Recent operatic encounters at the movies

I suppose that my most recent series of "operatic encounters at the movies" began on Memorial Day, when I went to see Revenge of the Sith. As I stated in my first post, sagas like Star Wars and Star Trek and Babylon 5, with their huge scope, grand passions, and mythic depth - not to mention wonderful musical scores! - are quite rightly referred to as "space operas". More to the point for this particular post, the film actually has a scene in an opera house! Anakin Skywalker (the soon-to-be Darth Vader) meets with Chancellor Palpatine (the soon-to-be Emperor) at the Galaxies Opera House, although it seems that George Lucas is interested more in the opera house as the place where the rich and powerful gather than the state of the arts in the Republic. That might have been interesting actually - Palpatine's megalomania destroying the Republic culturally as well as politically - just like every totalitarian state that ever existed did with its arts - and unfortunately, what a few people in the US are trying to do too. It also seems to be rather common in mystery and suspense movies to have a scene in an opera or theater box to show the contrast between the quiet, sinister conspiracies and the huge, festive public space.

What Anakin and Palpatine are actually "watching" while they discuss the possibilty of eternal life, however, is not an opera - more like a huge sphere with sinuous lights moving across it. In the novelization it is described as a "Mon Calamari ballet". Interestingly enough, John Williams' score for this scene (on the soundtrack CD as "Palpatine's Teachings"), consists of choral basses singing very long notes at the bottom of their voices - a lot like some Russian choral music, but to far more sinister effect - not surprisingly considering that Palpatine is slowly but surely drawing Anakin to the dark side of the Force. Actually, I believe all three movies in the prequel trilogy have quite a bit of very good choral writing in them - it would be interesting to see if Williams could compose a full-scale choral work or even an opera. I must give the wonderful singers of London Voices and their director Terry Edwards their due.

By the way, there is a music critic in Los Angeles who I usually have a lot of respect for, Jim Svejda, who thinks Williams is a big fraud and a plagiarist - his argument is that the Star Wars main title sounds like - get this - the big fanfare at the end of Act III of Manon Lescaut! Sorry, Jim, no dice. Williams is far more thrilling and bombastic here, and I don't think they are remotely in the same key. It's no closer than many other compositions by a lot of other composers. Although I will admit that the wonderful "love theme" introduced in Attack of the Clones bears a strong resemblance to various Russian themes, namely Scheherezade and possibly the Second Polovetsian Dance from Prince Igor.

One of the central plot points of Batman Begins is that the young Bruce Wayne, ambushed by a bat colony while hiding in a well, becomes absolutely terrified of bats - which is why to face his fear, he takes on the form of a bat as an adult crimefighter. While still a child, he is taken by his parents to a production of Mefistofele, and we see the Witches Sabbath scene. When Bruce sees the black-clad demons in this scene descending from the flies on ropes, he instantly sees them as bats. Unlike what some people on Opera-L have said, this is not a "regietheater" production that actually presents the demons as bats (actually, that's not a bad idea), but a "traditional" production that just hits Bruce where it happens to hurt most. It's as if I were to see a person costumed in black with a lot of fringes as a tarantula. Bruce recoils in terror and he and his parents leave, and his father comforts him by saying "A little opera goes a long way". Understandable under the circumstances, perhaps, but I was a little annoyed by the way this seemed to reinforce the stereotype of opera being only for very rich people who go primarily to show off just how rich they are, even though the elder Waynes are clearly wonderful people. The Gotham Opera House (I presume that's what it was called) is much smaller and somewhat seedier looking than its real life New York counterpart - certainly the area outside the house where Bruce's parents are murdered is! I'd be interested to know if the production team actually filmed this in one of the smaller European theaters or if they built a set. By the way, they used the classic recording of the opera with Norman Treigle conducted by Julius Rudel, which was lip-synched to by actors - Patrick Pond, Poppy Tierney and Rory Campbell as Mefistofele, Marguerite, and Faust respectively.

