Television Reviews : PBS’ ‘Great Performances’ Presents ‘Nixon in China’

“Nixon in China,” in case you were off the planet this year, is John Adams’ quixotic, quasi-documentary, grandly hyped, grand opera. It was first staged by Houston Grand Opera in October, moved quickly on to New York, is headed for Amsterdam and Edinburgh this summer, and it may not be too soon to think about tickets for the local premiere, slated for the next Los Angeles Festival in September, 1990.

Tonight, “Great Performances” brings the Houston production to PBS (Channels 28, 15 and 24 at 9 p.m.; also Saturday at 9 p.m. on Channel 50). The small screen translation of the emphatically big theater opera works, idiomatically and effectively.

There are losses, to be sure, in Brian Large’s television direction. The predictable obsession with individual faces is irritating in the second scene confrontation between Nixon (James Maddalena) and Mao (John Duykers), mangles much of the “Red Detachment of Women” ballet-within-the-opera sequence, and obscures and distorts the complex finale.

But the camera work catches the expectant wonder of the opening chorus dramatically. The close-ups and montages of superimposed images also enhance the big arias, particularly in the scene for Pat Nixon (Carolann Page) and the final benediction, sung by Chou En-Lai (Sanford Sylvan). The acting of the now-celebrated cast--and the makeup--survive the attention handily.

The intermission feature is a discourse by Adams. It makes a nice introduction to the man, but what he says--except perhaps the emphasis he places on sexual oppression as a theme--will not surprise anyone who has read even a tithe of the vast literature the opera has spawned.

The show is hosted by Walter Cronkite, who witnessed the historic trip to China in 1972 as a working journalist. He discusses each scene of the opera in terms of the actual events, showing news clips that amply prove the authenticity of the sets and costumes. The sense of specific historicity that this imposes actually confuses the final scenes, however.