|
 |
|
North American Works Directory Listing
|
Six Characters in Search of an Author
|
|
|
| Composer: |
Hugo Weisgall
|
| Librettist: |
Denis Johnston
|
| Other Artistic Personnel: |
William Ball (Stage Director)
Sylvan Levin (Conductor)
Gary Smith (Set and Costume Designer)
|
| Original Cast: |
Beverly Sills (coloratura soprano)
Grant Williams (tenore buffo)
John Macurdy (basso cantante)
Regina Sarfati (mezzo)
The Characters:
Paul Ukena (The Father)
Robert Trehey (The Son)
Adelaide Bishop (The Stepdaughter)
Patricia Neway (The Mother)
Ruth Kobart (Madame Pace)
Marc Sullivan (The Boy)
Barbara Becker (The Child)
|
| Premiere Date: |
April 26, 1959
|
| Producing Company: |
New York City Opera
|
| Description: |
Based on the early 20th century Italian absurdist play by Pirandello: A play-within-a-play is transformed by Johnston into an opera-within-an-opera. The libretto sets reality against theatrical illusion, offers pointed commentary, and satirizes operatic conventions. An opera is being rehearsed on the stage of a small theater. Six fictional characters -- mother, father, their son, and the mother's three illegitimate children (the stepdaughter, boy, and girl) -- interrupt the rehearsal. Claiming to belong to an unfinished opera, they are in search of an author to finish the drama for them. The current opera being rehearsed holds little interest for the director or performers, so they are easily persuaded to begin work on the unfinished opera. The director and company try to take control of the work, but the family, a profoundly and spectacularly dysfunctional group, insist the drama can only be told truthfully if they perform it themselves. This creates a rift between the emotionally-scarred fictional characters and the director and performers. Issues of guilt, incest, prostitution, murder, violence, and suicide are all played out by the fictional characters who are forever trapped in their own world.
|
| Character List (Major): |
The Accompanist (bar)
The Stage Manager (bar)
The Mezzo
The Tenore Buffo
The Prompter (s)
The Basso Cantante
The Director (t)
The Wardrobe Mistress (contralto)
The Coloratura
The Father (bar)
The Stepdaughter (s)
The Mother (mz)
The Son (bar)
The Boy (actor)
The Child (actor)
Madame Pace (contralto)
|
| Reviews: |
Los Angeles Times, Harold Blumenfeld; New York Times, Howard Taubman, 4/27/1959;Washington Post, Paul Hume; London Financial Times, Andrew Porter, 7-9-90; The New Yorker, Andrew Porter, 7-16-90; The Musical Quarterly, Richard Franko Goldman, Vol. XLV, No. 3, July, 1959; The New York Observer, Charles Michener, 12-11-95; The New York Times, Allan Kozinn, 12-9-95; Village Voice, Leighton Kerner, 1-2-96; New York Native, Bruce-Michael Gelbert, Issue 665, 1-15-96; New York Post, Shirley Fleming, 12-8-95; Opera, March 1996.
|
|
|
|
| Orchestration: |
2(Alto, Picc.) 2(E.H.) 2(B.Cl.) 2(Cbsn.) - 2 2 2 1; Timp. Perc. Str. Upright Piano (on stage)
|
| Musical Style: |
Weisgall's earlier style fused non-tonal neo-classicism with the plasticity and fluidity of Berg's mature works. His later music is closest in style to the Second Viennese School, although his works are rarely completely atonal. Melodically and harmonically, his constructions move within a narrow range, and he unfolds his twelve tone rows slowly, saving certain pitches for contrasting sections.
|
|
| Contact: |
Theodore Presser Company
|
| Address: |
588 North Gulph Road
King of Prussia, PA 19406
|
| Phone: |
610-592-1222
|
Schedule of Performances Listings
|
What is OPERAAmerica.org?
Spring 2013 Magazine Issue
- Letter from the President/CEO
- Of One: The Quest for Asian Fusion in the Opera House
- Vancouver: Where Nature Nurtures Art
- Inheriting the Wind
- My First Time
|
|
|
|
From Airport:
The easiest way to reach the OPERA America offices is to get a cab at the airport. Cost is $40-45 (not including tip).
-
JFK -
Take the AirTrain ($5 - approx. 15 minutes) to the Jamaica Street Station and transfer to the Long Island Railroad (LIRR).
Take the LIRR to Penn Station ($12 - approx. 35 minutes). See Penn Station directions below.
-
LaGuardia -
Take the M60 Bus to the Hoyt Ave/31st Street. Get on the
 or  Train and take that to 42nd/Times Square Station.
Follow the Times Square Station directions below.
-
Newark - Take the New Jersey Transit train to Penn Station ($15 - approx. 45 min). See
the Penn Station Directions below.
From Penn Station/Madison Square Garden:
Leave the station through the 7th Avenue/33rd Street exit and walk south for four blocks. The building is on the right hand side.
From Grand Central Station:
Take the  Train to the 42nd/Times Square station and transfer to the  Train.
Take the Train to the 28th Street stop and walk north on 7th Avenue.
The building is on the same block as the train stop.
From 42nd Street/Times Square:
Take the Train to the 28th Street stop and walk north on 7th Avenue.
The building is on the same block as the train stop.
For more detailed directions, most up-to-date pricing or to specify a different starting location, please visit the MTA Web site.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|