Dream of the Red Chamber
Act 1 Finale
Photo: Cory Weaver / San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera revived its commission, Dream of the Red Chamber, by Bright Sheng, libretto by Sheng and David Henry Hwang, this week. It is nearly unheard of for new opera to get a second bring-up by their commissioning company, so kudos to all. The opera has been revised a bit from the 2016 original; there are some short cuts and one entire aria is gone.
I liked it better than the first time around. I'd watched an archival video of it (thank you, SFO archivist Barbara Rominski!) and it reinforced my...pretty neutral thoughts about it. But in the theater, the colorful music and the excellence of the singers came to the fore. I think the conducting was better than the first time. There were some changes in the cast - new singers for Dai Yu, Bao Yu, and Bao Chai, the members of the central love triangle - but the singing was excellent the first time and excellent this time, so I don't think that's the reason. My review is in Opera News and I don't have a link yet.
- Joshua Kosman, SF Chronicle
- Georgia Rowe, Bay City News
- Janos Gereben, SFCV
- Michael Anthonio, Parterre Box
- Related: Joshua Kosman on why revivals matter and why we need a torrent of new works.
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