歌劇中的驕傲：“不敢說出名字的愛”唱響最高音

文：司馬勤（Ken Smith） 編譯：李正欣

早在2017年，“新”紐約市立歌劇院（正式的名稱是“紐約市立復(fù)興歌劇院”，NYCO Renaissance）第二輪演出季的壓軸好戲——彼得·艾特沃施（Péter E?tvos）的《天使在美國》（Angels in America）美國首演——門票賣得滿堂紅，讓破產(chǎn)后重組的歌劇院大展雄風(fēng)。姑且不說作品的制作水平有點“營養(yǎng)不良”，無法跟歌劇院最輝煌的年代相比；歌劇本身也顯得“營養(yǎng)不良”：托尼·庫什納（Tony Kushner）歷時8個小時的、獲得普利策戲劇獎的、深度思考艾滋病與同性戀的話劇，濃縮至兩小時的歌劇版，音樂風(fēng)格恐怕太接近“音樂劇”（musicalization）。換句話來說，話劇原版（雖然沒有人演唱）顯得更富有歌劇性。

左頁、上：紐約市立歌劇院制作的歌劇《石墻》劇照

盡管如此，這個制作仍然引發(fā)了不少新聞媒體的重點關(guān)注：紐約的“人民歌劇院”把20世紀(jì)末最典型的紐約故事搬上舞臺。誰料這場演出只不過是個“序幕”，那天晚上有更大的消息傳來：當(dāng)演員謝幕離開舞臺后，歌劇院的新任總經(jīng)理邁克爾·卡帕索（Michael Capasso）隨即走了出來，宣布從此之后每年的6月都會搬演一套同性戀題材的歌劇。

可以預(yù)見的，觀眾立刻爆發(fā)出熱烈的掌聲。但是，掌聲過后，卻又有種困惑的沉默。步出劇院時，有人開口問道：“你覺得嗎，這樣安排是不是有點多余？”

很多人認(rèn)為，歌劇是一種展示毫無隱瞞的感性主義的綜合藝術(shù)。按照這個定義，歌劇與同性戀人群所追求的感性主義如出一轍。歌劇粉絲有很多種類，但其中最顯眼的——也可能在西方舞臺文化中最為頑強(qiáng)的性格類型——是“歌劇女王”（opera queen）。如果你經(jīng)常觀摩歌劇演出，你必定會遇上那些較為女性化、熱心投入歌劇藝術(shù)的男性觀眾。《牛津英文詞典》中對這一詞語的解說十分到位，定義里還加上了“裝模作樣的傲慢、刻意打扮得如翩翩君子般?！北M管如此，我在和大都會歌劇院的責(zé)任編輯馬特·多布金（Matt Dobkin）聊天之后，明白“歌劇女王”不應(yīng)該只局限于男同性戀者。馬特堅稱，自己深信癡迷于歌劇至危害健康的人，幾乎不受自我性別或性別偏好的限制。不久之后，我目睹了幾場關(guān)于昆劇技巧的激烈辯論，發(fā)現(xiàn)這類“群體”也不應(yīng)僅限于西方歌劇范疇中。

其實，這種模式化的刻板印象幾乎和歌劇本身一樣歷史悠久（《牛津英文詞典》指出首次引用“opera queen”的印刷品，可以追溯到18世紀(jì)中葉），但很多專業(yè)人士都認(rèn)為，這群所謂的“皇后”已經(jīng)沒落了?！案鑴』屎蟆贝嬖诘淖钪匾獥l件，是這群人利用歌劇作為彼此交流的“密碼”。但在今天的社會，沒有人再需要利用什么“密碼”了，自由討論的空間早已擴(kuò)大。當(dāng)戲劇、電影——甚至是新歌劇——在今天以更直接、更現(xiàn)代的方式展開時，誰還會需要20世紀(jì)那過時的、公開的情感主義以及性別認(rèn)知的流動性想法？《紐約客》的音樂評論家亞歷克斯·羅斯（Alex Ross）最近發(fā)表的一篇文章中，標(biāo)題尤其開門見山：“歌劇皇后的衰落與同性戀歌劇的崛起。”

