Opera Review: SANCTA SUSANNA: A HORROR OPERA (Source/Filter Music Collective at Heritage Square Museum)

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by Nick McCall on November 4, 2024

in Theater-Los Angeles

OH, SUSANNA!!

For two performances only, October 24 & 25, 2024, two-year old Source/Filter Music Collective took a big step, producing its first fully-staged opera: Paul Hindemith (music) and August Stramm’s (libretto) scandalous 1921 Sancta Susanna. Timed for Halloween and staged inside the Lincoln Avenue Methodist Church at Heritage Square Museum, this production also marked the West Coast premiere of the work.

 

But first, a program of choral music sung by “The Evil Nun Chorus,” consisting of liturgical, contemplative, or otherwise eerie works covering a wide range of styles and composers. Under music director Caleb Yanez Glickman, the chorus was well-rehearsed and cohesive, whether singing Lili Boulanger’s tranquil Pie Jesu or György Ligeti and Sándor Weöres’ tricky Gossiping Women, which was particularly strong. The highlight of this portion was Camille Saint-Saëns’ original 1872 version of Danse macabre, text by Henri Cazalis, sung by soprano Jessica Tivens-Schneiderman, confident and relishing singing this always-welcome piece. However, as good as the chorus was, I often struggled to hear them above the piano (which wasn’t very loud) and the roar of the freeway coming through the open doors.

Sancta Susanna opens with Susanna, wrapped in anguish, praying in the middle of the night. Sister Klementia enters and they talk about Susanna’s issues. We eventually learn that Susanna has the hots for Livia, a young woman who enters, then kisses and runs off with some girl about a minute later. Klementia urges her to resist her feelings, telling her of a past nun who succumbed, prompting the other nuns to immure her in the walls of the church. Susanna is all like, “Hell, yeah!,” strips to her slip, and calls out for Satan. The nuns swarm her. Everyone yells “Satan!” and it’s over. It’s very, very short — about 25 minutes.

 

Milena Gligić capably accompanied on the piano. It’s no substitute for Hindemith’s brooding orchestrations, but we still got the organ’s sustained irritating high G that rings for about half the opera, a reminder that Sancta Susanna comes from the insane and exciting 1920s. Soprano Elise Walters played Susanna and contralto Zineb Fikri played Klementia. Both were strong singers with excellent diction, loud enough to overcome the noise that hampered the first half. Tivens-Schneiderman played the Mother Superior. Britta Sterling directed, giving a mostly-faithful staging. It had a hallucinatory quality, keeping me guessing whether we were seeing things for real or seeing visions from Susanna’s madness. However, the ending confused me, where it seemed to suddenly imply that, instead of Catholic nuns, they were Satanic nuns. Like other plot points, it was unexpected.

Set design was by Shay Hamblin and lighting by David Dickens. Both were threadbare, relying mostly on the church itself to provide the ambience. And why not? Its state of suspended dilapidation was a perfect setting to be enveloped in the decay of Susanna’s mind, the nuns, or what have you.

 

The biggest treat of the night was Sterling and Rae Shrum’s new English libretto, giving us an immediacy that we don’t get when we’re forced to read instead of listen. Open captions were projected, but far enough off to the side that I could look at the stage without its distractions (the only distracting thing was a noisy and obtrusive photographer going up and down the aisles). Sancta Susanna is the third of Hindemith’s expressionist triptych, the other two being Murderer, Hope of Women and The Nusch-Nuschi. I would welcome seeing Sterling and Shrum complete the triptych in English.

Now over 100 years old, Sancta Susanna remains a potent little shocker, even without the directorial excesses that assaulted those poor audiences in Stuttgart. Source/Filter also did what few other LA theater companies do: get on the bad side of extremist Catholics! The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property set up a petition to shut down the production. As of showtime, they got over 11,000 signatures. Not a bad start for a new opera company! Can’t wait for their spring production, Little Deaths: Opera’s Sexiest Moments, staged at The Pleasure Chest, WeHo’s premier sex shop; Pleasuremed, a top-notch dispensary; and Hind Bar & Restaurant.

photos by Syrus Sadvandi

Sancta Susanna: A Horror Opera
Source/Filter Music Collective
The Church at Heritage Square Museum, 3800 Homer St
played October 24 & 25, 2024 (reviewed on Oct. 24)

for more info, visit Source/Filter 

Choral Selections:
“O Virtus Sapientiae” (Hildegard von Bingen) – Megan Shoaf, soloist
Ceremony of Carols (Benjamin Britten)
– “Deo Gracias”
– “That yongë child” – Rae Shrum, soloist
– “In Freezing Winter Night” – Marissa Plati & Lamia Mazegue, soloists
“Danse macabre” (Camille Saint-Saëns) – Jessica Tivens-Schneiderman, soloist
“Tota pulchra es” (Maurice Duruflé)
“The Light-Burdened Ones of the Shore” (Kamyar Mohajer)
“Pletykázó asszonyok” (György Ligeti)
“The Black Swan” from The Medium (Gian Carlo Menotti) – Emily Gallagher, soloist
“Pie Jesu” (Lili Boulanger)
“Dancing-Song” (Zoltán Kodály)

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