Grandpop used to ask us to put our hands on his upper forearm and then he’d flex his bicep until our hands felt like they were between two pieces of steel. He called himself “the vice,” and would boast about betting young guys fifty bucks if they could knock him down with one punch.
The world he grew up in is the world of Terrence Blanchard’s new opera, Champion. The poster in front of The Met makes think of him and his Italian machismo.
What an evening! It is the premiere of Champion, Yannick is conducting, and Spike Lee among others are in attendance.
I’m extra happy because I know chaltin will be happy to get a premier playbill (each playbill references how many times it has been played at the Met, so one from a premier is special in it uniqueness, and includes a nice insert crediting all involved. It might not seem special now, but 100 years from now I’m going to be pretty happy to have it sitting in the drawer at home. What the playbill won’t share is that Yannick is wearing a thin white hoodie with black stripes that references the robes boxers wear. It’s playful and glad to see him being so much himself.
Tonights opera like Terrence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up In My Bones is a fusion of Classical and Jazz styles. It is about the boxer Emile Griffith (a real fighter) who couldn’t fully be himself as a gay black man. His story is told beautifully through three singers who embody him as a child, a man, and an older man. The performance from all three convincingly develop him as a sympathetic character. It is the oldest Griffith played by Eric Owens, who opens the show.
His first aria stuns me in its reverence for classic opera. The repetition of music and lyrics makes me go deep into the metaphor and feels like great art the way it makes me consider something, then reconsider, and consider again and again, multiplying the impact of meaning. It’s just an anecdote about a shoe and an old man looking for his missing shoe and how a shoe takes you where you belong. When Owens is done, it is so much more than a shoe, but a potent proxy of the wearer. The aria has me recall Van Gogh’s painting of shoes, that also are much more than shoes:
The lyricism and nuance are balanced with some very direct social messaging. One critique that grabbed me was when after killing his opponent in the ring Ryan Speedo Green sings “I killed a man and the world forgave me, yet I loved a man, and the world wants to kill me.” He speaks on the theme again in “what it means to be a man,”
Life isn’t all heartbreak (even on the opera stage) and the production brings us tropical color, stunning dancing, a lovable referee who ad libs his calls with lines like, “… C’mon, I thought we came here to see a fight.” As a bonus there is a woman who’ve I missed on The Met stage lately and that is Stephanie Blythe, who can ably deliver a line like “fuck me sideways,” like no one else.
As I mentioned the famous movie director Spike Lee was in the lobby tonight. He was not hiding, but definitely observing from a nook in the lobby. I’m a big fan of his movies, especially X and Mo’ Better Blues. Normally I would never approach a celebrity, but the night before we happened to see an incredible play on Broadway called “Fat Ham,” and in it they mention Spike and now here he is three feet away, so I breach the line of etiquette and say, “Excuse me, did you happen to see the play ”Fat Ham?” He says in a warm kind voice, “haven’t seen it yet.” That is the end of our interaction, but to do it justice you have to imagine me being slumpingly extra awkward.
The play “Fat Ham” is intentionally more fun than Champion, but the themes are so similar you would have thought we curated the experience to see the two of them back to back.
The driving theme of both shows is what it’s like to feel like you can’t be true to your own nature. Both of these shows were specifically being a gay black man in a time and place where the larger society is not accepting. However, the scope of both shows emphasized the interconnectedness of all people and how we rise and fall depending on how we treat others.
So What’s Champion all about? It is based on the true story of the life of boxer Emile Griffith who held world titles for middle-weight and welter-weight. A defining moment for him was when he knocked out an opponent (who taunted him) who then died ten days later. The opera focuses on his story as a closeted gay man who even though is extremely accomplished is still pressured to hide something so fundamental about himself.
Notes on the Production:
Composer………………….. Terence Blanchard
Conductor…………………. Yannick Nezet-Seguin
Emile Griffith………………………..Eric Owens
Young Emile Griffith……………….. Ryan Speedo Green
Little Emile………………………….. Ethan Joseph
Emelda Griffith………………… Latonia Moore
Kathy Hagan………………………… Stephanie Blythe
Man in Bar…………………………… Edward Nelson
Benny Paret…………………………. Eric Green
Howie Albert………………………… Paul Groves
Mano Alfaro…………………………. Tshombe Selby
4/10/23
Met Opera