Opera Colorado's "Nixon in China"

"Nixon in China" has always been one of my favorite contemporary operas. Twice, at the Colorado Music Festival, I've seen concert performances of it, back when the CMF was a bit more adventuresome. I've had the original cast performance on CD, with James Madallena as Nixon and Carolann Page as as his wife Pat.

Opera Colorado decided more than a year ago to present it in Denver in 2008 and I looked forward to the performance. As I often do, I listened to the CD several times to "practice" before the performance. I had read about the original Houston Grand Opera staging with a 747 on stage, but I knew from reading the local reviews that this was different. Different is okay.

What surprised me the most was how the sequences played out, always different from the way I imagined it. For example, in Act 2 there is a storm, whose musical content always reminds me of Wagner and "Siegfried". For unknown reasons, I've always imagined that Pat, who interrupts this wonderful orchestral music to sing "Thank God you came.....". is alone in her room waiting for Nixon to return. It sounds that way, to me. Wrong!!! It all transpires, as per Opera Colorado's performance, as part of the long second act dance scene where Kissinger sings "whip her to death!". I was way off, clearly.

The last act also surprised me. I guess I was so enamored of the earlier parts that I forgot the slow diminuendo that ends the opera as all the characters think to themselves their own relevance. While long, it is beautiful.

Robert Orth sang Nixon, Maria Kanyova was Pat, Chen-Ye Yuan sang the role of Chou En-lai and Marc Heller was Mao. The highlight to me though was Tracy Dahl belting out "I am the wife of Mao Tse-tung". Great fun!!

Once again, a real performance with the words visible in the super-title box changed my impression and acceptance of an opera. Normally I have the words turned off so I can focus on the music and singing. I guess that's a mistake. Kudos to Opera Colorado.