Now that Travel and Leisure has anointed Santa Fe as the 2025 “Favorite City in the U.S.” and Condé Nast Traveler as the 2024 “2^nd Best City,” the secret is out – at least among their readers.  But to many, it is still a distant, exotic mirage.  My wife, Karin and I, have spent a week per summer in Santa Fe for 15 years (and we’ve visited in several off-seasons as well), primarily for the Santa Fe Opera, for which I’m an invited reviewer, and secondarily for Indian Market.  But each year we find new things to do and leave wanting more.

Rather than a typical travelogue narrative, this commentary will be organized by categories and focus in a cryptic fashion on the many firsts, superlatives, and other distinctions that make Santa Fe an unlikely and unique destination that “punches above its weight class” like no other.  “The City Different” of 80,000 residents lies an hour from Albuquerque, the 32^nd most populous metropolis in the U.S., and 400 miles from the nearest major markets – Denver and Phoenix.  Yet, it has far more quality and diversity to offer than cities many times its size.

FURTHER OVERVIEW

• Oldest state capital city in the United States and second oldest city (est. 1598, but area occupied by Native Americans for centuries), after St. Augustine, FL.
• Highest elevation of state capitals – 7,000 ft, and set within beautiful Sangre de Cristo mountains
• Large Mexican-American population there for generations, but also many second-homers, artists, and retirees, especially from Texas, New York, California, and Colorado, plus celebrities.
• Climate is high desert, four seasons.  Summer days can be relatively hot (80s) but dry with cool nights, so home air conditioning not essential.  Winter is moderately cold with snow but dry and sunny.

HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS

• Tewa Peoples settlement around 1050.
• 1610 city formally founded by Spanish conquistadores; 1821 Mexico’s independence from Spain; 1848 New Mexico becomes U.S. territory; 1912 NM becomes 47th U.S. state.
• Flag adopted is yellow with red Zia emblem – Pueblo Indian symbol of sun with four sets of four lines designating cardinal directions, seasons, stages of life, person’s being (body, heart, mind, spirit).
• Terminus of Santa Fe Trail and Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad.
• Civil War Battle of Glorieta Pass fought in Santa Fe County in 1862 carried strategic importance as it ended Confederate hopes of controlling the Southwest
• Though NM voted not to incarcerate Japanese-Americans in WW II, federal government created high security detention facility in Santa Fe

ARTS

• Third largest retail art market in the U.S. after New York City and Los Angeles – Miami has a larger art festival market.
• Home to myriads of artists.
• Canyon Road is the largest concentration of art galleries in the world with over 80 along and near one street.  250 galleries are found in the city in total with other bunches downtown near the Plaza and at the Railyard.
• Genre concentrations are abstract, figurative, and Southwestern contemporary painting and statuary
• Santa Fe Indian Market is the oldest, largest of its kind in the world, with Native American vendors from all over North America. Hundreds of kiosks, main wares being jewelry, art, pottery, apparel.  Market itself over weekend, but activities through previous week including artist receptions at galleries, thematic films through Smithsonian, panel discussions, galas, award ceremonies.
• International Folk Art Market is the largest in the world
• Traditional Spanish Market – oldest and largest juried art show of its kind in the U.S.
• State capitol building and grounds house over 600 beautiful, curated art pieces by NM artists and is model for other states’ collections and display.
• Meow Wolf House of Eternal Return – This unique immersive visual experience was founded in Santa Fe.  Other variations now operate in four major markets, with Los Angeles about to open.  Over 250 artists were involved in realizing the concept, which has 70 immersive stations, ranging from a Chinatown street to a darkened room of trees comprised of colored neon tubes.  You may find yourself walking through a refrigerator or crawling through a fireplace to get to the next installation.

RETAIL

• Jewelry – Especially silver, turquoise, and coral.  Traditional and modern western and Native American motifs plus broad contemporary styles. My wife has three statement pendants and a silver Mayan cuff all from Santa Fe or Albuquerque.
• Garments – Stylish Western, Native American, and broad contemporary garments, boots, hats.
• Furniture – Contemporary design and antiques, the latter driven by the estate consignment market.

MUSEUMS

• 20 distinguished museums, several of which are on Museum Hill.
• International Folk Art Museum has largest folk art collection in the world.
• Las Golondrinas – a poor man’s Williamsburg, with 34 historic structures, 500 acres including rare desert wetlands, Spanish/Mexican colonial activities
• Several museums related to NM culture, history, Native American and Western contemporary and historic art
• Single-artist museum – Georgia O’Keeffe Museum (expanding to 55,000 sqft museum plus campus).  She started movement of artists settling in NM.

SANTA FE OPERA

Like so much else in Santa Fe, it amazes that the opera company exists in the world-class form it does.

