Floyd's "Of Mice and Men" Tops CCM Opera's Mainstage Season

Lennie and George in "Of Mice and Men" at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music May, 2010

There’s a little bit of Mary Shelley in John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.”

As in Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” there’s a gentle giant in the Steinbeck novel, and like Frankenstein’s monster, he, too, runs afoul of everyday folk.   However, instead of being incinerated in a windmill, Steinbeck’s Lennie meets a more merciful, even loving end, at the hands of his best friend.

American composer Carlisle Floyd based his opera “Of Mice and Men" on Steinbeck.  Less frequently performed -- in part because of its nearly all-male cast -- Floyd's 1969 work comes to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music May 13-16.

A presentation of the CCM opera department, the opera (two hours long, with three acts and five scenes) will be sung in English with English supertitles at 8 p.m. May 13, 14 and 15, 2:30 p.m. May 16, in Corbett Auditorium.  Mark Gibson, director of orchestral studies at CCM, conducts.  Nicholas Muni, distinguished artist in residence and associate professor of opera, will direct.

Mark Gibson

Nicholas Muni

In deciding to stage “Of Mice and Men,” the question always is, “do you have a Lennie for the cast?” said Muni, on his way to dress rehearsal for the opera.  As it happens, CCM does.  Singing opening night (May 13) will be tenor John Christopher Adams, a second-year artist’s diploma student who stands six-feet-seven-inches tall.  That kind of height, plus an operatic tenor voice, are hard to find in the same body, Muni said.

“Of Mice and Men” is set in northern California during the Great Depression.  George and Lennie are migrant workers traveling together.  Lennie has the mind of a child and the body of a giant.  He likes to stroke soft things, like the mouse he is carrying in his pocket as the opera begins (unfortunately the mouse is dead since Lennie stroked it a bit too hard).  Lennie tends to get into trouble, as he has in the opening scene, where he and George are fleeing the police after Lennie frightened a girl by stroking her dress.  The two friends find work on a ranch, where they hope to earn enough money to buy a home of their own and Lennie can have furry rabbits to pet. 

George reminds Lennie regularly how much trouble he is, but in the end, George always forgives him and remains loyal to their shared goal.  Enter the owner of the ranch (Curley), his lonely wife, an old dog, a litter of puppies and half-dozen or so farm hands, including one (Candy) who would like to join George and Lennie in pursuit of their dream.  The dream gets foiled, however, when the ranch owner’s wife allows Lennie to stroke her hair.  She grows frightened, causing Lennie to kill her unwittingly in an effort to stifle her screams and avoid another incident.  With Lennie about to be killed by a mob, George soothes him with thoughts of their farm, then shoots him in the head.

Muni has kept the time and locale of the opera intact. “The basic approach is very spare.  We wanted to capture this very hostile environment where all of the characters are living in the middle of the Depression in ranch country in California.  We wanted to depict a kind of theatricalized version of the emotional desolation of each of the characters.  It’s big in scale, but very, very spare.  There’s not like a literal bunkhouse. There are some tables and bunk beds, but it’s not like a real building.  It’s more of a surreal kind of surrounding in which the whole story takes place.

“You may be shocked at how straightforward it is,” said Muni, who is known for edgy, innovative productions.  “The piece itself socks you in the eye.  There’s no real gloss we’re putting on it except a kind of non-literal environment.”

The opera is dominated by male voices, with four tenors, two baritones, male chorus and a lone soprano.  For this reason in part, as with Benjamin Britten’s “Billy Budd,” it is not done so often, said Muni. 

“In schools and probably in the profession, there are more female than male singers.  In a university in particular, it is more unusual to have a male-dominated opera because you want to cast as many singers as you can, and usually there are more females.”

The ranch owner’s wife (the soprano), commonly treated as a tart, gets more sympathetic treatment in the CCM production, Muni said.  “Actually, there is a wonderful letter that was an inspiration for all of us.  Steinbeck is writing to an actress who is playing the role in the play.  He explains his thoughts on the character.  He doesn’t see her as a tart at all, and that was our instinct from the beginning.  She does what she does.  She goes into the bunkhouse.  She is very forward, but what we all instinctually felt was that she is doing that because she is emotionally starved -- not because she enjoys tarting it up, but because she really needs some attention in this very bleak life where she feels like a nobody.”

The production mixes darkness and light, said Muni.  “The first scene takes place at night.  They (George and Lennie) are on the run and the law is after them with search lights.  The last scene is in the evening, kind of late sunset, but it is brightly lit in the sense that we have these very strong light sources more or less in a moonlight color.  What we are trying to do in the first and last scene is to get a sense of the interplay between light and shadow.  There are big forms onstage that kind of look like mountains, and they are lit in a way that creates high contrast.  The bunkhouse scenes are fairly bright since they take place during the day, in late afternoon.  There is also a scene in the barn which is kind of shadowy.”

Floyd is in Cincinnati this week to attend the opera and to give master classes at CCM.  He will participate in two events opening night:  a pre-show presentation at 6 p.m. in the Baur Room (adjacent to Corbett Auditorium) and a talk back session in Corbett Auditorium immediately after the performance.  Both are free and open to the public.

Admission to the opera is $26-$28, $15-$17 for students. For tickets and information, call (513) 556-4183, or visit www.ccm.uc.edu