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Frankenstein
Music and text by Libby Larsen. Directed by Matthew Ozawa, conducted by Jonathan Khuner, set design by Jean-François Revon, lighting design by Lucas Krech, costume design by Christine Crook, hair and makeup design by Tamra Johnson. Produced by West Edge Opera at Pacific Pipe, Oakland, California, August, 2017.
One large projector hung from an overhead truss provided a 24' x 11' image on the back of the set. Two 3000-lumen projectors mounted on their sides at stage level projected on mid-stage screens 12' high by 8' wide (see full-stage photos below).
Larsen's 1990 opera specifies a lot of video content. Scene Nine: What the Monster Saw is a 10-minute video segment, and the final scene, Pursuit to Death and Life, is seven minutes of music that in the original production was accompanied by live video of the on-stage performance — we chose to use a prerecorded video montage. One long scene involves a life-size mechanical child, which we implemented as a projection whose actions were cued to the music.
Much of the video involved photographing the actual actors in costume, so the filming couldn't take place until the costumes were ready. I worked long hours on the projections during the final weeks before opening.
The main projector was plagued with a series of lamp and component failures. The image was dim, and I had to run the side projectors at 60% brightness to match it — a real problem in a venue that was only dark well after sunset.
Larsen's wish to use today's technology was implemented by Jeremy Knight, Projection Designer, Set Designer Jean-François Revon and Lighting Designer Lucas Krech. Together they made excellent use of modern technological "toys" such as light sticks, à la "Star Wars," boxes with dynamic neon light-stick frames stuffed with black and white balloons — as well as a large projection screen across the whole back of stage, with shifting clouds, a small-girl-doll in a Victorian costume, mimicking the Frankenstein experience from yet another angle.
—Lois Silverstein, OperaWire
Video throughout was by Jeremy Knight, who regularly provides media backgrounds for the company. The opening black-and-white videos of the stark world that Walton and Frankenstein inhabit are especially resonant.
—Jaime Robles, Repeat Performances
The musical high points were the ensemble's performance of two, Straussian tone poems, accompanied by Jeremy Knight's stylish black-and-white films depicting the creature's first few moments of life and his misadventures with humanity.
—Joe Cadagin, San Francisco Classical Voice
Performance photographs by Jeremy Knight
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