Roger Waters’ iconic rock opera hits a brick wall
Rock opera: the notion has been lingering in purgatory for decades awaiting a coherent definition. Longer still will it linger after the opening Saturday in Place des Arts of Another Brick in the Wall, a sullen, gloomy flop given the appearance of success by the renommée of rocker Roger Waters and a squad of gifted singers, musicians and designers assembled by the Opéra de Montréal.
It pains me to render rough judgment on the score of Julien Bilodeau, a composer resourceful enough to invoke the pounding timpani and densely menacing strings of the opening of Brahms’s First Symphony as a means of representing a stylized Pink Floyd concert (and the incident of spitting that, according to lore, started Waters on his journey of self-awareness).
There were other good musical moments, including an understated hymn at the conclusion. This followed the surreal Trial that represented the only straight-up transcription of music from The Wall, the concept album of which this show is supposed to be an operatic elaboration.
Elsewhere, Bilodeau modulated freely, and the Orchestre Métropolitain under the exacting direction of Alain Trudel made his colourful woodwind scoring ring true. But the monotonous toggling of major and minor on the words “The Wall” suggested strongly Bilodeau was working hard to flesh out a brief libretto by Waters that was big on pronouncements but thin on the specifics of the human condition.
Even better evidence for this conclusion was the static nature of the vocal writing, especially for Pink, the alienated protagonist, portrayed with earnest non-specificity by the high baritone Étienne Dupuis. Though on the stage of Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier almost continuously, this central character never produced what sounded like a solo worth excerpting.
And there were not many distinctive interludes for France Bellemare (Pink’s protective mother) or her fellow soprano Caroline Bleau (his erratic wife). Generalities ruled the day. Although I must confess to feeling more relief than disappointment at the non-representation in music of an extended sex scene in Act 1.
In truth, it was the vagueness of the scenario that made Another Brick in the Wall something less than an opera. Sure, Pink’s father goes to war and does not return, but this is far from an unusual dilemma.
Tough time at school? Welcome to the club. And how much sympathy are we supposed to feel for a character who is swimming in money (as represented by a whirlpool of cash in one of many stunning video sequences by Johnny Ranger) and taking full advantage of the groupies who pursue him?
Much of this raw material generates brooding music quite lacking the forceful beat that gives rock ’n’ roll its vitality. You know you are in trouble when a flashback of the wartime crooner Vera Lynn singing We’ll Meet Again comes across as uptempo. As for that scene in which Pink turns tyrant and prisoners are subjected to various indignities, two words come to mind: neg vibes.
All these criticisms must be tempered with a recognition of the inventive work of Dominic Champagne, who did what he could with the script he was handed and marshalled the chorus to good effect. One presumes this director had more than a little input into the many vivid visual effects that made Another Brick in the Wall look so much better than it actually was.
Not that vocal effort was lacking. The magnificent ODM chorus established itself as reason enough to celebrate the 375th anniversary of Montreal. If the standing ovation was preordained, it was, in this case, justified.
Alas, no surfeit of hard work, musical or theatrical, can redeem a score as bereft as this one of rhythmic life. Perhaps it is precisely the lack of a viable rock beat that resides at the heart of the failure. If Another Brick in the Wall is subject to a round of revisions, it might be advisable, just once in a while, to do what no great opera of any era fails to do: Kick out the jams.
Another Brick in the Wall plays in Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts through March 27. Some performances are sold out.
For more information go to operademontreal.com.