紐約市立歌劇院制作的歌劇《石墻》劇照

去年6月，即市立歌劇院宣布推出每年一部同性戀歌劇制作的一年后，歌劇院為觀眾獻(xiàn)上另一套作品遲來的美國首演——查爾斯·沃里寧（Charles Wuorinen）的《斷背山》（Brokeback Mountain）。這部作品原本是由杰拉德·莫迪埃（Gerard Mortier）為多年前還未破產(chǎn)的紐約市立歌劇院委約的，但之后由于種種財政問題導(dǎo)致了莫迪埃與歌劇院董事局的決裂，委約事宜當(dāng)然被擱置。（后來，這部歌劇由莫迪埃親自帶到西班牙，終于在他擔(dān)任藝術(shù)總監(jiān)的馬德里皇家歌劇院首演。）

很不幸，紐約市立歌劇院本年度又遇上了財政問題。今年早些時候，紐約市立歌劇院董事局主席（也是主要捐助者）羅伊·尼德霍夫（Roy Niederhoffer）因為“個人原因”辭職，導(dǎo)致歌劇院今年演出季的節(jié)目安排也頓時受挫?？墒牵辛⒏鑴≡簺]有辜負(fù)眾望，而是堅守承諾，把演出季最受矚目的制作給做了出來。這是一部為了紀(jì)念歌劇院成立75周年以及紐約格林尼治村石墻酒吧暴動50周年的委約作品。故事的歷史背景是這樣的：當(dāng)年，警察突擊搜查石墻酒吧，引致在場的顧客發(fā)起暴動，成為同性戀維權(quán)運(yùn)動的標(biāo)志。

作曲家伊恩·貝爾（Iain Bell）與編劇馬克·坎貝爾（Mark Campbell）所創(chuàng)作的《石墻》（Stonewall）在林肯中心的羅斯劇院（Rose Theater）舉行首演，最后一場安排于6月28日，正是石墻暴動紀(jì)念日，也恰巧是“世界同志游行”（WorldPride）的那個周末（2019年紐約首次成為這個全球活動的主辦城市）?！妒瘔Α返那楣?jié)貼近歷史，酒吧的顧客來自不同背景有各自的性傾向——一個男性化的女同性戀者、拉丁裔男同性戀者、黑人女性跨性別者、露宿的白種男人等——大家都意想不到這些人在歷史上的這一刻會走在一起?？上Ц鑴±锖芏嗲楣?jié)都沒有梳理清楚，也失去了焦點。

貝爾的音樂可聽性貫徹始終，跟坎貝爾富有魅力的劇本配搭流暢。從聲樂設(shè)計方面，作曲家清晰地、有效地刻畫出不同角色?？墒且驗闀r長只有75分鐘（沒有中場休息），整套作品沒有足夠的空間讓人物或情節(jié)沉淀下來。從敘事的角度上看，《石墻》更像一場盛裝慶典而不像歌劇，即便里卡爾多·埃爾南德斯（Riccardo Hernandez）的布景與大衛(wèi)·伍拉德（David Woolard）的服裝設(shè)計清楚地揭示了歌劇院財政的捉襟見肘。從音樂的角度上看，《石墻》的音樂風(fēng)格并沒有真正反映出那個大時代——顯然，在貝爾的構(gòu)思里，這個故事應(yīng)該具有超越任何特定年代的永恒性——除了一個特別的注腳：酒吧播放的背景音樂聽起來貌似雪莉·貝西（Shirley Bassey，1960年代著名英國歌手）風(fēng)格的流行曲（背景音樂是預(yù)先錄制好然后在酒吧點唱機(jī)上播放出錄音）。這首樂曲其實也是作曲家與編劇整體創(chuàng)作的一部分，酷似1960年代末的流行曲風(fēng)。

