In September, the Metropolitan Opera The Bizarre Adventures of Cavalier and Clay. Adapted from the novel by Michael Chabon, with music by Mason Bates, production by Bartlett Sher, and screenplay by Gene Scheer. A few weeks before the opening, The Observer visited early technical rehearsals to observe Bartlett Sher in action.
“Noise! Noise!” Scheer yelled from the stage The Bizarre Adventures of Cavalier and Clay A complex party scene was rehearsed with a huge cast. Unusually for a long technical rehearsal, the energy on stage was buzzing between drills. Performers jumped from one foot to the other, stretching and practicing stage fights and falls. They await the arrival of the show’s impressive but moody new “iris” system (a curtain technology that opens and closes around square “eyes”).
Bartlett Sher left his lunch at the director’s table and kept moving. He moved around the stage like a party host, making quips, laughing, and answering questions. Chatting with Edward Nelson, who plays the operatic Tracy Bacon, they practiced balancing moves, each demonstrating a different way of holding their bodies.
A native Californian who speaks with a slight uptick—his voice rises like an invitation at the end of a sentence—Shell’s conversational pattern conveys a desire to connect with the person he’s talking to. Scheer, who describes himself as an “interpretive artist,” told the Observer that he sees his gift as “being able to organize and bring together multiple perspectives.” His approach to coaching is exploratory rather than single-minded. “I’m leading exploration, I’m guiding us, I’m helping make choices that bring out the best in everyone’s work rather than thinking about my vision coming to fruition.”
This penchant for weaving disparate threads together seems a natural fit for bringing a story as epic as this to the Met stage The Bizarre Adventures of Cavalier and Clay. Chabon’s novel tells the story of two Jewish cousins: Czech artist and magician Joe Cavalier and Brooklyn-born writer Sam Clay. Joe fled Nazi-occupied Prague and came to Brooklyn as a refugee after being separated from his beloved brother (who became sister Sarah in the opera). cousins create together escapista comic book about superheroes fighting fascism through Houdini-esque escape techniques. This book is loosely based on the life of Jack Kirby, who was captain america. It covers a wide range of political themes that remain relevant to our times, including fascism, homophobia and anti-Semitism.
The opera, he said, compresses Chabon’s story into the lives of the main characters and their relationships, all set against the backdrop of World War II and the Holocaust. The work incorporates themes of the place of art in turbulent times in history.
“It was essentially Chabon’s own obsession with how much art can help you understand or change your life,” Schell explains. “Joe Cavalier reads comic books in order to process his pain and perhaps transform his pain. Whether that works is a fascinating question. Whether art can actually help you deal with these issues becomes a major obsession of the book.”
The place of art in politics and the place of politics in art runs through Schell’s career as a director. He often looked to director Barbara Ehrenreich’s dramatization of the 2001 book for politically charged material Nickel plating and nickel platingabout not being able to survive on a minimum wage job in America, to a politically sensitive revival south pacific, king and me and My Fair Ladya 2018 adaptation by Aaron Sorkin to kill a mockingbird.
“I think theater is a catalyst for change,” Schell said. “I don’t think theater work is made to tell people how to change. We tell stories to express people’s ability to deal with ambiguity, deal with problems, see conflict and make decisions.”
The Bizarre Adventures of Cavalier and Clay Treat politics with gentle cajoling. Gene Schell’s script tells a simple story about some relationships in wartime New York and Europe. The epic scope of Chabon’s novel is conveyed visually. Its density and richness are reflected in the opera’s textured and intricate set design. Layered screen irises move in and out, 59 Studio’s designs projected onto them. Towering above the viewer is an image of the sombre black splendor of medieval New York. We see comic book superheroes glowing in primary colors, or animated in elegant looping compositions. Grayscale images of Nazi death camps haunt the background like a nightmare, reminiscent of the work of Art Spiegelman Rats.
As a director, Sher uses the entire stage with all its dimensions and angles in a cinematic, dramatic way. A large number of characters frequently appear on stage, appearing in groups during parties, battles, and crowd scenes. Superheroes can even fly on wires. But it’s all delivered with a soft elegance that’s never demanding, always inviting. Sher’s contribution Cavalier and Clay is conversational: the emotional structure of the work is pliable. He doesn’t tell you how to feel or think.
Schell’s ever-changing, multi-perspective approach is ideal for our own overwhelming, anxious, and information-heavy moments. It deviates from the definition of ideology. “The theme of a creeping fascism and the struggle against art, against political thought, against who we have become is really critical right now, but also very elusive and hard to figure out how to express yourself.”
On opening night at the Metropolitan Opera, the political charge of our new normal seeped into the opera house. Peter Gelb and Sen. Chuck Schumer gave speeches about the importance of free speech — the former drew cheers and the latter was booed and heckled by frustrated voters. Even in these historical circumstances, operating independently of politics now seems impossible.
“I try to believe that great stories come to you when you need them most,” Sher concluded. “I think we’re lucky Cavalier and Clay Come to us at this time. “
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