• Its annual budget ranks in the top 10 in the country, despite having such a tiny home market; being so isolated; and being limited to five productions and eight weeks of summer performances per year.
• Its opera house is among the most innovative in the world (see Architecture).
• Its summer apprenticeship program, which includes behind the scenes creatives as well as singers, is the best of its kind in the country.
• While its ticket prices for good seats at full operas are expensive, its Apprentice Scenes, typically 8 semi-staged extracts from different operas is a tremendous value at $20 per seat.
• The Sangre de Cristo Mountains setting, desert chic ambiance, including tailgating in the parking lot, make for a very special experience.

ARCHITECTURE

• Most uniform and harmonious that can be found in the U.S.  – Virtually all structures are adobe, finished only in earthen colors – virtually all limited to 2-3 stories – Two main styles in housing – Santa Fe, with flat roofs and often with a row of horizontal vigas (full timber beams) protruding from near the top of the structure, which are exposed as ceiling beams inside, plus kiva fireplaces, portals, walled courtyards – Territorial style, with pitched, metal roofs, facilitated by shipping available from railroads arrival
• Plaza – Downtown center, considered one of the best public plazas in the country – vendors on blankets in portal of Palace of Governors; shops, galleries, cafes; music in bandstand; center of all downtown annual festivals and markets
• Palace of Governors is the longest continuously occupied public building in the U.S.
• San Miguel Chapel is the oldest church in the U.S. (est. 1610, rebuilt twice).
• Oldest neighborhood in the U.S. is Barrio de Analco.
• Oldest house in the U.S. is 215 E. De Vargas St. (around 1620, not rebuilt).
• Capitol building – Footprint in shape of Zia, the state emblem that appears on the flag
• Santa Fe Opera House – 2,000 seats, similar in size to most great European opera houses with unique design, open to nature on the sides, open backwall to stage, huge acoustic arc as ceiling, wind baffles on windward side, outdoor terraces for intermissions – It can be toured without attending opera.
• Loretto Chapel – Spiral staircase whose lack of support seems to defy physics.

FOOD – CUISINE

• Home of New Mex / Mex cuisine – Distinctions include ingredients like piñon (pine) nuts, blue corn, Hatch chiles, local wild game, cabrito (kid goat), nopales (cactus leaves), cactus pears, abundance of the 3 Sisters (corn, beans, and squash, which are all indigenous only  to the Americas) and preparations like sopapillas (puffed triangles of fried dough, often served with honey), layered rather than rolled enchiladas, pozole, green chili cheeseburgers, green chile stew,  chile con carne, piñon blue corn pancakes, Frito pie, torta de huevo, huevos rancheros NM-style, gorditas, chiles rellenos northern style, stuffed sopapillas, calabacitas, squash blossoms, panochas, biscochitos.
• Birthplace of contemporary Southwestern cuisine – Mark Miller of Coyote Café is godfather of this fusion of American, Mexican, Native American, and cowboy cuisines.
• Official state question – “Red or Green?”  Other acceptable answer being Christmas, meaning you’ll have both red and green chile sauce.

FOOD – RESTAURANTS

Befitting a major tourism destination, Santa Fe is blessed with an abundance of restaurant options with a raft of James Beard Award designees.  This list is just a beginning and represents only restaurants that I’ve eaten at.

• Fine Dining – Sazon, Martín’s, Geronimo, The Compound, Zacatlan, Pink Adobe
• Mexican – Escondido (innovative regional fusion), The Shed, Tomasita, La Choza
• Casual Brunch – Clofoutis, Dolina’s, The Pantry, New York Deli, Jambo Bobcat Bite
• Other Notable Ethnic – Alkemé (fine Asian fusion), Jambo (African, Caribbean), El Farol (Spanish tapas – also Santa Fe’s oldest restaurant and center of local flamenco culture).

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES AND INDULGENCES

• Sports – Hiking offers the greatest general interest and variety, but there is also snow skiing just out of town, rafting on the Rio Grande, horseback riding, and more.  For those who yearn for beaches and a large variety of golfing, Santa Fe is not the right choice.
• Spas – The city rates in this category as well.  Several in-town hotels have significant spas, while outside of town, full-service destination spa resorts Ten Thousand Waves, Ojo, and Ojo Caliente have beautiful, extensive grounds including multiple outdoor pools.
• Festivals – Besides arts festivals already mentioned, Chamber Music (50 years old, destination festival having internationally known musicians), International Literary, Beer and Food, Wine and Chile, Wine, and Renaissance Faire festivals and more.

DAY TRIPS

A wide variety of options are available which enhance the Santa Fe experience. (Apologies for format issues under Taos and Albuquerque. It must be a poltergeist.)

