The University of Arizona Mounts a Powerful ‘Crucible’
L to R Robyn Rocklein as Elizabeth Proctor, Jennifer Beauregard as Abigale Williams and Seth Kershisnik as John Proctor in The Crucible. ©
The Opera Theater took a big risk this year as part of its series of presenting contemporary operas in English. After four years of successful modern productions – including a 2008 heartfelt rendition of Benjamin Britten’s Rape of Lucretia - Stage Director Charles Roe and Musical Director Thomas Cockrell decided they finally had the vocal and orchestral talent to give a good account of Robert Ward’s opera The Crucible, based on playwright Arthur Miller’s searing drama.
“It’s an opera I always wanted to do since I was a senior at Baldwin-Wallace College in Cleveland, Ohio,” Roe said at a rehearsal about three weeks before the November performances at Crowder Hall at the University. “Melvin Hakola, my voice teacher at the time, sang the lead role of John Proctor, and I was very impressed with the drama and music and hoped some day to participate in a production. Obviously, I finally got my wish.”
Now that Roe and Cockrell are firmly partnered in their quest to present exciting operas in English, specifically from the second half of the 20th Century, the duo was ready and able to tackle Ward’s opera. The result was a gripping dramatic and vocal production based on the theme of the 1672 Salem Witch Trials, still recognized today as a metaphor for the McCarthy HUAC hearings that so divided our nation in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The opera was an immediate success at its premiere at New York City Opera in 1961 (it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music) and had the added benefit of a Bernard Stambler’s libretto which he skillfully adapted from Miller’s play.
But the obstacles Roe and Cockrell faced in doing justice to The Crucible were in the details. The opera, which has 16 singing parts and 39 orchestra members, is the largest performing group the duo has had to work with since their first collaboration of Mark Adamo’s Little Women. Ward’s music is heavily orchestrated, quick moving and demands a range of vocal expressions from the singers. Right from the start of Act One, the cast has to delineate a text filled with declamation that quickly moved into a parlando style interspersed with lyrical phrasing – which it must project over orchestration – that moves faster than a speeding bullet.
Faced with such a dynamically charged score it would be unrealistic to expect every artistic endeavor to be met with equal artistic output, but as the opera unfolded, it became apparent there were plenty of dramatic goodies on hand to do justice to Ward’s work. If the November 20th performance showed the company’s musical preparation and execution had reached a professional level that surpassed the Opera Theater’s previous productions, the one on November 22nd proved to be the dramatically intense ensemble Roe, Cockrell and the performers could really be proud of. Perhaps a third showing would have sealed their performing enjoyment.
The Arizona Symphony Orchestra under Cockrell’s leadership played with such musical harmony that each section – brass, percussion and strings – seemed to join together and then separate and meet up again making every act sound as one musical line from beginning to end. Best of all, Cockrell kept every dynamic in check so that Ward’s powerful orchestration never dominated the performance, but shared the opera with the singers.
And what quality singing there was!
Eight characters out of the 16 in the cast have the most important roles in the opera. Fortunately all eight were so dramatically and vocally convincing, they became equal partners with the orchestra in the opera’s successful outcome.
Representing the Elders of the Church who had to decide the fate of those accused of witchcraft were bass Christopher Herrera, as the Rev. John Hale, who pleaded for clemency for John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth; tenor Dennis Tamblyn as the Rev. Parris, who was torn between saving his ministry from the onslaught of the accusers and his own reputation: and tenor David Gustafson, the unforgiving judge who wants those convicted of witchcraft to hang. Because the three singers were able to give full vocal value to their dramatic readings, they were able to express the characters’ personal turmoil and conflict that Ward and Stambler had so carefully developed. Their contribution was of utmost importance to the overall drama.
On an equal footing were the Elizabeth Proctor of Robyn Rocklein and Seth Kershisnik’s John Proctor, two hold-overs from last year’s Lucretia, lending a repertory company feel to this outing. Rocklein’s role is the more difficult to get across since the character is the most passive of the women. It was in the second performance that the mezzo-soprano was able to exhibit her natural talent by showing Elizabeth’s personal strength through voice and action. It was most apparent in Act Four when she and John are saying their goodbyes before he is about to be hanged. The couple created a moving duet with plenty of vocal warmth.
John Proctor is the most vocally-challenging role in the opera. In an interview in Opera Journal from 2000, Ward admitted his fondness for the baritone voice. “I had to admit that I always felt that baritones were somehow more noble than tenors.” Ward not only covered every note possible in that range, but filled it with every dynamic, which Kershsnik matched with vocal aplomb. John Proctor’s role is loaded with many emotional changes, expressed vocally from piano to mezzo-forte and then forte. One of best examples of his range was at the end of Act Two when Proctor realizes he will have to reveal his sexual relationship with Abigale in order to save Elizabeth from hanging. Kershsnik’s vocal climbs and descents were exemplary singing. There were times, however, when his stiff stage demeanor lessened the effect of those dramatic moments that were rightfully his.
The last three roles that were crucial to the story were soprano Jennifer Beauregard’s Abigale, Bethania Baray’s Mary Warren, a soprano with some coloratura touches, and the Tituba of mezzo-soprano Kaitlin Bertenshaw. The last two, again, were in last year’s cast.
Beauregard’s vocals matched her character’s underlying hatred for what she perceived as Elizabeth’s mousy personality. In her Act Three secret meeting with John Proctor, her seductive poses momentarily raised the man’s passion to an uncomfortable level which he fought to dispel. Here, set designer Sally Day’s dusky blue backdrop fronted by a black hill in silhouette complimented Ward’s alluring romantic music which sparked a titillating thrill.
Baray’s acting as Mary Warren clearly defined how a youthful, confused young girl can be trapped by her own lies in the town hall meeting in the second scene in Act Three. If Baray’s light tone was covered off and on by the full density of Ward’s music in this climatic scene, she never let go of her persuasive interpretation. Bertenshaw’s full mezzo brought the right resentment to Tituba’s forced servitude. Her lament in Act Four over the devil’s broken promises was neatly delivered. Erika Burkhart’s Sarah Good, Tituba’s cell mate, added a clean soprano melisma highlighting their sorrow.
In such a large cast, there’s bound to be varying results in terms of performance. Kyle Connor’s Thomas Putman demonstrated the necessary strict attitude in holding to his belief that there are witches in Salem; however, the baritone’s soft-grained vocals did not always project over Ward’s orchestration. Katherine Mendelson as his wife Ann had a better grip on her role in the second performance. Kristan Islas as Rebecca Nurse had a nice turn as the only voice of reason in the proceedings, but was too young for the role. Shaun Kastner was a bit flaccid in delivering Ezekiel Cheever’s court proclamations . Tenor Christopher Hutchinson’s Giles Corey, however, sang his impassioned plea to the court with ringing tone as he exposed T. Putman’s land- grabbing greed in the town hall meeting in Act Two.
Sally Day’s set accurately depicted the interior and exterior look of Salem in the 17th Century. But her design for the Act Four jail setting detailing the suffocating feel of imprisonment, ranks very high in her artistic output. Obviously, Roe wanted a traditional look for the costumes and Adam Dill obliged him, especially those for the elders. He dressed them all in black, wearing knee length coats with long straight dark wigs that definitely show the austerity of the time.
There was one downside to the overall proceedings, but it had nothing to do with the quality of the production. While both performances were healthy in attendance, there were far too many empty seats that gave the impression there was a lack of community outreach.
