Soon Twitter brought an initial response Waiting for Miss Monroe, the opera by Robin de Raaff that had its world premiere at the Stadsschouwburg last night.
@DavidMPinedo: What an atrocious opera Raaff's 'Waiting for Ms. Monroe'. An atonal fart that has NOTHING musical. Just screaming.
And a second.
@sandraeik: Exciting world premiere Waiting for Miss Monroe - incredible performance by Laura Aiken as Monroe.
Two opposite "tweviews" of Waiting for Miss Monroe, but which of the opponents has the most right to speak? On further investigation, David Pinedo appears to have walked out during the interval. But Sandra Eikelenboom is marketing officer for the Netherlands Opera. So, who is right then?
Both. This is not a music philosophical play on Truth ("every man sees his own truth"). No, both are right as they comment on different parts of the opera.
Supreme opera composer Wagner saw opera as Gesamtkunstwerk, in which word, music and image had to merge. But in our culture, the division of labour is huge. Word, music and image are a creation of just under a hundred specialised craftsmen. With great differences as a result. Well Gesamtkunstwerk, not fusion, in the case of Waiting for Miss Monroe.
First was the word, with Janine Brogt's libretto. Three acts; three dramatic wears in the last months of Monroe's life. In 'Working Day', a day on the set of Something's gotta give, we get to know some hilarious characters. Studio boss Fox, acting coach Paula and grime artist Whitey. They seem straight out of a cartoon, only Monroe turns out to be a human being in that mock world alongside her cardboard board colleagues. Beautifully constructed.
Monroe's fear of failure and depression emerge best on the second day, 'Birthday'. Just before Monroe goes to sing a song for JFK, she is dazed by drink and pills and unable to get moving. A daydream, or a nightmare, follows. About love and father figures, about despair and rape. The third day, 'Dying Day', is dramatically weaker, but fortunately Lotte de Beer has created a beautiful stage setting.
Her direction has numerous roguish nods to cinematography. The second act provides several reflections on the so-familiar choreography of Diamonds are a girl's best friend: Paula and Whitey catch Monroe when she falls over from pills. The Kennedy boys and Monroe's father figures catch Monroe in her nightmare (and then pummel her). The pearls her friends don't save her.
Cute errand boys with set pieces are given a dramatic function by De Beer: in 'Working Day' they circle Monroe to please her, in 'Birthday' they come at her like four walls, and in 'Dying Day' they make off. A bed in the empty night remains. De Beer's direction is well worth seeing again.
But with earplugs. Robin de Raaff does not prove to be a best vocal composer in this opera, although his orchestration is alternately funny, dramatic and engaging. Perhaps the score shows like a viable heartbeat, but are those singers not allowed to sing two adjacent notes once, let alone a complete melody? Head voice, chest voice, head voice, chest voice. Where is the middle voice? Is it meant to express the discrepancy between Marilyn as a person and Marilyn as an image?
Incomprehensible.
Wagner believed that music should serve the mathematical intellect as well as the mind. That De Raaff is good with numbers may be obvious, but the mind is taken to extremes by his bellowing vocal parts. The big bravo for soprano Laura Aikin was therefore justified. She radiantly defied every assault on her vocal cords and did not get a moment's embarrassment. Respect.
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