COMMENTARY : MUSIC CENTER OPERA: A SEASON OF DUBIOUS CHOICES

The Music Center has always had a strange relationship with that wondrous, irrational art known as opera--a relationship predicated on false promises, pretension, mismanagement and neglect.

Twenty years ago, before we opened our most vaunted theatrical palace in the performing-arts shopping mall downtown, the powers-that-were promised grand grand-opera as a regular, on-going part of our cultural diet. Then they produced one Philharmonic “Salome,” hosted a couple of weeks of San Francisco Opera, jettisoned a small-scale local company and gave up.

Next came the local era of the New York City Opera. The Music Center Opera Assn. decided that we needed, and that we could afford, two or three weeks a year of imports from the “other” company in Fun City. Sometimes the results were glorious. Sometimes the results were just plain tacky.

In 1982, the operatic chieftains at the Music Center--not one of them a bona fide professional--decided that no opera for Los Angeles was better than New York City Opera. That myopic decision was particularly lamentable because it coincided with an emphatic upswing in the fortunes of the New York company under the new leadership of Beverly Sills, its ex-diva.

After a discomforting period of silence, our Opera Assn. helped sponsor a highly successful and highly glamorous three-opera visit by the Royal Opera of London. Soon thereafter, the association hired its first--repeat, first--full-time resident opera executive, Peter Hemmings.

A veteran of operatic wars in Scotland and Australia, not to mention symphonic wars in London, Hemmings was charged with the belated responsibility of making Los Angeles a viable force in international opera. He inspired vague optimism and confidence from the start, even though his lips remained sealed when anyone asked specific questions regarding his plans. Now, with Hollywood-esque hyperbole, he has announced the first installment in his plans. There may be cause to reduce the optimism and confidence.

Disclaimer: Everything Hemmings & Co. bring us may turn out to be magnificent. The proof of the exotic operatic pudding always is, as it were, in the consuming. We would love nothing better than to have our doubts prove misfounded. But we have doubts.

For 1985, the Music Center will underwrite 10 performances of “The Beggar’s Opera” at the renovated Embassy Theatre (April 25-May 4), plus an 11-performance visit to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion by the Deutsche Oper of West Berlin (Sept. 9-22).

“The Beggar’s Opera,” a historic ballad opera dating back to 1728, can be an engaging repertory exhumation, especially for a city that sees a great deal of conventional opera. It boasts a satirical text by John Gay and quaint songs by Pepusch and others. It was, of course, the esoteric inspiration for Kurt Weill’s “Dreigroschenoper” (Threepenny Opera). The reportedly imaginative production in question, by Colin Graham, was a success when first staged in the Clarksville Apple Shed of St. Louis.

“The Beggar’s Opera,” however, isn’t real opera. If we want to bring in a package from the enterprising Opera Theatre of St. Louis, why not Jonathan Miller’s “Cosi fan Tutte,” why not Lou Galterio’s definitive “Albert Herring,” why not the controversial “Orfeo” designed by Louise Nevelson?

Let them eat cake?

The importation of the Deutsche Oper of West Berlin seems even more paradoxical. Los Angeles is bringing the German company, minus its chorus and orchestra, to America for a presumably costly, isolated visit. The expense would seem better justified if the Berlin Opera were still regarded as one of the world’s great companies. We applauded the ensemble at UCLA in 1980 when, as an adventurous champion of experimental opera, Berlin sank Wilhelm Dieter Siebert’s “Titanic.” According to most reliable reports, however, Berlin has fallen on hard times.

In any case, the Los Angeles repertory and casting choices do not seem particularly promising on paper. It would make sense, perhaps, to invite Berlin to show us some authentic Wagner or Strauss or Beethoven. But Los Angeles--which hasn’t seen a “Tristan” since 1953, an “Elektra” since 1958 or a “Fidelio” since 1964--is getting yet another “Tosca,” plus three concerts of operetta music, plus Korngold’s “Die Tote Stadt” and Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro.”

