Regina (opera)

"Regina" is an opera by Marc Blitzstein, to his own libretto based on the play "The Little Foxes" by Lillian Hellman. Blitzstein chose this source in order to make a strong statement against capitalism [cite book
last = Grout
first = Donald Jay
authorlink =
coauthors = Hermine Weigel Williams
title = A Short History of Opera
publisher = Columbia University Press
date = 2003
location = New York, NY
pages = 742
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 0-231-11958-5] . In three acts, the musical style has been described as new American verismo, abounding in the use of spirituals, Victorian parlour music, dance forms, ragtime, aria and large, symphonic score [cite book
last = Cook
first = Mervyn
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-Century Opera
publisher = Cambridge University Press
date = 2005
location = Cambridge, England
pages = 201
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 10 0-521-78009-8] . Borrowing from both opera and Broadway styles, in a manner similar to Leonard Bernstein's in "Trouble in Tahiti" and Virgil Thompson's in "Three Saints in Four Acts", "Regina" has been said to straddle the line between entertainment and so-called serious music [Citation
last = Holland
first = Bernard
author-link =
last2 =
first2 =
author2-link =
title = Lyric Opera Review; "Regina" With Music restored
newspaper = The New York Times
pages =
year = 2003
date = October 21
url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B03E4DB113EF932A15753C1A9659C8B63&scp=19&sq=regina%20blitzstein&st=cse] .

Musical highlights include the following [cite book
last = Griffel
first = Margaret Ross
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Operas in English
publisher = Greenwood Press
date = 1999
location = Westport, CT
pages = 503
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 0-212-25310-2] :
"Night Could Be Time to Sleep" sung by Addie, Act II
Rain Quartet, beinning of Act III
Birdie's Aria, Act IIIHellman gave Blitzstein a great deal of input into the construction of the opera, most of it vetoing any departures from her own dramatic structure. Blitzstein planned an elaborate choral prologue, but Hellman convinced him to shorten and finally jettison it entirely. Before the premiere, producer Cheryl Crawford insisted on still further cuts to the opera, asking Blitzstein to reduce the work from three acts to two. He did so, cutting fifteen minutes of music out of the party scene [cite web
last = Krasker
first = Tommy
title = "Regina" Restored
url= http://www.marcblitzstein.com/pages/music/intros/regina_krasker.htm
accessdate = 2008-07-10] .
Leonard Bernstein described "Regina"'s relationship to "The Little Foxes" as "coating the wormwood with sugar, and scenting with magnolia blossoms the cursed house [Citation
last = Bernstein
first = Leonard
author-link =
last2 =
first2 =
author2-link =
title = Prelude to a Musical Adaptation
newspaper = The New York Times
pages =
year = 1949
date = October 30
url = http://www.usoperaweb.com/2002/jan/bernstein.htm] ."

Performance history and versions

"Regina" premiered on Broadway at the 46th Street Theatre in New York on October 31, 1949 conducted by Maurice Abravanel and directed by Bobby Lewis with choreography by Anna Sokolow. Jane Pickens, formerly of the pop trio the Pickens Sisters, played Regina, and Brenda Lewis was Birdie. The first production received mixed reviews and closed on December 17, 1949 [cite web
last = Blue
first = Robert Wilder
title = Brenda Lewis Recalls Marc Blitzstein and "Regina"
url= http://www.usoperaweb.com/2002/jan/lewis.htm
accessdate = 2008-07-10] .

In 1953, the City Centre Opera produced a different version of the opera with greatly expanded orchestration, giving the work a more "operatic" rather than "Broadway" sound. Bobby Lewis directed again, using the same sets. Brenda Lewis, Birdie in the 1949 cast, now took the lead as Regina. The 1953 production restored the party scene but cut other material [cite web
last = Krasker
first = Tommy
title = "Regina" Restored
url= http://www.marcblitzstein.com/pages/music/intros/regina_krasker.htm
accessdate = 2008-07-10] . This production was a success [cite web
last = Krasker
first = Tommy
title = "Regina" Restored
url= http://www.marcblitzstein.com/pages/music/intros/regina_krasker.htm
accessdate = 2008-07-10] , leading the company to revive the work again in 1958, with still more cuts. The 1958 version completely eliminated the onstage Dixieland band that had been an essential part of Blitzstein's plan for the work [cite web
last = Krasker
first = Tommy
title = "Regina" Restored
url= http://www.marcblitzstein.com/pages/music/intros/regina_krasker.htm
accessdate = 2008-07-10] . The 1958 version, which was Hellman's favorite although furthest from the composer's intentions [cite web
last = Krasker
first = Tommy
title = "Regina" Restored
url= http://www.marcblitzstein.com/pages/music/intros/regina_krasker.htm
accessdate = 2008-07-10] , was recorded.

