Arts & Entertainment
Singers Give Voice to Floating Puppets in Fantastical Opera
U.S. Premiere of Robert Lepage's "The Nightingale and Other Short Fables" at BAM transforms orchestra pit into lake.
The otherworldly imagination of Canadian theater director Robert Lepage shapes a fantastical new opera at BAM, “The Nightingale and Other Short Fables,” complete with Asian water puppets and a lake in place of the orchestra pit.
The opera, set to music by Igor Stravinsky, will run for four performances at 7:30 p.m. March 1, 3 and 4 and at 3 p.m. March 6 in the Howard Gilman Opera House.
“It’s a beautiful artistic accomplishment – a visually stunning, remarkable theatrical presentation and musically superb,” said Joe Melillo, executive producer at BAM. “We feel it is important that New York City have the opportunity to experience this unique operatic accomplishment and to continue our understanding of Lepage’s art.”
Find out what's happening in Prospect Heights-Crown Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“The Nightingale” is based on a fable by Hans Christian Andersen about an ethereal bird that persuades Death to spare the Emperor of the tale. Lepage’s staging transforms the opera into a “magical chinoiserie,” according to a release: a Chinese-themed set centered around a moonlit lake, created by filling the orchestra pit with nearly 12,000 gallons of water. The musicians and chorus are placed onstage, and traditional Asian water puppets float and are manipulated by the singers.
The program opens with short vocal and instrumental pieces by Stravinsky, followed by satirical one-act opera-ballet “The Fox” and concluding with “The Nightingale.” Lepage devised the production with the Canadian Opera Company, whose music director Johannes Debus conducts the opera.
Find out what's happening in Prospect Heights-Crown Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Lepage previously brought his epic nine-hour play “Lipsynch” to BAM during the 2009 Next Wave series. Following that production, Melillo traveled to Toronto to see “The Nightingale” and arranged to bring the opera to BAM.
Lepage’s use of cinematic techniques in his theatrical productions makes him a visionary artist, Melillo said.
“You expect the unexpected with his work,” he said. “It’s a vivid imagination that he possesses and I am continually in awe of his originality in how to tell a specific story.”
Tickets and information for "The Nightingale and Other Short Fables" can be found here.
