Opera has always been infused with social commentary, but never quite through the lens of a family film. Commentary abound, a family film seems to be just what composer Mark Adamo has set out to emulate with his new opera, Becoming Santa Claus, which premiered from December 4th-12th at the Winspear Opera House in Dallas, Texas. Produced by the Dallas Opera Company, the family-friendly opera invites people of all ages to witness what Keith Cerny (general director and CEO of the Dallas Opera) described as, according to NPR, “a chamber opera that [has] the appeal of the best Pixar films.” With a moral in mind, Mark Adamo decided on using the holiday season as an opportunity to chop down commercialism in Christmas, creating an opera that leaves everyone with something positive to take away.
Out Magazine reported that the premise of Becoming Santa Claus concerned “a disenfranchised family in which the mother is trying to compensate for the father’s absence.” Scottish director Paul Curran (who staged the launch of the opera) went on to describe the plot further:
“The father—he’s the King—gets caught up in work, but he is not deliberately ignoring his son. It happens to a lot of young people. You don’t see your parents because they’re running around, and then their compensation is usually with ‘things.’ The whole message of the piece is that we should give love. We should give understanding. We should just make a presence.”
In the spirit of the season—a season where commercialism in Christmas often takes a hot-seat position—Mark Adamo's opera uses its heartfelt narrative to de-emphasize material goods. According to NPR, the Catholic composer had already been considering a holiday piece prior to the commission, so the fresh concept was just the excuse he needed to share a wholesome message with a much wider audience than is typical fare for opera.
Months-long excitement for Becoming Santa Claus stems from the Dallas Opera Company’s mandate to broaden the mass appeal of the opera [promo below], and also to deliver some foreign qualities to opera which have long been staples of ballets, musicals, and film --- “feel-good” appeal, timeless morality, and a family-friendly air. (Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, for instance, had also been an attempt to appeal to family values and to dial back the excesses of commercialism in Christmas when it premiered in 1892.)
Now, with the help of social media, the Dallas Opera Company can spread their own message of joy in an ambitious event series called the 12 Months of Kindness project -- a campaign that has been in progress since last December to create awareness for its new opera. The next, and last, event of this series will be held on December 19th: a public reading of the Becoming Santa Claus Coloring Book at the Dallas Public Library. In the spirit of the narrative, the coloring book will be sold for a suggested minimum donation, with all proceeds going toward the production.
© 2024 Classicalite All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
