Our small group of enthusiasts saw the DVD of Nicholas Maw’s opera Sophie’s Choice First produced in 2002 Maw presented the story of a Polish refugee Sophie who migrated to New York after the second world war. She is courted by a seemingly charming schizophrenic man, Stingo, and they live together in a boarding house. His frequent rages are painful for the narrator to watch, who wants to protect Sophie and eventually persuades her to run away with him. Here she tells him her dreadful story of incarceration in a concentration camp during the war, where she was forced to make a choice about saving one of her two children and surrendering the other to be taken to the gas chambers. These experiences have permanently damaged her ability to cope with ordinary life and she leaves the safety offered by narrator to return to Stingo. Within days he hears that Stingo and Sophie have both committed suicide together, each unable to face their demons.
Unlike twentieth century musical theatre (Evita, Chicago etc), Opera has travelled a dark path in the last 100 years
Meg Dillon
Unlike twentieth century musical theatre (Evita, Chicago etc), Opera has travelled a dark path in the last 100 years
Meg Dillon
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