Opera Theatre of St. Louis brings us the relatively unknown work titled Regina. But this is a story and characters film and theater buffs will recognize as Lillian Hellman’s play The Little Foxes, later made into a film with the redoubtable Bette Davis as the lead. Marc Blitzstein wrote the music and libretto with much input from Hellman, no shrinking violet herself, and the show in its original form opened in New York in 1949. And it opened in a Broadway theatre, not an opera house. Over the years it’s been tinkered with, music removed and re-inserted. The version we see here is what’s known as the Scottish opera version.
And it’s definitely an opera, albeit a very American one. If anyone has any doubt that opera is not stuck in the past, examples like this and last OTSL season’s The Grapes of Wrath can stand as beacons. With a mixture of musical styles from ragtime to waltzes, and a story that’s riveting, Regina keeps our attention for the two hours and fifty-five minutes it spans.
The cast is nothing short of shining. Regina Giddens is played by Susan Graham. Regina has two brothers, Oscar (Ron Raines) and Ben (James Morris) Hubbard. The two brothers are businessmen, as is Regina’s husband Horace (Kristopher Irmiter), in a small Alabama town at the turn of the previous century. The brothers are none too ethical in their business dealings, a fact widely known around town and Regina is as calculating as her siblings. There’s a businessman from Chicago (Robert Stahley) in town about to invest in a mill, but he wants investors locally. The Hubbard siblings are mighty, mighty interested. Nevertheless, they’re short of the necessary cash. Regina’s husband has the money, but he’s off in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins with a bad heart. What to do, what to do….
A pawn in the story is Regina and Horace’s teenaged daughter, Alexandria (Monica Dewey), who the Hubbard gang decide should marry her first cousin, the rascally Leo (Michael Day). Regina is pretty cold as a mother, but Oscar’s wife Birdie (Susanna Phillips), the daughter of a wealthy plantation family, is close to her niece, and Addie (Melody Wilson), the Giddens housekeeper is another source of strength, something that will be very necessary for her.
The fascinating score is in good hands, both vocally and orchestrally – a fond ave atque vale to our wonderful but departing Stephen Lord who’s conducting his last show here – and while one can argue it’s a very mixed bag of music stylistically, that’s part of its charm. Listening carefully, in the first act one can hear bits here and there that foreshadow West Side Story. Blitzstein was a mentor and then close friend of Leonard Bernstein, it turns out. Birdie/Phillips has an aria in the last act that’s almost earth-shaking.
The wondrous set is from Alan Moyer, including an immense picture of Birdie’s family plantation and an incredible staircase much (and very properly) used, in part thanks to the stage direction of James Robinson. Christopher Akerlind’s lights play a big part here, as well.
One more chance left to see it, on Sunday, the closing performance. Some folks have already seen it four and five times – so pay attention and step lively.
Regina
through June 24
Opera Theatre of St. Louis
Loretto-Hilton Center
130 Edgar Rd., Webster Groves
314-961-0644