An opera’s post-mortem

When a music critic writes “What went wrong?” after a performance, the question is probably most often rhetorical. But Los Angeles Opera’s much-anticipated world premiere this month of Deborah Drattell’s “Nicholas and Alexandra” -- the first work commissioned exclusively by the company -- left not only many critics baffled but numerous audience members asking that question.

And in the enormous chat room the opera world becomes in the wake of such a high-profile flameout, there turns out to be no shortage of outside opinions on where, why and how the project may have gone awry -- and on who to praise for courage or blame for bad judgment for failing to stop a runaway train.

The opera, which opened Sept. 14 and ended its run at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Friday, seemed to have everything going for it: a tragic, familiar and historically important story; Mstislav Rostropovich, considered to be among the world’s great cellists, conducting the orchestra; Placido Domingo, who is also general director of Los Angeles Opera, making his 120th role debut as Rasputin, a part written specifically for the superstar tenor; popular singers Rodney Gilfry and Nancy Gustafson in the title roles; noted theater director Anne Bogart at the helm, with her SITI company performers woven into the staging.

Before the opening, some critics and leaders of other opera companies did question L.A. Opera’s choice of composer Drattell, a relative newcomer who had served as composer in residence at New York City Opera, where her opera “Lilith” premiered to mixed reviews. And librettist Nicholas von Hoffman, although a respected political journalist, author and commentator, had never written an opera libretto. Still, this premiere was front loaded with so many intriguing elements that all five performances sold out in advance.

Then came the reviews -- not mixed but negative across the board, dominated by variations of the words “flat” and “dull.” “By intermission, [there was] the unmistakable feeling that a wake had settled in at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion,” wrote Tim Smith of the Baltimore Sun. “There are those who will want the head of Deborah Drattell in recompense for having to sit through her opera,” offered Timothy Mangan of the Orange County Register. A similar lack of enthusiasm reigned at the New York Times, Daily Variety, the Hollywood Reporter, the San Diego Union-Tribune and this newspaper.

Twenty-five years ago, experts say, audiences avoided opera premieres, expecting a contemporary composition to be inaccessible and probably weird -- but now world premieres are trendy events, selling out faster than “Madame Butterfly.” What’s more, at a cost of a little over $3 million, “Nicholas and Alexandra” was well within the average range for an L.A. Opera production. So money is less the issue here than bruised egos as well as the future of this opera and new operas as a whole.

“I spoke to a successful composer who saw it and said, ‘This is a blow to the whole movement of American opera,’ ” said David Gockley, general director of Houston Grand Opera.

Yet opera professionals agree: There are certain realities to opera production that make a train difficult to stop once it’s moving. Commitments to composers, performers, venues and donors take place years before a production arrives onstage. There is no option to change an opening date the way a movie studio can postpone the release of a movie, or cut losses by deciding to shelve the thing altogether.

Plus, unlike theater, the opera world has no established system of out-of-town tryouts or preview performances before a production faces the critics. Even if the money existed to put on eight opera performances a week somewhere out of town or during weeks of previews, the demands on opera singers’ vocal cords prevent them from performing major roles so often.

“Commissioning operas is a huge roll of the dice,” observed Richard Gaddes, general director of Santa Fe Opera. That company has a long tradition of presenting world premieres, including this summer’s “Madame Mao” by Chinese composer Bright Sheng. “As a producer, you almost put your future in the hands of the composer. You can’t go to the composer and say, ‘Don’t make it an F sharp. Make it an A.’

“You have to take the risk and do it and deal with the consequences. And I would say it doesn’t work as often as it does,” Gaddes added. “I’ve been involved in unsuccessful premieres myself, and it’s a horrible feeling.”

Others, however, say that in the case of “Nicholas and Alexandra,” choices on the part of L.A. Opera leadership, especially committing to this composer, may have raised the stakes unreasonably high.

“Wagner wrote three or four operas before the first one that anyone thinks has any worth, and the same with Verdi,” said Gockley of Houston Grand Opera, another frequent presenter of world premieres, including 2003’s “The Little Prince” and 1998’s “Little Women” at Houston Grand Opera Studio.

“That Ms. Drattell, or any number of people, are put into the spotlight with so much expectation and so little experience -- it’s patently unfair,” Gockley said. “Ideally, she would have written three or four or five operas and presented them in lesser locations and really earned her stripes.”

Gockley, like others, also questioned Domingo’s decision to perform in a new commission while maintaining a general director’s responsibility to shepherd the piece through its development. Although Domingo often performs at L.A. Opera, detractors say that a new piece, particularly one with a less-experienced composer, requires constant, undivided attention.

If a general director “is also the star and has a juicy part that is written for him, objectivity goes out the window,” Gockley said.

Drattell was unwilling to be interviewed for this article. But Domingo, for his part, defended all choices made by opera company leadership -- including that of the composer. There are smaller companies she might have worked with, he said, but “you have to trust these kinds of composers. We can’t be discouraged.”

He added that despite their busy schedules, both he and Rostropovich -- who some involved in the production suggest is a better cellist than conductor -- were sufficiently present during the rehearsal period.

Domingo also was less willing to call the opera a flop than the critics.

“The theater is full, and the public leaves the theater very happy,” he said.

The singer acknowledged, however, that performing in a world premiere while also overseeing its development along with company artistic director Edgar Baitzel represented a calculated risk. “It’s a very difficult position for me, because when I approach a composer, a composer sees me more as a performer, and the first thing they tell me is, ‘I would like to write a part for you,’ ” he said. “And since I still know that my singing can bring the people into the theater, I was glad to do it.

“The next two world premieres, I will not be involved, and that’s how I prefer it. But I cannot deny that if there is a part that a composer is preparing for you, it’s hard to say, ‘No, I don’t want to do it.’ ” Domingo and Baitzel believe there is a not-too-distant future for “Nicholas and Alexandra,” with improvements and changes. “I think I can convince the people in Washington to do it,” said Domingo, who is also general director of the Washington Opera. “I believe in the piece, even though it has a ways to grow.”

Baitzel suggested that L.A. Opera’s high-definition video recording of the opera may help keep interest alive. “The DVD will give other theater managements a huge opportunity to study our production and to consider rewriting or doing a second version, or even to say, ‘OK, we can do it with an entirely different staging, not the Anne Bogart approach, or a different conductor, not the Rostropovich approach,’ ” he said.

Others argue that, while mixed reviews don’t always kill a new opera, reviews as consistently negative as those that met “Nicholas and Alexandra” almost assuredly will. “If you get bad reviews across the board, you’re dead,” said Santa Fe Opera’s Gaddes.

But speaking of reviews, Los Angeles Opera orchestra musician John Walz noted wryly that there was an unexpected benefit from the vitriol: While he was toting his cello in the elevator after performances, a number of audience members approached him to say: “After reading the reviews, I thought I was going to hate it, but it’s not nearly as bad as I was led to believe.”