At last night’s Raking Through Books event, Michael Korie and Ricky Ian Gordon had me completely convinced that they had done the right thing in adapting Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath to the operatic form. “This is an opera in the way that Porgy and Bess is an opera,” said Korie. And I became giddy just as soon as he said that, for I had feared a sparse, minimalist score would represent the Dust Bowl. But instead we’ll get a little stride piano, a little banjo, and a lot of Americana and persevering spirit. In fact, the opera is set to open on a positive note: The blue-green memory of the last rainfall. From thereon in, it follows the Joad family’s narrative arc with a bit of Steinbeck’s set pieces (i.e., entire chapters dedicated to explaining what was happening throughout the Dust Bowl) tossed in via a large chorus.
Another thing that impressed me: Korie acknowledged the awkwardness of doing an opera on this subject–“$100 a ticket to see an opera about poor people.” But when he explained that Steinbeck’s book had rocked America, and he wanted audiences to be similarly rocked, my internal alarm went off and I wondered whether this is going to a heavy-handed opera.
But Gordon’s playing, and his all-around dynamic spirit and attitude toward music, is another of those blue-green’s on the horizon. My hunch is that this will be a good’un.
Finally, when I read Grapes of Wrath, back in high school, I remember being absolutely revolted by the disgusting way it ended. (SPOILER ALERT: Here, I refer to the breast-feeding scene.) But now that I’m grownup, and have heard Korie and Gordon’s take on this being the ultimate act of generosity, a gift given by someone who literally had nothing left to give (not even hope), I’m eager to read the book again (which I vow to do before seeing the opera) to experience the story anew. In any case, my roundabout point here is that since there’s not much happening today, I suggest focusing some energy on ticket-procurement. It would make very little sense to blurb about the opera on the day of a show–they’ve had record sales and sold-out performances for many years now, and last-minute tickets can be hard to come by–so this is likely to be the last time you’ll hear about it from the likes of me.
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