It’s a very different Opera Theatre of St. Louis this year as they emerge from the COVID months. Sitting – safely distanced – on the parking lot of Webster University facing a stage that looked like those set up on athletic fields for rock concerts becomes, however briefly, one of those am I really in St. Louis? moments. But it works, and serves to remove a little more of those snooty opera stereotypes that remain, especially as the audience is far more casually dressed than has been usual. (Side note: I freely admit that fashion-watching at OTSL was often very rewarding in The Before Times, a nice little lagniappe for anyone into that.)
Tickets are hard to come by this year, what with the reduced capacity, but luck was with me, enabling me to see Highway 1, U.S.A., the William Grant Still one-act that tells the story of a couple and their hard work to put the husband’s brother through college. Still, a Black composer, worked from the Thirties through the Sixties, but is seldom heard now. Highway 1 makes one wonder why.
Like all the season’s offerings, it’s a single-act, no-intermission work. Ron Himes, a director well-known to St. Louis audiences, makes his OTSL bow here, setting the time period in the early Sixties. Bob and Mary have a filling station, and as the show opens, Bob is preparing to go, alone, to his younger brother Nate’s college graduation. Mary has to stay behind to run the business. No self-serve gas in those days, certainly. Getting the young man educated was the boys’ mother’s dying wish, and the couple have sacrificed a great deal to accomplish that. Mary admits finally that she looks forward to being able to afford a few nice things now that Nate is about to graduate.
But wait. Nate, who now prefers to be called Nathan, isn’t getting a job. He wants to “establish himself” first, explains Bob. Ah, yes, he’s considering his possibilities. How many of us have heard this before? There’s the rumble of metaphorical thunder in the distance with this development. Because Nate’s moving in.
The music is mostly quite delicious, with touches of jazz here and there. Will Liverman and Nicole Cabell are Bob and Mary, sounding great. Supportive Aunt Lou is Rehanna Thelwell, a former Gerdine Young Artist at OTSL, and she nails it. And then there’s Nate – excuse me, Nathan – sung by Christian Mark Gibbs, managing to come across as so smooth he’s downright slick, entitled to the max, but not quite as smart as he thinks he is. Himes has brought us a domestic drama with high-end music, and the emphasis on that drama adds a great deal.
It’s also delightful to see Leonard Slatkin right where he belongs, leading a crew of St. Louis Symphony Orchestra musicians, all of whom look like they’re having a bang-up time with things. Set design of the kitchen of Mary and Bob’s home attached to the filling station, including some nice video projections created by Greg Emetaz, works well.
A very satisfying evening both musically and dramatically. The fact that it celebrates a strong working partnership of a marriage is the final fillip.
Highway 1, U.S.A.
through June 17
Opera Theatre of St. Louis
Webster University campus