I mentioned in my first post to this blog that I would be overjoyed to see a good operatic version of Harry Potter. Many of the greatest operas, after all, are essentially myth and fantasy, and the saga's struggle between good and evil, vivid characters, humor, and emotional resonance would make it an ideal subject for an opera. There was an irresistible post on Opera-L a few months back about imaginary Harry Potter operas written by the great composers, such as Mozart's Harry Potter and the Marriage of Figaro and or Wagner's Harry Potter and the Mastersingers of Nuremberg ("ten Galleons says that Ron can't succeed in a Muggle singing contest"). What I am proposing, however, is an actual opera, or more accurately a cycle of 7 operas, based on the Harry Potter books. And while I would not want this to be used merely as a gimmick to bring children and teens into the opera house, their extra participation would be a nice bonus.
Who to compose? The most likely candidate might very well be Patrick Doyle, who is actually replacing John Williams as composer on Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. Doyle (who is Welsh) is not only one of the best composers working in Hollywood, but he has an excellent feel for vocal and choral music. I have long thought that he should write an opera. A few years ago I heard that he had been commisioned to write an opera about the late Queen Mum, but I don't know what if anything has become of that. He also has a rather pleasant tenor voice, by the way. I believe he has sung in all the films he has composed for - I know for a fact that he was in Henry V (where he led off the stunning "Non nobis, Domine") and in Much Ado About Nothing he played the musician Balthazar in addition to singing "Sigh, no more ladies" and "Pardon, goddess of the night". Maybe we can give him a small role in the opera! Another possibility might be Rachel Portman, another fine film composer who just wrote an opera based on another great "children's" book, The Little Prince. I do think, though, that the "Double, double toil and trouble" chorus from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban should remain in the opera and perhaps be further adapted and expanded, with due credit being given to John Williams. As a matter of fact, as I mentioned in my previous post about my operatic encounters at the movies, I'd be interested to see what Williams, who has had some fine choral writing in some of his recent films, might make of an entire opera.
Joanne Rowling would have to have a hand in the libretto, of course, but for co-librettist I would nominate Stephen Fry. He is of course intimately familiar with this universe as he is the voice for all the British editions of the Harry Potter audiobooks. Not only that, but also as an actor and as a writer he has plenty of science fiction and fantasy experience in addition to Harry Potter. Most recently, he was the Voice of the Book in the film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and I am delighted to report that he is writing one of next season's episodes of Doctor Who (now if only we can get the new Who in the US!). I believe that in America he is most famous for various incarnations of Lord Melchett in the four Blackadder series, which is sort of historical fantasy and has the same kind of humor as Harry Potter. He is also a classical music buff who hosts a show for Classic FM. Having had some experience with this radio station and their wretched "magazine", I imagine he's the classiest thing on it!
I don't care who directs/produces it, as long as it isn't a "Eurotrash" director who will put lots of unnecessary sex and violence in it and is someone who will remain true to the spirit of the books. And someone who understands children. Tempted as I may be to have Antonio Pappano conduct anything, I'm not sure this would be his cup of tea - to the best of my knowledge, unlike some other conductors, he has never programmed film music in his orchestral concerts (1). Maybe Simon Rattle, who conducted Doyle's score for Henry V.
Now to the part that we're all really interested in - the casting! When I proposed the idea to a young soprano friend of mine, she volunteered to sing Hermione, on the condition that Juan Diego Florez played Harry and Roberto Alagna played Ron! Weelll.... I suppose that if you put the right wig and glasses on Juan Diego he would sort of look like Dan Radcliffe and Roberto is a redhead, albeit he would probably have to wear a pretty serious pair of elevator shoes to be tall enough for Ron. But at least until we get up to Order of the Phoenix or Half-Blood Prince when the character's voices change (2), the children should be sung as children - either by trebles for all or mezzos for the boys and sopranos for the girls.
Also, since these operas will be in English, I really think that the singers should all be native English speakers if not actually from the British Isles, at least for the first production, except for foreign characters such as Madame Maxime. Although considering his very strong resemblance to Jason Isaacs, I was thinking of Dmitri Hvorostovsky for Lucius Malfoy(3)! And I'm sorely tempted to drop the English-only rule and have Rene Pape as Dumbledore.
There is, of course, one absolutely essential piece of casting, and indeed he was the inspiration for the whole idea. Bryn Terfel absolutely, positively has to sing Hagrid! As a matter of fact, he agrees with me - he was quoted in BBC Music Magazine recently as saying "Oh, yes! I am Hagrid! Hagrid is me!". Yes, I know Terfel's native language is Welsh, not English, but especially considering that Hagrid is from the North Country, that's probably close enough. The problem is that I think I would also want him for both Dumbledore and Mad-Eye Moody, especially the latter.
If we do have adult women sing all the kids, I'm thinking of rising young Handel soprano Emma Bell for Hermione. There are also some fine young British mezzos who could handle the various young men (Harry, Ron, Draco, etc), although I'm not sure which should go with which: Alice Coote (the heir to Janet Baker?), Victoria Simonds, and Christine Rice. If we go with kids, they should be unknowns. What happens, however, when we get to the operas for Order of The Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince, and the as-yet-unnamed seventh book? Should Hermione be a mezzo or a soprano? I think Harry and Ron should have different voice types, but I'm not sure who should be the tenor and who the baritone. At this point I'll say Harry should be the baritone and Ron the tenor, because that seems to be the way Daniel Radcliffe's and Rupert Grint's speaking voices are going.