• TAOS – 1 ¼ hrs drive
  • Taos Pueblo – UNESCO site – living community, continuously inhabited over 1,000 years with rich cultural history
• • Earthship – Important off-grid community not subject to normal building codes, with homes made of recycled materials like car tires, soda bottles using solar power, recycled gray water
• • All things Kit Carson
• • Arts community like a mini Santa Fe
  • Scenic drive along the beginnings of the Rio Grande with wineries en route

ALBUQUERQUE – 1 hr drive

• Old Town
  • Sandia tram – longest gondola ride in U.S.
• • Hot air balloon rides and festival
• • Museums
• • Wine tasting – esp. Gruet sparkling (best value in category in U.S.), others mostly in Old Town
  • Movie and TV production tours

• TURQUOISE TRAIL – ½ hr drive
  • Old western towns Madrid, Cerrillos
  • Jewelry, arts retailers

• CHIMAYO – ½ hr drive
  • Sanctuario de Chimayo – Renowned pilgrimage site.  Small, charming, primitive church with best and worst of religious sites – Nice touch with wall of pictures of locals who served in military – Dirt floor with well for taking dirt said to have healing powers – Wall of canes said to be left by those whose lameness was claimed to be healed at Chimayo.
  • Rancho de Chimayo Restaurant – most historic and respected Mexican restaurant in northern NM

• LOS ALAMOS 3/4 hr drive
  • Bradbury Science Museum – History of Atom Bomb, created in Los Alamos
  • History Museum – Housed in structures used during the Manhattan Project

• ABAQUIU 1 ¼ hr drive
  • Georgia O’Keeffe Home and Studio
  • Ghost Ranch

[For the remainder of the year, my San Jose and Peninsula theater reviews will be posted on Talkin’ Broadway with only introductions to those reviews on this site]. Please continue to https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanjose/sj295.html for full review.

1968 was a tumultuous year socially and politically in the United States.  It was also the year of Neil Simon’s Broadway blockbuster Plaza Suite, one of the many successful comedies that the playwright brought to the stage.  Hillbarn Theatre offers up a riotous version full of laughs that will leave the audience in a good mood despite the dark sides that underlie the narratives in the play.

The first tenet of writing fictional literature is to write about what you know.  Neil Simon came from a Jewish family and neighborhood in New York City’s Bronx borough.  Shy, poor, and from an unstable family, he grew up during the Great Depression and World War II, and later, having been married four times also informs his writing.  Despite seeming anomalies for the Peninsula marketplace, Simon is Hillbarn’s most presented playwright, this being its 23^rd production of his works.

Interesting incident-related plots that are hard to expand into full length works present problems to authors and producers.  One solution is to band several together into a compendium with some common thread, though outcomes can be disjointed and uneven.

With Plaza Suite’s three stories, the threads are a suite at the iconic New York hotel and marriage at various stages.  The foundations are very provincial with references special to the New York City environs; the implied Jewish ethnicity; and, all of the characters being from the City or suburbs, even though the action is in a hotel.  In addition, the social mores reflect those of five decades ago, yet the issues and situations prove universal and timeless.  And while the stories are not profound, the Simonesque humor throughout also binds the trio of vignettes together………..

……………………………………

Plaza Suite, written by Neil Simon and produced by Hillbarn Theatre, appears on its stage at 1285 East Hillsdale Ave., Foster City, CA through September 14, 2025.

Many neighborhoods in major cities are noted for their ethnic enclaves and distinctive customs like New York’s Chinatown and Miami’s Little Havana.  In the 20^th century, the working-class area of South Boston, known as Southie to the locals, became a prime destination for the Irish diaspora.  Among its positive distinctions, South Boston activated modern St. Patrick’s Day parades and celebrations.  Conversely, in the 1970s, this very white neighborhood became one of the nation’s most notorious resistance points to court-mandated school busing to achieve desegregation.  Racial animus participates in this play in two different ways.

Altarena Playhouse’s production of Good People scintillates from beginning to end.  Replete with powerful issues about social mores, class, and mobility; racial interactions and prejudice; friendship and loyalty; and responsibility, self-determination, and luck; it jarringly reflects like a social mirror.  The ensemble of six actors, led by the captivating Alicia Rydman as Margie, is absolutely exquisite, with every performance a gem.

Pulitzer Prize winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire grew up in Southie, so he knows whereof he speaks.  And while the action takes place in 2011, the central characters grew up there in the ‘70s when their critical backstories occurred.

Margie (with a hard g), works at a Dollar Store and lives hand to mouth.  As a single mother, she has raised a 30-year-old mentally-deficient daughter, Joyce.  Despite a sympathetic boss, Stevie (played by Samuel Barksdale), the burden of Joyce’s care leads to Margie’s losing her job.  Most of the blame lies with her usually kindly but inconstant landlord, the wisecracking older woman Dottie (Marsha van Broek) who watches Joyce on the cheap when Margie is at work.

