Right before Thanksgiving, I saw the last showing of USC Thorton Opera's fall production. One of the featured pieces was the 2006 opera "Three Decembers" by Jake Heggie. This contemporary piece set in 1986 has only three characters - a mother and her two grown children.
The story is about a dysfunctional family and a neglectful mother. The reason I found the opera to be advocating LGBT rights was the character of the son, Charlie. Set in 1986, Charlie is living with his partner stricken with AIDS. Ten years later, his partner dies, and many years later, Charlie finds a new partner. However, the plot of the opera manages to be about the character of the mother, with Charlie's plight as a sub-story.
The seamless integration of a gay man in the midst of the AIDS scare into an opera is pretty remarkable. Charlie is not "the gay character," he happens to be gay. The music emphasizes humanity rather than difference.
The director of the opera said that he saw "Three Decembers" as the future of opera and where it was heading. I am excited that such controversial issues, like gay men and AIDS, can be seen as a story about people instead of making a political statement. Today, there are so many LGBT legal issues going on - DADT, same-sex marriage, bullying liability - that everything is a political statement. Ke$sha and Katy Perry have even released billboard hits with underlying messages about gay rights. While all the political battling is necessary to fight for equal rights, it's nice to think about settings in which being gay doesn't have to be political or strategic or a statement but can just be.
No comments:
Post a Comment