By snoadmin
Nixon was a president accompanied by plenty of scandals and controversies. But Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Adams also saw him as an excellent central character in an unusual setting — an opera.
Adams said in a statement that Concord, where he went to school, was the central nerve of the presidential primary campaigns.
“It was somewhat of a natural fit when the topic of Richard Nixon, Mao Tse-tung, capitalism and communism should be proposed to me as the subject for an opera,” Adams said.
The modern opera, which is coming to Long Beach’s Terrace Theater for two evenings this month, takes the audience back in time to President Nixon’s visit to China in 1972. When he shook the hand of Mao Tse-Tung, he opened the gates to the modern world.
The opera portrays six personalities including Nixon and his wife Pat, played by Michael Chioldi and Suzan Hanson; Moa Tes-tung and his wife Chiang Ch’ing, played by John Duykers and Ani Maldjian; Cho En lai, played by Roberto Gomez; and Henry Kissinger, played by Kyle Albertson.
Conductor Andreas Mitisek has been working for the Long Beach Opera for 12 years. He is currently the artistic and general director and also credited as stage director for “Winterreise” and “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Mitisek has conducted a number of LBO productions including “Die Schweigsame Frau,” and “The Ring of the Nibelung.”
Mitisek expects the audience to be very open-minded and travel through the story, “ready to be dazzled and entertained.” He said the opera is a great piece and appealing to all types of audiences. The story, he says, will captivate and familiarize itself with the audience and take away the well-known Watergate scandal to bring in a more momentous event.
Chioldi, playing the role of Richard Nixon, said he was more than excited to obtain an opportunity to play such a historic figure, especially since baritones rarely get the lead role.
This is the third time Chioldi has worked with LBO and expressed his love for their interesting and the innovative characteristics, like those of “Nixon in China.”
“It’s a minimalist opera; the text is poetic and of course stands out musically. [The singing] is as strong and powerful as theater,” Chioldi said.
What Chioldi expects, and on behalf of the composer John Adams, is for the audience to “absolutely love it.” “It’s such a great piece; prepare to be blown of out your seat,” Chioldi said.
“Nixon in China” will play at the Terrace Theater at Long Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday, March 20 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 28 at 4 p.m.
