Public Domain

From the 1919 cover of the Gianni Schicchi musical score.

The latest victim of updating is Disney’s Peter Pan which is based on the play by Scottish author J. M. Barrie. The new version takes its title from the 1911 novel by the same author Peter Pan and Wendy. Judging by the trailer, Wendy is no longer a motherly figure but a swashbuckling, sword-fighting, girl-boss. The Youtube trailer has over 2 million views and only 34 thousand “likes”. The dislike button is still present but the number of dislikes can only be seen with an extension. The number I’ve seen is 134 thousand dislikes. As it turns out, fans of a particular story are fans of that story and not a new version that distorts the characters they love. Enter opera for the past 50 years.

Out of the eight opera productions I’ve seen in San Diego, Los Angeles, and New York, only one of them was set in the place and time established by the composer. As a fan of opera, I’m tired of the operas I love being updated.

We need look no further than the most recent offering at San Diego Opera. Neither Suor Angelica nor Gianni Schicchi were set in their original time period. Suor Angelica had never been presented by San Diego and Schicchi was last seen in 1972. San Diego audiences aren’t in need of an update.

To a casual observer, setting Suor Angelica in the 1930s could work. However, the practice of sending a single mother to a convent was probably the exception rather than the rule. Speaking of rules, the fascists had a few in 1930s Italy–one of which was the patriotic duty of women to become mothers. There could be a compelling story about a young mother who has a child out of wedlock in fascist Italy but Suor Angelica is not that story.

Angelica’s story is from 17th Century Italy when the ruling class still protected its good name by secreting their scandals off to convents. Ultimately, there is nothing in the libretto that contradicts a 1930s setting but it still feels contrived.

Gianni Schicchi, on the other hand, has a libretto that resists the 1950s setting thrust upon it in the San Diego Opera production. For starters, Gianni Schicchi de' Cavalcanti is a real person who lived in Florence in the 13th Century and made it into Dante Divine Comedy as a resident of hell. This is an important element of the opera.

The libretto mentions the Medici, the Ghibellines, exile, and a very expensive mule none of which have a spot in the 1950s. The Ghibellines are an important element as Schicchi uses them to describe the penalty of having one’s hand removed before being exiled. He tells the family they will wave goodbye to Florence with a Ghibelline stump. The Ghibellines were predominantly the aristocracy in 13th Century Florence.

What makes both of these operas work are the dynamics of family, two dysfunctional ones in the cases of Suor and Schicchi. The family dynamic for these shows works best in the time periods they are set in. Having a woman play the part of Schicchi didn’t help.