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Rockwell Matters

April 21, 2008

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Peter Gelb’s shoehorning of the English National Opera production of Philip Glass’s “Satyagraha” into a Metropolitan Opera schedule already tightly planned by his predecessor, Joseph Volpe, has been his most innovative onstage move thus far. I put it that way because offstage, of course, an even more dramatic innovation has been Gelb’s high-definition live telecasts to theaters worldwide, though most unfortunately “Satyagraha” is not among those scheduled.
 
Glass has had an odd previous history at the Met. In 1976 “Einstein on the Beach,” which he created with Robert Wilson, played there for two performances. But “Einstein” is not an opera in any conventional sense, and the performances were special Sunday-evening rentals, however much the Met cooperated in the presentation.
 
Then in 1992 the Met performed an actual opera it had commissioned from Glass. It was called “The Voyage,” with a libretto by David Henry Hwang, but this was one of those tired recyclings of Glassian formulas that have afflicted too much (but, happily, not all) of his work since the mid-1980’s.
 
“Satyagraha” dates from 1980 and was Glass’s first opera for traditional forces, including actual opera singers. It is a meditative masterpiece, and has been gradually making its way into the world repertory. A series of tableaus depicting the life of Mahatma Gandhi as a young man in South Africa, evolving his philosophy and practice of non-violent resistance, all in the context of the Baghavad Gita and Hindu religiosity, it takes the willing listener to a place of contemplative enlightenment rare in operatic annals. The only operas that come close are Wagner’s “Parsifal” and Pfitzner’s “Palestrina.”
 
Gelb’s bold initiative says much about his willingness to update the Met and its stodgy image – without jettisoning its glorious traditions. Next year we will have John Adams’s “Dr. Atomic,” and Gerard Mortier is apparently giving us the original Wilson staging of “Einstein” at the New York City Opera.
 
The “Satyagraha” production, by London’s Improbable theater company, has been widely admired, not least by Glass himself. It has many beauties and many ingenuities, not least its puppets. We seem to be in a period of renewed interest in puppetry, what with Julie Taymor’s continued presence and Basil Twist’s recent Lincoln Center revival of his version of Stravinsky’s “Petrushka.” Me, I am not so captivated by Twist’s manipulations as some people are, but he has his moments. So did the “Satyagraha” Improbables, even if one sometimes felt that the directors got nervous at Glass’s mediations and felt compelled to DO something to liven things up. As often as not, they distracted through busy overload.
 
That said, if you have the slightest interest in late 20th century opera and one of the most striking artistic and moral statements of our time, go see “Satyagraha” at the Met. You will thank Philip Glass, and Peter Gelb, for the experience.
 
— John Rockwell
 
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