Lowell Dining Hall Turns into Opera House

Amidst the lingering aroma of a lasagna dinner, the penetrating voice of Margery A. Hellmold '83 echoes through the Lowell House dining hall. Lowell's High Table platform, ordinarily a place reserved for lunchtime banter and dinner study groups, has been cleared of its mundance furniture and transformed into a stage. Here, the cast for the 43rd production of the Lowell House Opera rehearses for its opening tonight.

Despite the rumble of soda dispenser motors and the rustle of notices being tacked to the dining hall doors, a high sense of professionalism pervades the rehearsal. "With the Boston Opera Company cancelling the second half of its season this year, Lowell is where opera is at in the Boston area," says Evan N. Bennett '85, the show's music director. In fact, all of the adult members of the cast say they intend to pursue professional operatic careers.

This year's opera is "The Turn of the Screw" by Benjamin Britten, a 20th century chamber opera based on the eponymous Henry James novella. While the audience may sense the fragrance of lemon-sole with breadcrumbs in the Lowell production--probably not an olfactory effect Britten originally called for--"Turn of the Screw" is spatially well-suited to the cramped conditions of the Lowell House dining hall, says Bennett.

Bennett adds that he chose a chamber opera as this year's production because it has "fewer characters and a smaller orchestra that work better in the space of the dining hall." Also, he says, Lowell hasn't put on a 20th century opera for several years.

"The Turn of the Screw," which was last performed at Harvard in 1966, concerns a governess in an English country house who tries to save the boy and girl the cares for, who are haunted by the ghosts of a previous housekeeper and serve of For example, the young boy's homosexuality--which is caused by the ghost of a former servant--forces him to leave boarding school.

Sets

One new aspect of this year's production is the set, designed by noted author/artist Edward S.J. Gorey '90, Gorey says that his set is unique because, compared to sets used in other productions of the opera, it is simple and light-colored. When the opera was done at Lowell House 18 years ago, the set was, as Gorey puts it, "insanely complicated."

"I am a firm believer in simple sets. Once the opera starts, you should pay attention to the music and singing, and not be distracted by the set. Anyway, a sinister set for this opera has been done before--that's already a boring idea," Gorey says.

Dennis Crowley '85, stage director, who asked Gorey to design the set, feels that Gorey's artwork is appropriate to the opera's tone. "His light-colored set picks up on the summery sounds in the score and emphasizes the setting in high mid-summer England," says Crowley.

Funds

Traditionally, patrons provide a large portion of the opera's needs. Half of the opera's $6000 budget this year comes from patrons who are mainly members of the Lowell Senior Common Room; ticket and program sales pay for the rest. Money, though, is not the only contribution necessary for a smooth production: Lowell House members have to tolerate the reduced size of their dining hall for six weeks. But, Lowell House Master William H. Bossert '59, whose residence has become the ad hoc backstage, points out, "We become intimately involved with the tradition this way. The opera pulls the House together."

Only three of the actors in the opera are Harvard undergraduates. "Harvard is not a conservatory, so it does not attract many people who are vocally controlled enough to participate in opera," says Hellmold, who plays the governess. "So, it's necessary to audition 'outsiders.'"

Many non-Harvard affiliates who have performed in the past with Lowell House have come from the New England Conservatory. Hellmold, for example, is a New England Conservatory student who also performed in the Lowell House opera as a Harvard undergraduate. "It's good for the undergraduate amateurs to work with preprofessionals from the Conservatory," says Crowley.

"There is a dearth of performing opportunities in the Boston area," says Hellmold. "I am bridging the professional and amateur worlds, so I still do things for free like this. But any role I accept, as this one," must be dramatically challenging for me," sl adds.

Music for "The Turn of the Screw" is extreme difficult, the opera's participants say. "The music is not as accessible to the audience as other operas making it slightly dissonant to the audience and harder for the stagers to perform," says Hellmold. "The composer has, the singers in mind, however making, for example, the cues for the part of the 11-year-old boy easier to pick on.

The Lowell House Opera was founded in 193 with students producing operas every year since excluding the three years during World War II. It's the only Institutionalized opera association of its kind at Harvard. The operas are always in English but include both 19th and 20th century works.

Participants in the opera say that the Gilbert and Sullivan Players is their closest competition, but that Gilbert and Sullivan's satirical nature contrast the Lowell Opera's tradition of providing powerful drama. As a dramatic genre unique with Harvard, the Lowell House Opera tradition successfully remains in a class by itself.

While the Adams House Bost Race or the closing of Memorial Drive on Sundays marks the presence of spring for some. Lowell House residents has more of a crude awakening to the commencement of this season. Some Lowellians find that the only benefit to the six weeks in preparation for they opera is the shorter walk to the salad bar regardless of a table's location. The reward for patience with such claustrophobic dining, however, is a successful production of opera by New England's oldest continuing opera association.