Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 10, 1991 TAG: 9104100408
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ARTHUR BERLINER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Over and over, they want to know whether there is anything in it for them. My reply, sometimes elaborate, usually simple, comes down to: "Certainly go, and you'll love it."
What's to love? Plenty. Good music, gripping story, costumes - everything, in short, that one can expect of "grand opera." It's a doubleheader, two giants of Western culture - Shakespeare and Verdi.
The music isn't wall-to-wall melody, as in "La Traviata," "Die Fledermaus,""The Magic Flute" or "La Boheme." But there is melody - lots of fine tunes.
In this case, you have to "get into" the music, put out a little effort, listen - really listen, closely. Verdi is dealing here with more complicated emotions and the music is therefore what critics and musicologists might call "dark." With this opera, Verdi has developed a new style: richer harmonies, tricky rhythms, greater integration of voice and orchestra - which means that the orchestra is no longer merely accompaniment or background to the singing.
Next, the story: You say you don't know Italian. That's OK; you don't need to know the words to know what's going on. Listen to the music and watch carefully; you can follow the action. (If you try to read the "super-titles" above the stage, you may miss more than you gain.) Besides, you'll get a little plot synopsis in your program.
Two soldiers of Venice fight side by side for a number of years. They gamble together; they drink together; they probably chase the same women. One of them is a "Moor," meaning "black."
Whether he is literally Moorish, Mauritanian, Ethiopian - whatever, it didn't matter to Shakespeare. The Moor, Othello, is blessed with considerable charisma; he is ferocious in battle; he understands principles of strategy and the concept of "grand design." All in all, the man's a born leader. Unfortunately, he also is naive, and lacking in social graces when dealing with the super-sophisticated upper crust of Venetian society.
With these qualities, Othello advances up the ranks, becomes a general, and, when the play opens, he has just been appointed military governor of the Venetian province of Cyprus. Through all this progress, his comrade-in-arms, Iago, remains at his side, well-cared-for and respected for his experience.
The trouble starts when Othello, as governor, has to find a lieutenant governor. For this he needs a man who knows high finance and diplomacy, a member of the establishment and a different breed altogether from the rough soldier Iago.
Othello fills the prescription with "one Cassio." Iago flips out. "After all," he reasons, "Othello knows me better than he knows himself. Haven't we served together so many years? Haven't we covered each other's backs? And now I'm not good enough to be his second in command? I hate the Moor and I'm following him now just to `serve my own turn upon him.' "
All this, mind you, and more - in the first 34 lines of the play!
Meanwhile, back in the city, Othello has wooed and eloped with the beautiful and pure Desdemona, daughter of the high and mighty Senator Brabantio.
At this point, racism rears its ugly head. Othello's complexion has never bothered anybody before, especially his good buddy, Iago. But Iago is jealous of Cassio, furious with Othello, amused by his new friend Roderigo (an unsuccessful suitor of Desdemona) and determined to destroy them all. He gets Cassio drunk and disorderly, publicly disgraced and dismissed from office. Then, masquerading as everyone's pal, he persuades Cassio to go to Desdemona and ask her to intercede for him with Othello.
The rest of the story shows Iago convincing Othello that Cassio and Desdemona are far too friendly, and that Othello is being played for a fool. Iago, by now intimately acquainted with jealousy, worms himself more deeply than ever into Othello's confidence and converts "the noble Moor" into a murderously jealous monster.
And that's what the play is mostly about - jealousy: "Beware my lord of jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster, that doth mock the meat it feeds on, that cuckold lives in bliss . . . . "
I hope to see you there - though you'll see me first.
Arthur Berliner, a former English teacher who lives in Roanoke, is in rehearsals for "Otello" with other volunteer members of the Southwest Virginia Opera Society.
by CNB