Schwartz, whose Broadway scores feature ultra-catchy tunes and inspirational ballads that yield huge profits but no respect, isn't the most likely candidate for opera. But what composer wouldn't yearn for that more music-driven medium, spurred by visions of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess? And what opera company wouldn't take a chance on it, hoping for new, younger audiences?
In Séance, the opera crowd might find the music underwhelming but deceptively effective, thanks to sound theatrical pacing and the power of understatement. The Broadway crowd might be overwhelmed by the plethora of arias; even secondary characters have more than their share. But with some tightening, Séance could enter the repertoire, not in big Verdi/Wagner houses, but with smaller companies that foster singing actress like Lauren Flanigan, who inhabits the main role as magnetically as the Oscar-nominated Kim Stanley did in the film.
As in the operas of Daniel Catan, Séance poses the question: Must weighty stories be told with weighty music? Though ostensibly about the kidnapping death of a child, the story's substance is in a quieter psychological world. The psychic medium Myra and her husband Billy have hatched a questionable ransom scheme, supposedly suggested by the deceased son whom Myra regularly channels. She uses him as a trump card - assuming dead children have superior insights to living adults. Such is their deluded, circumscribed life. They abduct a rich young girl - they prefer the word borrow - so Myra can make headlines by psychically predicting the outcome.