Her good friend Jean (Nicole Naffaa) is her greatest supporter and urges Margie to contact Mike (Daron Jennings) to see about a job from him or his contacts.  Mike overcame the drag of Southie to become a successful doctor with a home in tony Chestnut Hill, joining what Margie refers to as the “lace curtain” set.  Margie and Mike dated for a couple of months critical to the timeline of Joyce’s birth, but Margie has always attributed the paternity to another.  Ultimately, Margie will meet Mike’s wife, Kate (Rezan Asfaw), who significantly is black, and brings the most dignity among the characters with an uncommon receptiveness to entertaining and respecting someone from the lower class.

With Lindsay-Abaire’s depictions (scenic design by Tom Curtin) and the adroit direction of Russell Kaltschmidt, the situations and characters in Good People resonate with truth.  Though most get by within acceptable social limits, gang fights, petty larceny, jail time, homelessness, and early death abound as topics of discussion in the working-class girls’ talk.  The stultifying immobility of the economically marginalized is numbing.  The thick Boston brogue (kudos to Dialect Coach Sarah Elizabeth Williams), which Mike has overcome to climb the social ladder, acts as a marker.  So does buying from the Dollar Store and Goodwill.  And relief from the humdrum is playing Bingo at the church once a week.

But the characters are lively, interesting, and virtuous in their own way.  They are all good people.  That is, each possesses flawed goodness, which is maybe the most we can expect.  Although Margie does manipulate Mike in some ways and becomes mean and confrontational, her forgiving nature and unwillingness to blame anyone for her burdens and losses is so saintly it’s almost annoying.  In a counterintuitive appraisal, she rejects the excuse that there is no way out of Southie for most people and says instead that she would feel loss if there had been no way out, even though it’s eluded her.  Rydman defines the Southie-rooted Margie with penetrating flair, having an endless vocabulary of facial expressions and gesticulations to match the accent.

While Margie is uninhibited, the guarded Mike has twisted narratives of his past to fit the image he has projected to Kate and the social circle that he graduated to.  Kate has never met anyone from his juvenile years.  But when Margie re-enters his life, she has credible memories at variance with Mike’s.  This includes a life-defining incident that could have ended differently with a profound effect on his future.  How will these differences resolve?  One of the many strengths of this compelling play is the unpredictability of its endless revelations.

Good People written by David Lindsay-Abaire is produced by Altarena Playhouse and plays on its stage at 1409 High Street, Alameda, CA through September 21, 2025.

Alabaster is usually thought of in one of two contexts – the beautiful mineral appropriate to artistic carvings or the creamy skin associated with the stone’s warm, translucent color.  Alabaster is also a real town in Alabama.  But what playwright Audrey Cefaly probably had in mind in situating her darkly-comic play in that locale is the portmanteau hidden in the name – Alabama disaster.  Town Hall Theatre has produced a compelling rendering of the quirky but touching and thoughtful narrative.

In this dramedy, the town had been hit with a devastating tornado.  A survivor who lost her family, June suffered extensive injuries requiring a long recovery.  She has since become reclusive on her unreconstructed farm.  But a cousin convinces her to extend an invitation to a New York based photojournalist, and June agrees.

Alice, the photog, has developed a special visual portfolio – damaged women, who have suffered from natural catastrophes, accidents from human error, or abuse.  Her goal is to present these women with dignity and beauty, and she has come to Alabaster in hopes that June would serve as a model.

Alabaster pays tribute to women in multiple ways.  The cast of four are all women, and the two central characters are lesbians.  Each has lost family in tragic accidents and carries guilt for surviving and not having been able to save loved ones.  Each has adapted but carries additional baggage as well.  Each in her own way needs to give in and move on from what holds her back.

The twist in Alabaster that produces the comedy is that June communes with Weezy, who happens to be a goat that only June can speak with.  Two goats are all that remain of the farm’s livestock, the other being Bib, Weezy’s dying mother.  In a nod to decisions that humans face, Weezy has told June that when Bib passes, she will leave.

Sarah Nowicki is convincing for the greater part as the flippant and independent June.  In addition to farming, she paints, always on pieces of the barn destroyed by the storm because she values the history and the irregularity of wood as a medium.  Nowicki’s star turns come in two soliloquies.  The audience’s hush is palpable in the longer one when she describes how the tornado took away her parents and sister, one by one in different ways, and that she was unable to save them or even honor her father’s death wishes because of her own incapacity after the storm.  Her other dramatic highlight is the shorter but more searing moment as she relives the trauma in a nightmare.

Raven Douglas as Alice has less to work with.  However, she is also effective and gets to show dramatic zest in one anger scene.  One area for improvement is that her dialogue is sometimes lost because of insufficient volume, especially when not facing the audience and in sensitive passages.  Like many stage actors, she conveys the touching scenes visually, but lowers her voice as if connecting only with her counterpart on stage.

