housewife who, feeling suffocated in a loveless marriage, decided to leave her husband and children and relinquish all of her material possessions in exchange for the freedom to live life on her own terms.
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How do you bring a play that's more than 130 years old roaring back to life? First, you look at how the play ends. In the case of Henrik Ibsen's 1879 drama, A Doll's House, the final moments are legendary. After a series of financial and family crises cause Nora Helmer to lose all respect for her husband, she decides to leave Torvald and strike out on her own. She takes off her wedding ring, leaves it on the table, and walks out of their house, slamming the door behind her.The slamming door heard around the world has since left audiences, Torvald, and many an actor wondering what the future holds for Nora. Will she end up drunk? Destitute? A prostitute? Will she be happy? Will she be gay? As it turns out, there's a lot more in store for the newly-liberated Nora than the old "Que Será, Será!"
According to playwright Lucas Hnath, the idea for a sequel to Ibsen's landmark play began as a casual joke between two friends when he suggested writing a play and calling it "A Doll's House, Part 2." As Hnath became more interested in the idea, he found a bad translation of Ibsen's play on the Internet, downloaded it, and started trying to rewrite parts of the dialogue. Stripping away the play's minor characters (a porter, a maid, and Nora's sons), he realized that the real problem in the Helmer marriage was a total inability to communicate.
Some of that was due to societal conventions in 19th century-Norway (Nora once had to forge a signature in order to secure a loan). Even though her nanny, Anne Marie, had raised Nora since childhood and taken on the responsibility of caring for Nora's children as well (giving up her own daughter in the process), Nora's marriage had been dominated by Torvald's narrow, traditional, and somewhat misogynistic attitudes toward women in a society where outward appearances meant a whole lot more than inner truths.
Hnath's play begins 15 years after Nora abandoned her family. As the lights come up on a starkly decorated room designed by Andrew Boyce, there is an ominous knocking at the front door. When Anne Marie (Nancy E. Carroll) slowly enters and crosses the stage to open the door, Nora (Mary Beth Fisher) breezes in looking happier and better dressed than ever. Since walking out on Torvald (John Judd) she has prospered financially, enjoyed love affairs with both men and women (including a very attractive young man who turned out to be a bit boring), and built her career as a successful author by publishing her writing under a pseudonym.
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| Mary Beth Fisher (Nora) and Nancy E. Carroll (Anne Marie) in a scene from A Doll's House, Part 2 (Photo by: Kevin Berne) |
Although Nora shows no interest in her children or in Anne Marie's feelings, she is quick to share her opinions about the evils of marriage and how it can become a prison for many women. Anne Marie, however, is no fool. She knows that the only reason Nora has returned is because she needs something from Torvald, has arrived at their home while her ex-husband is at work and (true to form) expects Anne Marie to get it for her.
Not only is Nora's predicament due to her success as a writer, it is a clear case of the devil being in the details. One of Nora's most popular books was a roman à clef that mirrored the events in her married life. As part of her writing, she encouraged unhappy wives (like she had been) to leave their husbands. Not surprisingly, many did.
Unfortunately, one was married to a judge who is now threatening Nora with a lawsuit. As part of his research on Nora, the judge discovered that Torvald never signed and filed the petition for divorce. Because married women in 19th-century Norway were forbidden by law from conducting business without the written consent of their husbands, all of Nora's earnings could be at stake. Her reputation has already been destroyed (most people think Nora is dead) but, since she was never legally divorced -- and no death certificate bearing her name can be found -- Nora is currently a legal nonentity.
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| John Judd (Torvald) and Mary Beth Fisher (Nora) in a scene from A Doll's House, Part 2 (Photo by: Kevin Berne) |
Complications quickly ensue. Torvald (who still loves his ex-wife) comes home early from work and doesn't recognize Nora. When he refuses to sign their divorce papers, Anne Marie suggests that there is one possible solution left: for Nora to discuss the matter with her grown daughter, Emmy (Nikki Massoud). To Nora's horror, Emmy isn't the least bit interested in having the kind of freedom her mother sacrificed so much to obtain. Quite to the contrary, Emmy would prefer to be married, have babies, and raise a family. With a practical eye toward solving Nora's legal problem, Emmy doesn't hesitate to suggest that Nora could die.
