歌劇重返大自然

司馬勤

好朋友黃哲蓮的哥哥是一位著名編劇?？上攵簿☉騽　６乙?yàn)樗Ｗ÷迳即?，?duì)電影的洞察力也是無(wú)可非議的。但是，她極少看歌劇，所以當(dāng)我們一起看罷《塞維利亞理發(fā)師》后，她發(fā)了兩則令我欣喜的短信——“我想再去看一次歌?。?！”幾秒鐘后，“但只可以在戶外！”

我還沒(méi)有告訴你，她有“新冠恐懼癥”吧。我不確定今天的她愿不愿意周游列國(guó)，但我慫恿她趕緊去訂一趟飛往倫敦的航班，然后直奔荷蘭公園。

我知道很多人都不愿意在新冠疫情大流行期間跟其他人一起困在室內(nèi)場(chǎng)所——或許他們只是特別喜愛(ài)露天歌劇演出那種悠游野餐的氛圍——去年夏季，這類歌劇演出的頻次屢創(chuàng)新高。甚至是通常在室內(nèi)劇院舉辦的夏季歌劇節(jié)（比如說(shuō)辛辛那提歌劇院、圣路易斯歌劇院），都將演出移師至空曠的、更容易符合防疫措施標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的地方。而目前，大部分歌劇院都已照常營(yíng)業(yè)——這也正是荷蘭公園歌劇院（Opera Holland Park，簡(jiǎn)稱OHP）吸引人的原因。他們的“照常營(yíng)業(yè)”就是戶外演出。

要是你覺(jué)得我像個(gè)新晉的皈依者般狂熱布道，那也情有可原。我首次踏進(jìn)荷蘭公園只不過(guò)是數(shù)周前，盡管我多年前已經(jīng)聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)這家歌劇院。2010 年，這個(gè)每年歷時(shí)3 個(gè)月的夏季歌劇節(jié)獲得倫敦《泰晤士報(bào)》賦予的“最佳歌劇院”的榮譽(yù)，從而引起我的關(guān)注。2018 年，當(dāng)荷蘭公園歌劇院贏得國(guó)際歌劇大獎(jiǎng)年度“教育與拓展”獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)后，我決定必須親自探訪，去看個(gè)究竟?？上?，全球性公共衛(wèi)生危機(jī)延誤了我的這一計(jì)劃日程。

終于，我?guī)е欢亲右蓡?wèn)，來(lái)到了荷蘭公園歌劇院——最佳歌劇院？當(dāng)真？在體育競(jìng)賽里，輕量級(jí)與重量級(jí)選手從不會(huì)同臺(tái)比試。我也不需去比較荷蘭公園歌劇院與倫敦皇家歌劇院或英國(guó)國(guó)家歌劇院每年度的營(yíng)運(yùn)財(cái)政預(yù)算。當(dāng)然，它們屬于不同量級(jí)。盡管如此，荷蘭公園歌劇院具備的某些魅力，讓廣大的歌劇運(yùn)營(yíng)者們極為欣賞它看似微小實(shí)則有力的本質(zhì)。

今年5 月，倫敦的《歌劇》雜志刊登了荷蘭公園歌劇院的專題報(bào)道，贊揚(yáng)這個(gè)本來(lái)只算是臨時(shí)性社區(qū)組織的蛻變，歸功于兩位男士：邁克爾· 沃爾普（Michael Volpe） 與詹姆斯· 克拉頓（James Clutton）。他們長(zhǎng)達(dá)20 年的合作關(guān)系，將荷蘭公園歌劇院打造成為世界級(jí)的歌劇院。沃爾普精通歌劇，尤其是那些鮮為人知的真實(shí)主義作品（他于2020年卸任），而克拉頓是位出色的制作人（現(xiàn)在主持著整個(gè)劇院的運(yùn)作管理）。荷蘭公園的所在地，肯辛頓和切爾西（Kensington and Chelsea），是倫敦市的富裕地區(qū)之一，對(duì)歌劇院的成功也起到了推動(dòng)作用。

成功的秘訣在哪里？是劇目策劃，制作方式，周邊環(huán)境，還是門票售價(jià)？根據(jù)我有限的接觸和了解，似乎在所有方面，答案都是響亮的“是”，盡管我仍然不確定這些因素影響程度的排列順序。無(wú)論如何，這些特質(zhì)吸引了那些到場(chǎng)看演出的人，并且應(yīng)該是我在歐洲見(jiàn)到過(guò)的最年輕、最多元化的觀眾群體之一。

