Puccini’s final opera, “Turandot,” is currently being performed by the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center with a world premiere ending by Christopher Tin (composer) and Susan Soon (librettist). While the story is set in ancient China, Puccini’s source was an Italian translation of “Turandot, Princess of China” by Friedrich Schiller, itself based on previous sources.
In the opera, Turandot is a cruel princess who rejects suitors by a brutal mechanism. Borrowing the words of Schiller: “The Princess poses three riddles to any suitor proposing himself to be her husband; should he be unable to unravel them, his head shall be struck off with an axe and exposed on the city-gate of Peking; should he unravel them, the Empress Turandot shall become his lawful bride, and together they shall inherit the throne of the celestial empire.”
The opera opens with the Prince of Persia being led to execution after failing Turandot’s sphinxlike riddle test. Meanwhile, her aged father is despondent, for the throne has no heir. An unknown prince comes upon the scene and is horrified by Turandot’s cruelty; yet he, too, is smitten with her and accepts the challenge of the three riddles. Will he prove successful, or will his head fall under the ax as well?
The Washington National Opera version of “Turandot” has a much-publicized new musical ending, as Puccini died before completing the end of the work. This new completion to the opera sounds somewhat less like Puccini, but it does contain Puccini elements and may also be more accessible to a modern audience. In a sense, this innovation complements the modernized setting of this production, which contains many stylized references to modern China. Many of the sets — thanks to the fine efforts of set designer Wilson Chin — embrace an unexpected industrial aesthetic. Even more striking is the use of color: during the first portion of the opera, the merciless Princess Turandot is garbed and spotlighted in red; further, her palace guards are costumed as Red Guards of the Cultural Revolution era, armed with red-tasseled spears. There are also ballet segments modeled after Peking revolutionary (communist didactic) operas such as “The Legend of the Red Lantern” promoted during Mao’s “Cultural Revolution.”
Later in the production, as Turandot becomes more merciful and humane, the People’s Republic of China symbolism and Cultural Revolution allusions are replaced with a white color theme, most especially the white sun, commonly associated in Chinese history with the Republic of China of Sun Yat-sen and the democratic Taiwan of today.
The music is stunning, especially the chorus’ rendition of “Jasmine,” a place in the score in which Puccini celebrates the aesthetics of Eastern music. Turandot is sung and acted wonderfully by soprano Ewa Płonka, especially in the melodic and yet pleasingly dissonant solo “In questa Reggia, or son mill’anni e mille.” Tenor Yonghoon Lee, who plays the Unknown Prince, sings a very passionate “Nessun Dorma,” one of the great arias of this opera and, indeed, all of Western opera. Soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha renders a poignant performance of the tragic Liù, especially in her aria “Signore, ascolta!” The lush score is conducted superbly by Speranza Scappucci. The music of this production of “Turandot” flows from piece to piece, but parts of the show are so powerful that the audience during the performance we witnessed periodically broke into spontaneous applause.
We found the political allegory embedded in the staging to be fascinating, though one detail left this reviewer perplexed. Ethan Vincent, Sahel Salem, and Jonathan Pierce Rhodes perform wonderfully as, respectively, Chancellor, Majordomo, and Head Chef, especially when singing of the placid lakes and beautiful mountains far from the political turmoil of the oppressive Communist-style state under Turandot. However, while presented as apparatchiks of a people’s Communist regime, they are costumed as conservatively dressed Western businessmen, an odd choice of costume that appears to upset the symmetry of the allegory.
This quibble aside, director Francesca Zambello, costume designer Linda Cho, lighting designer Amith Chandrashaker, and co-choreographers Jessica Lang and Kanji Segawa all work together brilliantly to bring this opera to a new generation, with an accessible score and an intriguing political allegory. This is all part of the Washington National Opera’s mission to expand the interest of opera with innovations relevant for our time.
“Turandot’s” final performances are on May 24 and 25, and the production is highly recommended. For more information, please visit: Turandot | Kennedy Center (kennedy-center.org)