The humor is driven by Weezy, portrayed by Melanie Marshall, and casting a comedienne in this role is essential to achieving the right balance in the play.  Marshall’s comic timing in her dialogue is exquisite, but perhaps more important is her uncanny mimicking a goat’s eating, facial expressions, and movement.

But the main dramatic thrust concerns the evolving relationship between the two women.  Interestingly, they learn about each other not just through normal conversation but by often invoking the game of Questions, usually with the choice of two answers, that each must answer and defend.  Before the questions between the women become more personal and penetrating, June asks perhaps the most ubiquitous and insignificant one asked in this game, at least by older generations – “Ginger or Mary Ann?” referring to the attractive young women in “Gilligan’s Island.”

Director Kerry Gudjohnsen harnesses the creative resources of the production in an exemplary manner.  Scenery, lighting, and sound all contribute to the claustrophobic feel of June’s life of discontent.  Into her life comes someone with her own unresolved issues.  Is it possible that the two women can overcome their obstacles?

Alabaster, written by Audrey Cefaly and produced by Town Hall Theatre, plays on its stage at 3535 School Street, Lafayette, CA through September 6, 2025.

Alban Berg was the greatest disciple of Arnold Schoenberg, who changed the face of serious music with his mathematical approach to composition.  Abandoning the mellifluous tonality of using a key-signature in which predominately notes that harmonize are included in the music, Schoenberg advanced the 12-tone method, making atonality a major force in classical music.  Among other notable works, Berg responded by creating Wozzeck in 1925, which staked its claim as the first ever atonal opera and became a highly influential work in the genre.

West Edge Opera offers Wozzeck, and in keeping with its whole summer festival program, the production is supported by outstanding singer/actors and compelling creative design led by Director Elkhanah Pulitzer.  While the storyline deals with social issues of great importance that resonate a century later, it is hard to think of a more depressing libretto in the repertory.  Aficionados who enjoy atonal music will find the musical score and the execution by Jonathan Khuner’s orchestra and the singers to be electrifying.  Those who prefer melodiousness may not be as enthralled.

Not only is the musical context of Wozzeck important, but so is the socio-political environment that the Viennese Berg wrote in.  Even worse than the indignities forced on Germany by the Allies after World War I, Austria’s empire was dismembered, and like Germany, it was a failed state economically, politically, and socially.

Into this miasma, Berg transfers from theater stage to opera stage Franz Wozzeck, a dour, downbeat, and abused Army soldier portrayed with chilling effect by Hadleigh Adams.  His non-conformity, which includes having an illegitimate son by a common-law wife, is vilified by his “Captain” (Spencer Hamlin) who receives extra services from Wozzeck for a pittance.  The soldier also receives a small stipend as a subject in the medical experiments of the “Doctor” (Philip Skinner) who should realize that Wozzeck’s dark hallucinations and aberrant behavior signal psychological derangement along the lines of schizophrenia.

But most likely, Berg believed that the system is designed to disadvantage the already impoverished, and that their needs will go unmet.  The Doctor complains that Wozzeck piddles in the street, but it is a small example that the poor don’t have the resources to be as virtuous as the rich.  Tragedy will befall the powerless Wozzeck and his lover, while those in the professional class blithely march onward.

Emma McNairy sizzled a decade ago in the title role of West Edge’s Lulu by Alban Berg.  She completes her exquisite command of lead female parts in both of Berg’s operas with her portrayal of Marie, Wozzeck’s common-law wife and lover.  Earthy and volatile, her heavily tremoloed, dramatic coloratura voice pierces with raw emotion, and she dominates the action when she is present.

More complexity is depicted in Marie’s character than any other.  As a fallen woman, she obsesses on Mary Magdalena and reveals either metaphoric thinking or ESP in a well-delivered soliloquy about a boy who lost his parents.  Ultimately, her lust will trigger disaster.  Marie will become entranced by the Drum Major (Michael Belle).  Wozzeck will learn of their tryst, and his violence will lead to downfall.

In a couple of ways, Berg’s composition seems a bit unusual, but for understandable reasons.  Although Hadleigh Adams is a highly accomplished baritone, in depicting the depressed title character, his singing part understandably lacks great expressiveness through most of the opera.  An exception is his brief but effective “mad scene” in Act III.  Conversely, Spencer Hamlin in the much smaller role as the Captain sings much higher in his range and sets the vocal standard among the male performers with great resonance and power.  In a sense, Marie is the central character and McNairy the star.  Her vocal part is more interesting than Wozzeck’s, though that is more understandable as she is a more voluble person, and while Wozzeck is mostly reactive, Marie is a moving force.

