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I'm currently in preparation for the role 'Tom Buchanan' in the remount of Harbison's 'Great Gatsby' to play in San Francisco at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Feb 10, 11, and 12.

Role preparation is always an historical and literary exploration, and one of the great privileges of being a singer. The role of Tom presents the opportunity to reflect on the '20's, the implications of sudden prosperity, the meaning of lifelong commitments taken up casually as well as the concept of reliving the past.

Rereading Fitzgerald in itself has been rewarding and as always with him - puzzling. In my opinion Gatsby contains no transcendence. This is a hallmark of post WWI literature. Where it is prophetic is in the novel's deconstruction of the new modernist order that appears in substitution for the romantic ideals of the past age. How many times have we Americans lived boom to bust in our own lifetimes - dancing furiously while the wine is flowing and taking our infallability for granted. What haunts about Gatsby is Mr. Gatsby's insistence on the prospect of winning the future by recapturing the past. The fact that this 'green light' of his pulls us through the story means that there is something inside us that cheers for Gatsby as a hero, even though he seems tainted.

Ultimately, we are creatures of time and we can never go back while the future is always uncertain. This is what 'Daisy Knows' as Tom sings during one amazing ensemble in the opera.

It would be great to see you at the show - www.ensembleparallele.com/

Dec 2011, New York


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