Long Beach Opera was at it again over the weekend, presenting the world premiere of what was reported to be the first opera about the Iraq War and post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. For those who want their opera relevant, here it is.
“Fallujah” is the work of Canadian composer Tobin Stokes and Iraqi-American librettist Heather Raffo, the latter who consulted with Iraq War veterans to write her tale, including the official story consultant USMC Sgt. (retired) Christian Ellis.
In keeping with tradition at the company, a fitting alternative venue was found for the production, this time the National Guard Armory in downtown Long Beach. Intrepid operagoers walked the gritty streets and alleyways Sunday afternoon and presented their tickets to National Guardsmen (presumably real) at the door, which opened into a large assembly room arranged with plastic folding chairs, our opera house.
On first viewing, the story told in “Fallujah” is perhaps more interesting than the music. The production, credited to the company’s artistic director Andreas Mitisek, and which incorporates video and photography, had its strong points as well. By the end, a viewer feels that “Fallujah” has packed a punch, even though much of it seems tedious and a bit on the obvious side, war is hell and all that.
The story is told in flashback, and does have something more to say than that. It begins with a short documentary, in which we hear Iraq veterans talk about their experiences there and about coming back. Members of their families are included in the discussion, and we see how PTSD deeply disrupts the family unit.
The opera proper takes place in a veterans’ hospital, specifically the room of Philip, a USMC lance corporal back from Fallujah and suffering from PTSD. Quite simply, and perhaps predictably, the opera unfolds as a series of Philip’s traumatic memories, which all come to life in his hospital room.
We meet the men in his unit and citizens of Fallujah and we see what happened there. There are no formal battle scenes per se, but snipers and potential snipers must be dealt with and houses searched and people die; the language is graphic, as are the images they evoke.
An Iraqi boy is introduced, then his mother. There are parallels here, as Philip’s mother visits him at the hospital. And the opera ends with the two mothers singing in something close to grand operatic style. “Fallujah” is their story as much as anyone’s.
Stokes’ “Fallujah” music – the freelance composer writes for film and television, in addition to opera and choral music – draws rock and Middle Eastern styles into its essentially contemporary classical style. It feels generic, but it does its job well enough. The singers are given lyrical phrases, but, in the style of so much contemporary opera, these phrases have nowhere to land in the freewheeling harmonic landscape, meandering this way and that.
The chamber orchestra, led by Kristof Van Grysperre, which played to the left of the stage, behind camouflage netting, includes parts for strings, winds, guitars, electric bass and drums. On Sunday, it was amplified, as were the singers. The ambient noise in the room (generators?) was rather loud. It made for a situation in which the musical tone itself gave no real pleasure.
“Fallujah” suffers perhaps from an unrelenting intensity, but there are powerful moments and by the end, a listener’s thoughts and feelings have been stirred. The consistently strong cast, many of them company regulars, included LaMarcus Miller (as Philip), Todd Strange, Suzan Hanson, Ani Maldjian, Jason Switzer, Jonathan Lacayo and others.
Contact the writer: 714-796-6811 or tmangan@ocregister.com
