It is clear from the very beginning that Gherman, the central character ably played by tenor Brandon Jovanovich, is a man on the edge. It is completely original, ahead of its time, and a perplexing piece of work. Photo by Cory Weaver.īased on an 1833 short story by Russian author Alexander Pushkin, the opera is Tchaikovsky meets Hitchcock meets David Lynch. Yes, this happens in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades. But few feature an object of obsession who is as obsessed as her stalker, a lengthy puppet show, and oh, yes, a deranged protagonist, lying in bed, who embraces his hallucination of a singing skeleton.
Nothing unusual there, as some variety of obsession is at the core of most operas. The Queen of Spades, which opened on Saturday and has four more performances through March 1, is about the destructive power of obsession. If you are open to new experiences and want to see things you likely have never seen on a stage, and may never see again, then this may just be the right opera for you.
The Lyric Opera’s revival of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 1890 opera The Queen of Spades, directed by Benjamin Davis, will fit into the WTF category for many attendees-but not necessarily in a bad way. There are others that may challenge your tastes but leave you thinking, “Well, that was interesting.” And then there are envelope-stretching productions that, while well meaning, engender a response along the lines of, “WTF?” There are performances that play exactly to your sensibilities and provide you with thorough delight.
Brandon Jovanovich (left) as tormented protagonist Gherman and Lucas Meachem as Prince Yeletsky face off in the climactic scene.
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