In preparation for our upcoming company premiere and original production of Norma, I had a chance to talk to Stanley M. Garner, the brilliant stage director (and one of Tulsa Opera’s favorites), about his vision for this new production. Garner has not only designed the set for this production, but he also designed the costumes, all of which are being built as I type by our fabulous scene shop and costume department. It’s quite the undertaking.
How is this any different from all of the other operas we produce? The way an opera comes together is a unique melding of local resources and talent with certain imported elements. Costumes and sets are most often imported elements. Putting an opera onstage – casting principal roles, auditioning local chorus members, contracting orchestra members, hiring directors, stage managers, backstage crew – is a big job. Add to that building a new set and designing and constructing new costumes and you’ve got an enormous job. During production Tulsa Opera grows from 12 full-time staff members to between 125 and 200 people!
Thanks to Garner’s hard work and clear artistic vision, we’re looking forward to an exciting company premiere and original production of Norma this month!
Tulsa Opera (TO): Norma is not an oft-performed opera. Is this the first production you’ve worked on? How has that influenced the concept you’ve created for the show?
Stanley M. Garner (SG): Norma and I get together about once every ten years. I first worked on the opera twenty years ago at the Connecticut Opera in Hartford, then a decade later at the Seattle Opera. Now ten years after that production, Norma and I are together once more. Those previous productions have influenced my approach to the opera this time around in a major way. Both of those earlier incarnations were very traditional, or I should say, they were as traditional as an opera written in 1831 would have been presented in the 20th century. One thing bothered me however. The depiction of Rome’s occupation of ancient Gaul never really rang true. Displaying an invented, fictional Druid culture alongside a factual Roman society seemed a constant distraction. The juxtaposition of seeing a Roman centurion on the same stage as a lady wearing what seemed like a shimmering evening gown topped off with a little rhinestone tiara was incongruous at the least. This time around the centurion’s leather skirt is replaced with a nonspecific uniform and Norma’s rhinestones are left in the jewelry chest. By setting Norma in an unspecific time and place, the characters, their drama and music resonate without that distracting conflict of fact versus fiction; history versus invention.
TO: You’ve created not only a unique production but you’ve also designed the costumes for the production. Can you talk about your vision for this production? Is this the first time you’ve designed a production or designed costumes?
SG: I’ve designed several productions over the course of my career so far, not only for opera but for productions of Shakespeare’s plays as well. In designing this production I began with the scenery. There are only two scenes in the opera: the altar of Irminsul and Norma’s dwelling. The design for the first is based on a photograph of a modern recreation of Stonehenge which has been erected in New Zealand. Having previously worked with the hugely talented lighting designer, Helena Kuukka, I wanted to use the production to display her amazing work. Consequently, I streamlined the design so that the light from her instruments would not be blocked by a lot of scenery. In that respect the altar scenery is almost ballet-like in its look. To indicate Norma’s dwelling I wanted to represent a man-made structure. Also, I wanted to be able to switch in and out of this scene without having to lower the main curtain and wait in silence for the scenery to be changed. What I’ve come to refer to as the “pallet wall” became the answer to that challenge. It offers a distinctively different locale for her home while maintaining in our eye the religious overtones of the previous scene as a constant influence on Norma. It also provides an opportunity to transform the altar platform of the previous scene into a completely different entity: simple furniture for Norma’s dwelling.
The costume design is based on the clothing globally worn by men in countries near the equator such as Colombia, Saudi Arabia, India, Vietnam, etc. This costume is composed of three garments: pants, tunic, and either a vest or coat. The major differences in the individual cultures is the man’s headdress. In Colombia it is a sombrero, in Saudi Arabia a turban, in India the Gandhi cap, in Vietnam a rice hat, etc. In the Norma costume design, I used this basic three-garment fashion paired with fabric headpieces as a unisex fashion for the Druid society. To represent the agrarian aspect of the society I chose a color palette of brown (male) and green (female).
TO: Creating a new production and costumes is a huge undertaking. How long have you been working on Norma? Has it been a collaborative process with Tulsa Opera?
I began work on this production of Norma about a year and a half ago. It began with a meeting with Maestro Protopopas to discuss the basic concept of the production. Although I’ve always been a traditionalist in my approach to opera, at this initial meeting I immediately became excited about his proposal to give the Tulsa Opera audience a new view of Norma as she finally makes her Oklahoma debut. I spent the next six months reacquainting myself with the opera by studying the score and translating the libretto, etc. It was also during this period that I began laying out the designs for scenery and costumes. Finally, eight months before its premiere, the conception was presented to the staff of Tulsa Opera in order that the cost of producing it could be budgeted. Since that meeting, while I mapped out staging for the performers and prepared a supertitle translation, the talented members of the Tulsa Opera production team have been assembling the scenery and costumes of this unique production for the stage.
Don’t miss this exciting production, opening April 30 at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.
Norma
April 30 // May 6 // May 8
Get your tickets here.