Joplin's opera 'Treemonisha' revived

Let's call it the dilemma of the dancing bears.

It's a problem that resurfaced a couple of years ago when Michael Ching, artistic and general director of Opera Memphis, was first considering the rarely produced "Treemonisha."

Though it may be an opera of historical importance, especially for lovers of ragtime music, it's a far cry from the polished perfection of Verdi or Puccini. Composer Scott Joplin, who died decades before "Treemonisha" was staged, never got the chance to fix story flaws that strain credulity.

Anita Johnson and Jonathan Tuzo star in the Opera Memphis production of Scott Joplin's "Treemonisha."Nikki Boertman/The Commercial Appeal

Scott Joplin

On plots, opera lovers are famously forgiving. But one scene can be described, almost literally, as a bugbear. The heroine, on her way to execution by being thrown into a wasp nest, encounters a random ballet of dancing bears in the woods.

"The piece has some dramaturgical issues," said Ching, euphemistically. "Actually, it has lots of problems. Some moments are too long, some too short. The problems never really got worked out."

When Opera Memphis debuts its brand new production of "Treemonisha" this weekend, it does so with a number of fixes, additions, and acts of old-fashioned showmanship that the company hopes will not only resolve "issues" like dancing bears, but will generate renewed interest in the composer's music.

Representatives from other opera companies will be in the audience as well, looking for novel solutions to this famous piece of rediscovered Americana.

The result, Ching hopes, is a "Treemonisha" that will better represent the legacy and talent of ragtime's most representative figure.

From Rag to Opera

By the time Joplin finished his piano score of "Treemonisha" in 1911, he was an obscure name in the waning era of rag. Jazz was the nascent popular music.

His opera set in rural Arkansas and sung in dialect was an attempt to relaunch his career as a serious classical composer.

In 1915, he self-financed a public piano read-through in an attempt to get backers for a full staging. But he couldn't land a producer.

He died two years later at Manhattan State Hospital, age 49.

For more than 50 years, his opera was lost.

"Around 1970 there was this huge Joplin craze," said scholar and ragtime musician Rick Benjamin.

"His music was used in the movie 'The Sting,' and suddenly 'Maple Leaf Rag' was on the Billboard charts. Everyone was trying to unearth some new Joplin work."

One remarkable discovery was "Treemonisha," staged for the first time in 1972, in Atlanta. The theme of the story is that education is better than superstition.

According to Benjamin, most contemporary productions make the historical error of being too grandiose.

As founder and music director of the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, specializing in period recreations of ragtime music, Benjamin spent five years re-orchestrating "Treemonisha" for a smaller music hall ensemble that would likely have performed the opera had Joplin's show toured the country. The band is similar to what might be seen in a Broadway pit.

"People always approach the opera with heavy, European orchestra," Benjamin said. "America at the time didn't have that many grand opera houses."

At a recent Opera Memphis rehearsal, Benjamin, who is music director of this production, sat at a piano, playing music from the score. In a beat, he switched over to Joplin's stride-style of playing.

Drawing a connection between Joplin's classical music and his ragtime is just one Opera Memphis tactic to make "Treemonisha" more accessible.

Audiences, Ching said, are unfulfilled when they come to hear Joplin's opera and don't get a sample of "Maple Leaf Rag."

"We came up with the overarching concept that Scott Joplin is meeting with producers to pitch this idea of a new opera, a gritty reality piece," Ching said.

Ragtime thus becomes the motif of the Joplin character trying to promote himself as the guy who wrote the popular tunes. The scenes shift between Joplin and the opera he's pitching.

"It becomes a story about a talented composer who can't get his work performed," Ching said. "By creating this new story we can justify a lot of the dramaturgical changes we've made to the plot."

Director Ellen Schlaefer says it also makes the opera more socially relevant.

"Despite all the flaws in the piece, it's sad that Joplin never got to see it on its feet," she said. "He was a talented black man at the turn of the century. Race plays a part in it disappearing for so long."

New Look, New Faces

Singer Jonathan Tuzo, from New York, portrays Joplin in the re-structured "Treemonisha."

While singing in St. Louis recently, he made a point to visit the composer's former home and get inspiration for his character.

"This is the first time I've ever had to play someone who actually lived," he said. "That's a rare thing in opera."

Soprano Anita Johnson, in the role of Treemonisha, believes that the script requires a group of artists willing to experiment with it.

"It's much more exciting working on an opera like this than something tried and true," she said. "There is a sense that anything we do is OK. One day we sat down and started brainstorming for ideas. That's very unusual. Ninety percent of the time opera doesn't lend itself to having multiple cooks in the kitchen. This one does."

As to the dancing-bear dilemma: it was eventually figured out, Ching said, by a Rhodes College professor. The bears become a metaphor for the producers intruding upon Joplin's operatic vision.

Ching hopes this new production has crossover appeal for aficionados of both opera and ragtime.

"Also, given that it's about a neglected African- American composer, I think there's no better time to do something nontraditional than inauguration week," he said. "I compare what we're doing to renovating a house. It's not a tear-down. We're trying to fix it, make it even better."

-- Christopher Blank: 529-2305

Opera Memphis' "Scott Joplin and Treemonisha"

7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Orpheum theater. Tickets are $10-$77 plus service fee. Call 525-3000.

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