Edward Parks (Steve Jobs) and Jessica Jones (Chrisann Brennan). Photo by Ken Howard for Santa Fe Opera, 2017
Edward Parks (Steve Jobs) and Wei Wu (Kṑbun Chino Otogawa). Photo by Ken Howard for Santa Fe Opera, 2017By CARL NEWTON
Los Alamos
Composer Mason Bates sampled many sources of sounds in constructing his electronica based score. His goal was to create sound worlds for each character – sonic IDs. For Jobs he describes it as a quicksilver blend of orchestra and electronica incorporating Mac computer sounds. To that sound world he added the plucking of a steel stringed acoustic guitar, a sound that appealed to Jobs. Bates has expanded our notions of symphonic music by adding his electronica instrument to the orchestra.
One of the conceits of the storyline is a circling back, such as represented by the Zen circular brush stroke, the enso, which gives meaning to the (R)evolution in the opera’s title. Mark Campbell wrote the libretto (available in the Opera Shop) which reads like a lyricist would write it. It incorporates rhythms, pulsations, rhyming elements and counterpoint that give great vitality to the opera.
The One Act opera begins with a prologue and ends with a brief epilogue, between which are 19 scenes which segue neatly to each other as there are forward and backward skips in time like humans recall events. The year 2007 is the anchor for the dramatic events, the first of which in Scene 1 Jobs does a product launch, Scene 2 is directly thereafter and Scene 3 is later that afternoon when Jobs’ spiritual mentor, a Sṑtṑ Zen priest, Kṑbun Chino Otogawa admonishes Jobs in the hills around Cupertino.
Later than night (in Scene 16) Laurene confronts Jobs about his failures and extracts his promise to try to change. Given the bad boy bullying nature of Jobs, there is also a human being there that the opera brings out, often with good humor.
Yes, he loved the notion of one switch for turning on and off, but we get to view him with a sense of parallax as his colleagues, friends, mentors and loves bring into view his messy humanness. Operas are where heroes and villains collide, and Mason Bates has the sound-scapes of the characters in this opera colliding.
The people that Jobs recalls in the course of this opera are himself as a 10-year-old (acted by Asher Corbin), his father Paul (baritone Kelly Markgraf), his wife Laurene Powell Jobs (mezzo Sasha Cooke), Kṑbun Chino Otogawa (bass Wei Wu), Reed College teacher (mezzo Mariya Kaganskaya), co-founder of Apple computers Steve Wozniak (tenor Garrett Sorenson), and his girlfriend Chrisann Brennan (soprano Jessica E. Jones). The characterizations in this work of art are based on published works and video recordings. We ought to bear in mind that Campbell has used poetic license in presenting them.
When General Director Charles MacKay spoke about the 2017 operas during a Docent training session he said the company will be trying for another Grammy nomination (the first was for Cold Mountain) with a recording of this production. What MacKay sees at the storyline core of this opera are human relationships and foibles. He noted that in workshops during the development of the opera that there was hardly a dry eye in the house when Steve Job’s catharsis is brought on by his wife Laurene whose spirit is at the center of this work. With several co-producers the opera will be seen in Seattle, San Francisco and Bloomington in coming years.
It has taken many skilled teams over the last 2 years to bring this opera to opening night. The team that Director Kevin Newbury assembled of designers, some of which had their own teams, and also the teams within the SFO production departments for sets, scenic arts, lighting, props, costumes, and wigs.
On opening night ticket holders for probably the SFO’s most technically challenging opera ever were invited into the Crosby auditorium to hear presentations by Randy Lutz, Properties Director (his 39th season); Scott Schreck, Technical Director; Lee Fiskness, Lighting Director; and Travis Shupe, Production Electrician. Lutz told about his uncle’s garage back east that held a treasure trove of items that are the right vintage to be found in Paul Jobs garage.
Schreck spoke of tracks in the stage floor that guide and anchor the pods that create the scenes, and the difficulty for the rolling casters on props and for women’s elevated heel shoes to navigate those hazards. Fiskness and Shupe told about the challenges of lighting the pods from within (LED light strips spaced four inches apart) and without (six projectors, up at the top of the back of the theater and two from positions in the stage environment).
When the Education Department in late June provided a teaser excerpt from this opera at El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, Chorus Master Susanne Sheston spoke about the challenges of presenting a new work, about getting comfortable with the unknown.
Apparently it was in the final stages of Bates’ and Campbell’s creation that the chorus layer was completed. Some of the vocal music was presented, accompanied by Robert Tweten who will also conduct the last performance (and maybe also the added performance Aug. 22).
During the rehearsal weeks of opening nights there are presentations by the directors and designers for an audience of technical apprentices, production department volunteers, docents, and donors.
For this work Director Newbury had on his flanks, the composer and pit performer Mason Bates, librettist Mark Campbell, scenic designer Vita Tzykun, choreographer Chloe Treat, projection designer Ben Pearcy of 59 Productions, lighting designer Japhy Weideman, costume designer Paul Carey, and co-sound designer Brian Loach. One of Newbury’s questions for the designers was, “What do we see when we look inside Steve Jobs?”
Tzykun focused on sense of wonder and magic which gave her the idea for the pods. Carey responded simply for the Jobs costume: 501 Levis and a black sweater throughout. His costumes for Laurene require that Sasha Cooke has 4 fast changes in a row. Bios for each member of this team are available through the santafeopera.org link to this opera.
Solo passages in the opera span from the kindly birthday celebration by Paul Jobs in the Prologue; through Steve’s imagining computers that play music, “Something we Trill, Hum, Strum…”; to Steve Wozniak’s white-hot assault, “You’ve become one of the bastards we hated: An egomaniacal self-centered, self-serving, self-deceived, maga-corporate prick!”
Additional solo passages of different sensibilities are sung by Chrisann, Kṑbun and Laurene. Choral passages are also well written and often have counterpoint punches from Steve as three-beat interjections, “Shut it in. Close it down. Bolt it down.”
In the end of the opera there is an appeal for a more hopeful way of being, of living with one another. It brings to mind Kṑbun’s admonishing Steve, “you’ve mistaken ‘want’ for ‘love’. You let you’re ego get the best of you.” Recalling that admonition I’m reminded of a maxim from the father of my best college friend: “Be careful of what you want. You’ll probably get it.”
When the audience left I went to the Tobin Terrace and sat on a bench until Mark Campbell emerged from the stage door. He was surrounded by a coterie of friends which I briefly penetrated to tell him again how much I admired his creation, now that I’ve seen it fleshed out in a performance.
Garrett Sorenson (Woz) and Edward Parks (Steve Jobs). Photo by Ken Howard for Santa Fe Opera, 2017
Edward Parks (Steve Jobs), Garrett Sorenson (Woz) and the Santa Fe Opera Chorus. Photo by Ken Howard for Santa Fe Opera, 2017