讓我們從劇目策劃入手吧，因?yàn)檫@是最早吸引我的地方。荷蘭公園歌劇院往往會(huì)在同一時(shí)段安排兩個(gè)制作輪流演出。我參考自己的日程，選擇了在兩天內(nèi)觀賞馬克·阿達(dá)莫（MarkAdamo）的《小婦人》（Little Women ）英國(guó)首演以及兩部獨(dú)幕?。浩掌跄崾撞扛鑴。ɑ驊?yīng)界定為歌劇- 芭蕾）《群妖圍舞》（LeVilli ）與弗雷德里克· 戴留斯（Delius）極少有機(jī)會(huì)搬上舞臺(tái)的《紅喜鵲》（Margot la Rouge ）。

在我心中，《小婦人》占有特別的地位。我首次觀看這部歌劇是千禧年，在休斯敦大歌劇院的主場(chǎng)舞臺(tái)上。數(shù)年后，這個(gè)制作登陸紐約市立歌劇院，但我剛好在外地所以與之失之交臂——我也沒(méi)有機(jī)會(huì)看紐約市立歌劇院往后的近100 部不同制作——因?yàn)樾菟苟氐闹谱骶哂邢喈?dāng)權(quán)威性（特別是它曾在國(guó)家電視臺(tái)播出過(guò)，并且出版了DVD）?？墒?，我非常渴望見(jiàn)證這部被《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》和不少評(píng)論標(biāo)榜為“美國(guó)杰作”的作品登陸英國(guó)國(guó)土?xí)惺裁捶错?。美?guó)樂(lè)評(píng)稱贊阿達(dá)莫善用口語(yǔ)文本與音樂(lè)語(yǔ)言構(gòu)思了經(jīng)典美式歌劇，但英國(guó)人總認(rèn)為英語(yǔ)文化只屬于大不列顛帝國(guó)。

我上一次看《群妖圍舞》，碰巧是在上?！覒?yīng)該坦白，我畢生第一次看這部歌劇，就是上海歌劇院的制作。盡管這個(gè)作品大概每10 年會(huì)搬演一遍，同場(chǎng)配搭的獨(dú)幕劇大多數(shù)是早期真實(shí)主義作品，可我從來(lái)沒(méi)有聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)《紅喜鵲》這部獨(dú)幕劇。但是，年輕時(shí)的我曾演唱過(guò)戴留斯的合唱作品，更曾到訪他在佛羅里達(dá)州的家（還沒(méi)有認(rèn)真投身作曲界之前，戴留斯經(jīng)營(yíng)過(guò)一個(gè)橘子種植園，因此我對(duì)他的印象特別好）。

今天的我可算得上是夏季歌劇節(jié)鑒賞家了吧。荷蘭公園歌劇院可以容納1000 人，它用具有天篷的戶外場(chǎng)地營(yíng)造出了圣達(dá)菲歌劇院露天劇場(chǎng)的氛圍，但規(guī)模就像圣路易斯歌劇院那般小巧。荷蘭公園面積不大，感覺(jué)比美國(guó)搬演“公園歌劇”的其他場(chǎng)地更有親近感（大都會(huì)歌劇院一年一度在紐約中央公園大草坪舉行的盛事，可算是美式露天歌劇演出的“黃金標(biāo)準(zhǔn)”）。荷蘭公園歌劇院整個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)十分專業(yè)卻也十分接地氣，沒(méi)有徹底拋棄美國(guó)老電影故事里那種即興沖勁，就像朱迪· 嘉蘭（Judy Garland）與米基· 魯尼（Mickey Rooney）興致勃勃大喊的那樣：“嘿，小伙伴們，讓我們秀一場(chǎng)吧！”

荷蘭公園歌劇院把焦點(diǎn)放在年輕演員身上，我猜是為了節(jié)省經(jīng)費(fèi)。盡管想要吸引觀眾但又沒(méi)有大明星的參與，絕對(duì)是困難重重?？墒菣?quán)衡利弊的結(jié)果是，無(wú)論是演員或是觀眾都擺脫了傳統(tǒng)的束縛。

碰巧，在同一個(gè)周末我設(shè)法搞到了英國(guó)皇家歌劇院最后一場(chǎng)《奧賽羅》的門票。美國(guó)男高音拉塞爾· 托馬斯（Russell Thomas）備受矚目，因?yàn)樗鞘孜辉诳莆奶鼗▓@的舞臺(tái)上演繹這部劇劇名主角的黑人演員。關(guān)于這個(gè)制作，我們稍后再談。黑人擔(dān)綱有色族裔角色，在今天的社會(huì)環(huán)境里，足以登上歌劇界的新聞?lì)^條。相比之下，《小婦人》的英國(guó)首演請(qǐng)來(lái)了女導(dǎo)演艾拉· 瑪奇門特（Ella Marchment）， 女指揮希安· 艾德華茲（Sian Edwards），女舞美設(shè)計(jì)馬德琳· 博伊德（Madeleine Boyd）的女性主創(chuàng)組合，感覺(jué)卻是再平常不過(guò)。

