The Hours
The Hours is an outstanding example of where opera should be heading. As much as we love the classics, the world is moving on and it is refreshing to see that Metropolitan Opera has the foresight to present newer works along with our much-loved favourites!
It began its life as Michael Cunningham’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, followed by the 2002 film adaptation starring Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore.
The Hours focusses on Virginia Woolf while writing her most famous novel, Mrs Dalloway. Woolf thought of calling the book ‘The Hours’ because it is a circadian novel, its events taking place during a single day, and the times of day giving it its structure. It features three women from different eras who each grapple with their inner demons and their roles in society.
The three protagonists in Cunningham’s novel have similar experiences in varying times and places. Virginia works alongside her husband, Leonard, but lonely in her literary world. Laura flees her perfect house and the domination of her husband and son for the alienation of a hotel room. Clarissa Vaughan tries to give a celebratory party amid the rages of AIDS. All three are haunted by dread, disappointment and the feeling that their scrupulous efforts will never be enough to undo the wrong they have caused or has been dealt to them.
Composer Kevin Puts uses a variety of musical styles to further strengthen one of opera's trademarks; the use of music to establish time, place, and character by creating musical worlds for each of the three women.
Librettist Greg Pierce does a masterful job with the libretto, extracting glistening lines from Cunningham’s pages and resetting them for opera.
Tom Pye’s set design contrasts the women against each other, particularly when Laura, in a hotel room high above the stage, reads the words Virginia is writing, while Woolf writes them at ground level. The three stories are presented on realistic islands that float around a bare stage.
The opera is moodily and sensitively lit by Bruno Poet, featuring an almost underwater ‘feel’ aided by costumes streaked in wave patterns designed by Pye.
Director Phelim McDermott weaves together the three narratives into a cohesive whole. His singers/actors do not follow the old opera convention of stand and sing, they are real people with real problems. Virginia ultimately could not live in the world; Laura chose to remain, but on independent terms that severed her from her family; Clarissa mastered the minutiae but could not bear the thought of bringing new life into a world she privately hated.
Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin ensures that every layer of Put’s complex score, with its differing musical styles for each of the three stories, matches the vocals.
The three sopranos Renee Fleming (Clarissa Vaughan), Joyce DiDonato (Virgina Woolf) and Kelli O’Hara (Laura Brown) are all divas in their own right and it is an amazing feat of casting for the Met to feature a core principal cast who so perfectly match their characters.
Fleming seems initially to be playing Clarissa one dimensionally, but this is not the case - it is appropriate for a character unable to express what she truly feels. This is her first Met performance since 2017, after which she retired from singing conventional operatic roles. This production is a welcome return as her voice soars from the stage to our hearts.
Joyce DiDonato, the vocal standout, is gripping as Virginia Woolf, constrained for mental health reasons in 1923 to write her novel Mrs Dalloway in tranquil suburban Richmond while deeply missing London. Whether dealing with her own shifting moods and relationships to her husband Leonard, her sister Vanessa and the myriad of niece and nephews, DiDonato embodies Woolf with an honesty and integrity that makes her riveting to watch.
Kelli O’Hara as Laura is not only a fine, clear-voiced singer but a formidable actress as well. She's able to let her own demons be seen clearly and allows Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway (the book was her companion throughout the piece) to guide her story. Her costume change near the end of the opera is breath taking.
The rest of the principal cast, John Holiday (Man Under the Arch), Sally (Denyce Graves), Leonard Woolf (Sean Panikkar) Kai Edgar (Richie) give nuanced performances further enriching the storyline.
Kyle Ketelsen as Richard, Clarissa’s friend dying of AIDS, gives a stellar performance both dramatically and vocally. He is a broken man.
My only reservation with this piece is the quiet procession of chorus in and out of scenes distracting from the main action. At times, it is necessary to reset the scene, but there are times when it is unnecessary and detracts from the narrative.
The Hours is a triumph in every way, visually, musically and dramatically! It deserves to remain in the Met repertoire for a very long time!
Barry Hill
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