TROUBLE IN TAHITI is a very short one act opera about life in suburbia. Instead of princes and kings it is populated by very ordinary people living their everyday lives.
Sam and Dinah are unhappily married, with one child and a white house in the suburbs. Dinah suspects that Sam is cheating. She is in analysis (she doesn't have a job and we wonder who takes care of their son) but it's not helping.
One afternoon she sees a movie called TROUBLE IN TAHITI which upsets her greatly, but that evening when Sam suggests that they go see it she agrees readily.
The end.
It's been commented on in many places that there's not a lot that actually happens in this opera. There's more going on in the characters' heads than on the stage, and that gives Bernstein an opportunity for arias that are also internal monologues. Instead of advancing the plot the music comments on it and examines the inner lives of the characters.
This production is filmed like a movie, and that presents some problems. Realistic sets for the house and Sam's office aren't as effective as when it is done on stage with very little in the way of set decoration. Houston Grand Opera did a production of this show for PBS that was a double feature with the sequel, A QUIET PLACE. I remember it fondly and would say it was more effective, but that version isn't available and this one is.
I'm not going to go into a lengthy Freudian analysis here, but early in the show Dinah reminds Sam that their son's school play is that afternoon. He tells her that he can't go because he's in a handball tournament.
Bernstein's biography tells of his father, also named Sam, missing Bernstein's performance of a piano concerto by Grieg with the Boston Public School Orchestra. Is TROUBLE IN TAHITI revenge on dad? Good question. I don't know.
But it is good Bernstein. Since I was born in 1946 the manners and styles of America in the 50's are very familiar to me. Younger viewers may be puzzled by many elements here, especially the passive characteristics of Dinah.
Don't be afraid because it's opera. It won't bite. Plus it's only forty minutes long, so that might make people feel adventurous.
Sam and Dinah are unhappily married, with one child and a white house in the suburbs. Dinah suspects that Sam is cheating. She is in analysis (she doesn't have a job and we wonder who takes care of their son) but it's not helping.
One afternoon she sees a movie called TROUBLE IN TAHITI which upsets her greatly, but that evening when Sam suggests that they go see it she agrees readily.
The end.
It's been commented on in many places that there's not a lot that actually happens in this opera. There's more going on in the characters' heads than on the stage, and that gives Bernstein an opportunity for arias that are also internal monologues. Instead of advancing the plot the music comments on it and examines the inner lives of the characters.
This production is filmed like a movie, and that presents some problems. Realistic sets for the house and Sam's office aren't as effective as when it is done on stage with very little in the way of set decoration. Houston Grand Opera did a production of this show for PBS that was a double feature with the sequel, A QUIET PLACE. I remember it fondly and would say it was more effective, but that version isn't available and this one is.
I'm not going to go into a lengthy Freudian analysis here, but early in the show Dinah reminds Sam that their son's school play is that afternoon. He tells her that he can't go because he's in a handball tournament.
Bernstein's biography tells of his father, also named Sam, missing Bernstein's performance of a piano concerto by Grieg with the Boston Public School Orchestra. Is TROUBLE IN TAHITI revenge on dad? Good question. I don't know.
But it is good Bernstein. Since I was born in 1946 the manners and styles of America in the 50's are very familiar to me. Younger viewers may be puzzled by many elements here, especially the passive characteristics of Dinah.
Don't be afraid because it's opera. It won't bite. Plus it's only forty minutes long, so that might make people feel adventurous.