我們可以繼續(xù)詳細(xì)討論歌劇演出——往后我或許會(huì)加以補(bǔ)充——毋須多說(shuō)，評(píng)論有正面的，也有負(fù)面的。有些人用心觀察后才動(dòng)筆開(kāi)始寫(xiě)評(píng)語(yǔ);其他人——尤其是觀看下午場(chǎng)次的人——只顧著埋怨到訪劇場(chǎng)周邊的公眾的嬉鬧令他們分心而無(wú)法認(rèn)真專注地看一臺(tái)當(dāng)代歌劇。我自己認(rèn)為，可以看到用不同角度把故事述說(shuō)出來(lái)的制作令人欣慰，盡管我還是對(duì)休斯敦版本的DVD 錄像情有獨(dú)鐘。

《紅喜鵲》與《群妖圍舞》卻令我大開(kāi)眼界。讀罷節(jié)目單中的介紹文章，我也不能確定為什么把兩部作品安排在一起，雖然“死亡”可以算得上是共通點(diǎn)（可歌劇主題中，死亡只是家常便飯吧）?；蛘咭?yàn)槟信缘墓逃卸ㄎ活嵉沽?。兩部歌劇的唱詞與音樂(lè)語(yǔ)言都不同——戴留斯的獨(dú)幕劇發(fā)生在妓院里，主角們都很堅(jiān)忍頑強(qiáng)，唱詞用的是抒情的法語(yǔ);而普契尼的故事藍(lán)本也是經(jīng)典芭蕾《吉賽爾》（Giselle ）（芭蕾音樂(lè)由亞當(dāng)譜寫(xiě)）的雛形，用意大利語(yǔ)唱出。兩部歌劇的結(jié)局都是女性殺掉了男性，跟大部分歌劇情節(jié)剛好相反。

除此之外，這兩部作品在敘事方面非常高效?！都t喜鵲》可以說(shuō)是簡(jiǎn)潔的小杰作：45 分鐘內(nèi)有兩個(gè)人被殺，整個(gè)過(guò)程干凈利落。我經(jīng)常說(shuō)，沒(méi)有不能簡(jiǎn)短壓縮的歌劇。有一次，當(dāng)有人抱怨某位男高音演一段臨死的戲趕得太快時(shí)，英國(guó)著名指揮托馬斯· 比查姆爵士（Sir ThomasBeecham）回答道：“對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)，沒(méi)有任何歌劇演員的‘死亡來(lái)得算快?！?/p>

在這里，我們得修正答案。事實(shí)上，在同一個(gè)周末看罷《紅喜鵲》與《奧賽羅》后，我有個(gè)想法：在那個(gè)溫柔的、描述19 世紀(jì)家庭關(guān)系的《小婦人》里加一點(diǎn)血腥情節(jié)，或許會(huì)更有舞臺(tái)效果。

My friend Grace is the sister of a famous playwright， soshe knows her theatre. And living in Los Angeles， her filmknowledge is beyond reproach. But she rarely gets to theopera， so I was quite happy to get her text after we sawThe Barber of Seville saying， “I want to go again??！” Then afew moments later， “As long as its outdoors！”

Did I mention she was Covid-phobic？ Im not surehow she feels about international travel right now，but Im telling her to hop a plane to London and headstraight to Holland Park.

For those who dreaded being trapped indoors withother people during the pandemic—or those who justlike the picnic atmosphere of opera al fresco —lastsummer set the bar particularly high. Even seasonalopera festivals usually held indoors （Cincinnati Operaand Opera Theatre of St. Louis come to mind） movedinto more open， pandemic-friendly settings. But now，places are pretty much back to business as usual—and thats precisely the charm of Opera Holland Park.Outdoor opera is business as usual.

If you think this is starting to sound like theevangelical ravings of a recent convert， you wouldntbe entirely wrong. My first trip to Holland Park wasonly a few weeks ago， though Id certainly heardabout the company for many years and took realnotice back in 2010 when the three-month summer?festival was awarded Best Opera Company by TheTimes of London. After OHP won the Education andOutreach Award at the International Opera Awards in2018， I decided I should see what the fuss was about.But then， a certain global health crisis got in the way.

I finally arrived at Opera Holland Park with a list ofquestions. Best opera company？ Really ？ In athleticcompetitions you never have featherweights andheavyweights in the same ring， and I didnt need tocompare the OHP operating budget with， say， theRoyal Opera House or English National Opera to tellthey werent in the same division. Still， somethingabout OHP has informed a large segment of theoperagoing community that the company regularlypunches above its weight.