Hnath's one-act, 90-minute play is a surprisingly taut affair which keeps the audience laughing while scoring strong points about what each character wants, what each character thinks of their identity, and what the pros and cons of a traditional marriage entail. Not only does the script do a fine job of showing how "the more things change, the more they stay the same," Hnath's use of contemporary epithets goes a long way to showcase Anne Marie's long suppressed resentment of Nora's selfishness. As one listens to Nora describe the legal hurdles faced by a single woman trying to carve out an unconventional lifestyle on her own terms, A Doll's House, Part 2 (perhaps unintentionally) helps to explain some of the challenges faced by transgender people in today's society.
Les Waters has directed Berkeley Repertory Theatre's tight four-actor ensemble headed by Mary Beth Fisher (as the narcissistic Nora whose privileged behavior has started to resemble that of a man) and Nancy E. Carroll as the tart-tongued Anne Marie. Although John Judd's Torvald ends up as a fairly minor prop for Nora's return, Nikki Massoud's spunky portrayal of Emmy is nothing like what Nora might have imagined her daughter would ever turn out to be.
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| Nikki Massoud as Nora's daughter, Emmy, in A Doll's House, Part 2 (Photo by: Kevin Berne) |
With costumes by Annie Smart, lighting by Yi Zhao, and sound designed by James Ballen, this co-production with the Huntington Theatre Company is a delight for the eyes, ears, and mind. Not only does Hnath's writing glow with a wit strengthened by the ensemble's careful pacing, each character gets a chance to shine.
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| Nancy E. Carroll (Anne Marie) and Mary Beth Fisher (Nora) in a scene from A Doll's House, Part 2 (Photo by: Kevin Berne) |
Performances of A Doll's House, Part 2 continue through October 21 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre (click here for tickets).
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For only the second time in its long history, the San Francisco Opera is staging Gaetano Donizetti's 1837 opera, Roberto Devereux, using sets and costumes from the Canadian Opera Company with a cast headed by soprano Sondra Radvanovsky (who starred in the production's 2014 Toronto premiere). One would be hard pressed to find a more intriguing contrast to Ibsen's Nora Helmer than England's Queen Elizabeth I. As director Stephen Lawless explains:“In the 21st century we have become acclimatized to a specific view of Queen Elizabeth I through film and television, not to mention countless biographies. The consensus is of a remarkable woman who advocated religious tolerance yet was able to guarantee the success of her Protestant faith as the official church in England. She was a woman who bravely survived the vagaries and dangers of her early life to become a major player on the world stage. Her career saw the arts in England blossom as never before. She was renowned and loved for putting her country before her personal happiness and died having presided over a Golden Age. There was something positively ungodly about a woman exercising power without a husband’s restraint, and the same could be said of early 19th-century attitudes towards women.”
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| Sondra Radvanovsky stars a Queen Elizabeth in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux (Photo by: Cory Weaver) |
“Because Elizabeth had kicked Catholicism out of England, she was therefore a heretic. In the eyes of Catholics, she was illegitimate, as her father Henry VIII had never obtained an annulment from the Pope to end his first marriage to marry his second wife (Elizabeth’s mother), Anne Boleyn. Even in her own day, Elizabeth was much mocked in England and across Europe for her virgin status (16th-century attitudes saw a woman who would not be guided by her husband as unnatural and highly suspect). Elizabeth’s flirtations with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and his stepson, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex (among others) opened her to the charge of wantonness. She became the almost comic stereotype of the aging woman: rouged, powdered, and bewigged to hold back the ravages of time; a figure of ridicule, as well as of tragedy. Her death was a cause for rejoicing throughout Catholic Europe.”
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| Sondra Radnavovsky stars as Queen Elizabeth in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux (Photo by: Cory Weaver) |
Although Roberto Devereux has been widely performed in Europe, it has been produced far less often here in the United States. One of four operas composed by Donizetti that focused on the Tudor period (1829's Il Castello di Kenilworth, 1830's Anna Bolena, 1834's Maria Stuarda, and 1837's Roberto Devereux), Devereux is the the final installment in what has since become known as Donizetti's Tudor trilogy because of its focus on the three Tudor queens.
