April 19-May 4, 2025
Brown Theater, Wortham Theater Center
Houston, Texas – USA
Missy MAZZOLI: Breaking the Waves
Patrick Summers, conductor; Tom Morris, director; Missy Mazzoli, composer; Royce Vavrek, librettist. Cast: Lauren Snouffer (Bess McNeill), Ryan McKinny (Jan Nyman), Michelle Bradley (Mother), Maire Therese Carmack (Dodo McNeill), David Portillo (Dr. Richardson). Creative: Sara Brodie, revival and movement director; Soutra Gilmour, set and costume designer; Richard Howell, lighting designer; Will Duke, projection designer; Jon Nicholls, sound designer; Samantha Kaufman, intimacy director; Richard Bado, chorus director.
Sherry Cheng | 22 APR 2024
In the near decade since the 2016 Opera Philadelphia premiere of American composer Missy Mazzoli’s critically acclaimed opera Breaking the Waves, the work has had a vigorous life, with performances around the globe in New York, Detroit, San Francisco, Edinburgh, Paris, Adelaide, Melbourne, and more. The pandemic scuttled Houston Grand Opera’s scheduled run of the opera in 2021, but this Easter weekend, the company triumphed in its opening night performance. HGO Butler Studio alumni Lauren Snouffer and Ryan McKinny led the stellar cast as Bess and Jan, the tragic lovers in this devastating yet ultimately transfigurative tour-de-force. HGO’s realization of Tom Morris’s production was distinguished by superb singing and acting from the entire cast, tight and well-paced staging, ingenious set design, and a brilliant reading of the score from the orchestra.
Based on Danish auteur Lars von Trier’s searing 1996 film of the same title, the opera closely follows the structure of the film. It tells the story of guileless, otherworldly Bess (she talks to God, and God talks back), who belongs to a rigid, patriarchal religious community on the Isle of Skye, and her relationship with Jan, an outsider who works on the offshore oil rigs. When a near-fatal accident leaves Jan paralyzed, Bess believes it is her fault. She complies with Jan’s wishes for her to have sexual encounters with other men, believing it will save his life. She is ostracized and makes the ultimate sacrifice for love. The opera comes with warnings of explicit sex scenes, nudity, and sexual violence, and its deep, visceral probing of the psyche of the characters is difficult and bruising. Yet this heartbreaking story that asks big questions about the nature of goodness, faith, and love is absolutely unforgettable.
Mazzoli’s compelling score, along with Royce Vavrek’s spare yet penetrating libretto, underpins the intense psychological drama that unfolds on stage. She conjures a sonic canvas that conveys emotional extremes and ambiguities, taking the listener on a harrowing psychic journey. Glissandi and cascading scales layered over seething harmonies, distorted twanging from an electric guitar, varying densities and changing rhythms, solemn hymns and menacing ostinatos, haunting lyrical passages rising above overlapping textures–the whole is both extraordinarily expressive and deeply unsettling. Conductor Patrick Summers navigated the complex score with keen insight, and the HGO orchestra illuminated all the contrasting and disparate elements of the sonic landscape with startling clarity and dramatic purpose.
Soutra Gilmour’s Brutalist set design, enhanced by moody projections and lighting by Will Duke and Richard Howell, makes brilliant use of a single rotating structure of 13 imposing, monolithic, graduated pillars in concrete gray. It is the oppressive, inescapable environment that surrounds Bess at every turn–the harsh exterior landscape, the stark interior of her church where the men loom over her, Jan’s prison-like hospital room, the industrial oil rig where Jan is hurt, and the cargo ship where dangerous men lurk.
Soprano Lauren Snouffer embraced the incredibly challenging role of Bess with fearless commitment. Her delivery of the opening aria, “His name is Jan,” is filled with tenderness. Whether portraying Bess’s anxiety with leaps to long high notes, displaying anger with quick repetition of “late, late, late,” or reveling in pure ecstasy when repeating Jan’s name, Snouffer’s vocal prowess, matched in equal measure by her vulnerable physicality, brought Bess’s psychological journey to vivid life. Her bell-like tone rang clear in the high register with uncanny accuracy, and her low, eerie voice when possessed by the voice of God sent chills down the spine.
The chemistry between Snouffer and McKinny (Jan) was palpable throughout. Their voices melded together in long, soaring lines in the duet “Your body is a map,” sung while making love with each other in liberating bliss. The sex scenes between the lovers never feel shocking or uncomfortable, a credit to Sara Brodie and Samantha Kaufman, working in the roles of movement and intimacy directors. McKinny’s charismatic bass-baritone rang true, even when confined to a hospital bed for a large part of the opera. He gave dimension to Jan’s character, with his plaintive pleading for Bess to sleep with other men, followed by his doubt and moral struggle (“Do you think we turn bad when we are standing on the edge”).
The supporting cast gave outstanding performances, presenting the audience with a more complete, humanistic view of the whole. Tenor David Portillo, who originated the role of Dr. Richardson, brought experience and understanding to the character of the sympathetic, rational doctor. Mezzo-soprano Maire Therese Carmack was lovely as the steadfast and empathetic Dodo, especially in her “golden heart” aria from the wedding reception. Both the doctor and Dodo recognize the goodness of Bess, yet are powerless to help her out of an impossible situation. Soprano Michelle Bradley sang the role of Bess’s stern Mother, her powerful voice carrying the weight of judgment tempered by love.
Lauren Snouffer (Bess) with the chorus of men in Missy Mazzoli’s ‘Breaking the Waves.’ (credit: Lynn Lane, courtesy of Houston Grand Opera)
Some of the most dramatic moments in the production involve the all-men chorus. As church elders they acted as the voice of authority, reciting in precise, clipped monotone when questioning Bess, intoning a solemn hymn tune on several occasions, and casting Bess out with hateful hissing in the end. As oil rig workers, the chorus sang with full-throated, red-blooded masculine power. As the Voice of God, they were an ominous presence that seemed to emanate from the mind of Bess herself. As she repeats and echoes the voice of God, it is as if she were possessed, whether by a force of good or bad is ambiguous at best. One searing image is of the men (as Voice of God) bearing scars and slashes on their bodies as they encroach upon Bess. They are the physical embodiment of Bess’s psychic scars and lasting trauma.
The most poignant moment of the opera occurs in the final scene. It is a miracle, not the miracle of Jan’s recovery, but the miracle of strange, beautiful music, fully realized in the score by the sound of bells pealing from the sea as Bess becomes one with the waves, undulating in eternity. The listener is left pondering unanswerable questions, hopeful in the power of love and belief. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Houston Grand Opera: houstongrandopera.org
- Missy Mazzoli: missymazzoli.com
- Royce Vavrek: roycevavrek.com
- Patrick Summers: patricksummersmusic.com
- Tom Morris: unitedagents.co.uk/tom-morris
- Lauren Snouffer: etudearts.com/artists/lauren-snouffer
- Ryan McKinny: ryanmckinny.com
- Michelle Bradley: minerva-artists.com/roster/michelle-bradley
- Maire Therese Carmack: mairetheresecarmack.com
- David Portillo: imgartists.com/roster/david-portillo
Read more by Sherry Cheng.
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