Dr. Atomic
http://www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=26019
The most highly anticipated performance of the opera season, “Dr. Atomic”, can only be described as a flop. There has never been an opera with a topic such as this. It was unheard of until this point to have an opera based on a historical topic of this nature and for a libretto to be created for an opera instead of vice versa. The expectations were high but, unfortunately the opera was underwhelming to say the least. This new opera blends a unique plot line with an intricate set however; its mismatched music and singing greatly detracted from the opera. In addition the elongation of time left the audience bored and indifferent for the conclusion.
A plot such as the plot in Dr. Atomic was unheard of until this point. The storyline is the very interesting and typically unknown to the general public. Robert J. Oppenheimer’s moral struggle with testing the nuclear bomb and uncertainty about the Manhattan Project’s success is the central idea behind the plot. The plot is highlighted by the set, which is an intricate system of moving towers or vertical cubicles. The various characters appear and disappear from behind screens in each of the boxes. Even though the characters are not moving, but stationary, in their individual cubes, there is an incredible sense of movement and a sort of organized chaos.
All of this is overshadowed by the incompatible music and singing. It seemed as though the orchestra and the singers were not on the same page. The music actually detracted from the singing. It wasn’t as though the two were making some kind of bizarre harmony; they simply did not go together. It was very distracting to hear a very dramatic aria with bland and ordinary music playing in the background as a sad attempt to complement the singing. The most important element of an opera is the music and the fact that the music was the most disappointing part was really discouraging. In addition to the extremely lackluster musical aspect, the songs themselves did seem like they should be in song. The words did not lend themselves to music and it was difficult to understand what they were saying. The singing felt very forced and they singers just managed to put the words into melody, although it was awkward and artificial. Even if the performances of the singers had been spectacular no one would have known it because it was nearly impossible to decipher what they were trying to pass off as songs.
The most anticlimactic part had to be the ending. The five minute countdown until the bomb’s explosion felt like five hours. Although it was probably intended to build drama and suspense, after the first twenty minutes, the anticipation quickly turned to boredom. The three minute countdown actually took twenty excruciating minutes. While the bomb’s explosion was quite intriguing and impressive, it certainly wasn’t worth the wait. It seemed that waiting was quite the trend during the second act. The waiting for the weather to clear, the waiting for the signal to countdown, the waiting for the countdown to actually begin, the waiting for the countdown to end; it seemed like endless waiting. All that merely resulted in a feeling that was similar to that of the feeling of waiting at the DMV all day; it was drawn out, and the ending did not seem to warrant the infinite amount of time spent.
This story certainly did not work as an opera, perhaps if the music felt more organic or genuine the opera would have been amazing; breath-taking even. However, the unique set design and intriguing plot was virtually unnoticeable under all of the peculiarly matched music and the long moments of dreariness. Perhaps if it had been a musical rather than an opera the story would have been better communicated to the audience. The disappointment felt after this opera was indescribable.
