Capriccio by Strauss
The Academy of Vocal Arts
Warden Theater - Philadelphia, PA
read the press release here
|
|
DIRECTOR’S PROGRAM NOTE
In most rehearsal rooms, singers and actors often rely on what are called rehearsal cubes, sturdy wooden boxes used to represent chairs, tables, and platforms until the final set arrives. I imagined a production where we never replace them. Instead, these oversized cubes would be reconfigured to create the Countess’s living room.
This abstraction led me to the work of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, whose compositions are made of white rectangles framed by black lines and energized by small blocks of red, blue, yellow, and occasionally gray. Mondrian believed that harmony in art could only be achieved by removing the unnecessary. He reduced painting to its basic elements, just as Strauss distills opera in Capriccio to its essential question: what comes first, the music or the words?
Mondrian and Strauss were contemporaries, though they never met. Both were responding to a rapidly changing world. Mondrian, who loved jazz and dancing, sought order in abstraction. Strauss, after decades of writing lush, emotional operas, wrote Capriccio as a chamber piece that turns inward, this was the last opera he ever composed. Both artists explored complexity by simplifying their materials and searching for balance. Like in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, which places a high-minded opera alongside a troupe of comedians, Capriccio explores the collision of artistic ideals, but turns the focus inward, making the creative process itself the subject of the drama.
As a stage director who also designs, I am drawn to the challenge of balancing the visual narrative with the emotional and structural power of the libretto and music. We each have clothing that reflects who we are and how we feel: Powerful outfits for important meetings, soft pieces for comfort, and bold colors for moments when we want to stand out. Fashion is a very loud, albeit unspoken visual language. Even if you’re a person who doesn’t think what you wear matters, that tells us something about your personality. So, when I have the privilege to direct and design costumes for the same production, I use clothing to reinforce the emotional and narrative structure of what are characters are feeling in this moment of their lives.
That’s what led me to the clean lines and bold color blocking of 1990s fashion, which has made a striking return. Walk down the street today and you’ll see wide-leg jeans, thick-soled patent leather loafers, and oversized silhouettes all making a comeback. I looked at Tom Ford’s 1995 Gucci collection, with its sleek silhouettes, wide-leg pants, and solid primary colors paired simply with black. These designs feel unexpectedly at home in Mondrian’s visual world and in Strauss’s dramatic world, where precision and emotion are always in conversation.
In our Capriccio, I have assigned colors based on each character’s artistic or emotional world. Red represents the poet, the actress, and the Count, all of whom live in the world of words and performance. Blue marks the composer, who represents structure, introspection, and sound. Yellow belongs to the household staff, observers who view the entire artistic debate with caution and skepticism. La Roche, the director and impresario, wears gray. He lives between these worlds, navigating competing ideas and making art out of compromise.
At its heart, Capriccio is about making a decision. The Countess is pulled between two men, but the real question is not about romance. It is about what gives art its power. Is it the poetry that gives words shape and meaning, or the music that brings those words to life? Strauss never gives us a clear answer, and neither does the Countess. That is part of the opera’s brilliance.
My hope is that this color-coded, cube-built world brings you closer to the questions Strauss is asking. And maybe tomorrow, when you open your closet, you will pause and consider the choices you make and what kind of story you are telling with them.
Josh Miller, director and costume designer
In most rehearsal rooms, singers and actors often rely on what are called rehearsal cubes, sturdy wooden boxes used to represent chairs, tables, and platforms until the final set arrives. I imagined a production where we never replace them. Instead, these oversized cubes would be reconfigured to create the Countess’s living room.
This abstraction led me to the work of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, whose compositions are made of white rectangles framed by black lines and energized by small blocks of red, blue, yellow, and occasionally gray. Mondrian believed that harmony in art could only be achieved by removing the unnecessary. He reduced painting to its basic elements, just as Strauss distills opera in Capriccio to its essential question: what comes first, the music or the words?
Mondrian and Strauss were contemporaries, though they never met. Both were responding to a rapidly changing world. Mondrian, who loved jazz and dancing, sought order in abstraction. Strauss, after decades of writing lush, emotional operas, wrote Capriccio as a chamber piece that turns inward, this was the last opera he ever composed. Both artists explored complexity by simplifying their materials and searching for balance. Like in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, which places a high-minded opera alongside a troupe of comedians, Capriccio explores the collision of artistic ideals, but turns the focus inward, making the creative process itself the subject of the drama.
As a stage director who also designs, I am drawn to the challenge of balancing the visual narrative with the emotional and structural power of the libretto and music. We each have clothing that reflects who we are and how we feel: Powerful outfits for important meetings, soft pieces for comfort, and bold colors for moments when we want to stand out. Fashion is a very loud, albeit unspoken visual language. Even if you’re a person who doesn’t think what you wear matters, that tells us something about your personality. So, when I have the privilege to direct and design costumes for the same production, I use clothing to reinforce the emotional and narrative structure of what are characters are feeling in this moment of their lives.
That’s what led me to the clean lines and bold color blocking of 1990s fashion, which has made a striking return. Walk down the street today and you’ll see wide-leg jeans, thick-soled patent leather loafers, and oversized silhouettes all making a comeback. I looked at Tom Ford’s 1995 Gucci collection, with its sleek silhouettes, wide-leg pants, and solid primary colors paired simply with black. These designs feel unexpectedly at home in Mondrian’s visual world and in Strauss’s dramatic world, where precision and emotion are always in conversation.
In our Capriccio, I have assigned colors based on each character’s artistic or emotional world. Red represents the poet, the actress, and the Count, all of whom live in the world of words and performance. Blue marks the composer, who represents structure, introspection, and sound. Yellow belongs to the household staff, observers who view the entire artistic debate with caution and skepticism. La Roche, the director and impresario, wears gray. He lives between these worlds, navigating competing ideas and making art out of compromise.
At its heart, Capriccio is about making a decision. The Countess is pulled between two men, but the real question is not about romance. It is about what gives art its power. Is it the poetry that gives words shape and meaning, or the music that brings those words to life? Strauss never gives us a clear answer, and neither does the Countess. That is part of the opera’s brilliance.
My hope is that this color-coded, cube-built world brings you closer to the questions Strauss is asking. And maybe tomorrow, when you open your closet, you will pause and consider the choices you make and what kind of story you are telling with them.
Josh Miller, director and costume designer
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
