FULL THE CONSUL (Menotti) Shreveport LA 2019 Spotlight on Opera
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: The Consul
- Composer: Menotti Gian Carlo
- Libretto: Gian Carlo Menotti Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Anderson Auditorium Hurley School of Music at Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport, Louisiana
- Recorded: July 21, 2019
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Jaimie Lowe, Jeremiah Drake, Sarah Beegle, Connie New, Kyle Chastulik, Josh Vavases, Devon Bain, Jada Foster, Elyn Green, Nina Anderson
- Conductor: Kristin Roach
- Orchestra: David Hill, William Reber, PIANO
- Stage Director: Cindy Sadler
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Spotlight on Opera
- Date Published: 2019
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 3 Audio:3
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
The Consul is an opera in three acts with music and libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, his first full-length opera.
Its first performance was on March 1, 1950, at the Shubert Theatre in Philadelphia with Patricia Neway as the lead heroine Magda Sorel, Gloria Lane as the secretary of the consulate, Marie Powers as the mother, and Andrew McKinley as the magician Nika Magadoff. The opera opened two weeks later (March 15, 1950) at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City where it enjoyed a run of nearly eight months (269 performances). It was initially conducted by Lehman Engel who was substituted by Thomas Schippers for nearly eight months until the last performance on November 4, 1950.
Synopsis
Place: An unidentified European totalitarian country.
Act 1
Scene 1
The political dissident John Sorel is on the run from the secret police. At his home, his wife Magda and his mother hide him. The police arrive and search, but cannot find him. John says that he will escape to the border, and tells Magda to go to the consul and apply for a visa to leave the country. He will wait to cross the border until his wife, mother and child are safe.
Scene 2: The consul’s office
Many people are waiting to obtain visas. Magda applies and joins the crowd, but the secretary cannot promise anything. Much specific paperwork is needed, and obtaining a visa is a long process. The same people wait at the consul’s office day after day without approval of a visa.
Act 2
Scene 1
The child is ill, and John’s mother sings to comfort the child. The police try to extract information from Magda on her husband’s compatriots, but she refuses. A message then arrives from John urging Magda to hurry with the visa.
Scene 2: The consulate
Magda is desperate to see the consul. A magician, waiting for a visa, attempts to impress the secretary by performing magic tricks and hypnotizing the rest of the room into believing they are at a ball, but he only ends up frightening her. Magda, after repeated visits, erupts in an anguished rant at the secretary, who says that she may see the consul once an “important visitor” has finished his business. This visitor proves to be the chief of police and Magda flees in terror.
Act 3
Scene 1
Magda’s child and mother-in-law have died. At the consul’s office, Magda learns that John is planning to risk his life and return for her. A wealthy woman arrives and is immediately given a visa. Magda thinks of suicide to try to protect John, and leaves the consulate. As the office is about to shut down for the day, John suddenly arrives, but with the police in pursuit. The police capture John, and the secretary gets on the phone to try to contact Magda.
Scene 2
Despondent, and with visions of her past crowding her mind, Magda turns on the gas in the oven to kill herself. Her telephone then rings, the secretary trying in vain to contact her.
Quoted from Wikipedia