{"id":32875,"date":"2020-03-20T10:16:50","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T14:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=32875"},"modified":"2020-03-20T10:16:50","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T14:16:50","slug":"the-bootleg-files-treemonisha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2020\/03\/20\/the-bootleg-files-treemonisha\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: Treemonisha"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 723:<\/strong> \u201cTreemonisha\u201d (1982 Houston Grand Opera presentation of Scott Joplin\u2019s opera.<\/p>\n

LAST SEEN:<\/strong> On YouTube. <\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO:<\/strong> On VHS video only.
\n
\nREASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: <\/strong>It fell through the cracks. <\/p>\n

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> Unlikely.<\/p>\n

If you are an opera buff like me \u2013 and, yes, believe it or else, I love opera \u2013 you will be interested in knowing about a new version of Scott Joplin\u2019s sole surviving opera \u201cTreemonisha\u201d is being produced by Canada’s Volcano Theatre. This presentation \u2013 which includes a new libretto and expanded musical arrangements \u2013 was scheduled to premiere next month at Stanford Live in Palo Alto, California. However, a certain virus has forced the show\u2019s postponement. (Thank you, Wuhan.)
\n<\/p>\n

Until this new version of \u201cTreemonisha\u201d sees the light of day, the only way to truly enjoy this work is through a 1982 VHS video production of the work staged by the Houston Grand Opera. Sadly, this version is not available on DVD, leaving the opera lover to either hunt down an old VHS video or watch a bootleg upload (with Portuguese subtitles) on YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTreemonisha\u201d is a strange post-script to Scott Joplin\u2019s career. The celebrated ragtime music legend harbored deep hopes of being taken seriously as an opera composer. His first effort in the genre was \u201cA Guest of Honor,\u201d a 1903 work about the controversial dinner between President Theodore Roosevelt and civil rights leader Booker T. Washington. That opera is considered lost \u2013 the payroll for the original touring company was stolen during a stop in Kansas City and the production\u2019s assets were confiscated by creditors, including the score. Joplin did not have a duplicate copy and \u201cA Guest of Honor\u201d was never seen again.<\/p>\n

\u201cTreemonisha\u201d was Joplin\u2019s second and final attempt at creating an opera. It was never fully staged in his lifetime and remained unknown until its rediscovery in the 1970s, which included a limited run Broadway production and the posthumous awarding of the Pulitzer Prize to Joplin. <\/p>\n

But, truth be told, \u201cTreemonisha\u201d is not wholly successful work. Joplin was not trained in classical music and his original libretto was nowhere as invigorating as his hybrid score. Even worse, the three-act opera starts to show significant evidence of weakness when it comes into its home stretch, with a libretto drenched in a wimpy plea for morality and forgiveness.<\/p>\n

But despite its problems, the Houston Grand Opera version of \u201cTreemonisha\u201d does an amazing job of hiding the creaks and cracks in Joplin\u2019s concept with a full-throttle entertainment that will delight the sourest of opera haters.<\/p>\n

Set in Texas in the 1880s, \u201cTreemonisha\u201d is anchored in a poor rural African-American community. The sole member of this society who achieved a formal education was the 18-year-old Treemonisha (Carmen Balthrop), who passed on the gifts of reading and writing to her suitor Remus (Curtis Rayam). <\/p>\n

Treemonisha\u2019s intelligence and respect for the power of education puts her odds with Zodzetrick (Obba Babatunde), the leader of a con artist gang profiting off the superstitions of the uneducated black farmers by selling \u201cbags of luck.\u201d They see Treemonisha as a threat to their livelihood and her kidnap her for imprisonment in their swamp hideout. However, Remus comes to the rescue by dressing up in a scarecrow\u2019s clothing and playing on their superstitions. Mistaking this faux-scarecrow for the devil, the gang flees and Remus brings Treemonisha home. <\/p>\n

When Zodzetrick and an associate are apprehended and brought to her community, Treemonisha urges forgiveness for their crimes. While there is initial reluctance to absolve the miscreants, Treemonisha\u2019s argument wins the day and the community vows to follow her lead of gaining power through positive living.<\/p>\n

Joplin\u2019s advocacy of African-American self-improvement and self-reliance via education and a tolerance against unsavory characters was a tribute to the philosophy of Booker T. Washington, who was also the subject of his earlier opera \u201cA Guest of Honor.\u201d The white majority society is mostly absent from \u201cTreemonisha\u201d except for a brief reference to a white neighbor who provided the title character with her early education and a fleeting moment where Treemonisha and Remus silently discover the slave chains left behind at an abandoned plantation.<\/p>\n

Musically, \u201cTreemonisha\u201d was Joplin\u2019s last hurrah before his untimely 1917 death. The opera\u2019s overture is a marvelous swirl of classical and ragtime traditions, and this filmed production enhances the lively music with charming modern ballet mixed with a lively cake walk-style of dancing. Mabel Robinson\u2019s choreography is endlessly inventive, especially in the ragtime-infused Act One ring dance (\u201cWe\u2019re Goin\u2019 Round\u201d) and the Act Three finale (\u201cA Real Slow Drag\u201d). Also worth noting is the swamp around the tricksters\u2019 lair, which is enhanced with \u201cFrolic of the Bears\u201d ballet featuring dancers in animal masks while oversized butterflies are carried through the air. <\/p>\n

Carmen Balthrop\u2019s perfect soprano and deeply subtle acting gives extraordinary power to the character of Treemonisha. Even in the wobbly third act, when her character\u2019s plea for clemency slides towards being treacly, she serves up poise and dignity that is simply peerless. Also deserving of praise is Delores Ivory, whose rendition of the aria \u201cTreemonisha\u2019s Bringing Up\u201d (about the surprising origins of the title character) is marvelous. <\/p>\n

The men of \u201cTreemonisha\u201d don\u2019t come off as well. Curtis Rayam\u2019s noble Remus, Obba Babatunde\u2019s cunning Zodzetrick, S. Ray Jacobs\u2019 psalm-citing Parson Alltalk and Dorceal Duckens\u2019 onerous Ned are two dimensional characters in the libretto. But in their respective performances, each singer invests humanity and passion into flat characters. <\/p>\n

If anything, \u201cTreemonisha\u201d has one of the best closing numbers in operatic history: the ragtime dance \u201cA Real Slow Drag\u201d with the cast in high-stepping finale. It may not be pure Old Europe opera, but so what? It wraps up \u201cTreemonisha\u201d in a distinctive and original American ribbon to be savored forever. <\/p>\n

IMPORTANT NOTICE: While this weekly column acknowledges the presence of rare film and television productions through the so-called collector-to-collector market, this should not be seen as encouraging or condoning the unauthorized duplication and distribution of copyright-protected material, either through DVDs or Blu-ray discs or through postings on Internet video sites.<\/em><\/p>\n

Listen to the Rondo Award-nominated podcast \u201cThe Online Movie Show with Phil Hall\u201d<\/a> on SoundCloud, now in its fourth season. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 723: \u201cTreemonisha\u201d (1982 Houston Grand Opera presentation of Scott Joplin\u2019s opera. LAST SEEN: On YouTube. AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On VHS video only. REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the cracks. CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Unlikely. If you are an opera buff like me \u2013 and, yes, believe it or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":32876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1513],"tags":[2460,1437,2461,2459],"class_list":["post-32875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bootleg-files","tag-houston-grand-opera","tag-opera","tag-scott-joplin","tag-treemonisha"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32875"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32877,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32875\/revisions\/32877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}