上：委約歌劇《一致》的美國歌劇計劃不日將發(fā)行該作品的唱片

右：歌劇《一致》2014年首演劇照

相比之下，比《石墻》更成功的歌劇是《一致》（As One）。這是一部關(guān)于跨性別者成長的故事，于6月初在紐約重演，由市立歌劇院與紐約梅爾金音樂廳（Merkin Concert Hall）聯(lián)合制作。從某些層面上說，《一致》與《石墻》是同甘共苦的好伙伴。兩部作品的時長都是75分鐘；兩部劇本都出自坎貝爾的手筆[《一致》也有另一位聯(lián)合編劇，是跨性別藝術(shù)家金伯莉·里德（Kimberly Reed）]；兩部作品都留有足夠空間讓觀眾展開自己的幻想。但是，在這些相似的條件下《石墻》似乎還缺了些什么，但《一致》卻令觀眾洞察到其深度的敘事性。

《一致》早在2014年就進(jìn)行了世界首演，聲稱自己是21世紀(jì)演出次數(shù)最多的新歌劇制作——聽起來頗具可信度，因為這部歌劇只需要兩位演員和一個弦樂四重奏伴奏?！妒瘔Α分邪才帕耸畞韨€人物的故事，《一致》中卻只有一個角色，由兩位演員分擔(dān)——“之前”的男中音與“之后”的女中音。勞拉·卡明斯基（Laura Kaminsky）的后簡約主義音樂節(jié)奏穩(wěn)固，保持著持續(xù)的脈搏，音樂明顯地隨著角色的性別而變化，每個段落就像獨立的歌曲一樣。如果說《石墻》基本上是場盛會，那么《一致》就像一場美化了的卡巴萊（cabaret）秀。《石墻》中沒有任何角色有機(jī)會可以對應(yīng)迅速發(fā)展的劇情，而《一致》中幾乎全是詠嘆調(diào)；《石墻》講述的故事深受外來的滋擾，而《一致》的矛盾源自一個人的內(nèi)心。市立歌劇院已經(jīng)為我們展現(xiàn)了女同性戀、雙性戀、男同性戀與跨性別社群（LGBT）歷史中的很多故事。有時候，甚至可以在同一個人身上挖出很多故事。

順便說一下，委約《一致》的美國歌劇計劃（American Opera Projects）不日將發(fā)行該歌劇的唱片，由女中音薩莎·庫克（Sasha Cooke）與男中音凱利·馬克格拉夫（Kelly Markgraf）演唱，他們也是該劇世界首演的主角。上一次我觀賞他們倆（在現(xiàn)實生活里，他們是一對伉儷）的演出是在臺北，劇目是伯恩斯坦的《大溪地風(fēng)云》（Trouble in Tahiti）。當(dāng)時我不禁疑惑，選角的策劃人竟然找來一對真正的夫妻演一對婚姻觸礁的夫妻，頗有些莫名其妙；這一次更令人目瞪口呆了——他們倆竟然同飾一個跨性別者……

如果市立歌劇院能堅守對于LBGT群體的承諾，繼續(xù)搬演這類劇目——到目前為止，應(yīng)該算是院方至今沒有打破的唯一承諾——他們應(yīng)該搬演《哈維·米爾克》（Harvey Milk），因為早在1995年，老的紐約市立歌劇院策劃的制作糟糕極了。作曲家惠士釗（Stewart Wallace取的中文名）與編劇邁克爾·科里（Michael Korie）——他們的另外一部作品，《霍普之妻》（Hopper’s Wife），于市立歌劇院 2016 年演出季上演——創(chuàng)作的這部“傳記歌劇”（biopera），劇名主角是舊金山著名的選任官員，也是同性戀運(yùn)動的鼓吹者?！豆S·米爾克》是休斯敦大歌劇院、原紐約市立歌劇院與舊金山歌劇院的聯(lián)合委約。

20多年前，我曾特地飛到休斯敦出席《哈維·米爾克》的世界首演，喜見歌劇富有感染力與活力，但也遺憾作品結(jié)構(gòu)的混亂。幾個月后，我看了紐約版本的《哈維·米爾克》，演出令人失望，舞臺也顯得無精打采。當(dāng)年市立歌劇院的總經(jīng)理兼指揮克里斯托弗·基恩（Christopher Keene）因為排練時間不足，影響了演出的質(zhì)量。幾個月后，患有艾滋病的基恩與世長辭。主創(chuàng)后來做了一些精明的修改，所以《哈維·米爾克》翌年在舊金山的演出十分成功，還錄制了唱片，由Teldec公司全球發(fā)行。

