NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Kevin Puts鈥� 鈥淭he Hours鈥� has had more than a few hours of changes since it was first heard in a pair of last March.
The first composition in a novel arrangement between the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera was presented twice last March at Verizon Hall, then fine-tuned by the production team before its staged debut in New York on Tuesday night.
鈥淗e made the role higher for me,鈥� said soprano Ren茅e Fleming, who sings Clarissa Vaughan. 鈥淚 was nervous about the orchestration, and he also adjusted that.鈥�
Based on Michael Cunningham鈥檚 Pulitzer Prize-winning 1998 novel, was adopted into a 2002 Academy Award-nominated film starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman, who won the . The story details three generations of women connected by Virginia Woolf鈥檚 1925 novel 鈥淢rs. Dalloway.鈥�
Puts鈥� version features the starry trio of Fleming, Joyce DiDonato and Kelli O鈥橦ara, with Met and Philadelphia music director Yannick N茅zet-S茅guin conducting, Phelim McDermott supervising roughly 30 scene changes and choreographer Annie-B Parson making her Met debut. There are eight performances through Dec. 15, including a Dec. 10 matinee simulcast to movie theaters worldwide and available for streaming in areas not near auditoriums.
Fleming鈥檚 assistant, Paul Batsel, suggested the novel and Fleming pitched it to Met general manager Peter Gelb. Now 63, Fleming had not appeared at the Met since her final Marschallin in Strauss鈥� 鈥淒er Rosenkavalier鈥� in 2017.
鈥淚 realized immediately that this was a way to get her back into the opera house,鈥� Gelb said.
Fleming had sung Puts鈥� 鈥淟etters from Georgia鈥� based on correspondence between Georgia O鈥橩eeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, which premiered in 2016 and was expanded three years later into 鈥淭he Brightness of Light.鈥� She wanted to work again with Puts, whose won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Music. He also created (2015) and (2017), both praised for their music.
Puts, 50, composed 鈥淭he Hours鈥� through the pandemic at his home in Yonkers. Greg Pierce started writing the libretto in 2018 and Gelb brought in McDermott, familiar with Philip Glass鈥� score from the movie.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not linear. It鈥檚 more like you鈥檙e creating the whole atmosphere,鈥� McDermott said. 鈥淭he book is about what鈥檚 going on inside these people鈥檚 heads. The chorus is often the mind of the person on stage. So that has been the challenge of how to weave the chorus through and weave these stories together so that they rhyme with each other. The dancers are a physical expression of that, as well.鈥�
DiDonato portrays Woolf in the Richmond area outside London in 1923; O鈥橦ara is Laura Brown, an unhappily married housewife in 1949 Los Angeles; and Fleming is Vaughn, an editor arranging a party for Richard, an HIV-positive novelist friend in late 20th century New York.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think I鈥檝e ever experienced this feeling of anticipating an exact date for years and then having it be now a week before that date,鈥� Puts said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 something strange and kind of surreal about that here we are, now I鈥檓 at that moment, I feel a little out-of-body experience with it. But this is the nature of live performance with so many elements.鈥�
Gelb was impressed by Parson's choreography of on Broadway and asked her to meet McDermott on what she called 鈥渁 blind date.鈥�
鈥淚 suggested to him that she might be somebody he could talk to and see if they could find a way of collaborating to use dancers as well as actors to manipulate the scene exchanges,鈥� Gelb said. 鈥淚t became a lot more than that.鈥�
Parson took ideas from Tim Pye鈥檚 sets and was inspired by Virginia鈥檚 books, Clarissa鈥檚 flowers and Laura鈥檚 kitchen.
鈥淲hen I originally saw the design ideas, I thought it would be beautiful to have the dancers animate the architecture to make it alive,鈥� she said, adding she wanted to capture 鈥渢he magic of the 鈥�50s, which is really a scary moment because it鈥檚 like such a false god.鈥�
After Philadelphia, Puts expanded orchestral music to give McDermott more staging time and cut the character of Cunningham, who had encountered Woolf in the opera.
鈥淓veryone decided that was a little much,鈥� Puts said.
During rehearsals, the cast and production team began each day sitting in a circle and sharing something important to each.
鈥淢y sort of take on all these stories is the kind of tragedy of being forced at some level or another to live an inauthentic life,鈥� Puts said. 鈥淟aura Brown just feeling trapped in this existence and Virginia Woolf, this kind of superhuman creativity, force of nature, and kind of being confined to this little place where she was so miserable. And Clarissa also in her own way just sort of stuck on Richard in a way that she can鈥檛 escape.鈥�
All involved expect the audience experience to be different than reading the book or watching the film.
鈥淥pera is this radical form, which can do things that nothing else can do,鈥� McDermott said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always weird to talk about something before you鈥檝e opened it, but it鈥檚 definitely an attempt to use opera to do something and create something that鈥檚 never existed before.鈥�
Ronald Blum, The Associated Press