Since Herr Pape has been barred, a proper British choice for Dumbledore would probably be John Tomlinson. Another possibility, although probably better for a revival than a premiere, would be Willard White. If he doesn't sing Dumbledore, he'd be luxury casting as Kingsley Shacklebolt. I think Felicity Palmer, with both her authority and comic chops, would be an excellent choice for Professor McGonagall. Of course, we have to put Simon Keenlyside in almost any British opera, and I think he'd be ideal for Lupin. Maybe Della Jones for Professor Sprout. And the shortest tenor we can find for Flitwick (unfortunately, again, the name that comes to mind is not an Englishman - magnificent French character tenor Jean-Paul Fouchecourt, who I think is barely 5 feet tall)
The most important gaps at this point are Snape and Sirius. I think a baritone for the former and a tenor for the later, but I can't think of any names right offhand. Also, a good comic bass and mezzo for the Dursleys - Della Jones for Petunia, possibly.
I'm also vacillating about whether Voldemort should be a countertenor (due to his extremely high-pitched laugh) a character tenor, or even the more traditionally villainous baritone or bass. Possibly in the "first" opera, where Voldemort and Quirrell could be a dual role, a countertenor might be an interesting idea.
Peter Pettigrew should definitely be a character tenor - Graham Clark (one of the best Mimes) would probably be a good choice, although the young American David Cangelosi (a very promising Mime and a fabulous Spoletta in the Benoit Jacquot Tosca film) or the Fillipino Rodell Rosel, who just won the Met Auditions, is a member of Chicago's Young Artist Program and I have no doubt is on the brink of a major career might be even better - Rosel's English is virtually unaccented, too. Four-odd months after the Auditions Concert, I can still hear him singing "Aria of the Worm" from John Corigliano's The Ghost's of Versailles in my head. Perhaps Mr. Rosel can sing Pettigrew and Mr. Cangelosi Barty Crouch, Jr.
Now for cameo roles. Deborah Voigt for the Fat Lady. No, that is absolutely not meant as a personal attack and of course now she would have to wear a lot of padding. I thought of Voigt because in the movies the Fat Lady is played by Dawn French, who wore a wig that made her look a lot like the soprano on the cover of her Obsessions album. You may also remember that the Fat Lady, per the Prisoner of Azaban movie, is something of an opera singer. I am very tempted to nominate one particular friend of mine - not a singer- as Luna Lovegood because she's even more cuckoo and otherwordly, but that's too nasty. Although I said that I would be willing to have a French singer portray Madame Maxime, I'm beginning to think that the best choice for the role is an American, Stephanie Blythe. She has an excellent rapport with Bryn (they've been Falstaff and Mistress Quickly together many times) and her sung French is wonderful. She is also a magnificent comic actress with an enormous presence. And she is, physically, a very big woman - not just wide, but tall, probably almost 6 feet (I remember how in Rodelinda Renée Fleming looked like an absolute waif by comparison!). As for genuine Frenchwomen, how about Natalie Dessay in a blonde wig for Fleur? Or perhaps, to make up for not having Roberto Alagna as Ron, perhaps his genuinely blonde sister-in-law, Nathalie Manfrino? Powerhouse Bulgarian basso Vitaly Kolwaljow would be appropriately scary as Karkaroff, and although he's Polish, not Bulgarian, the handsome and talented Marius Kwiecen would be fine as Krum.
Lastly, I nominate my aforementioned young soprano friend Lullalit Supatravanij (she's Thai) as Cho Chang. This is "blind" (deaf?) casting as I haven't actually heard her sing yet! For those who would insist on an established professional, there are some fabulous singers now coming out of the Far East, mostly China and Korea, although they are mostly lower voices (1997 Cardiff Singer of the World Winner mezzo Guang Yang, wow!), not the soprano I think Cho should be. The wonderful Ying Huang (when is she coming to the Met?), maybe. And we can let Lulu sing Hermione in the revival.
This, of course, is all off the top of my head. No doubt more ideas will come into my head as I keep rereading the books, seeing the movies (especially Goblet of Fire in November), and encountering more "English" singers at the opera.
(1) I should point out that backstage after his New York Philharmonic debut, I did see Tony being very sweet to a girl of about 9 or 10, presumably the daughter of a friend. So he clearly likes children, even if he and his wife don't have any, and he has apparently lead youth orchestras with great skill and enthusiasm. So he undoutedly has the "child-friendliness" required.
(2) I am actually rather surprised that JKR didn't deal with the issue of the boys' voices changing in the books. Although her wizards speak (or think) rather than sing their spells, it occurs to me that a voice suddenly going up or down in register might affect an incantation, possibly to comic effect. So far music itself doesn't seem to have been dealt with much by JKR either, apart the enchanted harp and Hagrid's flute being used to put the three-headed dog Fluffy to sleep. Admittedly, Dumbledore "enjoys chamber music" (it was never specified whether as a performer or as a listener) and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone creator Nicholas Flamel is an opera fan. Also at least in the movies, Hogwarts has a chorus. We also hear from popular singing witch Celestina Warbeck (who in Half-Blood Prince strikes me more as an Ella Fitzgerald-type than the Kathleen Ferrier-type I had originally envisioned). Unfortunately, the wildly popular "Weird Sisters", which in the book version of Goblet of Fire seem to be sort of a new-age folk type of ensemble (lute, drums, cello, bagpipes), reportedly will be a punk band in the film.
(3) Actually, a few years ago, I think I ran into Dmitri Hvorostovsky in the Lincoln Center area, and for several seconds wasn't sure whether it was him or Isaacs!
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