BWW Reviews: Nothing Like a Dame--Ethel Smyth Opera THE WRECKERS Dazzles at Bard

Considering all the second-rate operas by men that have received first-rate productions at major houses, it's a shock that the performances of Dame Ethel Smyth's early 20th-century opera, THE WRECKERS, at Bard College was the stage premiere of the work in this country. And a dazzling one it was.

The question is: "What took so long?"

The answer, I suppose, is "Because Conductor Leon Botstein didn't get on the case earlier."

It has been a long haul to the U.S. for the work by British composer Smyth. Originally written in French, the opera received its premiere in Leipzig, Germany, in 1906, in a production the composer disliked, despite critical approval. But Smyth had a hard time getting it produced elsewhere, until Sir Thomas Beecham took a shining to it, eventually taking it to the Royal Opera Covent Garden in 1910. Long-term success, however, was not to be. (Her personal life couldn't have helped, either, since Smyth didn't exactly conform to the lady-like image of Victorian England's view of women: She was a bisexual suffragette who was jailed for her pro-feminist activities and made a play for Virginia Woolf.)

Botstein, president of Bard College, founder of the Bard Music Festival and Music Director/Conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra (ASO), took up the cause of Smyth's opera nearly a decade ago, when he presented it in concert form at Avery Fisher Hall, with the ASO. And while it may not be a masterpiece--how many of those are around?--the audience at the Bard performance I attended, on August 2, was cheering by its conclusion.

By turns reminiscent of Tchaikovsky, Wagner and R. Strauss, Dame Ethel gave it all the elements of a grand opera-including a whopper of a storyline that remains timely to this day. The ASO under Botstein gave a stirring account of the score, with formidable contributions from the chorus under Chorus Master James Bagwell. It's the kind of work that might have been a hit for, say, New York City Opera in its heyday, with a love duet in Act II, reminiscent of TRISTAN UND ISOLDE, that was a triumph.

The libretto, written by Henry Brewster, an American living in France, tells the story of the inhabitants of a Cornwall village luring unwitting cargo ships near its shores; they would kill the crew and passengers and loot the cargo. The Devil didn't make them do it--but God must have approved, since He allowed them to succeed. Not everyone agreed with the preacher Pascoe, who encouraged their villainy; Mark, a young fisherman and lover of the preacher's wife, Thirza, had taken to setting up warning beacons to stop the "wreckers" from succeeding in their evil deeds and, thus, interfered with their livelihoods. Needless to say, this didn't go down well with the villagers and the outcome was dire for Mark and Thirza (even though Mark's ex-flame Avis tried her best to cast blame on the preacher).

It should be noted that the composer and librettist went out of their way not to portray the villagers as having their way for fun, but to feed their children in an inhospitable environment. I don't know what the original libretto was like in French (as Les Naufrageurs) but the translation presented in the surtitles was clumsy enough to be distracting.

With a strong, multi-level design by Erhard Rom (though it was an obstacle course for the singers) and striking projections by Hannah Wasileski, the production by Thaddeus Strassberger moved the story inexorably forward to its tragic denouement. (The period costumes were by Kaye Voyce, lighting by JAX Messenger and hair, wigs and make-up by J. Jared Janus.)

The cast was a strong one, all around. On paper, the juiciest roles are for Mark and Thirza, and the lush, soaring voices of British tenor Neal Cooper and American mezzo Katharine Goeldner were made for the roles. Baritone Louis Otey--a holdover from the ASO performance in 2007--made a strong impression as Pascoe, while baritone Michael Mayes excelled as the lighthouse keeper, Lawrence, Avis's father.

Soprano Sky Ingram, however, stole the show in her scenes as Avis; despite having what should have been an unsympathetic role, she used her voice, both dramatically and musically, to draw the audience in--and reel them in she did.

What's to become of THE WRECKERS, now that it has had its day in the sun at Bard? If there's any justice, other opera companies will pick up the gauntlet and see that it becomes better known. But who says there's any justice?

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