以上的文字提供了一些值得學(xué)習(xí)的地方，特別是《石墻》將有機(jī)會在倫敦的荷蘭公園歌劇院（Opera Holland Park）與巴黎的香榭麗劇院上演。無論在音樂方面或視覺方面，《哈維·米爾克》所營造出來那種壯觀場面正是《石墻》所期盼的。但更重要的是，它證明了對于新作品來說，過去有可能是序幕。

Back in 2017, thenewNew York City Opera(officially known now as “NYCO Renaissance”)ended its second season with the biggest hit of its post-bankruptcy life: the US premiere of Peter E?tv?s’sAngels in America. No matter that it was undernourished by the standards of City Opera inits prime; the opera itself was a bit undernourished too: a two-hour musicalization of Tony Kushner’s eight-hour Pulitzer Prize-winning rumination on AIDS and homosexuality in America. The original play had actually been more operatic.

《哈維·米爾克》的作曲家惠士釗（左）與編劇邁克爾·科里

Still, it was big news: New York’s “people’s opera”staging one of the quintessential New York stories of the late 20thcentury. Who’d have guessed that even bigger news would come later that night. Almost as an afterthought, once the performers had taken their final bows, NYCO’s general director Michael Capasso announced from the stage that from then on, the company would devote each June to gay and lesbian opera.

The house predictably burst into applause, followed by a slightly puzzled silence. A few people even asked out loud, “Isn’t that, you know, kinda redundant?”

To many, the overt emotionalism of opera is by definition a gay sensibility. There are many different kinds of opera fans, but the most conspicuous—and perhaps the most persistent character type in Western stage culture—is the “opera queen.” Spend any time at the opera and you’ll soon encounter the slightly effeminate, extremely passionate male devotee. The Oxford English Dictionary goes further,adding “affectedly haughty and over-refined” tothe definition. Though, after chatting with Matt Dobkin, editorial director at the Metropolitan Opera,I’ve stopped restricting it to gay men. People with unhealthy attachments to opera, he insists, are hardly limited by gender or gender preference. I’ve found it’s not even restricted to Western opera, as a couple of heated discussions overkunjutechniques have shown.

紐約市立歌劇院制作的歌劇《石墻》劇照

The stereotype is practically as old as opera itself(the OED traces the first print usage to the mid-18thcentury), though by many accounts the queendom has seen a rapid decline. Key to its existence had been the use of opera as coded speech, and who needs codes when people can speak freely? Who needs last century’s ideas of overt emotionalism and gender fluidity when plays, movies—and yes, even new operas—are much more direct and contemporary?New Yorkercritic Alex Ross got right to the point in a recent article entitled “The Decline of Opera Queens and the Rise of Gay Opera.”

Last June, a year after City Opera’s announcement,the company offered the belated US premiere of Charles Wuorinen’sBrokeback Mountain, a piece originally commissioned for the pre-bankrupt City Opera by Gerard Mortier, but shelved once Mortier and the board fell out over the company’s finances.(The opera wound up at Madrid’s Teatro Real, where Mortier left to become artistic director.)

Earlier this year City Opera hit financial troublesonce again when board chair (and chief donor)Roy Niederhoffer stepped down in January for“personal reasons,” leaving most of the company’s programming in tatters. But still, City Opera upheld the season’s highest-profile commitment: a newly commissioned work commemorating both the company’s 75thanniversary and the 50thanniversary of the riots at New York’s Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich village where a police raid ignited a violent response from the customers. The event marked the beginning of the gay rights movement.