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| Russell Thomas (Roberto Devereux) and Sondra Radvanovsky (Queen Elizabeth) in a scene from Roberto Devereux (Photo by: Cory Weaver) |
In October 1970, Beverly Sills scored a major triumph in the role of Queen Elizabeth at the New York City Opera (a performance was videotaped in July 1975 at Wolf Trap). In addition to appearing in costume as Queen Elizabeth on the cover of Time magazine on November 22, 1971, Sills posed in her costumes as all three queens for this iconic poster:
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| Beverly Sills as Mary Stuart, Elizabeth I, and Anne Boleyn |
In recent years, Radvanovsky has added Donizetti's three queens to her repertoire. She starred in performances of Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, and Roberto Devereux (which was livestreamed internationally from the Metropolitan Opera House as part of the Metropolitan Opera's Live in HD broadcast series during the 2015-2016 season). Conducted by Riccardo Frizza, her San Francisco Opera performances as Elizabeth were paired with a thrilling young tenor (Russell Thomas) in the title role and the magnificent Jamie Barton (fresh from her appearances as Fricka, Waltraute, and the second Norn in the San Francisco Opera's recent Ring cycle) as Sara, Duchess of Nottingham.
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| Jamie Barton as Sara, Duchess of Nottingham in a scene from Roberto Devereux (Photo by: Cory Weaver) |
Although Beverly Sills used to joke that Massenet's Manon was the French equivalent of Brunnhilde, she was quick to confess that singing the role of Elizabeth took every ounce of vocal and dramatic strength she possessed. Although she has sung several Verdi and Bellini roles, Radnavovsky's voice is heavier and she may be even more of a stage animal than Sills was in her heyday. The result has been thrilling to witness as she focuses her musical and dramatic talents on a character of historic proportions.
I was especially taken with the physicality of the Canadian Opera Company's production, not only for Benoît Dugardyn's extensive use of wood paneling, Ingeborg Bernerth's costumes, and Christopher Akerlind's lighting, but for the creative solutions Lawless found for keeping the chorus on the move. As he explains:
“When I was asked to direct Donizetti’s Tudor trilogy of Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, and Roberto Devereux, I was attracted by the possibility of creating a chronicle of the life of Elizabeth along the lines of Shakespeare’s history cycles. We have set these operas in one performing space, namely the Globe Theatre. The operas mirror the Shakespearean idea of the monarch being like an actor on a stage, each having to perform before an audience and each having both public and private personas. By the end of the Elizabethan era, theater was performed indoors as well as outdoors, with the masque and its spectacular effects beginning to supersede purely textual theater. We have tried to create a narrative between the factual and the fictional, between the 16th and 19th centuries, with the chorus acting as spectators to history.”
“Donizetti’s skill in creating a consistent character over the course of the second and third operas is considerable. The composer creates a character that is, by turns, witty and willful, commanding and vulnerable, politically astute and personally unsure, a woman in charge of the destiny of her country but incapable of ruling her own heart. Intriguingly, by presenting her loves in both Maria Stuarda and Roberto Devereux as the two Roberts (Dudley, Earl of Leicester and his stepson Devereux, Earl of Essex), Donizetti creates the idea of a woman trying to recapture the earlier magic of her love for the first Robert with the much less worthy second. By depicting the collapse of the marriage of Elizabeth’s parents in Anna Bolena to such devastating effect, he also provides a possible motive for Elizabeth’s decision never to consent to marriage.”
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| Amitai Pati (Lord Cecil), Jamie Barton (Sara), and Sondra Radvanovsky (Elizabeth) in a scene from Roberto Devereux (Photo by: Cory Weaver) |
Although the three leads (Sondra Radvanovsky, Russell Thomas, and Jamie Barton) displayed solid musicianship, the men in supporting roles delivered less satisfying performances. As Lord Cecil, Amitai Pati had significantly less music to sing than Andrew Manea (a second year Adler Fellow who took over as the Duke of Nottingham after the originally scheduled artist, Polish singer Artur Ruciński, sustained lung injuries in a bicycle accident). Unfortunately, Manea was severely overparted and seemed to be having trouble focusing his voice.
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| Bass-baritone Christian Pursell |
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