Mr. Sulu with Minnesota Orchestra 2/2/8

My fiancé made mix CD after mix CD for me early in our courtship, and introduced me to some fantastic singers and songs that had never crossed my path before in my classical- and opera-heavy upbringing. He spent months crafting the playlist for each of seven installments of his master mixes, and he took great pains to surprise me and support my musical re-education. For instance, I had an Anne Murray tape when I was little, and until puberty I had great respect for her soulful rendition of "Teddy Bears' Picnic." But Mix Tape #3 featured her crooning "Danny’s Song," and it was a delight for me to discover she is actually a talented and well known singer for the adult crowd. These mixes introduced me to many old-country/folksy singers my fiance grew up with, like Bobbi Gentry, Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams, as well as some off-beat gems like the Pixies’ “Wave of Mutilation” and Sinead O’Connor’s funky version of Abba’s ”Chiquitita.”

Each time I received the latest and greatest mix of love, I would earnestly pledge to make him one in return, intending to introduce him to some of the best heart-pounding classical fare that had shaped my early life, like Ravel’s “Bolero” or Tchaikovsky’s “Capriccio Italian.” For a variety of reasons (a. DVD burners frustrate me; b. general laziness) I never made the promised mix CD and my fiancé has been denied the gentle dip-a-toe approach I so enjoyed. Instead, he has, ahem, been encouraged to dive in head first by attending live high brow musical/cultural events with me including a gawd-awful self-aggrandizing production of "The Little Prince" at Jeune Lune and an equally gawd-awful (for a newbie, at least) 4-hour "Grapes of Wrath" marathon at Minnesota Opera.

Luckily, I finally struck gold – or, perhaps more appropriately, meteorite – with Minnesota Orchestra’s program “To Boldly Go”, a collection of sci-fi flavored orchestral works that was originally supposed to be narrated by Leonard Nimoy /Spock of original Star Trek fame. This was my fiancé's first trip to Orchestra Hall, and not even a late breaking narrator substitution -- George Takei /Mr. Sulu replaced Spock, who was tied up shooting yet another Star Trek movie – dampened his enjoyment. He and the other Trekkies (full house!) gleefully greeted 75+-year-old Sulu with the Vulcan Salute, and applauded him generously every time he made it successfully through his teleprompted lines.

Orchestra Hall’s thematic efforts were impressive; a costume contest was in full swing, cocktails had been renamed things like “Klingon Killer,” the 5 tones from Close Encounters served as the take-your-seats bell, and even the barcode- scanning ushers had their ticket guns set to “stun.” Assistant Conductor Sarah Hatsuko Hicks gamely played along, greeting Takei in Japanese, mugging through a recurring tribbles joke, and even trading in her formal black dress for a bright yellow Enterprise uniform. Movie images and Hubble telescope slides projected behind the orchestra provided more fun visual enhancements.

The classically-trained side of me found the orchestral scores for Close Encounters, Star Trek Through the Ages, Star Wars, and ET a little dull, because let’s face it, movie scores are not that complex since they are at their core meant to be emotive, ambient background sounds. The orchestra also had a few noticeable clinkers and clunks during these easier works, suggesting that the players may have been phoning it in a little more than phoning home. But my fiancé, less jaded and more connected to the root Sci-Fi material, listened with rapt attention to the themes he knew and loved so well. I, in turn, ate up the exuberant rendition of Holst’s The Planets—especially an unfettered, bombastic "Mars." Interesting bit of side trivia here, courtesy of Mr. Sulu’s narration – apparently, George Lucas used Mars as an editing “temp track” to fill in for the Darth Vader theme while John Williams raced to finish the actual score. After hearing Mars played almost back to back with some of the Star Wars score, it was pretty obvious that Williams liberally “borrowed” inspiration from Holst for his Oscar-winning work.

Captain's log: I am excited that MN Orchestra figured out how to make this event truly enjoyable for both a classically-trained, slightly snobby culture junkie and a hockey-loving closet Trekkie. I would definitely recommend trying out some of these hybrid concerts, and it looks like the MN Orchestra is continuing to boldly go with more commercial crossover events that will hopefully improve their long term sustainability in a bleak non-profit landscape. This is one top-quality artistic MN asset that deserves to live long and prosper.

