At the center of the opera are three ballads, which the keepers sing to keep their boredom and their private terrors (in the form of the malignant Beast — think Curse of the Demon) at bay. The knotty vocal line suddenly becomes simpler, with actual, memorably parodic tunes. Blazes sings a kind of chanty about the murder of the old lady, accompanied by banjo (Aaron Larget-Caplan) and fiddle (Sandra Kott). Sandy sings an Edwardian parlor ballad to an out-of-tune upright piano (Allen Perriello) and gluey cello (Alexei Gonzales), which turns into a ribald trio (the off-color sexual puns are the words I most regret missing). And Arthur sings a dissonant, increasingly demented Salvation Army song to a tambourine (Dean Anderson, who also played in the 1983 production) and nasty trumpet (Jesse Levine). Scratchy tam-tam, pounding drum, and flashing red lights bring the opera to its terrifying climax.
This is one of the most adventurous and viscerally charged productions the BLO has ever given us. It’s almost more what we might have expected from the late Opera Boston (BLO’s production, of course, was planned long before that company’s unfortunate demise). Wouldn’t it be wonderful if BLO continues on that path of true daring?
The Lighthouse continues through this Sunday, February 12.
Related:
BLO’s Barber of Seville; plus Eschenbach leads the BSO, Boston Baroque’s Mozart, and the Yiddish songs of Lazar Weiner, Emmanuel’s late Mozart, NEC’s early Britten, BSO guest conductors, and Boston Lyric Opera’s The Inspector, Boston Lyric Opera's Madama Butterfly, More 
- BLO’s Barber of Seville; plus Eschenbach leads the BSO, Boston Baroque’s Mozart, and the Yiddish songs of Lazar Weiner
In his program note for the Boston Lyric Opera production of Rossini's effervescent The Barber of Seville (Shubert Theatre, through March 18), music director David Angus asks us to listen extra carefully to this irresistible score, however familiar it may be.
- Emmanuel’s late Mozart, NEC’s early Britten, BSO guest conductors, and Boston Lyric Opera’s The Inspector
By an odd coincidence, two recent events included two of Boston's best-loved singers in non-singing roles, artists who've been teamed in some of Boston's most memorable opera productions: baritone James Maddalena and soprano Susan Larson, essential members of the great Peter Sellars/Craig Smith stock company.
- Boston Lyric Opera's Madama Butterfly
"Were you bored?" I overheard a woman walking up the aisle say to her companion. "No," he answered, "I loved it." "Are you sure?" she replied.
- SLIDESHOW: Boston Lyric Opera's Madama Butterfly
- Review: ''Clemency,'' Boston Lyric Opera's new commission
Intrepid patrons braved ice and slush and Boston's parking ban for the North American premiere of Scottish composer James MacMillan's Clemency (co-commissioned by BLO).
- What exactly is the opera experience?
"There's this completely wrong stereotype about opera," says Roxanna Myhrum of the Boston Opera Collaborative.
- Contertizing
Boston Lyric Opera follows up Dvorák’s moonstruck Rusalka, with Christopher Schaldebrand in the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the BSO and much more.
- Mad love
The destructive power of jealousy makes a good subject for opera.
- Slideshow: BLO's Rusalka
Photos of the Boston Lyric Opera's Rusalka at the Shubert Theatre
- A little history
Two of Boston's most admired and honored composers (both Pulitzer winners) have just celebrated landmark birthdays: Yehudi Wyner his 80th and John Harbison his 70th.
- Slideshow: Don Giovanni at Boston Lyric Opera
Boston Lyric Opera presents Don Giovanni
- Less
Topics:
Classical
, Peter Maxwell Davies, boston lyric opera, The Lighthouse
