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Sharon Willis’ Opera ‘The Candlers of Callan’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
OPERA REVIEW
“The Candlers of Callan,” an opera by Sharon Willis. World Premiere Saturday at the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center.
Like Shakespeare’s political plays or, more recently, John Adams’ opera “Nixon in China,” Sharon Willis writes opera as an attempt to turn history into legend.
Although her ambitions are much more modest, her mindset is the same.
“The Candlers of Callan” — Willis’ fourth opera, which premiered over the weekend — explores the historic origins of the Coca-Cola fortune, all the way back to the ancestor who first settled in America.
The opening scene reenacts a party thrown in 1929 by Charles and Flora Candler at their palatial home, Callanwolde. It was performed Saturday in the same room of the same house where the actual socialites toasted glasses of fizzy, brown sugar-water.
From there the opera flows in reverse order. Act two witnesses Asa Candler in Jacob’s Pharmacy in 1888, negotiating to buy the Coke formula. This is the best part musically, with a satisfying choral number, “Let’s Go Strolling,” and a sweet little duet sung by Mr. and Mrs. Candler (Brad Brannon and Karen Lupton), “Imagine It.”
The act two finale, “Cola-Cola: What’s More Refreshing” had the cloying bounce of an advertising jingle, which was clearly the goal.
Where the first two acts each lasted under 12 minutes, act three lasted an hour. It’s set in County Kilkenny, Ireland in 1735. Young Daniel Candler, of wealthy English protestant stock, has eloped with a Catholic girl. Ejected from the family, he’s banned from Callan Castle and deported to America. (His mother sneaks him money to get started in the New World.)
Irish folk tunes fill most of this act. “Tis What I See” and “Shule Aroon” receive Gospelized arrangements, which seem interesting in concept but sounded like a poor hybrid. The opera ends with a long stretch of dialogue between Daniel and his bewigged parents, followed by a choral benediction and a big loud finale, “To America,” recapping some tunes heard earlier.
A professor at Morris Brown College, Willis studied with noted composer and arranger T.J. Anderson, but says that as an opera composer she’s largely self-taught.
“The Candlers of Callan” is thus a sort of folk opera, naively crafted yet attempting to be forceful in personality.
Written in six weeks, it’s scored for piano, organ, flute and violin. Five singers cover various parts (one had gone AWOL for the Saturday evening performance). A 16-voice choir, in period costumes, plays what the composer calls “the Spirit Muse” — the ghosts that witness these pivotal events.
There’s no unified musical style, the characters do not develop over time and each song feels disconnected to its neighbors. Still, Willis gets the potential for opera’s grandeur — even on a limited budget —and she keeps the plot interesting and fast-moving. And though the performance was often ill-tuned, there was a charm to the performers’ perseverance.
“Candlers” has no thesis and studiously avoids making any judgments, yet Willis’ libretto suggests several themes begging for more attention. Prominent among these: the family acquired its wealth off the backs of others. One English Candler profits when given confiscated property in Ireland. Another Candler buys the Coke formula for a pittance from Dr. Pemberton, who is ill and needs a quick cash infusion. Other themes include class and religious conflicts, shallow society life and true love.
Her second opera, “The Herndons” (2002) concerns the founder of Atlanta Life Insurance. Her next opera, to premiere in November, is “The Great Divide,” retelling the Lewis and Clark expedition through the eyes of Clark’s slave York.
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By Brad Brannon
February 14, 2005 1:19 PM | Link to this
I played all three Candlers in Dr. Willis’ opera and I personally know what she did to pull this show off. Not only did she write the music and develop the story and libretto, she directed the stage movement, coached the singers, the dancers, the musicians, arranged for the photo shoots, dealt with cast scheduling issues, had to scramble for an alternate date due to the ice storm, developed the program, labored endlessly over the smallest details and basically worked her butt off. Sharon Willis wrote, produced and directed a wonderful legacy of a true American success story. The music is beautiful and fits well with the drama. Rumor has it that this opera will be shown again this year (venue TBD) and I hope you have a chance to see it. Further, I hope to have the privilege of reprising the roles of Charles, Asa and Daniel Candler — true heroes in every sense of the word. Sincerely, Brad Brannon