A decent “Tosca” could have been imported from San Diego or San Francisco or Seattle. The tired Berlin version, originally staged by Boleslaw Barlog, dates back to 1969. The all-important title role will be sung here by Teresa Zylis-Gara, a middle-class Polish spinto more noted for her Strauss and Mozart than her Puccini. Scarpia will be sung by Ingvar Wixell, whose recent Rigoletto in San Francisco teetered on the brink of disaster. The conductor will be Jesus Lopez-Cobos for the first two performances, but an unknown, Johan M. Arnell, takes over the third.

The dubious raison d’etre for this “Tosca,” no doubt, is Placido Domingo, who sings Cavaradossi. He is a fine tenor and an ambitious conductor. He serves on the Music Center board. He bears the new title of artistic consultant for Music Center opera, and it has been fervently rumored that his role in future years will be far more than that of an adviser. It is nice to be able to hear him again, even though Cavaradossi happens to be one of his least demanding and least revealing roles. But at what cost?

The three operetta concerts, with forces yet to be announced, cause confusion. The Berlin Opera has no conspicuous operetta tradition. The company encountered something of a fiasco two years ago with “Orpheus in der Unterwelt.” Does opera-starved Los Angeles really need three concerts of operetta music from Prussia? Didn’t we do sufficient penance for our sins when we endured the Vienna Volksoper in Pasadena?

Korngold’s “Die Tote Stadt” is a mildly interesting, over-ripe, neo-romantic period piece that survives on one gorgeous tune and some lush yet macabre theatrical sentiment. Los Angeles managed to restrain its enthusiasm when the New York City Opera brought Frank Corsaro’s fanciful production to town in 1975, with an excellent cast headed by Carol Neblett and John Alexander.

The elaborate Berlin incarnation, which drew mixed reviews at its premiere two years ago, is staged by the general director of the company, Goetz Friedrich. The leading roles are undertaken by Americans: Karan Armstrong, a former Angelena who happens to be Friedrich’s wife, and James King, a celebrated Heldentenor who will celebrate his 60th birthday shortly before the Los Angeles performances.

Friedrich’s “Figaro,” first seen in 1978, comes to Los Angeles with a distinctly undistinguished cast. Only Wolfgang Brendel (Count Almaviva) and Helen Donath (Susanna) can be regarded as artists with international reputations. One wonders how many local opera lovers have ever heard of Manfred Roehrl, Lucy Peacock, Margit Neubauer or Graziella Araia. Hemmings’ official announcement, it should be pointed out, says, “The Berlin Opera is a great international company featuring great stars.” The top ticket will cost $100.

The “Figaro” conductor, incidentally, will be Christof Perick (in Germany he doesn’t use an e in his last name). He replaces James Levine in “Meistersinger” at the Met this month and once led an exciting “Fliegende Hollaender” in San Francisco. That may tell us something about his proclivities as a Wagnerian but it says little about his credentials as a Mozartean.

The Berlin team will arrive in Los Angeles 10 days before the opening to integrate soloists and conductors with a locally recruited orchestra and chorus. One hopes that is enough time. A similar system didn’t work particularly well when San Francisco played its last stand at Shrine Auditorium with Los Angeles instrumentalists in the pit. Covent Garden, it must be recalled, brought its own orchestra and chorus.

In addition to Domingo, Hemmings has appointed Richard Gaddes of St. Louis as artistic consultant. These gentleman, we are assured, will “help (Hemmings) seek out local talent, especially singers and conductors.” One cannot but wonder what Domingo and Gaddes know about local talent. One also cannot but wonder why Hemmings needs help.

One also wonders about the future. Although no one will confirm anything at this juncture, we do know that the Philharmonic, in conjunction with the Opera Assn., plans a “Wozzeck” for next year. It will be conducted by Simon Rattle, with Elise Ross (Mrs. Rattle) as Marie. We do know that this is to be followed by a “Tristan” with Domingo, if the tenor can master the uncharacteristic role. For the Wagner, Zubin Mehta is to return to the pit he abandoned 20 years ago.

What we don’t know, yet, is who really is calling the operatic shots at the Music Center. Or how. Or why.