PORTLAND, Ore. — The Shining glowed in an intense and dramatic production by Portland Opera on March 15 before a standing-room-only audience at the Newmark Theatre. Based on Stephen King’s popular horror novel of the same name, the opera by composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell emphasizes the psychological background of main characters that leads to the tragic ending. Their interpretation hewed to the original story, standing in direct contrast with the Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 movie version, which took a lot of liberties.
A co-production between Portland Opera, Hawai’i Opera Theatre, and San Francisco-based Opera Parallèle, The Shining was skillfully directed by Erin Neff, who studied the production under its initial stage director, Brian Staufenbiel. Moravec’s music aptly conveys the conflicted mental state of the characters and the haunted history of the hotel.
The Torrance family (husband Jack, wife Wendy, and young son Danny) arrive at the Overlook, a large hotel in the mountains of Colorado, to restart their life as a family. During the winter months, the hotel is empty, except for a skeleton staff. The maintenance man, Watson, instructs Jack on how to run the boiler, emphasizing that the pressure must be released twice a day. The cook, Hallorann, immediately connects with Danny, recognizing that both have the ability to see into the future, a gift that Hallorann’s grandmother called “The Shining.”
A recovering alcoholic with a mean streak, Jack wants to focus on writing his play, but discovers the hotel’s old scrapbooks, which describe the murders, suicides, and scandals that have taken place in the Overlook. He begins to hear and see the former hotel residents who have committed evil deeds and associate them with memories of his abusive father. This toxic combination torments Jack, repeatedly telling him that his wife and his son are against him and must be punished.
Neff’s staging doesn’t shy away from violence. Jack hits Wendy and attempts to strangle her. He threatens Danny, and he knocks out Hallorann with a croquet mallet. Wendy, in an attempt to defend herself and her son, clobbers Jack with a beer bottle, stabs him in the back with a knife, and slashes the calf of his leg.
The setting, designed by Jacquelyn Scott, effectively uses scrims and partitions to convey parts of the hotel. The stairwell that leads from the lobby to the second floor of the hotel is turned one way to define two rooms. But it is also turned another way to reveal a storage room where Wendy and Danny imprison Jack after he violently assaults them.
Evocative projections, designed by David Murakami, help to convey each vignette and keep things on edge. Right from the start, outlines of huge evergreen trees suggest the deep forests of Colorado, with the Overlook perched on a mountainside. Other projections show a spaghetti of pipes and vents that extend every which way from the basement boiler room. Some projections from the Overlooks’ past depict garish characters and gruesome scenes. The placid image of a lake in Maine dominates the final scene in which Wendy and Danny recover from the death of Jack and the destruction of the hotel. To add a bit of humor, Wendy sits in a lawn chair with a novel by Stephen King.
Baritone Robert Wesley Mason superbly portrayed the mental and emotional instability of Jack. In the role of Wendy, Rebecca Krynski Cox won over the audience with her passionate intensity and soaring soprano. Quinton Garner excelled as an empathetic and insightful Hallorann, but his bass baritone needed to be louder to reach over the orchestra. Young Flash Inouye embodied Danny in a mostly speaking role.
Bass-baritone Richard Zeller, a commanding father figure, menaced Jack unsparingly. As the hotel’s general manager, Ulman, tenor Nathan Granner laid out the ground rules of the hotel but hinted his suspicions about Jack’s alcohol problem. Watson’s instructions for running the boiler were made crystal clear by tenor Nathaniel Catasca.
Nicholas Fox prepared a large ensemble of singers for the party scene in which staff and guests from the hotel’s past chaotically mingle in a musical collage in the lobby.
Conducted by Damien Geter, Portland Opera’s artistic adviser, the 19-piece orchestra filled the narrow pit from end to end and conquered a challenging score, which required several musicians to play more than one instrument. Moravec textures Campbell’s libretto with music that transitions evocatively between the dissonant and the melodic, but the composer always leaves an edginess at the end of each scene, never resolving the harmony until the very end of the opera.
The entire run of The Shining is officially sold out. Perhaps horror, which is quite the popular genre in the world of novels and movies, will open a new route for opera. That would be a scream.
