Every parent has, at one time or another, thought their children were possessed by the devil. Mostly, of course, we’re wrong.
But Henry James’ 1898 short gothic novel “The Turn of the Screw” describes what may happen when we’re not: A desperate battle between the forces of evil and the forces of good for the souls of two innocent children.
On Friday night of Halloween weekend at the Hult Center’s Soreng Theater, Eugene Opera opened its new and unprecedentedly full season with a rich, basic performance of English composer Benjamin Britten’s 1954 opera version of the creepy James ghost story.
In the tale, an unnamed young governess, sung here by Eugene soprano Laura Wayte, shows up to take charge of two young children at a rural estate – with unusual instructions from their guardian and uncle: She’s to never contact him about the kids, no matter what.
Soon after arrival, she starts to suspect – with good evidence – that the children, Miles and Flora, are in thrall to their late governess, Miss Jessel, and her dead lover, Peter Quint.
Friday’s performance, directed by Mark Beudert and conducted by guest Michael Sakir, was a thoroughly stripped-down version of the chamber opera. As the lights came up, I heard a man behind me complain that this was supposed to be opera, not a staged reading.
But it wasn’t that stark. This was more like opera without a set but with everything else. Beudert and his cast were sitting in chairs on stage as the lights came up, and mugged for the audience taking selfies of themselves, but the chairs were soon dispersed and the story played out in actual theatrical space.
The emotional anchor of this show was the coupling of tenor Brendan Tuohy, as Peter Quint, and soprano Tess Altiveros, as his lover, Miss Jessel. Both Northwesterners, the two singers have powerfully dark and sexy chemistry onstage, making them perfect evil spirits trying to seduce the children into another world.
Flora and Miles, the children, are sung by Carolyn Quick and Emily Way. Mrs. Grose, the housekeeper, is sung by Beth Madsen.
Britten’s music is atonal, in large part, meaning it sounds pretty darned modern. But it’s not at all difficult to listen to. As Beudert explained in a pre-show talk in the Hult lobby, it’s actually less challenging than a lot of contemporary movie scores.
OK, one complaint: Let’s do supertitles! Even in English, the words sometimes passed right over the audience’s heads. The hardest to understand were Wayte, the governess, and the two children. This is a plot-driven story, and it would have been great to understand more of the text. Besides which, there are downright obscene lines being bandied about in Latin, and from where I sat we couldn’t quite grasp any of them.
Finally, one visual oddity. The chamber orchestra played onstage, but was jammed so far into one side of the stage that the hall looked like the opening minutes of the Poseideon Adventure, with the deck tilting wildly out of control. OK, the Soreng is a lopsided hall anyway, with the boxes only on one side. But it would have been all right to put something – a potted palm? – on the other side of the stage for balance.
All that said, it’s a great, haunted and intriguing show. You’ve got one more chance at it, Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. Go see and hear it.
This is the first of four – no, that’s not a typo – operas that Eugene Opera is putting on this season. Coming up are Lucia di Lammermoor, at New Year’s; Eugene Onegin, March 11 and 13; and Little Women, May 14-15.
Eugene Opera once used to put on three shows each season; lately it’s been doing only two. Four is a giant leap forward. Bravo!