Opera Parallèle Balances Horror and Humanity in The Shining

Robert Wesley Mason as Jack in The Shining by Opera Parallèle | Credit: Cory Weaver

In the epilogue of composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell’s 2016 adaptation of Stephen King’s horror novel The Shining, Wendy Torrance takes the stage after witnessing her husband Jack’s attacks on her and their son and the destruction of the Overlook Hotel has survived quiet location on the lake shore. In the West Coast premiere of the work by Opera Parallèle, she carries a book which she sits down to read. Elsewhere, son Danny and his friend Dick Hallorann are fishing at the lake.

The book she’s carrying is a miscellany of King’s Carrie, Salem’s Lot and yes, The Shining, an Easter egg that caught the eye of the few viewers who noticed at the performance on Friday June 2nd elicited giggles. It’s a nice touch at the end of a tense opera about Jack’s disintegration.

Jack is a concerned man from an abusive family. He’s taken a job as a winter warden at the Overlook so he can resume his once-promised writing career, recover from alcoholism, and start a fresh start after certain events at the private school he taught. Instead, spirits from the past lurking in the Overlook sense his vulnerability and work to drive him insane in hopes that he will murder five-year-old Danny so they can steal Danny’s psychic abilities.

The Torrances on the way to the Overlook Hotel in The Shining by Opera Parallèle | Credit: Cory Weaver

In adapting The Shining, Moravec and Campbell rightly ignored Stanley Kubrick’s famous 1980 film that misrepresented the novel. They don’t see Jack as the monster that Kubrick and Jack Nicholson made of him, but as a man from an abusive family trying to be a decent husband and father. The opera also wisely eschews the book’s scarier episodes, such as the corpse from room 217 in the bathtub, and instead focuses on the human elements of the plot. For this production, the composer provided revised orchestration for a still colorful 22-piece orchestra, a move that makes the performance of The Shining accessible to opera houses on a tighter budget.

Campbell’s libretto is compact, fast-paced, and expertly constructed, beginning with the hopeful Torrances’ arrival at the hotel. The libretto occasionally alludes to the events that led her to the Overlook, providing the information you need to understand Jack’s behavior and Wendy’s fears. The lyrics are gracefully written and singable. Add to that Moravec’s sympathetic scoring and the excellence of the singers, and without the surtitles on Friday you could understand almost every word.

A co-production with the Hawaii Opera Theater and Portland Opera, Opera Parallèle’s performance deftly solves the problem of turning the Overlook Hotel itself into a character. The cauldron, which we are repeatedly told requires pampering to keep under control, is a three-dimensional model that constantly sizzles with steam. Projections of the Overlook’s plumbing bubble as if the plumbing were inhabited by insects.

A scene from The Shining by Opera Parallelèle | Credit: Cory Weaver

As the lights turn red, Jack is being haunted by the ghosts — or he’s hallucinating her. It is no coincidence that the color red is also clearly visible on Jack’s sweaters. Alina Bokovikova’s elegant costumes and Jim French’s lighting design unify the physical staging and enhance the surreal character of the plot. Wendy’s afro and outfits clearly transport the work to the 1970s.

Jacquelyn Scott’s clever sets are a perfect match for the needs of smaller opera houses. Each element, from the bed to the central staircase, is on wheels and moved by the costumed actors in the many small roles. Also hidden under these stairs is the pantry, where Wendy locks Jack when he tries to murder her and Danny.

Moravec’s colorful music carefully portrays each scene and character. When the Torrances are on their way to the Overlook, there’s a hint of Fifth Door majesty from Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, and when they arrive, maybe a hint of Bernard Herrmann’s score for Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Moravec writes great ensembles, from a brief trio set to the text “Alles wird gut” to the big party scene in Act II where Jack, pursued by the mocking spirits, has gone decidedly insane.

For Jack, sung strongly here and played by baritone Robert Wesley Mason, Moravec delivers music that grows harsher and more inharmonious as the opera progresses as Jack’s mental state shifts from hopeful to deranged. Kearstin Piper Brown’s beautiful, vibrant soprano paired beautifully with Wendy’s sweet and floating lines.

Kevin Deas as Dick Hallorann and Michael Thompson as Danny in The Shining by Opera Parallèle | Credit: Cory Weaver

Warm-voiced and avuncular bass-baritone Kevin Deas was an ideal Dick Hallorann, the psychic black chef who befriends Danny after noticing the boy’s abilities. Tenzin Forder was lively in the non-singing role of Danny, alternately vulnerable, haunted and brave. Not only does Danny not sing, he doesn’t have many words to speak either, yet Forder’s excellent physical acting skills express his state of mind brilliantly.

Brian Staufenbiel’s direction generally hits the fast-changing moods of The Shining. He is particularly good at showing the interactions of the torrances, although if he had shown more of the physical tics that Jack has in the book it would have added to the character’s underlying instability. Nicole Paiement conducted with her typical precision and attention to the dramatic course of the work.

The glow is a real crowd pleaser of an opera; human, dramatic, mysterious and with strongly written leads and multiple oversized conflicts driving the plot. Will Jack go completely insane? Will he kill Wendy and Danny before Hallorann arrives? Will Jack always remember to open the pressure valve on the kettle? It’s not a huge spoiler to say he doesn’t, and Moravec composes a nice blast for destroying the Overlook.