A PROMISING AND AMBITIOUS THE CAMP
Los Angeles has had a flurry of new operas within the past few years. Among the most promising and ambitious I’ve seen is The Camp, by Lionelle Hamanaka (libretto) and Daniel Kessner (music), which just had a two-weekend run at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center Aratani Theatre.
Roberto Perlas Gómez and Alexandra Bass
The story begins in February 1942, just after the attack on Pearl Harbor, at Terminal Island, between Los Angeles and Long Beach, where an American family of Japanese descent, the Shimonos, are still preparing to be taken by the US government to an internment camp. We then see scenes of daily life in the camp: being ordered to chop wood or freeze, food theft, romance, birthday celebration.
Tiffany Ho and Habin Kim
Hamanaka’s libretto created appealing characters and made me care about them, a rarity in modern opera. However, the plot was a little disjointed. I’m not thoroughly versed in this part of our history, and would have liked a little more explanation and urgency during much of the first half, which was slow to get going.
Alexandra Bass, Roberto Perlas Gómez, Tiffany Ho and Habin Kim
Kessner’s music has shades of Aaron Copland and liberally uses koto and shakuhachi for Japanese flavor. It’s pleasing to listen to, but there’s little in the way of arias or set pieces, and a slow sameness pervades the vocals, in one instance providing the slowest and least-cheerful “Ohayou gozaimasu” I’ve ever heard. Consider Madame Butterfly. You can tell who’s American and who’s Japanese, who knows English and who doesn’t, just from the way they sing and the cadence of the music. Everyone there sounds distinct. That doesn’t happen here, in spite of the mix of issei, nisei, and sansei.
Roberto Perlas Gómez and Alexandra Bass
Sarah Z. Wang, Jamie Sanderson, Patrick Tsoi-A-Sue,
Steve Moritsugu, Hisato Masuyama, and Roberto Perlas Gómez
The music, while it can get appropriately agitated, fails to express extreme emotions. For example, there’s a major, devastating death in the story. When the surviving characters discover this death, the music never rises above an attitude of a dead-inside, “Oh. Another death.” This camp is a place where women are free to enjoy a new hairdo at the salon, and this death is the only one in the story, implying that it’s a highly unusual occurrence. The people were prisoners, but this was no death camp. Where’s the anguish and intense mourning?
Tiffany Ho and Patrick Tsoi-A-Sue
Steve Moritsugu, Habin Kim, Tiffany Ho, Alexandra Bass, Roberto Perlas Gómez, Sarah Z. Wang
The capable cast included the always-welcome Roberto Perlas Gómez (Mas, the father) and Alexandra Bass (Haruko, the mother). Tiffany Ho (Suzuko, the older daughter) and Patrick Tsoi-A-Sue (Nobu) were charming as the sensible young lovers. Habin Kin (Rebecca, the younger daughter) made every scene with her sparkle, but was underused. Hisato Masuyama (Kenji) made every word audible above the orchestra; everyone else was hit-or-miss. Dennis Rupp (Edwards) made an effectively sinister villain.
Steve Moritsugu, Alexandra Bass, Habin Kim, Roberto Perlas Gómez, and Tiffany Ho
Yuri Okahana-Benson’s versatile scenic design had strong elements, but was confusing. The opera begins inside the Shimono home, represented by a table and chairs, in Terminal Island, yet their future shack is already in full view. Camp prisoners lived in simple wood-framed barracks that were covered in tar paper, freshly and quickly built. As meager as these buildings were, they still would have looked new, but the set resembled more the Heart Mountain ruins on display at the Japanese American National Museum (one of the best things to see in Los Angeles, by the way). Once past that, it looked appropriately lived-in during the second half.
Alexandra Bass and Roberto Perlas Gómez
In the same way that the music lacked strong emotion, so did Diana Wyenn’s understated direction. For the most part, it was realistic, but when the staging called for acts of violence, I did not believe it. Costumes by Kathleen Qiu were period-appropriate and attractive. Pablo Santiago’s lighting design was simple and unobtrusive.
Tiffany Ho, Roberto Perlas Gómez, (back) Alexandra Bass
By far, the best choice of the production was to hire a large 22-piece orchestra. So often with independent and new opera, we get piddly little ensembles. Seeing a full orchestra pit instantly put me in a good mood. Steven F. Hofer conducted, but didn’t bring out strong emotions that might have been in the score, and frequently allowed the orchestra to overwhelm the singers. Too bad the producers didn’t hire a chorus. I longed for one at the climax and finale. The lack of a crowd hurt the large ensemble scenes.
Dennis Rupp and Roberto Perlas Gómez
A curious thing happens at the climax: just as tensions reach a boiling point, to the point of revolt, the plot stops, and the opera jolts us into the present with a direct address to the audience. It doesn’t matter whether some corrupt camp overlord gets his comeuppance, and no amount of tweaking to an immoral institution can make it just, so—while it may be dramatically unsatisfying—I respect this rejection of a movieland climax. I really like what this opera is trying to do. It just needs some more revisions. It’s so close.
Alexandra Bass and Roberto Perlas Gómez
photos by Angel Origgi
poster design by Azusa Oda
(original photo of Manzanar, California by Dorothea Lange, 1942)
Roberto Perlas Gómez, Steve Moritsugu, and Alexandra Bass
The Camp
Opera in English in Two Acts
JACCC Aratani Theatre, 244 S. San Pedro St in Los Angeles
ended on March 2, 2025
for more info, visit The Camp Opera
Steve Moritsugu, Tiffany Ho, Roberto Perlas Gómez, Patrick Tsoi-A-Sue,
Jamie Sanderson, Krishna Raman, Sarah Z. Wang, Habin Kim,
Hisato Masuyama, Dennis Rupp, and Alexandra Bass