"Regina" was revived in 1977 by the Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit and in 1980 by the Houston Grand Opera. The first British Performance was produced in Glasgow in 1991 by the Scottish Opera [cite book
last = Griffel
first = Margaret Ross
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Operas in English
publisher = Greenwood Press
date = 1999
location = Westport, CT
pages = 502
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 0-212-25310-2] . New York City Opera revisited "Regina" in 1992 and cut music further [Citation
last = Rothsein
first = Edward
author-link =
last2 =
first2 =
author2-link =
title = Those Greedy Little Foxes, Set to Music
newspaper = The New York Times
pages =
year = 1992
date = October 12
url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE2DC153AF931A25753C1A964958260] from the 1959 version, which had come to be called definitive [Citation
last = Rothsein
first = Edward
author-link =
last2 =
first2 =
author2-link =
title = Those Greedy Little Foxes, Set to Music
newspaper = The New York Times
pages =
year = 1992
date = October 12
url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE2DC153AF931A25753C1A964958260] . The Scottish Opera production was released as a recording in 1992 by John Mauceri and the Scottish Opera Orchestra, with Katherine Ciesinski (replacing the original Regina, Katherine Terrell [cite book
last = Griffel
first = Margaret Ross
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Operas in English
publisher = Greenwood Press
date = 1999
location = Westport, CT
pages = 502
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 0-212-25310-2] ) and Samuel Ramey. This recording included nearly all the music written for the opera [Citation
last = Rothsein
first = Edward
author-link =
last2 =
first2 =
author2-link =
title = Those Greedy Little Foxes, Set to Music
newspaper = The New York Times
pages =
year = 1992
date = October 12
url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE2DC153AF931A25753C1A964958260] . Both recordings are presently out of print.

Maestro Robert L. Larsen of the Des Moines Metro Opera has championed the opera and produced it in both 1994 [cite book
last = Egel
first = Michael
authorlink =
coauthors = McB Smith
title = Des Moines Metro Opera, A 35-Year Perspective
publisher = Des Moines Metro Opera
date = 2007
location = Des Moines, Iowa
pages = 24
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 978-0-615-17627-7] and 2008 [cite web
last = Morain
first = Michael
title = Squabbling Southern family schemes
url=http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080624/ENT01/806240357/1047] . The Florida Grand Opera produced a new staging of the work in 2001, with Stewart Robertson conducting. Yet another version of the opera was mounted by the Chicago Lyric Opera in 2003, with much music restored but with many scenes involving the black servants deleted, as the well-intentioned portrayals of black characters had come to seem sentimental and patronizing [Citation
last = Holland
first = Bernard
author-link =
last2 =
first2 =
author2-link =
title = Lyric Opera Review; "Regina" With Music restored
newspaper = The New York Times
pages =
year = 2003
date = October 21
url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B03E4DB113EF932A15753C1A9659C8B63&scp=19&sq=regina%20blitzstein&st=cse] . This last production also added lines of dialogue from Hellman's play to clarify the story [Citation
last = Holland
first = Bernard
author-link =
last2 =
first2 =
author2-link =
title = Lyric Opera Review; "Regina" With Music restored
newspaper = The New York Times
pages =
year = 2003
date = October 21
url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B03E4DB113EF932A15753C1A9659C8B63&scp=19&sq=regina%20blitzstein&st=cse] . Pacific Opera Victoria [cite web
last = Stape
first = J.H.
title = Blitzstein's "Regina"
url= http://www.reviewvancouver.org/op_regina08.htm
accessdate = 2008-07-09] in Victoria, British Columbia and Long Leaf Opera [cite web
last = Dicks
first = Roy C.
title = "Regina" begins impressive season for Long Leaf Opera
url= http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/1108168.html
accessdate = 2008-07-09] in Chapel Hill, NC, produced the opera in 2008.

An out-of-print piano/vocal score of "Regina" was published by Chappell. Subsequently, scholars working with Blitzstein's collected papers at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin have reinstated music and dialogue excised earlier. Today, a restored "Regina" can be produced according to Blitstein's intentions [cite web
last = Krasker
first = Tommy
title = "Regina" Restored
url= http://www.marcblitzstein.com/pages/music/intros/regina_krasker.htm
accessdate = 2008-07-10] , so long overridden in earlier versions.

Roles and role creators

*Regina Giddens soprano Jane Pickens
*Alexandra "Xan" Giddens, "her daughter" soprano Priscilla Gillette
*Horace Giddens, "her husband" bass William Wilderman
*Ben Hubbard, "her elder brother" baritone George Lipton
*Oscar Hubbard, "her younger brother" baritone David Thomas
*Addie, "the Giddens' housekeeper" contralto Lillyn Brown
*Cal, "the Giddens' house man" baritone William Warfield
*"Birdie" Hubbard, "Oscar's wife" soprano Brenda Lewis
*Leo Hubbard, "Oscar's son" tenor Russell Nype
*William Marshall, "a businessman from the North" tenor Donald Clarke
*Jazz, "trumpeter in the Angel Band" baritone William Dillard
*Belle (silent role) Clarise Crawford

ynopsis

Setting: the Deep South in the year 1900

Regina Giddens schemes with her brothers Ben and Oscar for money and power. When her crippled husband Horace opposes her plans, Regina denies him his heart medication and he dies of a heart attack. Their daughter Alexandra, realizing the true cause of Horace's death, finds the strength to leave her mother. Having double-crossed her brothers as well, Regina is left wealthy but alone.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.usoperaweb.com/2002/jan/markmusic.htm Excerpt from "Mark the Music: The Life and Work of Marc Blitzstein" by Erik A. Gordon]
* [http://www.usoperaweb.com/2002/jan/lewis.htm "Brenda Lewis Recalls Marc Blitzstein and Regina" by Robert Wilder Blue]
* [http://www.marcblitzstein.com/pages/music/intros/regina_hellman.htm Lillian Hellman speaks of "Regina"]
* [http://www.marcblitzstein.com/pages/music/intros/regina_mauceri.htm John Maucieri comments on the "Regina" project"]