Minnesota Opera's Romeo and Juliet 1/29/08

My father, a loyal opera fan, only feels satisfied if we are sitting spitting-distance from the singers on stage—and yes, there is a lot of spittle in opera. I think Dad loves these arguably too-close-for-comfort seats because he can watch the sweat drip down the conductor’s forehead as he fights to keep the chorus on the same beat as the orchestra, and, more practically, because the guy is 6’3” and the front row guarantees extra legroom. Dad usually springs for tickets and therefore gets decision rights on where our family sits, so most of the operas I have seen have been through an off-kilter, tight angle lens. Opera is notoriously all about grand spectacle, and people back in nosebleeds still need to get their money’s worth. Stage direction, lighting effects, outrageous gestures, and a lot of oil fog in the air all help to transport the audience into the magical, mystical alternate reality of the show. For those sitting closer than row 10, however, it can begin to feel like getting a backstage look into the bearded lady’s tent at a circus. One keen front-row memory that will always haunt me is of watching Madam Butterfly somewhere I can’t quite remember. The lead diva was an undeniable vocal talent, but from my vantage point I was driven to distraction by the obvious fact that the character of a 16-year-old Japanese ingénue was being played by a very robust middle-aged African American woman. I was transfixed watching rivulets of her double-strength white plaster “geisha” makeup run down the sides of her ears and into the extra kimono material that kept her substantially hefty bosom swaddled into place.

The MN Opera’s production of Romeo and Juliet, luckily, starred two up-and-comers who, while very obvious not in their mid-teens as Shakespeare would have had them, at least had some real live chemistry cooking. I wouldn’t say knock-your-socks off sex appeal, but enough that I was not too disgusted to be flecked with their spittle during the prerequisite scantily-clad, roll-around-in-bed wedding night scene. Far more striking than their physical chemistry, however, was their incredible vocal chemistry –rising stars Ellie Dehn and James Valenti have significant experience singing together in various workshops etc. and their voices and talents blend like butter. Dehn has a lush, dark, and rich tone that made me wish she were a Mezzo so I could hear her sing Carmen, while Valenti has a sharper, clearer quality that is still comfortably removed from that more acidic/piercing tone that some young tenors have. On duets, their tones merged into something that was spectacularly greater than the sum of the parts. Their mutual comfort and trust also seemed obvious while they milked emotion through perfectly matched phrasing during the most intense swelling orchestra parts that my grandmother might have otherwise called “schmaltzy.”

Oddly, the lushness of the Valenti-Dehn duets, as well as the romanticism of Gounod’s score, made it a little more obvious that MN Opera had skimped on the vocal talent in all the supporting roles. The baritone priest who performs the illicit marriage was strong but unremarkable, and some of the lesser roles were actually pretty weak vocally. Other elements of entertainment were strong, including a swashbuckling sword fight which was aggressively choreographed and even featured decent fencing work by lover-not-fighter Valenti. A chorus of spritely dancers visually reinforce the star-crossed-lovers storyline and keep the action moving well (although my fiancé thought they were ridiculously over-the-top, for the record). The stark, minimalist set is enhanced by well-used video effects but I did wish for more visual lushness to complement the romantic orchestration. Bottom line is that this was a good production with outstanding musical moments. Would I say this is the show guaranteed to win over the hearts of first-time-opera-goers? Probably not. But if you have the time and can score a good deal on tickets (see info about Young Professionals Group here) I would say it’s a nice stretch-your-horizons night on the town, and you may even choke up during the final minutes before (spoiler alert!) R&J finally kick the bucket in this timeless story of bad timing.

PS: I can't resist giving a special shout out that Ellie Dehn is a graduate of my alma mater Anoka High School (although I did not know her, my sister did and so I am impacted by the brush of greatness!) I have also enjoyed fresh basil from Dehn's Garden (owned by Ellie's aunt, I think...) my whole life so truly we are kindred spirits. Ellie is probably the third most famous person to come out of Anoka and she arguably surpasses both Gretchen Carlson and Garrison Keillor in artistic talent.