MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL—When I told friends and family members that I going to visit Minnesota for a weekend vacation in January, their inevitable response was something along the lines of "Why on earth are going somewhere even colder than Chicago?"
But I had my reasons, as a die-hard opera and theater buff. Top of the list was to see Minnesota Opera's world-premiere opera Doubt. It intriguingly features a score by multi-disciplined composer Douglas J. Cuomo (Sex and the City, Kyrie) and a libretto by John Patrick Shanley based upon his own 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning play and his five-time Academy Award-nominated 2008 film of the same name.
I also wanted to finally visit Minneapolis' two Tony Award-winning regional theaters: the Guthrie Theater and Children's Theatre Company.
Voicing 'Doubt'
The latest iteration of Doubt sees the original drama's emotions elevated to a higher plane now that practically everything is sung and underscored. Cuomo's music adds extra layers of unease and unexpected beauty to this multi-faceted parable about a stern Catholic School nun who relentlessly pursues her suspicion that the popular and reforming new Parrish priest is sexually abusing the school's first African American student.
While opera fanatics stuck in the 19th century will likely bemoan the score's lack of hummable extractable arias, the orchestral colors Cuomo creates are certainly melodically tonal and all expertly support Shanley's gripping dialogue and many droll observations.
Like his opened-up film version of Doubt, Shanley uses the grand resources of an opera company to give voice to many other congregation members shown living in the Bronx circa 1964. This expansion gives a bigger picture of a whole community than Shanley's four-character play, though it's unlikely that the opera of Doubt will entirely supersede his compact original.
But in terms of creating an work that speaks to grander ideas of certitude and belief (not to mention feeling timely due to the Catholic Church's many sex-abuse scandals), Doubt gives opera audiences an dramatically engrossing work that gives them plenty to contemplate.
Director Kevin Newbury deserves kudos for helming a superlative production that fleetly moves through multiple locations via Robert Brill's chilly sets, while conductor Christopher Franklin led a polished performance of the new score.
The singers cast were also extremely strong, led by the formidable soprano Christine Brewer as the crusading nun Sister Aloysius and the handsomely affable Matthew Worth as Father Brendan Flynn (who privately acknowledges an unspecified transgression early on in this version).
Offering extra dramatic support are two mezzo-sopranos: Adriana Zabala the kindly teacher Sister James who gets draw into the web of suspicion, and Denyce Graves as the mother who gives a surprising revelation to Sister Aloysius about her son.
Minnesota Opera's Doubt continues through Sunday, Feb. 3, at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, 345 Washington St., St. Paul. Remaining performances are at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 31, Feb. 2 and 2 p.m. Feb. 3. Tickets are $20-$200. Call 612-333-6669 or visit www.mnopera.org .
A winning theater scene
Six years ago, Chicago and Minneapolis were running neck and neck when it came to the number of homegrown companies honored with the Regional Theatre Tony Award. Both cities had three apiece: Chicago was represented by Steppenwolf, Goodman and Victory Gardens while Minneapolis had the Guthrie, Children's Theatre Company and Theatre de la Jeune Lune.
But Chicago pulled ahead when Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Lookingglass Theatre Company respectively notched up regional Tony honors in 2008 and 2011. Minneapolis fell further behind when Theatre de la Jeune Lune disbanded three years after its Tony win.
Yet Minneapolis still has plenty to boast about theatrically. The Guthrie Theater is the envy of the theater world with its amazing 2006 three-theater complex designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel. And Children's Theatre Company is generally regarded as the nation's respected American theater for young audiences with a proven track record of creating durable works like A Year With Frog and Toad and Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical.
Both theaters were presenting debuts during my recent visit: the Guthrie was performing its first production of Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Long Day's Journey Into Night on its famed thrust stage, while Children's Theatre Company served up a simple, but wildly imaginative world premiere adaptation of Carlo Collodi's classic book Pinocchio by veteran playwright/director Greg Banks.
Of the two, Pinocchio impressed the most. The unleashed imagination was simple, yet magical as a company of four actors (Dean Holt, Maggie Chestovich, Elize Langer and Adam Qualls) and musician Victor Zupanc depicted a crew of scenic painters who unexpectedly find themselves in front of an audience. Using everyday work items from paint brushes to drop cloths, this quintet proceed to tell their on-the-spot version of Pinocchio with enough energetic verve and panache to keep the attention of any squirmy kid.
As for the Guthrie's Long Day's Journey Into Night, the production sadly didn't fully satisfy. The company of actors under director Joe Dowling didn't fully get under the skin of their contradictory and substance-addled characters. Without a top-notch cast, Long Day's Journey Into Night can become a resigned slog of familial disillusionment and recrimination.
At least the Guthrie production values for this O'Neill classic were all top-notch, and the theater's building itself warrants repeated visits just to take in the full scope of its sleek modern beauty near the banks of the Mississippi River. Minnesota may be numbingly frigid in winter, but its current cultural scene is certainly hot.
Pinocchio continues through Feb. 24 at Children's Theatre Company, 2400 Third Ave., Minneapolis. Tickets are $10-$56. Call 612-874-0400 or visit www.childrenstheatre.org .
Long Day's Journey Into Night continues through Feb. 23 at the Guthrie Theater, 818 S. 2nd St., Minneapolis. Tickets are $29-$71. Call 612-377-2224 or visit www.guthrietheater.org .