Tanya Orellana’s staging is unusual, with two concentric arcs of plain, light blue-green chairs dominating the set.  The concept is that the stage mirrors the seating of the opera house.  We are looking at ourselves, so the events on stage then represent the audience.  Although the theme of art imitating life appeals, this particular instance is somewhat disturbing, as the characters in the opera dwell in the netherworld of society.  This may be how Berg saw the world around him, and perhaps he would see our world today in the same way as the director seems to imply with this interpretation.

Wozzeck, with music and libretto by Alban Berg and based on the play Woyzeck by Georg Büchner, is produced by West Edge Opera and plays at Oakland Scottish Rite Center, 1547 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, CA through August 17, 2025.

David, of David and Goliath fame, is one of the best known and respected heroes of the Old Testament.  As such, he represents a good subject for artistic works of all types.

Early opera composers employed religious themes and texts in various musical idioms.  The prolific Baroque composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier was no exception and wrote sacred music of all kinds.  Of his several operatic works, David and Jonathan from 1688 survives owing to beautiful music and a story with drama and impact that will expand the knowledge about this familiar hero for most opera goers.

In the Biblical account that acts as the basis of the libretto, Israel’s first king, Saul, is told by God that it is time for him to step aside and let David ascend to the throne.  Saul resists.  Ultimately, and similar to our own time, the leader accepts the false accusation from a lying sycophant that David plans to overthrow and kill him.  For this purported disloyalty, Saul will go to war with the Philistines who harbor David.  The complication is that David’s lover is the son of Saul, Jonathan, who must cope with divided loyalty.

After meeting the usual selection criteria for presenting an opera, West Edge Artistic Director Mark Streshinsky, who also stage directs, has deliberately chosen a libretto that can be plausibly adapted to represent a queer love story.  This one makes sense as the expressions of love are explicit, even if they convey different implications in the ancient context.  Although elements of the original work are shifted or omitted, no changes to the text are made.

Thus, the interpretation of the love story of David and Jonathan is drawn wholly between the lines, in the unverbalized action rather than the text.  The uncontroversial aspects of the production stand tall, with fine singing and clever, attractive, and effective staging.  Not unlike many operas that were made with very different audiences in mind, this one does sag a bit, especially toward the end.

At the outset a magnificent gigantic puppet of Goliath, requiring three men to guide it, dominates the action until the antagonist is slain.  Here, the most assertive statement about the adaptation’s orientation occurs, as Goliath’s gargantuan phallus hangs well below his skirt, and humorously, it is even used as a truncheon to deter enemies.

Soon, Saul, performed by baritone Matthew Worth, sings his mournful and resentful “What have I done to deserve the wrath of God?” which sets the narrative’s conflict in motion. After which, the all-male corps de ballet appear.  And, while the choreography and execution are excellent, the leather/beefcake outfits with bare butts and breasts are another statement in keeping with the queer adaptation.

A wise adjustment devised by Streshinsky and Music Director and Conductor Adam Pearl was to transpose Jonathan’s vocals from that of a treble (boy soprano) to a tenor.  Thus, the leads who share the intimate relationship, Derek Chester as David and Aaron Sheehan as Jonathan, both have warm tenor voices.  The title characters sing well individually and together, with the duet “Why must we end such a sweet peace?” being the most compelling.  Probably the most appealing music and touching moment is David’s final lament during the closing tragedy.

The crux of the action concerns Jonathan’s dilemma of duty versus love, when he must choose sides in the coming battle between his father and his lover.  Graciously, David accedes to the notion of filial piety and releases Jonathan to join his father.  David also does everything possible to demonstrate loyalty to Saul, but the latter’s obdurate resistance to knowing when to leave the fight behind represents another main thematic issue.

The small but luminous orchestra performs the lush music with great panache.  In addition to modern strings and woodwinds, but forgoing brass and percussion, the orchestra includes period instruments – a theorbo, a viola da gamba, and a harpsichord played by the conductor, all of which contribute to the unique Baroque sound.  Recognition is deserved for the design elements, in particular, Ember Streshinsky for the simple but appropriate scenic design with revolving modules; Marina Polakoff for costumes, especially the lavish black cladding of the witch; Michael Oesch for the effective use of colored and low lighting; Paul Hayes for the imposing monster Goliath puppet; and Benjamin Freedman for the handsome choreography.

The question remains whether David and Jonathan were really carnal lovers.  While the Bible describes their relationship in the framework of love, it should be noted that the terms used and practices identified are wholly consistent with those of filial love or friendship described elsewhere in the Bible.  In addition, the Bible shuns homosexuality, and it is unlikely that one of its great heroes would be cast thusly.  As far as the opera’s version story, not only was Charpentier working for the Jesuits at the time the piece was created, but his librettist was a cleric.  Nonetheless, we can’t get inside Charpentier’s mind to know his thoughts as the project evolved

The remaining question concerns the acceptability of the West Edge realization.  It would seem that the market is trifurcated, with those who appreciate the nature of the adaptation, the neutrals, and the detractors.  Certainly, the gay theme will play better in the Bay Area than in Birmingham or Omaha, but the consequences and viability of this treatment will be better understood by the end of the run.

