We went to see “The Handmaid’s Tale” at SF Opera last night. I read the novel back in … I dunno, 1988? 1989? Somewhere around there. I knew this was going to be a megadowner. Then again, it’s not like “La Bohème” is a laugh riot or anything. But here’s the thing: it’s modern, and the music and libretto were written within my children’s lifetimes. So, I guess the persons responsible had something to prove.
It’s a dystopian, oppressive future. Society is structured to oppress women in some horrible ways. It was rough to watch, even knowing what to expect. But listening to it? It was dreadful. When a person is singing at the very top of their range, you usually don’t get to hear the full quality of their voice. It’s really, really common to go to a performance and think, “Oh, this is lovely,” and then you get to the soprano’s first aria and they go all the way up and you’re like, “Oh, such a shame, now all I can think about for the next two minutes is fingernails on a chalkboard.” Here, though. This opera. The first act is an hour and a half long, and it’s almost all sopranos shrieking to one another at the top of their range. There’s, like, three different notes, just up and down. And it doesn’t even sound like anything, it’s just noise.
So unfortunate. And unpleasant.
And, okay, I can totally hear apologists getting ready to ride out with banners that read, “It’s a dystopian world, industry is collapsing, humans are brutalized, it’s horrible and ugly, so shrieking is kind of on-brand, dude!” Except, you know what? I lived through the 1980s. I remember the 1990s. There is a lot of popular music that sounded bleak and industrial and dystopian and still had a fucking melody and a beat you can tap your foot to. Modern composers seem to think that if what the singers are doing and what the orchestra is doing are at all aligned, then it’s an unfortunate coincidence to be avoided. Melody and rhythm are for Other People, I guess. Well, call me other people.
The outlier in modern operas of my experience is “Moby Dick” — I still occasionally find myself humming “Greenhorn’s theme”. But everything else? It’s atonal, discordant, or it’s barely perceptible background music for the movie going on in the next building. Ask Trent Reznor or Martin Gore how to write dark music that you can hum along with.
We left at the interval, because we just didn’t want to face another hour plus being screeched at, along with music that was so insipid as to be instantly forgettable. You wanna know what it sounded like? Get your 6 year old to scream, “Eeeeeeeeee!” at you for two hours. Yes, I am still mad about it.