Review: AKHNATEN at Los Angeles Opera
Under Dalia Stasevska’s assured baton, LA Opera’s Akhnaten conjures a hypnotic, haunting rendition of Philip Glass’ serpentine score
Under Dalia Stasevska’s assured baton, LA Opera’s Akhnaten conjures a hypnotic, haunting rendition of Philip Glass’ serpentine score. As with many of Glass’ compositions, it is easy to dismiss the redundancies in the music as ‘soothing’ or ‘meditative’, but with Akhnaten, Glass feels to be in direct conversation with grand opera, layering bold bass and baritone incantations from the chorus over triangulations of notes played nearly ad nauseam on violas to evoke something of the mystery that shrouds ancient Egypt in western culture while honoring the visceral humanity of the characters within the story. Certainly, the story of the rise and fall of a controversial monarch who aligned himself with a new form of religion would be handled differently by Wagner or Puccini, but something about Glass’ avant garde use of instrumentation and inventive structuring feels appropriate for a figure grappling with ideas of monotheism.
In the titular role, John Holiday commands the space with a sanguine air of nobility. Especially in their Act II duet, Holiday and Sun-Ly Pierce (as Nefertiti) provide vocals that flirt with becoming instrumentation. It seems that the strings section becomes a third voice in the duet, and evocations of the number three— which abound in the score and imagery of the production— are instantly called to mind. When joined by So Young Park as Queen Tye, the trio of voices seems equally formidable as it is enchanting, reprised in a fittingly-stirring epilogue. Holiday’s Hymn in Act II is a memorable highlight of the piece. Somehow, Zachary James, who reprises his speaking role of Amenhotep III, gives one of the most stirring performances of the evening as he elevates the narration of the piece to a level of poetry befitting a ritual of great importance.
Phelim McDermott’s production is packed full of powerful spectacle. It is at its most successful when Sean Gandini and his troupe of jugglers (Gandini Juggling, Inc.) are onstage perfectly encapsulating in a physical sense the circuitous nature of the score. Whether performing intricate patterns to evoke an ancient prayer or tossing pins to simulate the attack of a temple, the juggling is certainly an apt companion to the elusive melodies. Between the juggling, McDermott’s staging sometimes suffers. It is likely that no one will ever visually interpret a piece by Glass as successfully as Robert Wilson did in Einstein on the Beach. Though McDermott has nailed many impactful visual moments, they are framed in a lot of lackluster nonsense. None of the ritualistic actions undertaken by the performers ever seem to hold the necessary heft for the matter at hand, and the design is overall a bit goofier than it gives itself credit for being. There is a level of playfulness in the incorporation of baby dolls’ heads, eggs, and animal sculptures that always feels at odds with the self-importance of the delivery. The textures feel like they are printed onto lycra rather than crafted onto the sets and the chorus, and this feels like the perfect visual metaphor for a production that touches upon the deep humanity at its core without diving under the surface to really explore it. That said, Akhnaten is certainly an opera well-worth seeing and certain to be unlike anything offered on LA’s stages this season.
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