Blanche Streeter, Julie Adams, and The Dress Photos by Kristen Loken
Merola Board Vice President Blanche Streeter shares the first name of the heroine of André Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois, and her last name has something to do with the opera's title. Independently of those chance similarities, Streeter is a great fan of both the opera and the Merolina who will sing Blanche on July 10 and 12, soprano Julie Adams.
Streetcar had its commissioned world premiere by the San Francisco Opera on Sept. 19, 1998, and during the intervening years, sets and — especially — costumes disappeared, including the dress worn by Renée Fleming, who created the role of Blanche.
Blanche Streeter to the rescue, recovering the dress from a costume shop sale and waiting for the right occasion to put it back into service. With Merola and Adams in action, the dress found its new purpose in life.
Previn's score will be presented in a new reduced orchestration by Peter Grunberg, conducted by 1986 Merola alumnus Mark Morash, and directed by Jose Maria Condemi (Merola 1999-2000). Condemi is also directing all three co-productions performed across the nation, next at Opera Santa Barbara and Kentucky Opera. Morash says of the working on the opera:
I have loved working on Streetcar. Previn’s music alternates between visceral power and opaque vulnerability. It is full of orchestral magic, much like the famous number form the opera.
I am really excited to debut the new reduced orchestration. All of the excitement of the rhythmic drive and brute force remain, but I think the piece is going to feel much more intimate overall — very much in keeping with the emotional fragility of Blanche. As a Merola production, the piece is a huge musical and dramatic challenge.
Julie Adams and Thomas Gunther in Streetcar
Putting the opera on its feet has helped the singers understand their music as they come to understand what Previn has brought to the libretto and how powerful and natural all those “difficult” notes become.
Morash says the role of Blanche is a complete tour de force, and Adams agrees:
I am truly humbled and honored to play one of the greatest parts ever written for a woman in the American theater. It demands the fullness and variety of an orchestra, which, in turn makes this story into a wonderful opera. This role has been the most complicated role I have ever played-musically, emotionally, and physically. However, the end result is so rewarding.
Besides Adams, the cast features tenor Casey Candebat as Harold “Mitch” Mitchell; soprano Adelaide Boedecker as Stella Kowalski; baritone Thomas Gunther as Stanley Kowalski; mezzo-soprano Eliza Bonet as Eunice Bubbell; tenor Benjamin Werley as Steve Hubbell; mezzo-soprano Shirin Eskandani as the Mexican Woman; and tenor Mingie Lei as a Young Collector.
Other members of Merola 2014 will have their place in the spotlight at the July 17 and 19 Schwabacher Summer Concerts, the first in Everette Auditorium, the second in a free outdoor event at Yerba Buena Gardens, conducted by Eric Melear.
The Summer Concerts feature extended scenes from Thomas’ Mignon; Handel’s Semele; Verdi’s Luisa Miller; Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and La Cenerentola; Puccini’s Madama Butterfly; and Bizet’s Carmen.
