Like most great stories, said mezzo-soprano Jill Grove, Igor Stravinsky's "The Rake's Progress" is "infused with thousands of layers."
“The overarching storyline is good versus evil, be careful what you wish for, be thankful for what you have, the grass is not always greener — all of those adages,” said Grove, who will make her Utah Opera debut as Baba the Turk in the company's 2014-15 season finale May 9-17 at the Capitol Theatre. “Our choices are what make our life.”
“The Rake’s Progress,” with text by W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman, tells the story of Tom Rakewell, a young man driven by a desire to gain wealth with very little work. When Nick Shadow enters the scene and tells Tom that he has an uncle who has left him an inheritance, Tom heads to London to collect the money, leaving the love of his life, Anne Trulove, behind.
Because of the cunning and manipulative Nick Shadow and the elusive Baba the Turk, Tom is eventually driven mad and left to rot in an insane asylum.
The production premiered in 1951 but hasn’t been performed in the United States since 2000 and has never yet been performed in Utah, according to a news release.
“This is a very iconic piece,” director Roy Rallo said. “So even if you don’t love opera or you don’t know opera, or even if you don’t know 'The Rake’s Progress,' come and see it because it is a famous entity of what opera history is.”
Making this production even more notable is the fact that Utah Symphony music director Thierry Fischer will conduct the music in his Utah Opera debut.
The opera will be sung in English with supertitles projected above the stage. Rallo decided to stay true to the costumes and set designed by British artist David Hockney in 1975.
“It’s really about the design and the staging going together in a way that is successful,” Rallo said. “The director and the designer work together quite well to create a production that tells the story directly but also responds to the original inspiration for the piece.”
A series of paintings and engravings by 18th-century artist William Hogarth were the source of inspiration for the music and libretto, according to the news release.
Among the performers making their Utah Opera debuts are tenor Norman Reinhardt as Tom Rakewell and soprano Joelle Harvey as Anne Trulove.
“He’s driven by his weaknesses,” Reinhardt said of Tom. “He has good aspects, but his weaknesses outweigh the good aspects of his character.”
“Anne is altruistic,” Harvey said. “She’s very giving and does what she thinks Tom needs. She’s very obedient to her father, but she’s not entirely subservient. She does show some strength, especially in the end, by being able to separate herself from Tom.”
Harvey said that despite the fact that no one in the real world is as perfect as Anne, her concern for the well-being of those around her makes her an extremely relatable character.
“It’s great that (Anne’s) love for (Tom) would extend through what he is experiencing because that is what we need,” Reinhardt said. “That is what people long for in relationships; they long for somebody who would be with them through absolutely everything. It’s a point of strength.”
Bass-baritone Mark Schnaible will take on the role of Nick Shadow, the cunning, devil-like character who Reinhardt says really drives the plot.
“This guy is very subtle,” Schnaible said. “Much of how he tries to get Tom down this path is with text and nuances, not so much bombastic, musical, fire-and-brimstone things.”
Then there's Grove, who says her Baba the Turk represents “the idea of fame and fortune without any sort of merit.
“(My character) didn’t do anything other than grow a beard,” she said. “As an actor, I’ve seen this part played very two-dimensionally. I like to bring out why she’s a real person.”
Other cast members include Branch Fields as Father Trulove and Alissa Anderson as Mother Goose, as well as Utah Opera resident artists Tyson Miller as Sellem and Will Tvrdik as Keeper of the Madhouse.
“It’s not a fluffy piece,” Grove said. “It’s very accessible, but it’s not easy. It’s not something where you’re going to come sit in the theater and let it wash over you and look at pretty costumes. The music is hard. It’s beautiful, but it’s thought-provoking.”
If you go ...
What: “The Rake’s Progress”
When: May 9, 11, 13 and 15 at 7:30 p.m. with a Sunday matinee performance May 17 at 2 p.m.
Where: Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South
How much: $18-$95; $10 tickets available for students and anyone age 30 or younger; prices increase by $5 on the day of the performance
Phone: 801-355-2787
Web: utahopera.org
Note: Local high school students can attend the final dress rehearsal of "The Rake's Progress" at the Capitol Theatre for $3 on May 7 at 7 p.m.
Email: mswensen@deseretnews.com