{"id":51993,"date":"2018-03-26T19:21:46","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T23:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=51993"},"modified":"2018-03-26T19:46:26","modified_gmt":"2018-03-26T23:46:26","slug":"primer-the-overcoat-promises-aims-to-be-musical-tailoring-at-its-finest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2018\/03\/26\/primer-the-overcoat-promises-aims-to-be-musical-tailoring-at-its-finest\/","title":{"rendered":"PRIMER | The Overcoat Aims To Be Musical Tailoring At Its Finest"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_52001\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-52001\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-52001\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/03\/Overcoat-3825_DahliaKatz_Photocred_preview.jpg\" alt=\"Part theatre, part opera, Tapestry's new adaption of The Overcoat aims to become a hit all over again. (Photo: Dahlia Katz)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/03\/Overcoat-3825_DahliaKatz_Photocred_preview.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/03\/Overcoat-3825_DahliaKatz_Photocred_preview-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/03\/Overcoat-3825_DahliaKatz_Photocred_preview-768x513.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-52001\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Part theatre, part opera, Tapestry&#8217;s new adaptation of The Overcoat aims to become a hit all over again. (Photo: Dahlia Katz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After seeing the dress rehearsal of <em>The Overcoat<\/em>, it would be hard to deny that it is entertaining. But, I was left wondering, \u201cwhat exactly is it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After interviewing the composer and two performers, the answer to this question became even more elusive because <em>The Overcoat <\/em>is a combination of theatrical techniques seen in theatre, dance, musical theatre, and opera. Since The Canadian Stage\u2019s mandate is to perform contemporary stage works, the fact that the premiere will occur as a part of their season doesn\u2019t provide a clue to <em>The Overcoat<\/em>\u2019s genre.<\/p>\n<p>As composer James Rolfe explained,\u00a0<em>The Overcoat <\/em>was originally conceived as a short scene in Tapestry Opera\u2019s <em>LibLab<\/em> where composers and librettists experiment in a short period of time to create segments of potential operas (In fact, the scene created in the <em>LibLab <\/em>remains almost completely unaltered at the end of Act I when Akaky Akakievitch is measured for his new coat). However, tenor Asitha Tennekoon who has been involved with <em>The Overcoat <\/em>since its first workshop in 2015, described how the director and librettist Morris Panych \u201cfocuses on the movement at an equal level with the singing.\u201d Similarly, baritone Peter McGillivray described Panych\u2019s approach to the staging as \u201cnew and weird for all of us.\u201d Both these performers explained that singers are not used to, or even trained to perform movement with the level of specificity that Panych demands. This is not to say that they can\u2019t do so, however as McGillivray says, \u201cit really breaks down the stereotype that opera singers don\u2019t know how to act.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wZEbmu51Luc?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>But given that <em>The Overcoat <\/em>seems so foreign to its performers, is it still an opera? Perhaps not, since Tennekoon explained to me that Panych describes the production as &#8220;genre-bending.&#8221; It was intriguing to hear him compare traditional opera with <em>The Overcoat<\/em>. He noted that unlike opera, in <em>The Overcoat <\/em>\u201cyou don\u2019t always have to be the most important person on stage to do the storytelling.\u201d Rather, \u201csecondary characters have a story to tell all the time\u201d through their movement.<\/p>\n<p>It is possible that the use of movement to create multiple storylines is an influence from Panych\u2019s first attempt to recount Russian author Nikolai Gogol\u2019s comedic tragedy. Twenty years ago, Panych adapted <em>The Overcoat<\/em> into a movement-and-music piece to tell the story of an unknown bureaucrat who moves up in station simply because he buys a fancy new coat, and then goes insane once it is stolen. Panych, however, claims that this work is completely reconceived.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_52002\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-52002\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-52002\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/03\/The_Overcoat.jpg\" alt=\"(All photos: Dahlia Katz)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/03\/The_Overcoat.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/03\/The_Overcoat-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/03\/The_Overcoat-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/03\/The_Overcoat-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-52002\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(All photos: Dahlia Katz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Having seen the dress rehearsal one is surprised that the music, which McGillivray aptly describes as \u201cfacilitating the kinetic energy of piece,\u201d was not written for the sake of physical movement. As Rolfe explained, the music found inspiration from Panych\u2019s libretto, particular his rhythmic language and rhyming scheme. Even once the score was finished and Panych had begun to apply his intricate, almost dance-like, choreography to the work, Rolfe noted there were very few changes made to the score.<\/p>\n<p>When looking at operatic history, it is interesting to note that <em>The Overcoat <\/em>was not the first of Gogol\u2019s works to be adapted. Like <em>The <\/em>Overcoat, <em>The Nose <\/em>is the absurdist story of a man who wakes up one morning to find that his nose has fallen off and run away. Despite its completion by Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich in 1928, one cannot help but hear the musical parallels between these works. When asked about these similarities, Rolfe explained that Shostakovich\u2019s work still sounds modern because it is provocative and challenges our expectations about what opera is. In contrast, Rolfe thinks his musical treatment of <em>The Overcoat<\/em> is more lyrical and draws us emotionally into this very human character, Akaky Akakievitch:<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3Xqf9PRXvyI?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>Yet if we return to my first observation about what genre <em>The Overcoat <\/em>falls into, Panych and Rolfe\u2019s work is similarly provocative. With the amount of movement, lyricism, and tunefulness packed into this score, I asked Rolfe where he thought his piece lay in the gray area between opera and musical theatre. Rolfe responded that <em>The Overcoat <\/em>\u201chas a foot in both camps.\u201d After all, the works of Kurt Weill or Leonard Bernstein are also sung by opera singers, so \u201cyou don\u2019t have to take a side,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, upon seeing <em>The Overcoat<\/em>, one gets a bit of everything. Unlike traditional opera which usually emphasizes the music, here each art form works in unison to propel the drama; you can no longer separate one from the other. As Tennekoon noted, the specificity of the movement means \u201ceverything [both music and text] make sense now.\u201d Perhaps, <em>The Overcoat<\/em> is what opera always aspired to be, a combination of several genres on equal footing. As McGillivray observed at the end of our interview, Toronto attracts new works such as <em>The Overcoat <\/em>because there is \u201cwonderful creativity in this city. People are becoming less afraid to try.\u201d Starting March 27, we shall see if audiences are willing to.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Overcoat: A Musical Tailoring<\/em> can been seen at the Bluma Appel Theatre, 27 Front St. E., March 29 to April 14. For tickets see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.canadianstage.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.canadianstage.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3><b><i>LUDWIG VAN TORONTO<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Part theatre, part opera, Tapestry&#8217;s new adaptation of The Overcoat aims to become a hit all over again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":52001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14761,43,4557,15953,62,63],"tags":[1670,18213,4699,9481],"yst_prominent_words":[18205,11442,18206,18210,7682,6616,6735,8715,18209,6886,16980,11528,18208,12270,8986,18215,8973,18204,9960,10516],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/03\/Overcoat-3825_DahliaKatz_Photocred_preview.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-dwB","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51993"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51993"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52008,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51993\/revisions\/52008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51993"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=51993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}