Stonewall, by composer Iain Bell and librettist Mark Campbell, ran for five performances at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, ending June 28 to mark both the Stonewall anniversary and the opening of WorldPride weekend, the first time that New York had hosted the annual event. As a piece of history,Stonewallhewed close to the story as it’s now told, where people of diverse backgrounds and inclinations—a butch lesbian, a Latino male, a black transgender woman, a homeless Caucasian man,among others—improbably find themselves sharing a moment in history. As an opera, though, it was often as messy and unfocused as the events it portrays.

Bell’s music was consistently listenable, smoothly matching the charm of Campbell’s text. Different characters were clearly and efficiently delineated in vocal terms. But with only a 75-minute running time(with no intermission),Stonewallhad little room to develop either its characters or plot. Narratively,Stonewallwas less of an opera than a pageant,though on that count Riccardo Hernandez’s sets and David Woolard’s costumes clearly revealed the company’s budget limitations. Musically, not much in Stonewall truly reflected the times—Bell was obviously going for timelessness—except for one particular touch: the background music in the bar, a Shirley Bassey-type song (pre-recorded and playing on the jukebox) that was part of Bell and Campbell’s overall creation, could’ve come straight from the late 1960s.

Much more successful was the revival ofAs One, a transgender coming-of-age story that City Opera coproduced earlier in June at New York’s Merkin Hall.On several levels, it made a fine companion piece toStonewall. Both pieces lasted 75 minutes; both have texts written by Campbell (though he shares billing inAs Onewith transgender artist Kimberly Reed);both pieces made the audience’s imagination do some of the work. But while that often seemed likea deficiency inStonewall, the effect inAs Oneadded greater narrative depth.

歌劇《一致》2014年首演劇照

Originally premiered in 2014,As Onealready lays claims to being the most-produced opera of the 21stcentury—a credible assertion, since the piece only requires two singers and a string quartet. WhereStonewallhad a dozen characters to keep straight(so to speak),As Onehas a single character played by two singers, a baritone “before” and a mezzosoprano “after.” Laura Kaminsky’s post-minimalist score maintains a constant rhythmic pulse, the music palpably changing with the character’s gender. Episodes unfold much like self-contained songs. IfStonewallwas essentially a pageant,As Oneis a glorified cabaret set. Where none of the characters inStonewallhas any time to reflect as events barrel forward,As Oneis practically all aria.UnlikeStonewall, where opposition comes from without, conflict inAs Onecomes mostly from within. City Opera has already shown that LBGT history contains many stories. Sometimes, more than one comes from the same person.

左頁：歌劇《哈維·米爾克》劇照

(As an aside, a recording ofAs Oneis due any day now by American Opera Projects, who commissioned the work, featuring mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and baritone Kelly Markgraf, who originated the roles. The last time I saw Cooke and Margraff, who are married,perform together was in Leonard Bernstein’sTrouble in Tahitiin Taipei. I tried to imagine stranger casting than an actual couple playing a couple with marital problems. Now they play the same person.)

If City Opera plans to continue its pledge to the LBGT community—and so far, it’s pretty much the only commitment the company hasn’t broken—they need to get around toHarvey Milk, especially considering the hash the old City Opera made of the piece when it first appeared in 1995. Composer Stewart Wallace and librettist Michael Korie (whoseHopper’s Wifeappeared in City Opera’s 2016 season) had written a “biopera”of the San Francisco legislator and gay activist as part of a cocommission with Houston Grand Opera, New York City Opera and San Francisco Opera.

I saw the premiere in Houston,where the opera’s energy was infectious but its structure amess. A few months later in New York, it didn’t even have the energy. Conductor Christopher Keene,then City Opera’s general director, led woefully under-rehearsed performances before dying of AIDS a few months later. But after some astute revisions,the opera was a huge success the next year in San Francisco, with a subsequent recording released internationally on Teldec.

There are a couple of lessons here, particularly as Stonewall is in discussions for future performances at London’s Opera Holland Park and Paris’s Théatre des Champs-Elysées. Both musically and visually,Harvey Milkwas the spectacle thatStonewallwanted to be.But more than that, it proved that where new works are concerned, the past can be merely prelude.

上：紐約市立歌劇院2016年演出季上演的《霍普之妻》劇照

下：紐約市立歌劇院制作的歌劇《石墻》劇照