BIG JIM

Cast and Creatives of Big Jim and the Small-time Investors

We have decided that it's all opera--whether we call it opera theater, theater opera, music theater, or opera theater.  If trained voices are singing unamplified and music is used to tell a story, it's opera.  We have no interest in splitting hairs, no matter what distinctions the creators try to make.

The story told in Big Jim and the Small-time Investors is that of a con man who fleeces people by getting them to invest in "The Dream Machine", apparently some sort of virtual reality that allows people to experience their wildest dreams. Big Jim himself is kinda virtual.  Makes sense, doesn't it?

The story is reasonably well told with Big Jim's appearance inside a frame suggesting a TV or computer, although we think the idea that he is but a hologram could have been gotten across better through props and lighting which were otherwise quite satisfactory.  Tyler Learned is credited for Lighting Design.

Composer Eric Salzman, recently deceased, has written a score comprising violin, viola, cello, keyboard and electronics (opus 87 Piano Quartet) augmented by an accordion and percussion. The instrumental music was well played but if one were hoping to find a melody, one would have had to wait until after the curtain call when we heard a fine rendition of "Happy Birthday" sung by the cast to a member of Salzman's family.

There was not a single mediocre voice onstage.  Not only did everyone sing with fine tone but the diction was uniformly successful. We only wish that the libretto by Ned Jackson had been more "musical". Between the unmelodic vocal line and the unmusical language, we found ourself, as we often do during contemporary works, focusing more on the drama.

We have heard Rodolfo explaining himself to Mimi a hundred times and have never had our attention wander.  Last night when Big Jim (the excellent tenor Scott Joiner, whom we so enjoyed as Bob Cratchit at Gramercy Opera) was explaining himself to Kim (the superb soprano Jessica Fishenfeld whose career has taken off since we reviewed her in 2013 as the Sandman at Manhattan School of Music's Hansel und Gretel) we got no help from the words or the music in understanding either character.

It isn't true that Salzman could not write a melody because he gave a lovely tango to the accordion, well played by Denise Koncelick, and well danced by Ms. Fishenfeld and baritone Aaron Theno, who created the character of Stan, Big Jim's salesman. It's just that the vocal lines were, well, forgettable.

With such lack of melody, we would have to say that we preferred the duets and ensembles which offered interesting harmonies. We liked the duet between Big Jim and Stan about trust, and also the one between Big Jim and his mother, convincingly performed by soprano Darynn Zimmer. We wanted to know more about their relationship but all we learned was that he was taken away from her and raised by his father in a desert. When she learns who her son really is she keels over dead!

The duet between Jim and Kim--"How does it feel?" was a highlight.

The chorus of investors played several roles each and were admirable in their acting as well as singing. We enjoyed soprano Helena Brown who is always larger than life. We started writing about her 5 years ago and always loved her big mezzo soprano sound.

Soprano Allison McAuley is a familiar presence on New York opera stages and always delights us. Jami Leonard is new to us but we hope to hear her lovely soprano again soon.

The three men in the chorus were similarly effective. Baritone Benjamin Bloomfield has been on our radar screen since Lachlan Glen's perusal of all 600+ Schubert songs. We hear he has been having great success as Falstaff. Big guy, big voice! Tenor Alex Frankel and bass-baritone Blake Burroughs were new to us; they handled their roles effectively.

Conductor Victoria Bond wielded her baton with energy and style. Aside from conducting, she is a well known composer in her own right, and is Artistic Director of Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival which she founded a couple decade ago.

The work was directed by J. Griffith Brown who kept thing moving along nicely. Scenic Designer Abby Walsh created an effective set with a lot of imagination and apparently small budget.  There were lots of cardboard boxes onstage and ski goggles doubled for virtual reality goggles.

The production was a collaboration between Gramercy Opera, Quog Music Theater, and Welltone New Music, Inc.  The Leonard Nimoy Thalia was the perfect size for a production of this type and the audience that packed the theater seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely. We enjoyed ourself moderately. We are still waiting for a contemporary opera that we'd want to see a second time.

(c) meche kroop

SCROOGE!

