Authors: John Adams & Alice Goodman
At: Chicago Opera Theater at Harris Theater
Phone: ( 312 ) 704-8414; $35-$115
Runs through: May 27 only
By Jonathan Abarbanel
An opening night glitch KO'd the supertitles, leaving the text ( sung in English ) often unintelligible, despite skillful and subtle amplification. Nonetheless, Chicago Opera Theater's long-awaited regional premiere of John Adams' and Alice Goodman's Nixon in China is a superb gift, a confirmation of the living arts.
Even without words, the deeply satiric and richly comic tone of much of Nixon in China is abundantly clear, so one wanted to discern the pointed barbs, the political mumbo-jumbo and flights of fancy as Goodman's libretto conveyed both the public pronouncements and private thoughts of the chief characters, Richard and Pat Nixon; Mao Zedong and Jiang Jing ( who Goodman calls Mao Tse-Tung and Chiang Ch'ing ) ; and Chou En-lai and Henry Kissinger.
Based on Nixon's door-opening 1972 visit to China, and premiering in 1987 when the Nixons still were alive, it's about current events, which is rare among operas. Part docu-opera, Nixon in China screens footage of the actual visit on a dozen TV monitors even as the staging mythologizes events. But mythology easily tops fact in a work which offers history in dream-like distortions, from the cadaverous make-ups of the principal characters to the fact that Mao and Richard Nixon—Yangtze Swimmer and Tricky Dick—were living self-parodies by 1972. Adams and Goodman utilize this perspective with brilliant and brutal hindsight.
Goodman's libretto could support any number of musical treatments, but John Adams' infinitely diverse score seems heaven-sent. Don't be put off by its minimalist label. As rendered here, musical minimalism consists largely of repeated chords and rhythmic vamps by sections of the orchestra ( strings and woodwinds notably ) , over which Adams layers stunning vocal lines. All the while, solo orchestral details—double pianos, harp, oboe and muted trumpet—provide nuance, lush texture and variety.
Even more, Adams cavorts with out-and-out romanticism, or splendid satire thereof, in the Chinese ballet featured in Act II, Scene 2. Here he writes in an entirely traditional manner—a la ballets in Verdi, Rossini or Meyerbeer—even down to the ultimate in 19th-century orchestral showmanship, a storm sequence. If that's minimalism, so's my nose.
The production is delightfully and artfully realized by directors James Robinson and Kevin Newbury against the bold Chinese red scenic design of Allen Moyer. It correctly avoids yellowface make-up for non-Asians. Conductor Alexander Platt extracts every spell-weaving detail from Adams' complex score and leads the instrumental and vocal ensembles with precision and fulsomeness.
Above all, high honors go to the cast. Almost too graceful for Nixon, superb acting singer Robert Orth returns in triumph to Chicago Opera Theater. As Pat Nixon, Maria Kanyova offers her clear and feeling mezzo. Mark Duffin and Kathleen Kim are Mao and Chiang Ch'ing, Chen-Ye Yuan is the sincere Chou and Kyle Albertson is crafty Kissinger, all of them dramatically and vocally well-suited.
