In the early ’90s Frederica von Stade starred in San
Francisco Opera’s sumptuous production of Barber of Seville. In
that performance she played Rosina, a young Spanish minx who hooks up
with the illustrious Count Almaviva at the grand dénouement of a
long comedy of errors. This year von Stade has inhabited a decidedly
different character — a narcissistic showbiz mom who lives in a
prison of denial. The character, named Madeline Mitchell, is the
fulcrum of Jake Heggie’s new opera, Three Decembers: Last
Acts. At first glance, Mitchell seems like a contemporary Joan
Crawford: cruel, pampered, and more interested in buying Manolo Blahnik
shoes than in catering to her own children. But von Stade finds her
infinitely more complex. “I was a showbiz mom,” she said from her home
in Alameda. “… I know the guilt involved in making the wrong
decisions for your children sometimes, and causing them pain,
really.”
Emotional heft and social relevance make Three Decembers a
great ticket for young audiences, even people who wouldn’t normally run
to see an opera. It opens with a darkly sardonic scene in which
Mitchell’s children read a Christmas letter from their mother,
postmarked from some tropical isle in the Caribbean. Mitchell’s
daughter, Bea, is mired in an unhappy marriage; her son, Charlie, is
losing his partner to AIDS. Meanwhile, they’re reading this letter
that’s oiled with platitudes: “‘You know I miss you both so much, but
pass me a drink.'”
Poetic justice reigns in the end, and Mitchell emerges as a contrite
and sympathetic character — but the burden falls on von Stade to
make it believable. This she accomplishes in what critics have called a
bruising, emotionally forthright performance, which traces Mitchell’s
psychological trajectory and offers a glimpse into her interior world.
Heggie, a former SF Opera publicist who drove von Stade to press
engagements in the ’90s, and later made her a star in his 2000 opera,
Dead Man Walking, conceived the role of Mitchell especially for
von Stade. In many ways, it seems apropos. Although the real-life von
Stade is a good-humored altruist who volunteers at St. Martin De Porres
Catholic School, and undersells herself as an opera singer (she’s one
of the greatest mezzo-soprano vocalists in the world, but claims to be
“on the decline”), she empathizes with Mitchell’s situation. “It really
is an examination of the mother-child relationship with any working
mom,” von Stade said. She added: “I’ve been able to explore many
relationships through Jake’s music. Jake has an amazingly firm hand on
the soul.” Three Decembers plays Dec. 11 (7:30 p.m.), 12 (8
p.m.), and 14 (3 p.m.) at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall.
$48-$86. CalPerfs.berkeley.edu