Elizabeth Bouk, Jeremy Hirsch, and Scott Joiner in Gramercy Opera's production of Dickens' A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens wrote his novella A Christmas Carol in 1843 as a means of engaging his middle-class audience with his concern for the conditions of the poor in mid-Victorian England--a consequence of the Industrial Revolution. The work has an optimistic bent in that Scrooge (the superb Jeremy Hirsch), the main character, transforms himself from a cold and miserly misanthrope to a kind and generous man.

The means by which this is achieved is by confrontation with a series of ghosts--that of his former partner Marley (the effective Angky Budiardjono), the Ghost of Christmas Past (the lovely Eugenia Forteza), the Ghost of Christmas Present (the hilariously campy Tim Stoddard), and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (Petra Jarrar).

We see this device as the Victorian precursor to psychoanalysis. The best means of stimulating behavioral change is the process of examining childhood recollections and their effect on shaping the present character, and the subsequent examination of the consequences of unproductive behavior.

For the yearling Gramercy Opera, tackling this rich story was a major undertaking and the results were, for the most part, engaging and entertaining. What we appreciated the most was the creation of a Victorian atmosphere. For this production, the Montauk Club in Park Slope, Brooklyn was chosen and an excellent choice it was, redolent of the atmosphere of the 19th c.

The Production Designer Maria Torffield ensured that the characters were suitably costumed with hairstyling that appeared authentic. Lighting design by Lauren Libretti achieved a spooky Victorian mood but at the expense of audience comfort.  The room was dark save for some very bright spotlights that shone directly into our eyes.  Other seats may have escaped this discomfort.

The immersive nature of the production was also achieved at the expense of audience comfort.  The playing space was approximately 75 feet long with audience members seated on both sides of what became a long corridor. The Cratchit's dining room was at one end and Scrooge's bedroom was at the other end. The awkward effect was like that of attending a tennis match!

Additionally, dialogue became lost with some frequency. Of course, most of us are familiar with the story so it was no big deal to lose some of the dialogue.

The performances were excellent without exception. Jeremy Hirsch was a convincing Scrooge. We liked Nick Fitzer as the carefree nephew Fred and Marie Putko as Belle, the lovely young woman he had courted and lost in his youth because of his concern with money. Scott Joiner and Elizabeth Bouk were believable as the Cratchits, parents of a large family, poor but loving and happy. Peals of laughter greeted the campy performance of Tim Stoddard as the Ghost of Christmas Present. Comic relief is always welcome. This versatile artist was excellent as the serious Young Scrooge!

Readers may have observed that we have not described the genre to which this show belongs. Composer Felix Jarrar calls it a "ballad opera", analogous to the German Singspiel. There was spoken dialogue, most of which we could hear, and sung music as well.

We loved Mr. Jarrar's incredibly interesting instrumental music; he himself conducted and played the piano part with flutist Leia Slosberg, clarinetist Eric Umble, Violinist Danielle Turano, and cellist Thea Mesirow. We wished that we had had a better view of this chamber group. The textures and colors of the orchestration were brilliant.

We cannot approach the vocal writing with the same degree of enthusiasm. We find the same issue in almost all contemporary writing for voice--the vocal lines are just not interesting! Our ears are tuned to melody and we searched in vain for one. (We did love the arrangement of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen".)

Part of the problem can be attributed to a prose libretto.  Although Dickens wordiness was avoided and key scenes were given the major focus, the text did not sing well. The brilliant director Brittany Goodwin wrote the libretto as a writing partner to Mr. Jarrar and they are working together on future productions.

We couldn't stop thinking that this story would make a swell Broadway musical with short punchy phrases and tuneful music. When we returned home we did some online research and were not surprised to learn that someone had thought of this in 1994! The show was called A Christmas Carol and played at the Paramount Theater every December until 2003. We are not Broadway fans but just reading the titles of the songs made us wish we'd seen it.

This story is a timely one in that our present day culture is obsessed with greed; it is a good thing to be reminded of the value of generosity towards those less fortunate. We wish our legislators had been there last night.

(c) meche kroop