Glory Denied at TCO: A Modern Opera About Vietnam Prisoner of War

Glory Denied tells the story of Colonel Jim Thompson, the United States’ longest held prisoner of war. This month, Tri-Cities Opera presents its own production of this modern opera by Tom Cipullo. The work - which had excerpts performed in 2004, premiered in 2007, and was revised in 2010 and 2013 - is new to the Tri Cities Opera and to the Binghamton area. Its subject and source material are usual and evocative: Thompson was held in prison in Vietnam from 1964 to 1973, during which time his wife Alyce, who was expecting their fourth child as he left, assumed he was dead and attempted to have him legally declared so. Cipullo based Glory Denied on Tom Philpott’s book of the same title, which was released in 2002.

The contemporary nature of the piece has had a significant effect on their artistic process of those involved. Stage director Cara Consilvio was asked to return after directing Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel last year. For her, the opera’s newness and immediacy are an attractive virtue. “When I’m directing an old warhorse, I try to direct it based on what’s happening in the world in 2017 and to find a way in,” she shares. “And that’s sort of an extra step, to ask: how does this resonate now and why are we doing this now? With something that’s written this recently, that step is gone. It’s very immediate. Instead, it’s about how do we bring the story to life? And the vision of the composer, who is alive and will come to some of our rehearsals. And we have to be true and ask some questions. When you’re directing a Mozart opera you can’t call Mozart up and say, ‘Mozart, what were you thinking?’ But now if we have questions we can contact Tom Cipullo and say, ‘What do you think about this? We’re struggling.’ And that’s really fun.”

A modern opera also commands stylistic attention in ways that one that has been in the repertoire for hundreds of years does not. Scott Purcell plays the older Jim Thompson in this production. He debuted with TCO as Figaro in 2015’s production of The Barber of Seville, and has wide experience appearing in new opera, and even world premieres. As he explains, “In Mozart or Rossini, there are strictures to that music that happen over and over again in each of their operas. But with a lot of modern operas you couldn’t even guess. So, I take the approach of being more strict and knowing it inside and out both musically and rhythmically, because a lot of times - especially in Glory Denied - you have to be right on or it’s not going to work.”

According to Purcell, character development goes hand in hand with the composer’s exacting approach. “As a singer, musically, it is a huge challenge. But it’s not just difficult for difficulty’s sake, and that actually helps me flesh out my character, because the music paints each character really, really accurately. And really well - so that it’s all sort of laid out for you. It’s difficult - but once you see the big picture, all of it makes sense; it makes it a little easier to digest.”

For soprano Stacey Geyer, who plays the younger Alyce, that precise quality is a guide to the attributes of each character: “The music paints these people very, very accurately,” she says. “It’s interesting with my role specifically, as young Alice - I kind of go back and forth between reality and what is almost like artifice - someone’s hope of who they are, or someone’s vision of who another person was. My character is both an idealized vision of who Jim needs Alyce to be in these dark times he is living through, but also who Alyce wants herself to be - whom she maybe is frustrated with or whom she needs to stick to, to make her life work.”

Geyer is in her second season with the Tri Cities Opera as a resident artist, after arriving through the Binghamton University Masters of Music and Opera program. To her, the reality of the characters themselves was the key to understanding the piece and its appeal to a country embroiled in two long wars that have both been compared to the one fought in Vietnam. “It's really important to do a piece that we can relate to,” she reflects. “That we can see people up there who might be a part of us. Whether it be a family member, whether it be us personally, or whomever we can relate it to. I think it’s incredibly important to present work that makes that empathy palpable - that makes us commiserate with the people onstage in a way that is directly related to us. I didn’t live during the Vietnam War, but I have veterans that are in my family. I’ve been through a couple of wars in my life now, seeing how it affects society, how it affects me personally. I think if you’re looking for a human experience and something that you can relate to, this is definitely a show for you.”

These qualities are not the only ones to appeal to the opera’s creative team, however. For Joshua Horsch, a Tri-Cities newcomer, there is nothing more basic to the appeal of an opera than its music. He tells us, “It’s some of the most beautiful music that has been written recently. There are some arias in there that are really breathtaking. Both older Alyce’s and younger Alyce’s arias in Act II are extremely beautiful, as are the arias that old Jim has. It really is striking. And along with that, you are also going to get a unique music experience that you won’t get in something like a Mozart opera. This is something you won’t hear anywhere else. So, I think it’s a pretty easy sell if you’re interested in opera even a little bit.”

Glory Denied also features Tascha Anderson as Older Alyce, and Frederick Schlick as younger Thompson. Performances are November 10, 12, 17, and 19 at 7:30pm at the Tri-Cities Opera Center, 315 Clinton Street in Binghamton. Tickets cost $40, or $55 for premium seats, and they can be purchased at tricitiesopera.com or by calling (607) 772-0400. November 11 at 7:30pm there will be a free performance for US military veterans and their families. Tickets can be reserved by calling Cara Tilton at the Broome County Veterans Services Agency at (607) 772-2393.