(Photo credit: Koen Broos)

Over the past twenty years or so, there have been plenty of programs on television, radio and the internet devoted to oral history, in which everyday people recall major and minor events along with the social and economic conditions from their own past to create an anecdotal montage that can be accessed by current and future generations. Ted Huffman, Nina Segal and the composer Philip Venables have now taken this format into the opera house with a work entitled “We are the Lucky Ones,” which was premiered at this year’s Opera Forward Festival in Amsterdam.

The Background

The work focuses on the generation that was born into western societies during the 1940s, a generation that lived through a societal transformation more extreme than any other up to that point in history, which saw their living standards reach levels that their own parents would have thought unimaginable. Home and car ownership, foreign holidays and labour-saving devices became the norm for the vast majority of people. Levels of education and healthcare increased while governments supported the weaker members of society with a welfare state. Democracy became securely embedded into the political system, and inequalities on many fronts were reduced.

Now in their 70s and 80s, they are living out their twilight years in a world, at least in the West, which is regressing: incomes have flatlined while inequalities of income and wealth are increasing; public services are deteriorating; the welfare state is being put under increasing strain; wars are becoming ever more common, and democracy itself is under threat. Today, their grandchildren struggle to afford housing and are saddled with debt before they even begin to work.

No wonder they have been seen as coming from a lucky generation!

Approximately 80 people from this generation were interviewed from various countries across the West, in which they were encouraged to reflect upon the significant experiences and events that have marked their lives. Huffman and Segal then trawled through the responses to identify common themes and moulded them into a libretto. Although the focus was very much on personal events, including marriage, the birth of a child and the death of a parent at the forefront, it also included references to landmark events such as the moon landing and the fall of the Berlin Wall as well as mundane observations about their interests and routines along with their thoughts about the new millennium.

No specific respondents are identified in the libretto, nor are there any portrayals of distinct characters; rather, the singers are simply referred to by a number. The lines of the text were distributed among eight singers, each of whom voiced the words of multiple respondents, thereby submerging the individual while simultaneously bringing the generation to life.

The stage direction and scenography, under the charge of Huffman, were simple and effective but not particularly imaginative, consisting of a narrow black stage, extending around the front of the orchestra pit. A wooden frieze with two doors ran across the stage, about two to three meters from the front, which was used primarily as an area upon which videos and still images of the respondents’ memories, created by Nadja Sofie Eller & Tobias Staab, were projected. The actual screen itself was built by the cast by sticking pieces of white paper onto the frieze; it was not a perfect rectangle, and there was the occasional gap between the pieces of paper so that the image was not neatly captured but had a fragmented impression, in which its borders were unevenly defined, reflecting the incomplete and half-formed nature of memories.

The costumes, designed by Huffman & Sonoko Kamimura, had the cast attired in evening ware, with the men in jackets and bow ties and the women in fashionable party dresses, as if they were enjoying their good fortune, or at a party, celebrating memorable occasions such as a marriage or the birth of a child. On occasions, they made changes to their appearance in response to negative events.

As the text was a composite made up of many voices, the singers were free to portray the emotions conveyed by words without the need to cloak them within the framework of a specific character, although this did not mean the singers were free to engage with their roles as they pleased; often, they moved in tandem with the rest of the cast in carefully choreographed scenes. What it did mean was that it was difficult for the audience to become emotionally invested in the work; it was, however, possible to engage with the work on an intellectual level and, at times, it was possible to relate it to one’s own experiences.

The work was divided into 64 short sections, each relating to a specific event, presented in chronological order. Huffman helped guide the audience through the work by projecting the year onto the stage before each scene, starting in 1945 and ending in 2025.

Venables’ score, with its use of swing, big band, Hollywood and tango influences, was in many ways a celebratory piece that captured the spirit of the generation. Of course, there were also darker elements to reflect less positive experiences. Conductor Bassem Akiki elicited a rhythmically vibrant performance from the Residentie Orkest, and although the music was easily accessible, emotionally it was less convincing.

Eight Singers, Eight Engaging Performances

The piece was written for two tenors, two sopranos, a mezzo-soprano, a contralto, a bass and a baritone. Each singer produced a strong performance, engaging fully with both its musical and theatrical demands.

Singer One was acted out by Claron McFadden, although because of illness, the role was sung from the side of the stage by soprano Katrien Baerts. Together they managed to produce a satisfactory reading, although having a disembodied voice is never ideal. Baerts made a strong impression with her bright, secure and lyrically appealing voice.

Singer Two was given a confident and assertive interpretation by soprano Jacquelyn Stucker, engaging honestly with the spirit of the texts. She let it rip with her “F**k You” aria, performing an expressively intense and clearly articulated rendition.

Mezzo-soprano Nina van Essen as Singer Three produced an energetic and beautifully sung performance, capturing attention with an interesting and catchy song in which she accompanied herself on the ukulele.

Contralto Helena Rasker showed off the dark, rich colours of her palette with a sparky performance as Singer Four. Her comments relating to her cleaning lady were particularly revealing as to the mindset of many from her generation.

Tenor Miles Mykkanen, playing Singer Five, displayed ability in connecting to the audience when recounting experiences. His phrasing and accenting were beautifully rendered to draw in the listener.

Singer Six was given a physically energetic presentation by tenor Frederick Ballentine, who charmed the audience with warm-toned, expressive singing.

Baritone Germán Olvera possesses a secure, well-grounded voice with an appealing upper register. As Singer Seven, he proved to be another fine storyteller, making it easy for the audience to relate to his reminiscences about his first kiss and his daughter’s birthday.

Bass Alex Rosen as Singer Eight caught the audience’s attention with the full depth and coloring of his voice. He successfully portrayed his feelings.

“We are the Lucky Ones” was the most successful of the three main events that premiered at this year’s Opera Forward Festival. And although it remained well within the musical parameters expected from an opera, its subject matter and the treatment of singers’ roles did nudge gently at the boundaries of what one would expect, successfully giving voice to a generation by subsuming individual characters into composites.

Overall, it was an intriguing work that provoked reflection and thought about the generation’s experiences and inevitably how they differed from other generations, notably that of the listener’s. However, it struggled to move the emotions.