When he holds up the mirror with the twin sides, he emphasizes one is real and the other is fantasy. Nor whether the poet-monk-narrator is real or not. Through the layering of the production in set, costumes, and moving parts of the scenery, we literally see these external obstacles are not the real problem. We go on living as if our desires fail to get realized because of external obstacles. We know this, right? We only pretend we don’t. “Good intentions come to nothing in the end,” the poet-monk says, not so much to warn as to remind. The narrator and the chorus of darkly clad figures set the stage, prepared by John Keene, and carry it forward through its two acts.
Dynamic, colorfully textured, the music coupling with the text to transmit the multiple dimensions of the theme and the overall accessible music. What contributes to their suffering is the belief that seeking and achieving their happiness is not what means the most.Īnd so with a crash of symbols, under the baton of Singaporean maestro Darrell Ang in his debut with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, the opera, which was presented here in a new version that differs from the 2016 score that San Francisco Opera previously performed, began. The central plot shows us how the two lovers must go beyond their personal wishes to endure. Unless we accept that life is something different than fulfillment of our desires., we will suffer more than we already do.
The monk-narrator, played by Francis Jue, clearly tells us from the outset, seeking our own ends will thwart us, since it is a false solution to the question. Thus, while we recognize familiar societal obstacles that thwart Bao Yu and Dai Yu from their particular happiness and discover from the opening that human desire for happiness is based on illusion and doomed to failure. Bright Sheng and David Henry Hwang’s “Dream of the Red Chamber,” abundant with beauty, color, sound, and light, lifts the original tale from the 18 th century novel by Cao Xueqin by setting it into a Buddhist/Confucianist perspective.
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