David and Jonathan, composed by Marc-Antoine Charpentier with libretto by Father François Bretonneau, is produced by West Edge Opera and plays at Oakland Scottish Rite Center, 1547 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, CA through August 16, 2025.

History is written of leaders – presidents, generals, popes.  Second-in-command, deputies, assistants, are largely forgotten.  The Delano, California grape pickers strike and boycott to challenge deplorable working conditions that became a major event in the modern American labor movement, began in 1965, started by Larry Itliong’s Agriculture Workers Organizing Committee.  That organization soon merged with the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), led by César Chavez, and the latter would become the combined leader and the face of the movement.

Dolores Huerta was Chavez’s closest and most trusted associate, independently leading strikes and boycotts and negotiating the contract with the farmers that would end the strike in 1970.  Though well known to those with deep knowledge of labor movements, Dolores remains unknown to the general public, overshadowed by the recognition of Chavez.

In conjunction with composer Nicolás Lell Benavides and librettist Marella Marin Koch, West Edge Opera presents the world premiere of the opera Dolores. This counterbalances the lack of acknowledgement received by the title character – at least with the opera company’s audience, along with those of co-producers Opera Southwest and San Diego Opera.  The result is a powerful narrative supported by vibrant music that should have legs but can benefit from minor adjustments.  Staging adds to the effect with energetic strike and boycott scenes, supported by accompanying video projections.

Benavides’s music is blessedly tonal and fitting to the situation – often ominous, and sometimes consoling.  A full sound is developed by Conductor Mary Chun’s small orchestra, but the highlights tend to occur in various solo segments, a particularly appealing one being a haunting viola solo that accompanies Huerta’s sadness as she pines for her seven children that she seldom sees because of the demands of her job as a union executive.

The central moral drive of the opera concerns clashes associated with trying to do good things, with sacrifice being the operative condition.  People of good intentions often clash because they differ somewhat in objectives or see different ways to accomplish the same thing.  But even more discordant are the internal conflicts.  Often fighting for one good goal results in sacrificing another, and successful people constantly must deal with these tradeoffs.  This story is specifically about those who sacrificed by striking and placing themselves and their families in jeopardy for several years.  It may be hard to believe or remember, but this strike went on for five years.

Much of the plot line deals with the relationships among the leaders in the movement.  Huerta is well represented by soprano Kelly Guerra who sings with conviction and shows her character’s passion.  Phillip Lopez as César Chavez and Rolfe Dauz as Larry Itliong give good depictions of their characters as well.  But vocal pinnacles came from featured players.  Sam Faustine as Tricky Dick (the program designation) produces a clarion tenor and an over-the-top depiction of future president Richard Nixon, while Alex Boyer serves well with his always strong voice as RFK.

An interesting strategic decision was to place the opera in 1968, already three years into the strike and with three harvests rotted on the vine, in order to make the leadup to and assassination of Bobby Kennedy in Los Angeles the centerpiece.  As the opera’s narrative attests, RFK had allied with NFWA; personally visited Delano to break bread with Chavez to end his 25-day hunger strike; and had Huerta on the dais with him on the fateful day.

However, the focus on Bobby and the run time accorded deflects much attention away from Huerta.  Notwithstanding, a great deal of emotional impact results from reliving this tragedy.  But, overall, the plotline does drag a bit, and could be trimmed and recentered on the title character and more reference to the early stages of the movement.

We can all conclude that the war for higher moral objectives is never over, as we are in a period of serious backsliding presently.  Nonetheless, victories can be declared.  It was disappointing to find the lack of closure in the opera concerning the strike and boycott, and that Huerta’s contributions are underrepresented.  Despite all of the gains from the negotiated contracts that ended the unrest, we are left with a feeling of failure.

Finally, and I just made a similar comment in another review, programs and supertitles should not be stingy in identification.  For instance, character surnames are not mentioned in the cast listing, nor are characters always identified in the supertitles when they first appear.  Brevity is not always a virtue, and producers should not expect all operagoers to have in-depth knowledge in these fringe areas.  Don’t leave them in the dark.

One delight that presumably only opening night attendees will enjoy is a stage visit from the spry and cogent 96-year-old Dolores Huerta after the performance.  She spoke to the timeliness of the opera given deplorable current immigrant, labor, and other conditions in this country and of a job not yet completed.  She stoked the crowd which responded with peals of her dictum, “Si, se puede!” (Yes, you can!).

