By: John Adams ( composer ) , Peter Sellars ( librettist ) . At: Lyric Opera of Chicago, Civic Opera House. Phone: 312-332-2244; $31-$187. Runs through: Jan. 19 ( in repertory )
John Adams' rich, varied and complex score for Doctor Atomic cuts a wide swath through the harmonies and rhythms of both contemporary and traditional music. Firmly diatonic, it's frequently elegiac in tone and occasionally tuneful in the popular sense, especially when Peter Sellars' libretto quotes John Donne, Baudelaire and the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita. Adams most assuredly has moved beyond his attachment to minimalism.
But musical riches and poetry alone do not good opera make. Doctor Atomic lacks story, character development and dramatic conflict beyond a superficial level. All's the more pity as Doctor Atomic is the first major American opera of the 21st century, given the international stature of its creators and three co-producing companies ( Lyric Opera is one ) .
Sellars has directed scores of plays and operas, yet ignores basic dramatic structure and storytelling. Audiences aren't mind-readers: They must be told who the characters are, their relationships and what's at stake. Yet, several of the 10 singing characters listed in the program aren't identified by name onstage, the characters are obvious symbols ( especially the few women ) , most personal relationships remain sketchy and everyone's the same at the end as at the beginning.
Except they aren't, for Doctor Atomic is about the birth of the atomic age in the New Mexico desert in 1945 late in World War II. With the detonation of 'The Gadget,' the first A-bomb, the world was profoundly and permanently altered—physically, scientifically, militarily and socially—although the world didn't know it. Only those involved in the Manhattan Project knew about the test and understood its implications. Led by civilian physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and Gen. Leslie Groves ( both lead roles in the opera ) , project cohorts fiercely debated moral responsibilities vs. politics and the ambitions of pure science. The spiritual and scientific dilemmas of creating the A-bomb have been treated in scores of books, films and plays making one question the need for an opera. One recent play, The Lovesong of J. Robert Oppenheimer, covers the same turf as Doctor Atomic in deeper, more dramatic and more succinct fashion.
Sellars' patchy libretto, drawn entirely from existing literary and archival sources, makes Doctor Atomic impressionistic ( vs. a story ) . It skips abruptly from naturalistic small talk to scientific chatter then on to poetry as a stand-in for longing or soul-searching. The finest impressions suggest multiple meanings, for example a Native American lullaby about cloud flowers. But, at nearly three and a half hours, Doctor Atomic is too long to succeed on impressions. It's stretched with thematic and verbal repetitions and lengthy instrumental passages, but lacks true physical action. Instead, Sellars ( doubling as stage director ) has filled it with deliberate pageant-like movements for the singers and charmingly insignificant dance segments ( Lucinda Childs, choreographer ) . Cut an hour and simplify the staging and Doctor Atomic might be an effective dramatic cantata.
The singing actors are admirable, especially baritone Gerald Finley ( Oppenheimer ) , bass Richard Paul Fink ( Edward Teller ) , baritone James Maddalena ( harried weather officer Hubbard ) and mezzo Jessica Rivera ( Kitty Oppenheimer ) . Conductor Robert Spano makes the Lyric Opera orchestra sound as if born to play 21st-century music and, as always, the Lyric chorus shines.
Despite my reservations about Doctor Atomic, it represents the long-standing, important and commendable commitment of Lyric Opera to contemporary work. Lyric is cultivating new audiences for such work and has educated old audiences, and the results are palpable at every Doctor Atomic performance.