Expert Analysis
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
While it’s usual for most theater seasons to include both some new and classic Jewish plays, musical works with Jewish connections are programmed less often, aside from revivals of “Fiddler on the Roof,” or the occasional performance of symphonic repertory like Leonard Bernstein’s “Jeremiah.”
But that’s not the case during the next nine months, when music lovers will have the opportunity to experience at least one premiere, as well as an opera which is rarely presented onstage, which have connections to Jewish culture and history. The Metropolitan Opera’s opening night in September will mark the debut of an opera which this summer has received a lot of exposure in the press and social media; it is hoped that its subject matter will introduce and attract a younger audience to its seats. But for all its newness, the opera is a musical treatment of an historic event, similar to many standard repertory operas from all centuries, and will contain little to invite the kind of controversy that would impede ticket sales.
Produced in collaboration with Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,” by composer Mason Bates and librettist Gene Scheer promises to be a visual tour de force, with superstar director Bartlett Sher heading the production team, which includes those responsible for the visuals, real and projected sets designed by Studio 59.
Josef Kavalier, a refugee, and Sammy Clay are Jewish cousins brought together on the eve of World War II, who are both engrossed in the worlds of art, fantasy and magic. Joining forces, they rise to the top, creating a series of comics and radio shows that glorify the exploits of a Nazi-fighting superhero, The Escapist.
It’s easy to see that The Escapist himself is sourced in the familiar: Superman, Houdini and even the Golem, the strongman of Jewish folklore created to save the Jews. Sher envisions the onstage action as simultaneously taking place in three locations, in which a jazzy, neon Manhattan contrasts with the bleak nightmare world of occupied Prague, but which also includes the Escapist’s graphic boldly colored environment. Like the Batman comics, The Escapist’s heroic deeds are punctuated by signage conveying onomatopoeic, visceral noises like “Zap” and “Bam.”
This long ago story extends into our own times, with messaging on au currant topics like the history of the Holocaust and World War II, as well as issues relating to homosexuality, but certainly takes its primary inspiration from the careers of the Jewish artists and writers connected with the invention, development and iconography of the comic book, which occurred at about the same time as the opera does.
Bates is an established composer of orchestral, dance and film music whose score for “Kavalier & Clay” is characterized as a blend of both electronic and traditional melodic elements, with a dash of Jewish liturgical chant and a fragment of a melody from a Czech Holocaust song, added to give the opera its ethnic grounding.
For those who want to learn more, the Met has announced that it will be presenting public programs at the city’s synagogues and Jewish centers, and its website will feature two livestreamed performances during the run, so the opera can be experienced by people worldwide.
The Silver Lake
Chances are that younger devotees of the modern Jewish composer Kurt Weill (1900-1950) have probably never seen “Der Silbersee: ein Wintermärchen” (The Silver Lake: A Winter’s Fairy Tale) onstage; it’s a music theater piece that is hard to categorize, but usually described as a play with music, with story, dialogue and lyrics by the expressionist poet Georg Kaiser. Banned by the Nazis as “degenerate” weeks after its 1933 premiere with Lotte Lenya, Weill’s wife, in Leipzig, it was the last work Weill wrote before he left Europe.
Chicago Opera Theater has included “Der Silbersee” as part of its spring repertory, making it the first time the opera has been seen in the United States since New York City Opera mounted a truly magical adaptation in 1980 starring Joel Grey.
As its name suggests, “Silver Lake” is told as a fable out of the Brothers Grimm, which repeats the lessons about the evils of capitalism that Weill and his other collaborator, Bertold Brecht, convey in their still popular musicals, the often-revived “Die Dreigroschenoper” (The Threepenny Opera) and “The Happy End,” but without their sardonic humor. Despite its operatic qualities, “Silver Sea’s” lush score, sensuously infused with Weimar-era foxtrots, tangos and ballads, possess the qualities that make Weill’s music so attractive and compelling. For the many who are moved by this music, going to Chicago to attend a performance of “The Silver Lake” will be well worth it.
Cheryl Kempler is an art and music specialist who works in the B’nai B’rith International Curatorial Office and writes about history and Jewish culture for B’nai B’rith Magazine. To view some of her additional content, click here.