MACBETH

Last night I saw my first full-fledged opera, MACBETH, at the Civic Opera House. Directed by Barbara Gaines of the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, it was a wonderful experience and thoroughly enjoyable. I will always prefer a strong dramatic performance of such a tragedy, but the emotion that the music brings to the tale is undeniably powerful.

The scale of opera does not work well with detail and nuance, so much of that was lost, but some of the staging ideas were quite powerful. Instead of three witches to intrigue and challenge Macbeth, there were three covens of witches, at least 35 in number. Rather than three murderers to assassinate Banquo, there were three squadrons of murderers. Of course, this is where the work has slotted the impressive chorus, but the scale of numbers involved was impressive and moving.

In terms of the direction, Gaines did manage to bring in that occasional detail that worked well. Lady Macbeth is dressed in pure white during the murder of Duncan, and still grabs the dagger and smears the sleepy guards. She came back splattered in bright red and berated Macbeth for his cowardice; they left the stage with him wiping his bloody hands on the trail of her dress.

As to the acting, this was at least my 17th time seeing MACBETH live in various interpretations and structures. Nadja Morgan was amazingly powerful as Lady Macbeth, or Lady as Verdi is known to refer to the Queen. In Verdi/Gaines staging, Lady is the power cell that drives the action. She is much more pushy and direct in gaining power for the couple. She moves candles on the stage to set a circle of fire for Macbeth and sings the soprano part with power that belies her smaller frame. Soaring vocals of delight in murder and greed and power in the actress, dressed mainly in monochrome, set each scene. She is in red in act I, driving the murder plans; white in act II, then black for the onstage funeral of Duncan, something I have never seen. Even in darkest black, first one shoulder and then the other are uncovered, constantly drawing attention. In act III she is in spangly silver for the banquet, where she drinks enough wine to blitz anyone. As Macbeth chases Banquo's ghost away, she is literally crawling across the table to reach for more wine, nearly collapsing on the table to refer to HIM as a disgrace.

Truly, I felt that it took a German woman singing in Italian to power the great English play about the murdering Scottish couple to life. My 17th Lady Macbeth was certainly the most powerful.

Another Gaines touch: the first appearance of the Ghost of Banquo was a neat surprise. Macbeth is toasting him on the table (there was lot of that) when Banquo suddenly appears right out of the dangling chandelier, leaning down and grabbing Macbeth by the shoulders.

It was a fine experience, though it would likely take another script I am very familiar with the bring me back for another opera.

The show ran ten minutes late, causing me to miss the 10:40 train and wait for the 12:40 AM, but that only added to the adventure and fun of the night. I had not been in the Opera House since a 1966 Yardbirds concert when Jeff Beck was playing lead. As I waited to get off the train at 1:30, a man was talking to the conductor about a concert he was at recently and how great oldtimer Jeff Beck was. An amazing coincidence, and he was equally surprised when I told him. That man was not coming from the Opera House.

Time Out for the Bard

After spending a wonderful afternoon on Navy Pier in Chicago, I thought we would take a timeout from our Alaska postings for a word about the Bard.

It was my good fortune to locate a young Chicago company called Shakespeare Repertory Theatre in 1991 and enjoyed watching the group grow and expand over the years. Eventually plans were announced for a theatre company on the Pier, a wonderful building was constructed, and the renamed Chicago Shakespeare Theatre came into being. Regular opportunities for all audiences including interested students to see world-class drama and comedy.

Of course, we all know that Macbeth is not only one of Shakespeare's most popular tragedies, it is the shortest and thus the one that careens down the track at breakneck speed. The 2009 mounting, directed by Artistic Director Barbara Gaines, features Ben Carlson and Karen Aldridge as the doomed Macbeth couple. They are as powerful and as well-presented as any couple I have ever seen in these roles. Set in modern times and featuring air power in the wars, video reports from the media, and airport waiting while flights are cancelled. But beneath the updating of details, the tragedy looks into a man who becomes lost in his ambition and his wife, how loses her mind when she loses his loving attention. For Chicagoans, this is a must-see.

The Scottish play has been featured here several times, including a 1992 mounting starring Kevin Gudahl and Susan Hart. That version was highlighted by music by Lloyd Broadnax King, pounding his chest, screeching and using various tools and items as instruments. More recently, a Short Shakespeare production covered the complete tragedy in 75 minutes and a Kabuki-style presentation featuring the character of Lady Macbeth. A highly-creative version was Marionette Macbeth, in which all actors were 3-4' tall marionettes controlled by a series of master puppeteers, featuring the Colla Family from Italy. As they manipulated the actors, the lines were provided by seven actors sitting in a chorus format.

The Wednesday matinee had an informative post-production session with several audience members asking some probing questions. Three of the actors including Karen Aldridge (Lady Macbeth) joined the discussion with Marilyn Halperin, Director of the Education Department. Season after season, production after production, the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre provides topnotch professional theatre for the people of Chicago. Thanks for the wonderful afternoon and we will return to Alaska tomorrow.