NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� It was a delicious challenge that came as a total surprise.
As choreographer Annie-B Parson tells it, she was walking down a Brooklyn street when her phone rang. It was the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, Peter Gelb, wondering if she鈥檇 be interested in choreographing for the Met.
Parson, based in Brooklyn, founder of the Big Dance Theater and also known for choreographing David Byrne鈥檚 joyous 鈥淎merican Utopia鈥� on Broadway, had never done an opera and acknowledges she knew little about the art form.
But of course she was interested. It was the Met鈥檚 buzzy, commissioned production of 鈥淭he Hours,鈥� about the interior lives of three women connected 鈥� across generations and an ocean 鈥� by Virginia Woolf and her writings (one of them Woolf herself). Parson would be the only woman on the creative team.
And so one of her first decisions when she came on board was that all dancers should be female, or female-identifying.
鈥淲e auditioned probably 150 people,鈥� she said in an interview, for a dance cast of 13. 鈥淎nd as the only female creative team member in a piece about an extremely radical feminist voice, it was very important to me to bring that feminism to the stage.鈥�
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a personal statement on my part," she added. 鈥淣one of the men can do that ... Nobody knows what it鈥檚 like to be anything unless they鈥檙e it, right?鈥�
The opera, by composer Kevin Puts and librettist Greg Pierce, is based on Michael Cunningham鈥檚 Pulitzer Prize-winning 1998 novel (later adapted into the film starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman, who won an Oscar) about three women connected specifically by Woolf鈥檚 1925 novel 鈥淢rs. Dalloway.鈥�
It stars a powerhouse trio of Ren茅e Fleming as Clarissa Vaughan; Kelli O鈥橦ara as Laura Brown; and Joyce DiDonato, as Woolf herself. Directed by Phelim McDermott, it runs through Dec. 15, including a Dec. 10 matinee simulcast to movie theaters worldwide.
Gelb says he reached out to Parson because he鈥檇 been impressed by her work in 鈥淎merican Utopia,鈥� and thought she鈥檇 be a great fit with McDermott: 鈥淧art of my job as general manager is to be a creative matchmaker."
He said in an interview that he feels Parson's contribution has been to amplify and richen the story of 鈥淭he Hours鈥� for everyone in the vast, 3,800-seat theater, 鈥渁s far back as the last row of the Family Circle.鈥� (And on a recent evening, it looked like every one of those seats were taken.)
The opera unfolds over one day in three different places and eras. Woolf is attempting to write, and feeling suffocated in a country home outside London in 1923; Brown is an unhappy housewife and mother in 1949 Los Angeles; and Clarissa Vaughn is an editor arranging a party 鈥� organizing flowers and food 鈥� for her dear, ailing friend Richard, a novelist who has AIDS, in late 20th-century New York.
Parson says she was acutely aware of the challenge of illustrating the interior lives of the women, but did not set out to psychoanalyze them in movement. 鈥淚 feel like if I had tried to do that, it wouldn't have worked,鈥� she says. She wanted to get there, but in a different way.
So, in a process she modestly describes as more 鈥渕undane,鈥� the choreographer focused on actions, not thoughts.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to describe someone鈥檚 unconscious,鈥� she says. "So for Virginia Woolf, I looked at, what does she DO? She writes, she reads. I worked on those actions. What does Clarissa do? She buys flowers. What does Laura do? She bakes. She takes pills.鈥�
Another example: When Clarissa's ailing friend Richard鈥檚 apartment rolls onto the stage, Parson鈥檚 dancers are hanging off the platform in what looks like a chilling metaphor for illness. Parson agrees, but says her aim was actually, 鈥渢here鈥檚 this platform and it鈥檚 moving, and how can I animate it?鈥�
The choreographer spoke from Lyon, France, where she is now working on her second opera. She said that even though 鈥淭he Hours鈥� was her first, it wasn't as difficult as it sounds to adjust her craft.
鈥淚 have worked so much with musicians, great musicians," she says, like Byrne and many others. 鈥淪o thinking about how a show rolls out and how to choreograph to music so it鈥檚 supportive and at the same time has its own life ... it didn鈥檛 seem that different.鈥�
It was, however a dream to have so much time to rehearse, and to have the opera鈥檚 resources behind her. She was thrilled, for example, that when she rehearsed by herself, she had a pianist. 鈥淚 mean, I鈥檝e never had that experience before,鈥� she said with a laugh. 鈥淚鈥檓 always listening on my iPhone to music when I鈥檓 working on my own. Everything about making dance at the Met is heightened and supported. I can't tell you how much fun it was."
An added bonus for Parson, who hadn't read Woolf since working on a play of hers more than a decade ago, was getting to read her again, especially her diaries and 鈥淎 Room of One's Own" 鈥� and especially now, in 2022.
鈥淗er writing is so profound,鈥� Parson said. 鈥淎nd the world鈥檚 changed a lot in terms of gender and feminism. So she reads really, really well right now. It was really exciting. I actually want to cry right now, I鈥檓 so moved by thinking about her."
Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press
