McPherson Playhouse
"It was wonderful to be around her, she was simply
overwhelming. She had so much promise. It seemed to me that she
could really be a great kind of phenomenon, a terrific
artist. She was endlessly fascinating, full of original
observations...there wasn't a conventional bone in her body."
Arthur Miller, whose words those are, was Marilyn Monroe's third
and last husband - their marriage, which lasted five years, was
Monroe's longest; Miller also wrote the screenplay of her final
movie, The Misfits.
Marilyn Forever, which premiered on Friday night, is an
exploration of the myth that is Marilyn.
In a variation of the dying-person's-life-flashing-before-them,
the opera opens with the actress lying (asleep? dying?) on
the floor of her room. It closes with the final transcendence of
her legend. Between these two are eight scenes of greater or
lesser historical accuracy - but then historical accuracy
did not seem to be the point of Marilyn Bowering's libretto, for
which we should probably be grateful: no time was wasted in
pointless speculation as to the actual cause of her death and the
possible involvement of the brothers Kennedy.
Rather, the libretto seems to focus on the inner, emotional
truths of Monroe's career.
Gavin Bryars' score seamlessly weaves together the disparate
elements of that career, in music which pays tribute to and
evokes the music of an era, without ever actually quoting, and
still clearly bearing Bryars' own musical fingerprints
throughout. Moreover, while the music rarely exceeds a moderate
tempo, it held the audience spellbound for the hour-and-a-half
of the opera's duration.
Of course, much of the evening's success was always going to
depend on Marilyn herself and in the rôle, Eivør
Pálsdóttir was absolutely mesmerising; whenever
she was on stage, which was most of the time, I, for one, simply
could not take my eyes off her.
Nor was this mere slavish imitation, although the time
Pálsdóttir and director Joel Ivany spent studying
footage of Monroe was evident in those scenes where we saw her
being the "public" Marilyn: the body language and that
extraordinary breathy singing voice were almost eerily
accurate. And the impact of Marilyn's charisma channelled via
Pálsdóttir's was quite breathtaking.
Eivør Pálsdóttir as Marilyn
As The Men in her life, Thomas Sandberg (who, on the evidence of
his performance in Aventa's last foray into opera, also has
charisma enough to spare) had the difficult task of portraying a
number of different characters - a Rehearsal Director, several
unnamed manager-wannabes and Arthur Miller himself. In this he
was largely successful and I was particularly impressed by the
nicely varied degrees of sleaze he brought to those who would
exploit Marilyn, as well as the more refined, intellectual Miller.
The only other rôles are those of two members of The
Tritones, played by Andrew Erasmus and Paul Boughen. The pair's
onstage duties were not limited to vocalising, which both did
admirably, they also served as visible stage hands, moving
furniture and, perhaps most significantly, switching on the tape
recorder at the edge of the set in the opening prologue and
switching it off again at the close. Even in her most private
moments Marilyn was under observation.
Although an onstage band is not exactly unprecedented in opera,
a jazz trio is most unusual and this led to a moment perhaps
unique in the genre: although the curtain rises on the prostrate
form of Marilyn, the trio enters almost immediately; I cannot
think of another opera in which the first performer to walk onto
the stage is the composer himself.
The trio of Bryars, Anthony Genge and Phil Dwyer played
beautifully; Dwyer in particular (whose playing was one of the
highlights of Aventa's Banff recording of The Sinking of the
Titanic) seeming to summon up the greats of the 1950s and
early 60s.
Bill Linwood and the Aventa Ensemble, consisting in this
instance of winds, string quartet, piano and percussion -
although, in typical Bryars fashion, all of the instruments
tended towards the lower end of their range and the string
quartet consisted of two violas, cello and doublebass - provided
excellent support for the onstage performers. Linwood, as we
have come to expect, directing an immaculately-paced performance
of no little subtlety or depth.
Camellia Koo's simple yet elegant set evoked a soundstage
of the mid-twentieth century and was most effectively lit by
Kevin Lamotte.
This was a superb achievement by all concerned. I would not have
missed it for the world.
Aventa Ensemble: Mieka Michaux, Müge
Büyükçelen, violas; Alasdair Money, cello;
Darren Buhr, doublebass; AK Coope, clarinet, bass clarinet;
Jennifer Gunter, bassoon; Darnell Linwood, horn; Corey Rae,
percussion; Tzenka Dianova, piano.
Music by Gavin Bryars
Libretto by Marilyn Bowering
Eivør Pálsdóttir: Marilyn
Thomas Sandberg: The Men
Andrew Erasmus, Paul Boughen: The Tritones
Phil Dwyer, tenor sax; Anthony Genge, piano; Gavin Bryars, doublebass: The Jazz Trio
Bill Linwood: conductor
Joel Ivany: stage director
Kevin Lamotte: lighting designer
Camellia Koo: set and costume designer
September 13, 2013
By Deryk Barker
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