Billy Budd

San Francisco Opera

Remarkable new voices carry high seas adventure ‘Billy Budd’

By Paul Liberatore, IJ senior feature writer

THIS IS THE THIRD time in its history that the San Francisco Opera has presented Benjamin Britten’s “Billy Budd,” and this third time turns out to be a charm – a powerful, gripping production that comes to us from the Vienna State Opera.

Music director Donald Runnicles conducted this piece in Vienna, and his experience shows in his mastery of the weighty material, a welding of Britten’s mighty music with Herman Melville’s classic tale of good and evil.

This marks a welcome second appearance by two remarkable new voices: the American baritone Nathan Gunn in the title role of the idealistic and ill-fated young seaman, and Canadian bass Phillip Ens as the villainous John Claggart, the sinister master-at-arms of an 18th century British warship.

They both made their company debut in last season’s modernistic take on the “The Barber of Seville,” which featured Gunn as Figaro and Ens as Basilio.

Their return is a triumphant one, especially for Ens, whose thunderous bass embodies the ominous threat posed by Claggart, who is driven to crush goodness and beauty in the form of the handsome Billy.

With his manly baritone and chiseled body, Gunn is a highly believable Billy, taking off his white sailor’s blouse in one scene, showing off his buff physique, a device that accentuates the homosexual undercurrent compelling Claggart to destroy the object of his desire.

British tenor Kim Begley, in his company debut, is more subtle in his talents than Gun or Ens, but he takes on the demanding role of the ship’s good-hearted captain, Edward Fairfax Vere, and makes it his own.

The historical drama, first staged in London in 1951, takes place in 1797 aboard the HMS Indomitable, a British man-of-war doing battle with the French. E.M. Forster and Eric Crozier co-wrote the libretto from Melville’s novel.

The European team of Willy Decker and designer Wolfgang Gussmann make their company debut with this minimalist, but highly effective physical production, which was unveiled Sunday at the War Memorial Opera House.

Decker and Gussman have created a raked stage that rises to form the prow of the sailing ship. The horizon is an empty, open sea. Sliding panels are used to create the captain’s cabin and the ship’s various decks, facilitating rapid scene changes.

In keeping with the nautical setting and the large, all-male cast (134 members), the set is a palette of masculine gray, deep blue, black and stark white. The class distinctions are made clear in the contrast between the drab sailor suits worn by the common crewmen and the dandyish uniforms of the arrogant officers, who strut around in breeches, jackets trimmed with fancy piping and tricorn hats.

The male chorus, directed by Marin’s Ian Robertson, sings with macho gusto at times and with sweetness and compassion at others, a hard balance to strike.

This production, which, incidentally, is directed by a woman, Germany’s Sabine Hartmannshenn in her company debut, is not without its softer side. A scene of the crew kidding around, singing sea chanteys and dancing below decks could be titled “Benjamin Britten does ‘South Pacific.’” And there are some unintentional chuckles from the demonizing references to the French (“the French … down with them!”), which have a contemporary ring.

Nevertheless, this sea-faring story is serious stuff, ending with Billy’s hanging for killing Claggart when he falsely accuses him of mutiny. And it leaves much to consider in the moral ambiguity of Captain Vere’s decision that Billy must die for his crime, even though there are extenuating circumstances that could justify sparing his life.

SFO presented “Billy Budd” in 1978 and 1985, but it would be hard to imagine a better production than this one. At the end of the opening performance, the cast was given a standing ovation. With sophisticated San Francisco Opera audiences, this doesn’t happen very often. So you can be sure it was deserved.