Blue

Loving supporting the funding battered English National Opera. They’ve done it again! Blue is an innovative modern opera — whilst being sold as a ‘cop meet Black Lives Matters’ opera’, it is so much more too. Doing what art should do — leaving you moved, thoughtful, raising questions.

Romantic. Very funny — never has ‘girlfriend’ been sung with so much humour (or UPS Man as a lyric!) Really tender — a celebration of motherhood, fatherhood, relationships, family, food, black women, black men, definite black girl magic — and of having the right friends (the intimate choruses are really not helpful at points), of the clash between fathers and sons. Most of all — that young black men really matter. It’s also the first time I’ve seen Christian faith treated as a topic for all, with seriousness and understanding, in a long time — since Les Mis probably.

The score is inventive and energetic — there are surprising moments into gospel and blues, very Porgy and Bess at points. It also reminds me of Verdi or Donizetti — those larger than life operas where all kinds of emotions are covered, there is prayer and real dialogues come into the librettos. It’s beautiful and horrifying at the same time — and the second act made me cry. I think the only thing it misses is the Minister never prays in his confrontation with the Father in the Second Act, just talks, and we never quite get the motivation of the Father for being a cop — what makes a black man join the police? Why is he an Officer of the Law, and is he good at his job? I wish there was more Leroy Logan going on here.

It starts with a man transforming from civilian clothes into his uniform — I thought this opera would be about him as he’s so fearful for his life as a rookie cop (Kenneth Kellogg). We don’t see him about his job or out on the beat, because the action switches to the Mother (Nadine Benjamin) and her girlfriends. They want the goss on her man, and her baby. Singing about her baby boy to be, we move into beautiful blues style music. It’s wonderful, especially as her friends have just condemned her for having a baby boy, and the Mother reminds them to be kind, (and shut up and bless her child!)

The much wanted Son is born and there’s a beautiful scene as the Father is introduced to his son, and the Mother and Father celebrate their relationship, each other, their child. I’ve never seen family and the love of husband, wife and child celebrated like this before, a father singing about love — not to mention singing of the Mother from the maternity bed. There’s also a very funny, encouraging nurse! The portrayal of the male friends in the bar was the only weakness — they were real male stereotypes and even more discouraging than the female friends. Whilst played for laughs, I wish we’d had better men portrayed here — unlike the female friends, they weren’t characterised fully and were really thinly written. Not asking for perfection, but must all men be shown as reluctant fathers and feckless? It undermines all the good men out there — doing what they should, sharing the mental load, parenting, being men.

We see the child growing up and cut to the teenage years. The Son (Zwakele Tshabalala) is brattish towards his Father, really rude and into art and protest and can’t understand why his father does what he does, really criticising him and dismissing his provision and care for him. They struggle to talk to each other, to listen — yet as the Son hates on his Father, the Father responds with love and a hug. It’s really beautiful, the Son is all fizz and energy, an only child as it seems his parents haven’t been able to have any more children and somewhat ungrateful. Yet his father knows what awaits his Son and just wants him to live and thrive.

In Act Two, we start with the Father’s searing grief and anger, his rejection of his job and faith, hitting out verbally at the Minister just as his Son had attacked him with words, even repeating the same hateful words as the Son. The Minister seeks to reconcile and thankfully manages to stop the Father going and killing a fellow cop — who shot his son at a protest.

We then join the Mother who is full of grief, with her friends. In her mourning and pain, they help her to dress — for her son’s funeral. We join the funeral, with prayers and the Father and Mother reuniting in the grief. The funeral service will tear your heart and tear up your eyes. However, we end with a flashback — to a family dinner, where the Mother wins her fighting men with food — vegan and meat delights. There’s a beautiful subtle moment (having edged closer and closer), when the Son refuses to holds his father’s hand to pray, and then does, and they relax and engage — there is forgiveness. This happy, hopeful scene ends excruciatingly — the Son, full of hope and promise, jumps up to the front of the stage, ready for one last protest — for ‘nothing could happen’.

Be warned though — this opera will get under your skin. I found myself worrying about what would happen to this lovely family during the interval and feeling protective of them. The family is so beautiful in this opera that they become precious. Guaranteed to promote fellow feeling and a concern for humanity, even active care for others. The Son is our challenge — is he right in his anger and fury? (Especially when we hear the Father singing a list of all the things the Son needs to do to stay alive). I am even more awed by the tremendous courage of the Mothers of Ferguson and so many others.