the Informer

Last weekend The Hartt School performed its annual undergraduate opera. This year, Aaron Copland’s “The Tenderland” was featured with a double – and in some roles, triple – cast, to highlight Hartt’s wealth of student talent.

Copland’s opera is strictly Americana and is written in a contemporary Copland style. The story, however, is ill-conceived and even a little confusing. It has all the basic components of a chick flick—love, lust (1930s style) and heartbreak, and takes place over the course of about 24 hours.

A young woman, Laurie, is graduating from high school when she finds her first, and forbidden, love in a wandering farmhand, Martin, who her grandfather hires to work the spring harvest. At the graduation party that Laurie’s mother and grandfather throw for her, she and Martin confess their love for each other – after knowing each other for only a few hours – and decide they must be together.

After Laurie’s grandfather discovers them together, he orders Martin off of the property and Laurie’s heart is sufficiently broken.

Laurie and Martin meet secretly in the middle of the night and decide to run away together at daybreak. While Laurie prepares her suitcase, Martin is convinced by his cohort, Top, another traveling farmhand, to leave without her. Martin and Top disappear before the sun comes up, leaving Laurie heartbroken.
As she expresses her sorrow for Martin, her mother comes outside and reminds her that it is graduation day – the day her whole family was excited for.
Laurie decides that she does not need to graduate and leaves home by herself to see the world instead.

While Copland masters the musical score, the lyrics are often awkward and almost nonsensical in some cases.

This did not hinder the performers, though, as each role was performed beautifully and with obvious skill. Written in the 1950s and set in a 1930s Midwest town, the stage was simple and reminiscent of a humble small-town home and throughout the production the setting does not change.

The actors performed with great energy and each piece was convincingly relayed to the audience. Solos were performed with grace and the pit orchestra sounded very well rehearsed. All aspects of the production of “The Tenderland” were smooth and the performers were fantastic.

The performances were a great showcase of the talent in Hartt for vocalists, instrumentalists and the production team. The show closed with a standing ovation on Sunday afternoon from a mostly full auditorium.

It is sometimes easy to forget that Millard Auditorium is only a small campus theater and the performers on stage are fellow college students when every aspect of a performance is so professional.

Each year, the Hartt School produces an undergraduate opera. In the past, Hartt students have performed Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld,” Lehar’s “The Merry Widow,” and Ravel’s “L’enfant et les Sortilèges,” among other operas.

Hopefully next year Hartt will pick another great opera with a well-structured plot.