Opera Theater of St. Louis presents Bizet's The Pearl Fishers

When Eugène Cormon and Michel Carrè put together the libretto for Georges Bizet's 1863 opera The Pearl Fishers, they probably thought they were writing an exotic drama revolving around a love triangle set in far-off (and somewhat mythical) Ceylon. Little did they know that they were actually writing - in the words of Travis Preston, director of the Opera Theater of St. Louis production - "a reverie where the shore of waking life succumbs to the Ocean of the Unconscious". If that sounds a bit pompous, just wait 'til you see this production, in which (to stretch the metaphor to the breaking point) the fragile bark of Bizet's charming and effective music is dashed to pieces on the rocks of Preston's ham-fisted hodgepodge of Brecht, Freud, and Socialist Realism.

Actually - to cop a phrase from the Post-Dispatch review of OTSL's Figaro - there are two productions of The Pearl Fishers going on here. The one being sung overflows with lyrical beauty and drama. Baritone Mel Ulrich is impressive as the fisherman Zurga, hopelessly in love with the priestess Leila, sung with great beauty (and only a minor slip-up) by soprano Mary Dunleavy. Tenor Gregory Turay is Nadir, Zurga's boyhood friend and the third leg of the romantic triangle. He sounds great but is less dramatically effective than Ulrich. How much of that is Turay's acting and how much Preston's static blocking, however, is uncertain.

Which brings us to the second production of The Pearl Fishers. History and the text be damned, director Preston has decided that the opera is really a dream invented by Nadir and directed by hypnotist Zurga. This gives the director liberty - if not license - to fill the stage will every possible cliché of twentieth-century theater. You name it, he's got it: slides on the rear scrim providing portentous titles for sections of the opera, veiled ballerinas with leather corsets for Zurga and Nadir to fondle during their duet of eternal friendship ("It's foreshadowing - GET IT?"), a chorus of pearl fishers who turn into welders during the final act ("Zurga sets the fishermen's tents on fire, GET IT?"), and a spartan set dominated by an aquarium upstage center topped by a walkway ("It's about the ocean.." Oh, never mind).

While technically brilliant, this is irrelevant at best. At worst (and it gets a lot worse as the opera progresses and the director ascends to ever greater heights of symbolism) it acts as a barrier between Bizet and the audience. It's a tribute to the singers, chorus, and orchestra that the final scene - in which a forlorn Zurga bids farewell to Nadir and Leila, having saved their lives at the likely cost of his own - emerged with much of its emotional punch still intact.

As a result, the only way to really enjoy the OTSL production of The Pearl Fishers would be to sit through the whole thing wearing a blindfold. But if you're going to do that, you might as well get a good recording of the opera and have done with it. Besides, if you were wearing a blindfold and evening dress, someone might think you were part of the show.

The Opera Theater of St. Louis production of Bizet's The Pearl Fishers runs in rotating repertory through June 24th. Call 314-961-0644 for tickets.