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<\/p>\nOpera is just another form of linear storytelling onstage, combining elements of theater and music.<\/p>\n
Opera Tampa, the resident company at Tampa\u2019s Straz Center for the Performing Arts, will tell a multi-layered story Jan. 30 and Feb. 1 that adds psychological depth, a few shocks and frights and the unique allure of pop culture to the opera stew: It\u2019s The Shining, an adaptation of the bestselling novel by Stephen King. With music performed by The Florida Orchestra.<\/p>\n
With New York baritone Robert Wesley Mason as well-meaning alcoholic Jack Torrance, in his fourth career production of the opera, and Tampa Bay soprano Susan Hellman Spatafora as his wife Wendy, Opera Tampa will turn Ferguson Hall into the scenic, snowy, scary Overlook Hotel.<\/p>\n
Where things don\u2019t go so well for the Torrances and their clairvoyant young son.<\/p>\n
While director Stanley Kubrick\u2019s 1980 movie version played up the \u201chorror\u201d aspects of Jack\u2019s paranoia and eventual madness, the opera \u2013 from composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell \u2013 aligns more closely to King\u2019s book.<\/p>\n
The Catalyst spoke with Moravec, winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for music for his chamber work \u201cTempest Fantasy,\u201d about the inspiration and construction of The Shining, its initial reception by the public, and more.<\/p>\n
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St. Pete Catalyst: Both you and Mark have commented that your opera is based on the book and not the movie adaptation.<\/p>\n
Paul Moravec: There are substantive differences. The Kubrick film\u2019s brilliant, but it\u2019s not what Stephen King wrote, and it\u2019s an icy, cold, really cynical kind of movie. Which is basically Kubrick\u2019s vibe, generally. The book is warm. In many ways, it\u2019s a love story. It\u2019s about love.<\/p>\n
I think of operas as having at least three major elements: Love, death and power. And by power I mean people struggling with each other, who\u2019s getting what they want, who isn\u2019t, etcetera,\u00a0 etcetera. And that\u2019s where the drama very often comes from. And in that respect The Shining is operatic, because all three of those elements are in the book, on steroids. It\u2019s a very powerful, very compelling, very dramatic story.<\/p>\n
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In other words, the film took a very different approach to the story.<\/p>\n
Exactly. You see Jack Nicholson arching his eyebrows at the beginning, right? And you think, he\u2019s nuts, he\u2019s crazy. And there\u2019s nowhere to go. There\u2019s no character arc to follow.<\/p>\n
I read somewhere that Mr. King originally wanted Jon Voight to play that role. He has that kind of bland face that you can do anything with. You start out with a face like that, and by the end he looks like Jack Nicholson. Now, there\u2019s something really scary happening!<\/p>\n
Nicholson\u2019s brilliant, he did a great job. But you see the problem in terms of storytelling.<\/p>\n
My feeling about Jack Torrance in the book is that he\u2019s basically a decent guy trying to do the right thing. And he\u2019s caught in an impossible dilemma, which is to love and protect his family that he genuinely adores \u2026 and also to kill them. That\u2019s what the Overlook is telling him to do.<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s a real story. There\u2019s a real drama.<\/p>\n
And also, you follow his descent into madness. And it\u2019s heartbreaking. It\u2019s just gut-wrenching.<\/p>\n
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Composer Paul Moravec. Publicity photo.<\/p>\n
What was the process of turning this into an opera like?<\/p>\n
In getting the rights from Mr. King, the first thing he said was \u201cI want to see the story. Submit a summary.\u201d Because he wanted to make sure we weren\u2019t doing Kubrick, right? Or just whatever. So Mark wrote up a summary, sent it to him \u2026 right away he said \u201cOK, fine. Go ahead, but now I want to see the libretto.\u201d So Mark sent him the first draft of the libretto, and he OK\u2019d that like right away. And off we went.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a long book! I think Mark did a fantastic job of compacting 600 pages down to, basically, a 40-page libretto.<\/p>\n
My writing the music involves constant revisions in the libretto and the music, and we go back and forth. We revise it to get where we want.<\/p>\n
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Is there an inherent risk in adapting pop culture to this idiom? People will be looking for Nicholson saying \u201cHere\u2019s Johnny!\u201d as he smashes the door with an axe (which, of course, appears only in the movie).<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll tell you a story about the premiere in Minnesota in 2016. It sold out; it was the biggest hit the company ever had. People were scalping tickets on eBay. How often does that happen with an opera?<\/p>\n
So people are coming because they\u2019re curious about The Shining, just to see what this is about, and there are a lot of first-time opera goers. A lot of kid and teenagers. They didn\u2019t even know what an opera was \u2013 they just wanted to see The Shining.<\/p>\n
They loved it. They just went nuts. They were smart enough to understand that this was a different medium, the rules are all different, but it\u2019s basically telling the same story.<\/p>\n
They felt the emotions. They felt what the characters were feeling. And they forgot that they were watching an opera.<\/p>\n