IU 'Bridge' relates to audiences

At 8 p.m., the lights in the Musical Arts Center dimmed, and the chatter of the audience quieted for world-renowned conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos. Kitsopoulos took a bow and, with his third reunion with the IU Opera & Ballet Theater, marked the opening act of the operatic rendition of Arthur Miller’s “A View from the Bridge.”

This year, Kitsopoulos joined stage director and professor of opera studies Vince Liotta, along with the set and costume designs of Robert O’ Hearn, to bring “A View From The Bridge” to the IU stage for the second time since 2005.
Liotta said this second involvement with the production allowed him to gain a different perspective on the opera.

“The best part was getting a chance to look deeper into the richness of meaning in the opera the second time around, then being able to take two talented casts of singers and bring out not only the best in them musically but to let their talents as actors shine through the power of this drama,” he said.

“A View From The Bridge” is a two-act opera performed in English, set in Red Hook in 1950s Brooklyn, New York. It combines the uncertainties and new hopes of the rampant immigration of that time with turbulent interpersonal relationships of Eddie Carbone, his wife Beatrice and their niece Catherine, for whom Eddie displays an incestuous sense of protection.

The opera was written to mimic the genre of a Greek tragedy, something Liotta said gave the writers a more dynamic way to use cast members.

“The great challenge and the advantage to making this into an opera is that, since it is modeled on a Greek tragedy, the writers were able to introduce a chorus both as part of the action and also to comment on the action in much the way that a Greek chorus functions in tragedy,” Liotta said.

This opera revealed an ability to fuse not only composer William Bolcolm’s eclectic blend of high Italian arias, American doo-wop and popular jazz but also the dichotomies of the two interacting cultures.

“New York Lights” and Rodolpho’s first aria stunned audiences and elicited rapturous applause for their emotional crescendos.

Brendon Marsh, a first-year music major who played character Tony, a friend of the Carbone family, said he took emotion into account while performing.
“Constantine talked about diction — having real conversations with the words and then adding Bolcom’s music to it,” Marsh said. “It all makes perfect sense together.”
The second act escalated the tension and suspense that had the audience glued to what unfolded on stage.

Laura Waters, a soprano completing her Masters in music at IU who played the role of Beatrice, said this emotional excitement was persistent throughout the plot.

“The drama is so tightly packed, and everything continues to escalate until the curtain falls,” Waters said. “It is only then that you can finally relax and take a breath.”

“The View From The Bridge” was a rendition of Miller’s play that not only put opera on stage but also encouraged the audience to consider how it could relate to them personally. Liotta highlighted the relevance of this contemporary piece to life today.

“I hope that it helps the audience think about their own lives and times when perhaps they have let themselves be blinded by irrational dislikes and hatred of what they perceive as unacceptable difference,” Liotta said.