Shakespeare & Gossip (2012)
Riccardi’s
Shakespeare & Gossip
is a satirical opera. The setting appropriates Shakespeare’s Romeo and
Juliet but contrary to Caprice, Ronald Firbank’s original novel with
it’s many characters and situations, this libretto reduces the cast to
three singers/actors: Sarah, the young protagonist; Mrs Sixmith, a
cunning woman of dubious morality: and four male characters enacted by
a single baritone. The first of the four males is Canon Sinquier,
Sarah’s father. The second is Sir Oliver, a banker who, in his
youth, sang in variety shows. The third is Mr. Smee, an actor
addicted to the bottle, and the fourth is Walter Waler, the critic of a
Fashion Magazine.
The musical numbers in the opera are separated
by ironic, sarcastic, and amusing spoken dialogues. The small
instrumental ensemble takes inspiration from American Jazz which was a
novelty in Europe at the time of the opera’s action.
SYNOPSISThe
protagonist is Sarah Sinquier, the Canon’s very young daughter, who was
raised in a small town in Northern England. Sarah doesn’t hesitate to
steal the family silverware and an expensive necklace of pearls in
order to move to London and try a career as an actress. By a quirk of
fate, the impresario with whom Sarah had an appointment, dies the night
before their meeting. But the apparent misfortune turns in her favor.
In a café where the new American jazz is playing, Sarah meets Mrs
Sixmith, a meddler who offers to help, smelling a possible benefit for
herself. Thanks to Sir Oliver, a banker and a friend of Mrs. Sixmith,
Sarah is received by a famous actress. Only snippets are offered her,
but Sarah is undaunted. Once again apparent bad luck portends positive
outcomes. Having succeeded in selling the pearls with Sir Oliver’s
help, Sarah throws herself headlong into the task of becoming an
impresario herself. She will rent a theater and realize her dream of
playing Juliet in Shakespeare’s play.
In spite of her religious
background, Sarah is cunning and unscrupulous. With the help of Mr.
Smee, an experienced actor recruited by Mrs. Sixmith, the casting for
the performance begins. Mr. Smee envisions himself as Romeo in
spite of his age, but is given the role of Friar Laurence instead. Mrs.
Sixmith, who knows of Mr. Smee’s fondness for the bottle, starts to
sing a comic aria about the friar and his faithful bottle of Chianti.
To play Romeo, Sarah finds a handsome young Italian to whom she is
strongly attracted. Likewise the other male roles are played by very
handsome men. Mrs Sixmith doesn’t clearly comprehend Sarah’s basis for
choosing the actors and suspects she has herself been outwitted by the
young impresario, even while trying to take her own advantage of the
situation. Preparations for the performance, announcements for the
press, and appointments with the theater critics begin. With ample
resources for elaborate costumes, Sarah’s meeting with the Fashion
Magazine critic provides a touch of color. The evening of the premiere,
Sarah, who in the meantime has had contact with her parents, gets a
telegram from them. At the news that they won’t be attending the
premiere she reacts cynically: very good! one more box can be put up
for sale!
The performance starts. In the potion scene, Romeo and
Juliet’s kiss seems endless and gives rise to sarcastic comments from
Mrs. Sixmith and Sir Oliver. Then at the moment of Juliet’s suicide, a
wooden stage support breaks and Sarah plunges through a trapdoor into
an old well. A desperate scream, not free of comic irony itself,
abruptly ends the performance.
On the day of Sarah’s funeral in
the town where she was born, Mrs. Sixmith, false and hypocritical as
ever, introduces herself to Canon Sinquier as the patroness of his
daughter. By the good fortune of Sarah’s death, the swindler can worm
her way into the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the province. She can
pursue the life of a parasite, grasping now for the wealth of the
archbishopric.
