文：司馬勤（Ken Smith） 編譯：李正欣

我應該曾經(jīng)提及過一兩次，但還是要再重申一次：對于那些我早已爛熟于心的樂曲，你必須給出絕好的理由，我才會愿意走進現(xiàn)場再次聆聽。這些曲目包括甲殼蟲樂隊（the Beatles）的多首流行歌曲，貝多芬的至少六部交響曲，以及亨德爾的《彌賽亞》——因為剛剛過去的圣誕佳節(jié)。因為我是一個“戒斷綜合征”的合唱團歌手，這部清唱劇任何段落中隨便找一句，我都可以立即接下去，把曲子唱完。我可能偶爾會從維多利亞時代的標準版本“漂移”至1742年都柏林的原版，但是大家朋友一場，一百年的差別又算什么？

無論如何幸運的是，每次聽到柴可夫斯基《胡桃夾子》（Nutcracker）時我都不會沖動地想要翩翩起舞，但我還是萬般不愿意去看這部芭蕾舞劇。前幾天我只不過瞄到一眼捷杰耶夫指揮馬林斯基的《胡桃夾子》錄音封套，整首“糖果仙子之舞”（Sugar Plum Fairy）瞬間就充斥在我的耳中。故此，每逢圣誕元旦，為了避開那些“魔音繞耳”，我都推行“禁止《胡桃夾子》、禁止亨德爾”政策，盡量遠離音樂廳以及舞蹈演出。

這樣，我可以騰出更多時間看歌劇。你明白嗎，歌劇劇目中沒有《彌賽亞》。當然，《波希米亞人》的第一、二幕都發(fā)生在平安夜（但大多數(shù)人都不記得了），但如今《波希米亞人》在一年中其余的364晚在世界各地的劇院都會上演。大規(guī)模的歌劇院通常會在圣誕節(jié)輪流搬演《漢澤爾與格蕾泰爾》（Hansel and Gretel）與《魔笛》（The Magic Flute）——大都會歌劇院在2018年平安夜演出的是《魔笛》，而倫敦科文特花園皇家歌劇院選擇在12月26日開演《漢澤爾與格蕾泰爾》。正如一名紐約樂評人諷刺的那樣：“一年歌頌共濟會，一年歌頌同類相食，推廣圣誕的普世理念不偏不倚?！?/p>

事實上，這并不是說歌劇劇目中缺少節(jié)日主題——其實，恰恰相反。意大利是一個天主教國家，也是歌劇的誕生地，當然孕育了不少與宗教沾邊的歌劇——尤其是在宗教節(jié)日期間（編者按：降臨節(jié)與大齋期）不允許劇院演出世俗劇目的時代。查爾斯·狄更斯的《圣誕頌歌》（A Christmas Carol）被多次搬上歌劇舞臺，起碼有十個不同版本，包括意大利語版與德語版。到了21世紀，新世紀里也見證了不少“應景”作品：凱文·普特斯（Kevin Putz ）贏得普利策獎的《平安夜》（Silent Night）、馬克·阿達摩（Mark Adamo）的《圣誕老人成長記》（Becoming Santa Claus）、杰克·海格（Jake Heggie）的《生活多美好》（It's a Wonderful Life，又稱《風云人物》）。這些歌劇大部分源自美國，差不多全都是沒有宗教元素的世俗故事，很多是從電影改編而來。

但問題是，它們都不是獨一無二的。我可以肯定地說，這些作品都達不到《彌賽亞》那樣鋪天蓋地的影響力。偶爾會有些原創(chuàng)音樂會作品被搬上舞臺——比如說，約翰·亞當斯（John Adams）具有拉丁美洲音樂風格的清唱劇《厄爾尼諾》（El Ni?o），去年12月在大都會博物館修道院藝術館演出。曾幾何時，不同的導演熱衷于把《彌賽亞》戲劇化，甚至有不少“重構”《彌賽亞》的音樂項目——從莫扎特的“重新”配器版，到本樂季在曼哈頓北部（華盛頓高地）上演的、擁有福音音樂風格的《亨德爾火了》（Too Hot to Handel）——但它們都是向原作致敬的作品，或者是專門反《彌賽亞》的創(chuàng)意。這只會讓我們更希望于回歸到原作本身。