But that's not the only connection to opera that this film has. Unlike a lot of moviegoers, I almost always stay through the end of the credits (and some of these are long - Return of The King had almost 10 minutes worth!), mostly to enjoy the music but also some movies have twists or jokes either during or after. I was quite surprised that listed in the special effects crew as a digital compositor was a gentleman named - Giuseppe Tagliavini! Now I wonder if he could be related to Ferruccio Tagliavini, one of my favorite lyric tenors, or perhaps to the lesser known Franco Tagliavini. I'm not sure whether either of these gentlemen had children. Even if Tagliavini is a common name, it occurred to me that in addition to being a tenor Ferruccio was also a licensed electrical engineer (in fact, that's what he wanted to do with his life and his father forced him to be a singer; according to Robert Merrill, he was able to use his engineering skills to earn a fortune in the construction business), and that's a skill or an interest that might be passed down to a son (or a nephew). I'm not sure exactly what a digital compositor does - I presume it probably has something to do with computer animation - but it sounds like it needs a good mix of both artistic and technical skills.

One of my very favorite places in New York City is probably the best revival/art house movie theater around, Film Forum. They recently had a series called "Hollywood Before The Code", basically films made before about 1934 when the Hays Code that forbade anything remotely sexual or "immoral" from being put into the movies. Although what's in these movies is extraordinarily tame by modern standards, they still had a good deal of sexual innuendo (even - gasp! - homosexuality) and dealt with other things that were extremely scandalous at the time, such as adultery, unwed motherhood, and abortion. The first of these movies of interest here is the 1931 version of An American Tragedy. As many readers of this blog will no doubt know, the Metropolitan Opera is presenting the world premiere of Tobias Picker's opera based on the novel. Although there is no operatic music in the film, it might offer a clue to how this 800-page novel (which I will read prior to seeing the opera) will be adapted - a great deal of material in the book will have to be cut. It focuses on the central story of Clyde Griffeths' romance with and murder of Roberta Alden and his subsequent trial, without going too much into Clyde's background and life before he starts his "rise to the top" and life in his uncle's shirt factory. I will also try to see the 1951 film adaption of this book, A Place in the Sun, before I see the opera.

Several weeks after An American Tragedy, Film Forum presented a double bill of A Farewell to Arms and Morocco as part of the same series - the former deals with sex out of wedlock and pregnancy, the latter is famous (infamous?) as the film where the tuxedoed, top-hatted Marlene Dietrich kisses a female nightclub patron - again, not nearly as tittilating as I expected. The films have both a very young Gary Cooper and Adolphe Menjou in common. Since A Farewell to Arms takes place mostly in Italy, it was appropriate that we should here some opera - one of the soldiers is a tenor who sings "Vesti la giubba" and "La donna e mobile". I thought the tenor sang rather well, although his comrades dismissed his ability. Later in the film, a tenor, presumably the same character, is listening along with Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes to some street puppeteers putting on Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the Rosina/Figaro duet taken at double-speed, and lamenting that this opera was his debut and he would never be able to sing again. Unfortunately, I don't think this actor/tenor was identified in the credits. It also wasn't much of a shock to hear the Liebestod in the scene where Helen Hayes' character is dying. But the big suprise was in Morocco - early in the film we hear a muezzin - that is, the man who calls the Muslim faithful to prayer - not reciting, but actually singing the adhan (said call to prayer) in a gorgeous tenor voice. The melody actually reminded me of a lot of Jewish music, particularly that of Moroccan (obviously!) or Arabic origin. Indeed, the tenor sounded a lot like one of the great cantors like Moshe or David Koussevitzky. Unfortunately, I could find no credit for the singer or this particular music on IMDB.

The final encounter was in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where Mr. Tagliavini once again showed up in the credits. And on my way into the Food Emporium on 68th Street and Broadway, where I purchased a big chocolate bar to be consumed during the film, I almost bumped into Veronica Villaroel - quite literally!

Incidentally, according to his entry on IMDB, Mr. Tagliavini started his career with a lot of Italian films and has been featured not only in Batman Begins and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but in Troy, Alexander, and Kingdom of Heaven, and is also working on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!

Last minute addition: I just found out the soundtrack album for Wong Kar-wai's new film 2046 features Angela Gheorghiu singing "Casta Diva" - presumably taken from her CD of the same name. I don't know if this film is quite my cup of tea, despite rave reviews and the presence of two actresses I adore, Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi. Both ladies, however, will be starring in the upcoming Memoirs of a Geisha. Maybe if we are lucky, that film's soundtrack might have Angela singing "Un bel di"?