Preview: KAVALIER & CLAY Brings Three Sound Worlds to Met Season-Opener

The forces behind the Met’s latest try at bringing a different (sic: younger) audience to the house, THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY, joined forces at the Guggenheim’s Works & Process series last week to introduce the new work to a receptive crowd.

It’s the story of two Jewish cousins who team up in Brooklyn to create a comic book superhero, called the Escapist, to fight Hitler and the forces of fascism, “a story that unfortunately has extra resonance right now,” according to Met General Manager Peter Gelb. It brings three sound worlds--traditional, swing and electronica--to the Met’s season-opener.

On this rare occasion when opera writers are “actually alive” (said Gelb) the panel took advantage of their presence to grill them about the creation of the work, which encompasses a variety of story and musical styles.

KAVALIER & CLAY was written by composer Mason Bates, who previously managed to turn the creation of the iPhone into a Grammy-winning opera, THE (R)EVOLUTION OF STEVE JOBS (with Mark Campbell). Judging by the musical excerpts delivered by the expert cast, history could repeat itself with the new piece.

His librettist is Gene Scheer—who did similar work with last year’s thrilling Jake Heggie MOBY-DICK opera--somehow wrestled Michael Chabon’s massive (and massively popular) 700-page Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel into a digestible size for an opera.

Along with those who supplied the words and music, there was the director, Bart Sher; the company’s Music Director, Yannick Nezet- Seguin; and General Manager, Peter Gelb, plus some members of the cast whose names might not be familiar now, but certainly will be after the premiere: baritone Andrzej Filonczyk, tenor Miles Mykkanen and mezzo Sun-ly Pierce.

Will KAVALIER & CLAY become the elusive hit the Met has been looking for? Perhaps we’ll know after its premiere on September 21, which will kick off a quite varied season.

These include contemporary works (including Kaija Saariaho’s INNOCENCE and Gabriela Lena Frank’s piece about Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, EL ULTIMO SUENO DE FRIDA Y DIEGO) and other new productions (I PURITANI with Lisette Oropesa, LA SONNAMBULA with Nadine Sierra and TRISTAN UND ISOLDE with Lise Davidsen).

Then there are the usual warhorses (TURANDOT, LA TRAVIATA, LA BOHEME, PORGY & BESS, THE MAGIC FLUTE, among them), some lesser known works (ANDREA CHENIER, ARABELLA), and those that fall in between, including EUGENE ONEGIN (with the always interesting soprano Asmik Grigorian).

Photo: Evan Zimmerman/Met Opera

There will be seven performances of the new opera at the Met, September 21-October 11. For more information and tickets see the Met's website.