說真的，在歌劇世界里，我認為只有一部作品可以與《彌賽亞》相提并論——它保證令觀者落淚。這個劇目不是天天會上演，而且每次在舞臺上搬演的檔期都不會太久，至今備受歡迎。朋友們，歡迎你們走進吉安·卡洛·梅諾蒂的《阿馬爾與夜來客》（Amahl and the Night Visitors）的世界。

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《阿馬爾》描述了一個殘疾小男孩阿馬爾與東方三博士結識，一起追尋“圣嬰”的故事。歌劇于1951年的平安夜在美國國家電視臺（NBC）首播，它不單是首部特別為電視委約、為電視廣播而創(chuàng)作的歌劇，更是美國電視歷史里首次制作的圣誕特輯，開創(chuàng)了電視廣播的新傳統(tǒng)。最奇怪的是，這部作品讓阿馬爾、格林奇（Grinch）、小雪人（Frostythe Snowman）與紅鼻子馴鹿魯?shù)婪颍≧udolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer）成了“遠房親戚”。

但是，他們之間有一個關鍵的區(qū)別點：自《阿馬爾》首播后的十多年里，每年都會有現(xiàn)場直播（1953年開始有了彩色制作版）；此后，還錄播重放了數(shù)年。1953年，該作品首次在英國電視上亮相；到了1957年，《阿馬爾》登陸澳大利亞，12月中旬在墨爾本現(xiàn)場演出（兼錄影），圣誕節(jié)當天在悉尼播放。

即便如此，梅諾蒂從未想過這部歌劇只能局限于電視上。首播后幾個月，《阿馬爾》就在布盧明頓的印第安納大學的舞臺上亮相。首播后不到一年，該劇也在波士頓的拉德克里夫學院搬演（這是一家女子學院，后來跟只招收男生的哈佛大學合并）。

梅諾蒂創(chuàng)作《阿馬爾》的靈感源自掛在大都會博物館那幅耶羅尼米斯·博斯（Hieronymus Bosch）的著名油畫《三博士朝圣》（The Adoration of theMagi）。作曲家在首播前毫不掩飾地宣稱《阿馬爾》是一部“兒童歌劇”：“這部作品試圖捕捉我自己的童年。在意大利，我們沒有圣誕老人。送禮物給我們的是東方三博士。”

左頁：大都會博物館收藏的耶羅尼米斯·博斯的著名油畫《三博士朝圣》

少年時代來到美國后，在節(jié)日里被圣誕老人圍繞著——更不用說洛克菲勒中心的大圣誕樹、第五大道的櫥窗裝飾了——梅諾蒂說他把家鄉(xiāng)的傳統(tǒng)忘得一干二凈。接到美國國家電視臺的委約后，梅諾蒂絞盡腦汁尋找靈感。有一天，他在大都會博物館不經(jīng)意間看到博斯的油畫，童年的記憶立刻涌上來。

“當我看到這幅畫的時候，突然之間，我仿佛聽到遠方青藍山脈傳來三博士的歌聲，”他回憶道，“我頓時明白了，這是他們送給我的禮物?！?/p>

雖然《阿馬爾》的制作有大有小，各種演出場所的版本都有，但作曲家在挑選男主角方面限定了嚴格的條件。鋼琴譜上的制作附注中寫明，阿馬爾必須要由小男孩扮演：“這部歌劇，無論音樂上或戲劇概念上，都不容許女性演員反串男孩子?！?/p>

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終于可以切入正題了：上個月我在紐約看過一場《阿馬爾》的演出。至今，我已經(jīng)看過不少這部歌劇的制作版本：從大學禮堂到教堂地庫，從學生演員到歌劇大明星，不同的演出水平與歌唱藝術。可是，此次由現(xiàn)場歌劇團（On Site Opera）策劃、在曼哈頓圣使徒教堂流動廚房（Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen）搬演的《阿馬爾》卻令我驚嘆不已。

