Sometimes I so much look forward to seeing a production, so elevate my expectations, that I end up being disappointed even though the work is strong. This was the case with Dr. Atomic this morning. On the one hand, this opera has moments as powerful as anything I've seen on stage, such as the aria that ends Act I. And yet as a whole it felt imperfect. It felt to me like a one-act opera stuffed to become full length. I thought there were as many repetitive and slow moments as powerful ones. So I was disappointed, while still admitting this is a powerful work.
The ending also disappointed me. It was pat and predictable -- tragic, to be sure, but it didn't "blow my mind," say, the way the ending of Durrenmatt's The Physicists, a work with similar themes, does -- surprising, under-stated, sad. So both in its pacing and ending, the opera came up short for me. But it still has moments of extraordinary power.
Seeing it, I think I'll reread the wonderful book The Making of the Atomic Bomb, which I read early on, before it went on to win the Pulitzer. This is a favorite period of history for me.
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