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Interview with A. Scott Parry, Stage Director of Macbeth
What should audiences look for in Macbeth, the opera, who are already familiar with the play by the same name.
Macbeth, the opera, is in most respects quite similar to the Shakespeare. Differences lie in the editing out of some minor characters and the transference of the roles of the 3 Witches into 3 Choruses of Witches. Verdi follows a similar pattern in the flow of the scenes as well, keeping intact for the most part the dramaturgy of the source material. I feel a real difference of interpretation though comes in the role of Lady Macbeth (always referred to by Verdi as "Lady"). In the play, Lady most certainly is a motivator for Macbeth to rise up to the challenge of his own ambition and his prophesied destiny, but in the opera, Verdi makes her even more complicit in the choices Macbeth makes to this end. The murder of Banquo is instigated by her in the opera, whereas in the play, Macbeth charts this course on his own accord, keeping the information secret from his wife. By the way Verdi sets her music as well, he shows her to be of an even darker bent than I believe Shakespeare had thought. In the opera, she is in many ways a more clearly delineated kind of Faustian Mephistopheles.
There are those in the theatre world who call Macbeth the cursed play, does that apply to the opera?
One could say so as there are certainly plenty of anecdotes of things going wrong when companies produce the piece. I avoid the superstition altogether, and although many will think me tempting fate, I just don't let myself think about it.
What about this particular production of Macbeth excites you the most?
Without a doubt, the casting of Brenda Harris and Todd Thomas as the principal couple. They have played these roles many times, separately, to great acclaim, and I consider them not only utterly fantastic performers, but good friends. It will be my sincere pleasure to have them together in these roles and to work with them on creating this production.
Setting any play to music for an operatic production requires omissions and liberties to be taken with the source material. Can you comment on how Verdi/Piave adapt the Shakespeare play for musical setting?
Many of Shakespeare's lines are used verbatim in an Italian translation. But as I said above, much is edited out to make room for the expansion that happens when setting text to music. Verdi was very specific in his instruction to Piave to keep his verses as short as possible to allow for emotional musical expression. He also was insistent that the main focus be on what he called the three main characters in the opera: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and the Witches.
Tell us about how your life's path led you to opera and how you acquired those skills.
What a question! In a nutshell, I hated opera as a kid. I wondered what all that screaming was about, and whenever I heard it on the radio in my parent's house, I'd quickly head to the other room. As I became very interested in music generally, I began studying the piano, and then the saxophone, and then voice and I actually thought I would go into choral conducting as that was where the bulk of my musical experience was coming from in school. I also became interested in theatre and I performed in a number of plays. It wasn't until I started college and was drafted into a production of The Pirates of Penzance that I found my love of opera and musical theatre. From that point on, I was on a path to be a performer and received my Bachelor of Music degree in voice. During my time performing, I also had many opportunities to assist directors in staging shows as well as stage managing various performances of theatre and ballet. I found that I actually enjoyed the artistic and technical putting together of shows even more than the onstage performing of them and decided to get my Master's degree in stage direction. At the same time as being a singer and actor, I also dabbled in composition and writing, so I thought it would make sense to have my concentration be in opera. And so I chose Indiana University in Bloomington to be my alma mater as it had a massive operatic facility and staff and performed almost non-stop throughout the year. While there, I had many opportunities to assist a wide number of directors and also to create a number of my own productions. One thing led to another and then to another and I ended up on the staging staff at New York City Opera where I stayed for 6 years as well as pursuing outside directing work across the country. Although I am no longer on staff at NYCO, things now feel somewhat confirmed for me in my career choice as I will be returning there next season as a guest director on their production of The Elixir of Love. It's been quite a varied road for me, and what a road still lies ahead!
What are some of your career highlights?
- Getting the chance to direct Sweeney Todd this last season - what a fantastically wonderful piece that I have loved and longed to do for so many years.
- Developing an opera made up of Monteverdi fragments for the Bloomington Early Music Festival, collaborating on its creation with the amazing theorboist Nigel North.
- Working with a cast of 6 talented singers at the New York International Fringe Festival on a new a capella musical which will have its Broadway premiere this season.
- Assisting the dramatically stunning Franz Gründheber on his first attempt at directing, and with him also performing his signature role of Wozzeck no less.
- Returning to Chautauqua Opera to direct a new conceptual production of La Traviata after being an assistant director there for so many years.
- Being Christopher Cowell's assistant on the most entertaining production I've ever had the pleasure of being part of, Chicago Opera Theatre's Il Viaggio a Reims in 2004.
- Stage managing for the American Ballet Theatre - what tremendous talent and dedication that company has.
- Playing the role of Katisha in a community theatre production of The Mikado. Absolutely hands-down hysterical.
If you hadn't become involved in an opera career, you would have become ...?
A chef.
What opera(s) do you most look forward to encountering in your professional career?
The thing I most look forward to in my career is doing good work with good people. Every opera has its joys and its attractions as well as its challenges, so a particular piece I couldn't say. But I must admit, I dearly love Mozart. And Handel. And Sondheim. So I suppose there's a start.
What is the most difficult piece you have ever had to direct?
I would have to say one of the first professional shows ever I directed, South Pacific, because I initially did not have a connection to the material. It was a challenge for me to find my way into the piece in order to be able to successfully bring all the forces together into a unified vision. But it taught me that every great work of Lyric Theatre has a door to the inside of it. For me, the challenge, and the reward, is finding that way in.
What was your worst moment in the theatre?
Top Three:
3) Breaking my foot onstage during the tech rehearsal for La Cenerentola in Miami right after having specifically warned the cast about the unevenness of the stage at that spot.
2) Taking a nap before the final dress rehearsal of The Barber of Seville at NYCO and sleeping through my alarm. The frantic call I received from the stage manager was like a horrific nightmare.
1) My first outing as a stage manager was for a production of Fiddler on the Roof and on opening night the crowd was immense and unhappy with some box office mess-ups. I held the curtain and tried to assist the house manager with the seating issues. We were almost 15 minutes late to begin. I hurriedly ran to the booth and started the beginning of show light cues and sent the conductor to the pit. The house lights went out, the audience fell silent, and I raised the curtain in the dark. The Maestro gives the fiddler his cue. But there is no sound. The stage is black and all I see is the conductor in the pit frustratingly cueing into thin air, over and over again, but with no effect. I hear over my headset from my crew in the fly loft that they don't see anyone on the stage. And then I realize: I hadn't called the cast onstage yet. I had started the show without a cast and without the eponymous fiddler sitting on his roof. Worst. Moment. Ever.
Tell us one thing nobody knows about you.
At one time in my youth, I had blue hair down to my waist and was the lead singer for a techno-industrial rock band. Seriously.
Click here to see A. Scott Parry's homepage.
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