Nixon in China a highlight of the Auckland Arts Festival

Nixon In China
by John Adams
NZ Opera & The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Director Sara Brodie
Auckland Arts Festival
Auckland Town Hall
Until March19

Nixon in China is a remarkable mix of documentary, myth, stage show, history treatise and cultural investigation.

The opera retells the events of six days in February 1972 when Richard Nixon went to China for historic meetings that were essentially the beginning of the end of the Cold War.

The meeting which involved Nixon, Mao Zedong, Henry Kissinger and Chou En Lai was itself  like a grand opera set on which the players conducted themselves, all with their own agendas. Mr Kissinger saw it as a way to end the war in Vietnam, Mr Nixon was looking forward to re-election while for Mao and Chou En-lai it was a way of enshrining themselves as world leaders.

The opera deals with the arrival of Mr Nixon and his greeting at the airport followed by a major scene in which he meets Mao and another of a large banquet.

The chorus opened Act I singing “The People are the Heroes Now,” which was striking as was their other chorus work.

One of the most impressive scenes is a performance of “The Red Detachment of Women” from the Peking opera which was both ironic and savage. A caricature of the revolutionary form, it has Kissinger playing the role of a brutal landlord who has a slave whipped to death.

The final scene is a surreal presentation of the six main characters who analyse their political and personal; relationships.

In taking contemporary figures and isolating them in a series of events, composer John Adams and librettist Alice Goodman created an opera with all the power of a myth. These people have the lives and fates of the world in their hands as they chat about trivialities.

As well as encountering the participants as historical figures, we are also shown them as flawed individuals with fears and concerns. It is a heroic opera tinged with irony, a political opera with a trace of satire.

John Adams produced a score which is sublime, disturbing grandiose and cerebral music with great melodies, atmosphere and mood.

The arias and choruses are like mantras – hypnotic and beguiling. It is the repetition of the sounds and the words that make them take on the quality of absolute truth.

Nixon, sung by Barry Ryan, created a commanding richly textured character that drew together the various elements of the politician, the showman and the worried individual.

Madeleine Pierard as Pat Nixon gave a finely judged performance, bringing a tenderness and naivety, which was in contrast to Hye Jung Lee (Madame Mao) who produced one of the great performances of the evening with her “I Am the Wife of Mao Zedong” sung with a superbly strident voice.

Simon O’Neill gave an eerie performance as Mao, the great leader almost dead on his feet but with a sharp mind and more interested in philosophical debate than political intrigue. His first act delivery with his cool astringent voice expressed physical weakness along with intellectual clarity.

Chou En Lai sung by Chen-Ye Yuan was like the ultimate politician knowing all but revealing little. His enigmatic qualities were perfectly delivered with a well-judged constraint.

Goodman has provided some nice touches of humour and human insecurity as in the final act when Kissinger asks where the toilet is and then is not seen again, a witty commentary on his importance.

Much of the opera is about the way different cultures perceive the values of the other. Mao refers back to the importance of the revolutionary past as well as the need to reject the outmoded ideas of Confucius. Nixon, on the other hand, is more concerned with day to day politics, astronauts and the stock exchange. Pat Nixon is impressed by what she thinks is a handcrafted glass elephant she is given (The republican Party symbol). The Chinese are delighted as well because it is a mass produced item.

Conductor Joseph Mechavich led the APO, getting the most out of the minimalist music of Adams, carefully steering the orchestra so that it never dominated the singers yet brought out all the drama and melodies of the work

Nixon in China is one of the great operas of the 20th century, with John Adams producing opera relevant to the late 20th century as were Puccini’s from the beginning of the 20th century.

While this was one of the highlights of the festival, it was a major error to not provide subtitles in English, a mistake too often made when the libretto is in English. This disappointed many in the audience and missed the opportunity to create a truly memorable opera production

Get the full libretto here.

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