miércoles, 26 de abril de 2023

The visit that changed the world, set to a radiant music: Adams' Nixon in China, for the first time in Spain.

Madrid, April 24, 2023.

In 1972, an unthinkable visit took place in the midst of the Cold War: the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, shortly before the Watergate scandal that would cost him his resignation, visited the People's Republic of China, still ruled by Mao Zedong,  during  the years of the heinous Cultural Revolution. No one would expect that the president of the quintessential anti-communist party to have visited one of the most unique communist regimes ever. However, that first rapprochement between the two global superpowers meant a definitive change of course in geopolitics, which still persists in Chinese-American relations today. In 1987, the composer John Adams premiered in Houston "Nixon in China", an opera about this historic event, with the collaboration of enormous artists such as Alice Goodman, author of the the libretto, Peter Sellars, stage director, and Mark Morris, choreographer. Adams, following the American trend of composing operas with recognizable themes for the audience, composed a work that has settled, triumphantly, in the schedules of the major opera houses, whose audiences are quite conservative. Something miraculous for a work premiered only 35 years ago. It has recently been performed in Paris with Thomas Hampson and Renée Fleming, and one of the best conductors of the moment, Gustavo Dudamel. This work has been successful wherever it was performed: France, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands... and after three decades, it is Spain's turn. 

For its Spanish premiere, the Teatro Real has chosen a production from Edinburgh and Copenhagen, directed by John Fuljames. Fuljames sets the work in a simple staging, with a simple set, reminiscent of a television set (something so important to American culture, and even more so for this visit) or a bureau store, full of boxes with lots of expedients. In the staging we will not see the airport nor the plane, nor any government hall, but historical images of the visit and the different events that took place, all of them projected over the same staging. History, whose weight falls on the characters, the succession of historical images, projected on the stage, which is constant during  the entire work, are the main decoration and the main sets. In a work where not only power is criticized, but also the public image that Nixon and Mao presented of themselves and their own countries, both convinced that each one was the best in the world, turning Nixon into a bastar man and Mao in an almost senile old man who contradicts his ideology, Fuljames is interested in showing the darkest, the most political and the most human side of each of these two spheres of power.

The obsession with image and communication, with all its manipulative power and control, is manifested in the succession of images and in the characterization of the choir as elegantly dressed bureaucrats. It is with their coming and going, while organizing the visit, that the performance begins and not with the soldiers waiting for the plane, which isn't seen on stage, bu on some screens that show while it la0nds. However, the staircase is visible, and in a really exciting moment, the Nixons and Kissinger are seen descending to the sound of the wind section in the orchestra. Mao's meeting with Nixon is faithfully reconstructed, while a photo of the actual meeting is shown in the background. At the end of the first act, the banquet where Nixon and Zhou Enlai are shown, with their speeches projected in the background.

Act Two is the most aesthetically beautiful, not only because of the music and the performance of the revolutionary opera, but also because of how it introduces us into the personality of Pat Nixon, here represented as a woman for who treats every day is Christmas, and that responds to the prototype of a smiling and glamorous first lady, a kinder side of power, something  contrasting with the authoritarian, temperamental and aggressive Jiang Qing, the other side of the coin, who closes the act with her spectacular aria. Fuljames sets us in this act, both in the mind of Pat Nixon, and in her own experience of the revolutionary opera she is witnessing, how she lives what she sees on stage, by being left alone in her seat. Another moment of great visual impact is Jiang Qing's aria, which closes the act, with a huge Mao propaganda poster as the radiant sun in the background, and then, as the aria elapses, images of people purged are successively projected, showing  the infamous "struggle sessions" during the Cultural Revolution, to conclude the aria by projecting a huge photo of Jiang Qing's own trial in 1980.

Between the second and third acts there is a technical pause, in which we see images projected on the curtain of both presidents, of their political careers, and what will happen to them (Nixon will resign, Mao will die and Deng Xiaoping's reforms will open up China to capitalism), even a little further  images of future presidents reunited, such as Deng and Carter, successors of our protagonists, Trump with Kim Jong-Un, or even the Spanish president Pedro Sánchez (which caused whispers in the room). with Xi Jinping can be seen. In the third act we will see each of the couples, the Nixons and the Maos, reflecting on their life experiences and their ideas, while images from different stages of their lives are projected onto a huge rotating square-shaped room. In the end, both couples lock themselves in it, to later disappear into the back of the stage, while Zhou Enlai wonders about life, and if anything they did was good, to then follow that square as the scene gets darker and darker and the curtain falls.