正如其名，現(xiàn)場歌劇團故意避開任何傳統(tǒng)的場所舉辦演出。歌劇團曾經(jīng)在1920年代主題風格的夜總會里搬演格什溫的《藍色星期一》（Blue Monday），在杜莎夫人蠟像館制作拉莫的《皮格馬利翁》（Pigmalion），在一個小區(qū)公用的花園里演出莫扎特的《假扮園丁的姑娘》（Secret Gardener）。幾年前，我觀賞過現(xiàn)場歌劇團制作的米約（Milhaud）的《有罪的母親》（The Guilty Mother，根據(jù)博馬舍《費加羅的婚禮》三部曲的最后一部分為基礎創(chuàng)作而成）的美國首演，地點是一家名為“車庫”的可變空間（該場所有時候會成為一間豪華的陳列室）。

上：現(xiàn)場歌劇團制作的《阿馬爾與夜來客》劇照

相比之前看過的這些作品，《阿馬爾》屬于標準歌劇劇目，只不過現(xiàn)場歌劇團的演出一點都不“標準”。心跳歌劇團（Heartbeat Opera）最近把《菲岱里奧》（Fidelio）的核心——關于政治犯的故事——挖了出來，更新了故事背景以影射美國當代社會；而現(xiàn)場歌劇團的導演埃里克·愛因霍恩（Eric Einhorn）同樣把古老的故事（發(fā)生于兩千年前的圣經(jīng)故事）更新為現(xiàn)代都市的一則寓言。

愛因霍恩的制作似乎在發(fā)問，圣誕故事不就是在講述一個露宿家庭在最需要幫助的時刻得到援助的情節(jié)嗎？梅諾蒂更增添了一層藝術性，把焦點從“圣嬰”轉向比他更不幸的、住在鄰近的小男孩。從外圍的環(huán)境開始，將情節(jié)娓娓道來，表達的信息更加清晰明確。

愛因霍恩對于歌劇里的角色關系，用了傳統(tǒng)的處理手法，比如說阿馬爾［由德文·扎米爾·科爾曼（Devin Zamir Coleman）飾演］與常年受苦的母親［由女高音安迪·瑪麗·摩爾（Aundi Marie Moore）飾演］。導演沒有強調母親的守財奴心態(tài)，僅突顯她表面上那種安靜的絕望?？茽柭囊袅勘容^輕，無法響透整個教堂，但他的音準無懈可擊，咬字相當清楚，演出富有感染力。

可是，愛因霍恩所構思的東方三博士與其他制作的相比就屬于另類了。三位博士推著超市購物車走進教堂，車上裝著他們所有的財產(chǎn)。在很多人眼中，他們更像是街頭露宿者。觀眾們在進場前，尤其是等他們看罷演出后，都有可能在圣使徒教堂附近碰到類似裝扮的露宿者。在這里，“東方博士”致力找尋圣嬰，他們究竟是智者還是狂人？無論是導演或者三位配搭得天衣無縫的演員——丹尼爾·貝爾徹（Daniel Belcher）飾演的梅爾奇奧（Melchior）、約瑟夫·蓋恩斯（Joseph Gaines）飾演的卡斯帕（Kaspar）和穆薩·恩古瓦納（Musa Ngqungwana）飾演的巴爾薩扎（Balthazar），都放任觀眾們依據(jù)自己的所見所聞，得出自己的結論。

上、右頁：現(xiàn)場歌劇團制作的《阿馬爾與夜來客》劇照

讓我們返回“外圍”這個概念，也是此次演出“用力最猛”的部分。就像心跳歌劇團的《菲岱里奧》里用上真正的囚犯演出“囚犯大合唱”，現(xiàn)場歌劇團的“露宿者”版本《阿馬爾》請來了“露宿者”合唱團。參與演出的團員都是動土機構（Breaking Ground）現(xiàn)在或以往的受益者，該組織是一個為露宿者提供永久性的支持性住房的慈善團體。