Last May， Londons Opera magazine profiled OperaHolland Park， crediting the two-decade partnershipof Michael Volpe and James Clutton for turning anessentially ad hoc neighborhood operation intoa world-class production company. Volpe （whostepped down in 2020） knew opera， particularlyverismo obscurities; Clutton （who runs the wholeshow now） knew how to produce. It also helpedthat Kensington and Chelsea are among Londonswealthier neighborhoods.

But what was the secret？ Was it their programming？The means of presentation？ The setting？ The innerculture of the company？ Based on my limitedexposure， the answer seems a resounding “yes” onall counts， though Im still not sure in what order toput them. But somehow this particular combinationof elements has lured one of the youngest and mostdiverse opera audiences Ive seen in Europe.

Lets start with the programming， since that was?what first attracted me. OHP regularly schedules twoshows alternating in repertory at any given time， andmy best travel dates offered the UK premiere of MarkAdamos Little Women and a pairing of two rarelyperformed one-acts： Puccinis first opera （or ratheropera-ballet） Le Villi and Deliuss even less familiarMargot la Rouge .

I have a special place in my heart for Little Women ，which I first saw in 2000 on the main stage at HoustonGrand Opera. I missed the production that cameto New York City Opera a couple of years later—and indeed all of the nearly 100 productions sincethen—because Houstons seemed properly definitive（particularly once it aired on national television andwas released on DVD）. But this time I was anxious tosee how “an American masterpiece”—as the New YorkTimes and many other US critics dubbed Adamoswielding of verbal and musical vernacular—would farein England， where audiences often think they still ownthe language.

Le Villi I last saw in Shanghai—in fact， the ShanghaiOpera Houses production was the only time Ive seenit staged， though it does get paired with some earlyverismo works every decade or so. Margot la RougeId never heard of， despite having performed some ofDeliuss choral works and once stumbling onto thecomposers house in Florida （he used to raise orangesbefore turning to composing， so I have a specialfondness for him as well）.

Having become something of a summer operaconnoisseur， Id describe OHPs 1000-seat canopy asrecreating the open-air aura of Santa Fe Opera onthe scale of Opera Theatre of St. Louis， the nature ofthis particular park making the setting much moreintimate than most outdoor spaces Ive seen in theUS （where the Metropolitan Operas old series on theGreat Lawn of New Yorks Central Park still remains thegold standard）. Somehow OHP has instilled thoroughprofessionalism in the ranks without totally jettisoningthe spirit of Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney in thebackground saying， “Hey kids， lets put on a show！”

One could say that OHPs focus on young talent is abudgetary concern， though luring audiences withoutmarquee names presents its own set of challenges. Inthis case， the trade-off has meant that both artists andaudiences feel less bound to tradition.

By coincidence， that same week I managed to gettickets to the last performance of Otello at the RoyalOpera House， where Russell Thomas was making a bigstir as the first Black man there to play the title role. Moreon this production later， but this is what passes for newsthese days in operatic circles. By contrast， Little Womenmade its UK premiere at OHP with a woman director （EllaMarchment）， conductor （Sian Edwards） and designer（Madeleine Boyd） and nobody batted an eye.

I could go on about the performance—and may at?some point—but suffice it to say， some critics likedit， some didnt. Some， judging by their comments，actually paid attention before grabbing their pens;others—particularly in the afternoon matinee—foundthe noise from the park too distracting to concentrateseriously on a new piece. I， for one， was happy to seea totally different take on the opera， though Ill gladlyreturn to my DVD from Houston.

Margot and Le Villi ， on the other hand， provedquite revealing. Even after reading comments in theprogram book， Im not entirely sure why these pieceswere paired together， apart from the shared theme ofdeath （which， this being opera， is hardly revelatory）.Perhaps it was the gender reversal. Despite thedifferences in both verbal and musical language—Delius opera is a gritty tale is set in a brothel andwritten in lyrical French; Puccini offers an Italianversion of the same French tale that inspired Adamsballet Giselle —both operas feature women killingmen for a change.

Beyond that， both operas offered truly efficientstorytelling. Margot in particular was a minormasterpiece of concision， with two deaths effectivelyrendered within 45 minutes. Ive often said theres noopera in the repertory that couldnt be made shorter.The British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham， facingcomplaints that a tenor was rushing through his finalscene， once famously responded， “No opera singer hasever died soon enough for me.”

But the two of us now stand corrected. In fact， afterseeing both Margot and Otello in the same weekend， Ithink that the gentle 19th-century domesticity of LittleWomen wouldve been greatly improved on stage by alittle blood spatter.