One final point is that unfortunately, many people in the U.S. have unfavorable attitudes toward labor unions, fixated on relatively rare featherbedding and overly generous contracts.  Stories like this one and of the deaths of 146 workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 that also resulted in improved working conditions are important to demonstrate the dignity that unions have brought to the working class.

Dolores, composed by Nicolás Lell Benavides with libretto by Marella Marin Koch and produced by West Edge Opera has its world premiere at Oakland Scottish Rite Center, 1547 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, CA through August 16, 2025.

Gioachino Rossini was perhaps the most successful and prolific opera composer of the early 19^th century.  Retiring from the genre in 1829 at age 39, Le Comte Ory was his penultimate opera and his last comedy.  Saucy and sexually suggestive, it may not have passed the censors in his native Italy, but Paris, where he resided for several years, loved racy motifs.  Though rarely performed today, it was one of the most successful French language operas of its day.

The Merola Opera Program selected the medieval-themed Le Comte Ory for its summer opera production, which showcases the talents of several principal artists and gives the other Merolini opportunities for extensive choral work and solo snippets.  All performers meet the challenges of their roles, with clear, exquisite singing and effective comic acting, including extensive mime during the overtures of both acts. 

For those unfamiliar, Merola operates independently but in close partnership with San Francisco Opera in multiple ways, including as an artistic feeder.  It is probably the best regarded opera training program in the United States, offering a holistic career curriculum and remarkably providing graduates financial support for five years after program completion.

Rossini’s raucous work reflects a number of the composer’s practices.  Full of charm and peppy melodic music, it also becomes a bit repetitive with predictable set piece codas and Rossini crescendos to conclude overtures.  In retrospect, he is considered both a genius and a bit of a hack for recycling previously used music (the famous overture to The Barber of Seville was used in two earlier operas).  Though it wouldn’t be suspected by the unsuspecting, much of this opera’s music had appeared in a more serious dramma giocoso, Il Viagio a Reims.

While the plot is thin and somewhat predictable, the payoff is in the character depictions and machinations as moral commentary underlies the farce.  The hedonistic title character seeks all forms of pleasure, and opportunities abound as most men from the town are away on Crusades.  Learning that the melancholic widow Comtesse Adèle seeks spiritual relief, the comte disguises as a hermit so as to seduce her.  But his biggest obstacle turns out to be his own page, Isolier, who also desires Adèle. 

Minghao Liu as Ory not only sings with a classic tenor voice, but exudes charisma as both a singer and actor.  He seems to relish being the antagonist and subsuming into the disguises of both the hermit in rags and the habit of a nun.  Soprano Eva Rae Martinez is Ory’s quarry, and she hits all of the marks, with a fine coloratura and range to sing the high notes, especially in her “agony” aria.

Another notable turn is made by bass-baritone Wanchun Liang who plays the tutor, Gouverneur.  Though Ory’s own page doesn’t recognize him as the hermit, the wizened tutor does.  Liang  also sings with distinction and manages a rapid patter that is difficult to do in a lower voice.

The final character central to the plot is Isolier, a trousers role performed by mezzo Meg Brilleslyper and sung with clarion purity.  On the performance side, she embodies a multi-level gender role as she is a female playing as a male who also disguises as a female to fool his boss.  She also participates in a delightful trio with the comte and the comtesse, perhaps the most notable set piece in the opera, “A la faveur de cette nuit obscure.”

The remaining principals who perform admirably in all respects are mezzo Ariana Maubach as the comtesse’s companion Ragonde and baritone Benjamin Dickerson as Ory’s friend.  In addition, the choruses are excellent throughout.  The cast is particularly put through its paces at the end of Act 1 with two big ensemble/choruses divided by the news that the town’s men are coming home from war, which sets the stage for the humorous conflicts in Act 2.

Other artistic elements contribute to the overall effect. The staging is simple as would be expected given the limits of two performances.  Meanwhile, the orchestra is superb.  Pierre Vallet conducts with pointed precision in tight movement, and the musicians respond accordingly.  This is some of Rossini’s finest music, and the orchestra produces a rich sound complemented with an abundance of absolutely accurate pizzicato from the strings.

I do have one bone to pick and that is with the program and supertitles.  The lack of identification of characters is pronounced, and there is no excuse for not embellishing the cast listing to include relationships or positions (e.g., Isolier – Ory’s page or Gouverneur – Ory’s tutor), and giving names in the early supertitles to note who the characters are.  I was partly at sea, leafing through my program through much of the first act, and even had one of the characters misidentified for over a half an hour.

Le Comte Ory, composed by Gioachino Rossini with libretto by Eugène Scribe and Charles-Gaspard Delestre-Poirson is produced by Merola Opera Program and performed at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak Street, San Francisco, CA through August 2, 2025.