Konstantin Stanislavski
Why does it seem that the musical theater, or even the straight theater actor is more at ease with their delivery of emotional content than most opera singers? Is it because they have some innate advantage over the opera singer concerning the way they see life situations depicted on stage? Or, is it just that they have better coaches and teachers who focus more thoroughly on the dramatic aspects of singing than do opera singers, who are pressed over and over again to deliver the technical elements of singing, and often leave behind the emotional drama of the song, aria or complete opera role they are attempting to bring to life on stage. Let’s begin to pick this issue apart.
These days on some of the greatest opera stages of the world we see bland performances concerning the ability of the performers to truly move us. Why is that, I ask? Shouldn’t the music itself be an asset to bringing forth what the composer and librettist want conveyed? I will make a connection here to one of my favorite books, Scott Peck’s “The Road Less Traveled”, and two quotes attributed to Stanislavsky’s 7 pillars of acting techniques(*). Peck states, “The four tools of discipline with which we can solve all problems are: (1) Dedication to the TRUTH, (2) Acceptance of Responsibility, (3) Delaying of Gratification, and (4) Balancing”(**). Stanislavsky’s final pillar is TRUTHFULNESS. Under that pillar he states, “As an actor you have to put life into all the imagined circumstances and action until our sense of truth is satisfied and creates faith in what you are doing”, and “If you do the action with full conviction, you justify the part. However, do not do it overly, and try to do it just to the extent that you can believe.”(*) To back up to his first pillar, ACTION, I submit that it aligns with Peck’s “Delaying of Gratification” and “Acceptance of Responsibility”. The hard work of figuring out what the character is doing his action FOR delays us from simply saying, “Hey, I have learned this music and I know what these words mean, so now I’m ready to perform this in front of an audience.” But in not delaying gratification and taking responsibility we have failed to assign drama and actions to the meanings of our words or the phrases of our music.
In my preparation of the great monologue of Boris Godunov, I discovered many things in my constant drilling of the text, which helped me assign actions to the words I was singing. Writing down these actions I came to a more complete understanding of the words and music I was trying to get the audience to feel. I performed the monologue for a fundraising concert and then promptly sang it for a highly successful Dallas Opera audition, followed by one in Barcelona – getting a thumbs up – from the casting director of the Bolshoi Theater. Stanislaviski’s Sixth Pillar, Emotion Memory, easily leads us to Peck’s tool of BALANCING. There is a great sense of balance we have to discover within our music, and that is to find a way to blend that music with the drama. That is the goal of the singing actor. We take it on for the sake of the integrity of our character and to reveal that character to the audience. My technique with a role is to break down each phrase into numbers, which allows me to cross reference very quickly any issues I may come across concerning music, text, emotion or action. For instance, the first phrase of Boris’ monologue is [transcribed from the Cyrillic], “Dostig ja vyssey vlasti” [Have attained I higher POWER]. I then assign that phrase (1) the emotions of Sad and Doubtful(***), and (2) I give them the ACTION(****) of – Left hand out and closing on VLASTI]. A number of times I return to the word VLASTI (power), and having given it this initial strong action/emotion I build on it for myself and for the audience. I don’t need to overdo it, but as Slanislavski states, “… just enough to believe.”
Stanislavski at his core attempted to instill in actors and singers the ability to take a psychological approach to singing and to use their latent (existing but not yet developed) powers of self-expression when taking on a role. Which of these abilities are innate and which of them are learned? I think, as I believe Stanislavski did, that each of us has it within ourselves to find that which allows the viewer to say, “Wow, I would never have thought of that, but it seemed so NATUAL coming from this/that performer!” In my work with Walter Cassel and Nicola Ross-Lemeni (constant partners with Maria Callas) I learned to execute the basic fundamentals of committed acting while performing a role. Later I would come to identify this basic element in the productions I sang in at La Scala, the Teatro Regio in Turin, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Arena di Verona of Jean Pierre Ponnelle and Franco Zefferilli (Carmen, Aida, La Cenerentola, and L’Italiana in Algeri), and that element was True to Life Realism. I found similar elements while working with movie directors, such as William Friedkin and Robert Altman; or fundamental conceptualists like Tito Capobianco, Colin Graham, Lotfi Monsouri; as well as innovative directors like Frank Corsaro, Peter Sellers, Nicholas Muni, Frank Galati, Robert Carsen and Robert Wilson who at times took realism into other dimensions.
Now in the age of HD broadcasts is the time to bring all of these elements together into one single package. I recently heard from one of my colleagues that the role preparation process is not available in an app, so I say let’s put it together as if it WERE an app. Following the tools of discipline in putting together your roles, arias and/or songs, hear what Stanislavski and Scott Peck have to say to us from the aspect of truthfully giving more of ourselves to the audience, which is hungry for the irresistible emotional expression we can pour out on stage.
References:
(*) Stanislavski and Rumyantsev, “Stanislavski On Opera”
(**) M. Scott Peck, “The Road Less Traveled”
(***) Mark Ross Clark, “Singing, Acting and Movement in Opera”
(****) Caldarone & Lloyd-Williams, “Actions – The Actors’ Thesaurus”