John Adams belongs the school of American minimalism. As Alex Ross rightly says, American romanticism brings classic authors and passes them through the minimalist filter, combined with musical trends such as jazz and swing. If Alban Berg made twelve-tone music accessible, human, Adams does the same with musical minimalism. In the score we find references to Glass or Reich (especially when the woodwind plays more strident melodies), to styles already mentioned before such as the jazzy banquet music of the final scene of the first act, to more classical styles in much of the second act, since the scene of Pat Nixon emanates a lot of lyricism, with a more classical language, and even Wagner, both at the beginning of the work, with a beautiful prelude of strings reminiscent of the brief prelude of the scene of the Norns from Götterdämmerung, or the revolutionary awakening of the dancer in the second act, with music reminiscent of the Magical Fire of Die Walküre. From the third act, Adams took his masterpiece "The Chairman Dances", to close the work with a somber, dark violin finale, which contrasts with the triumphalism of the beginning of the work, and which closes with a certain pessimism the musical battle with the dramatic music of Mao and the enthusiastic and vibrant music of Nixon. But in addition, the work is conventional in its structure of the arias, which reflect the conflicts of the characters, in the traditional style, and there are great scenes for the characters.

The Korean conductor Olivia Lee-Gundermann led the Teatro Real Orchestra. Our orchestra did its best to do justice to Adams's score, generally achieving a remarkable level, albeit with some ups and downs, which affected the wind in scenes like the arrival of the plane or during Jiang Qing's aria, or even during the prelude a bit also the string. However, despite this, the orchestra was able to take over this, and did justice to the event. Again we have to go mention act two, where the orchestra really shone, transmitting the enormous beauty of the music.

The Chinese people are one of the main characters -it is also traditional in this approach-, which Adams endows with scenes of great strength. And the Teatro Real Chorus once again rose to the challenge, singing its scenes with its usual excellence: the chorus that opens the play was interpreted with great solemnity, but where it made a true impact was in the party scene of the first act, during the toast, with that cry "Gam Bei", which shook the foundations of the theater, which recalled the overwhelming "Grimes!" in the opera of the same name two years ago. The female choir had its shining moment during the second act.

Leigh Melrose played Nixon, in an interpretation that improved during the performance, since during the aria "News has a kind of mystery" it did not seem inspired, even the repetitions of "has" were done on piano, which did not allow could be heard, but he improved as the play eas taking place, especially on an acting level where he conveyed the boaster side of his character.

Better was Sarah Tynan as Pat Nixon, his wife. Tynan's lyrical voice performed well in the second act, and as an actress she conveyed the candid and sophisticated image usually expected of an American First Lady back in those times.

Alfred Kim, who has sung Aida and Otello on this stage, was perhaps the most formidable voice in the cast, in his portrayal of Mao Tse Tung. The voice is powerful, firm, it can be heard and the high voice is well listenable all over the hall, in a very demanding tenor role.

Jiang Qing in this opera is the last major role written for a coloratura soprano in the 20th century. And it requires an accomplished singer to perform it. The American soprano Audrey Luna  sang the difficult role of Mao's wife. At the Friday 21 performance, she found herself unwell and another soprano had to sing offstage while she vocalized. Perhaps this state of convalescence affected her singing, since she did not seem to sing at the top of her voice during her famous aria (the best known of the opera), I am the wife of Mao Tse Tung, although she complied with the inclement vocal range, having the required high voice. She was better in the third act, perhaps less pressured, where she was able to show off her coloratura and her voice flowed better, and she even gave her character a sensual touch at a vocal and acting level.

Jacques Imbrailo sang Zhou Enlai remarkably, especially in his final aria, with a baritone voice that was nonetheless light, but appropriate to this repertoire and well projected. Borja Quiza sang the role of Henry Kissinger, in an performance which got better as show was taking place, especially from the second act, where he proved to be vocally fit, and also at an acting level, showing the most comical side of the character, especially in the scene of the revolutionary opera. The three secretaries did their job well, led by Sandra Ferrández as Nancy Tang.

Although they say that in other performances there were people deserting the hall, it wasn't the case of this performance, where not one was seen leaving, in fact some bravos were heard after Madame Mao's aria and specially at the end of the opera. In fact, we are very fortunate to be able to witness these performances of this beautiful opera, which has made a place for itself in the repertoire and has been able to conquer many fans who usually are musically very conservative. There is no doubt that we are witnessing the most awaited operatic event of the Madrid musical season, and one of the cultural events of the year in the capital. We hope that more productions of this opera will follow in the remaining Spanish major opera houses in future seasons.

My reviews are not professional and express only my opinions. As a non English native speaker I apologise for any mistake.
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