誠然，所有這一切都與梅諾蒂的原始觀念不謀而合。即使是在演出期間，我心里一直抱有著懷疑：這部單薄的獨幕歌劇——時長限制于一小時的電視播放，還包括廣告時段——可以承擔這么沉重的導演手法嗎？然而，無論是梅諾蒂的故事還是音樂［由杰弗里·麥克唐納（Geoffrey McDonald）指揮的室內管弦樂隊］都沒有露出任何有壓力的跡象。

要是梅諾蒂觀賞這個制作，他會開心嗎？當年他細讀合約，在法律允許的范圍內，第一時間取消了國家電視臺的原始錄像，理由僅僅是因為他沒有參與拍攝。顯然，作曲家有一個很大的顧慮——這次雖然現(xiàn)場歌劇團把很多細節(jié)都修改了，但至少他們找到了小男孩這個角色的合適人選。

I've said this once or twice before, but it bears repeating: Any music I can hear from start to finish in my head needs a good reason for me to hear it live.That includes most songs by the Beatles, at least six of Beethoven's symphonies and, since we're in the holiday season, Handel'sMessiah. As a recovering choral singer, I can pretty much start it rolling at any point. I may occasionally drift from the standard Victorian edition to the original 1742 Dublin version,but hey, what's a hundred years among friends.

Fortunately for the world, I don't get the urge to dance to Tchaikovsky'sNutcracker, but the sentiment is pretty much the same. I barely glanced at Valery Gergiev's Mariinsky recording the other day and I can still hear the Sugar Plum Fairy. So with a no-Nutcracker, Handel-free holiday policy, I usually avoid concert halls and dance performances like the plague.

Which leaves more time for opera. You see, operadoesn't have aMessiah. Sure,La Bohèmetakes place on Christmas Eve (which most people forget) butBohèmeis usually playing somewhere the other 364 nights as well. Big houses often alternate betweenHansel and Gretelone year andThe Magic Flutethe next—this season the Met presented itsMagic Fluteon Christmas Eve, the Royal Opera House started its run ofHansel and Gretelon Boxing Day—thus, as one New York critic put it, “equitably celebrating the Yuletide values of Freemasonry and cannibalism.”

Not that the opera repertory lacks for holiday themes—much the opposite, in fact. Italy, being a Catholic country as well as the birthplace of opera,has its fair share—particularly from eras when secular theatre was prohibited during holy festivals.Charles Dickens'sA Christmas Carolhas been set at least 10 times for the opera stage, including versions in Italian and German. The 21stcentury has seen a bumper crop of “holiday” operas, from Kevin Putz's Pulitzer Prize-winningSilent Nightto Mark Adamo'sBecoming Santa Clausto Jake Heggie'sIt's a Wonderful Life. Most have originated in the US, nearly all are secular, and a disproportionate number are adapted from holiday films.

But here's the thing: there's not just one. And it's safe to say, none of them will ever reachMessiah-level saturation. A couple of concert pieces occasionally get staged productions, like John Adams's Latin-tinged oratorioEl Ni?o, which was revived in December at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Cloisters. There have even been a couple of stagings of Handel'sMessiah—not to mention various musical reimaginings of the work, from Mozart's intriguing reorchestration to the gospel-infusedToo Hot to Handel, which also appeared this season in Washington Heights. But these are either tributes, or anti-Messiahs, which only gets us back where we started.

Really, the opera world has only one serious contender—a piece almost guaranteed to pull the heartstrings, and one that comes around occasionally but rarely outstays its welcome. My friends, meet Gian Carlo Menotti'sAmahl and the Night Visitors.

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Amahl, about a disabled boy who befriends the Magi on their search for the “wondrous Child,” saw its premiere on America's NBC television network on Christmas Eve in 1951. Not only was it the first opera ever commissioned and written expressly for television, it was also the first network television special to become a holiday tradition. Which,strangely enough, makes the Grinch, Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer sort of distant cousins.

But there was a key difference: For more than a decade, performances ofAmahlwere broadcast live(and by 1953, in color). After that, it was videotaped and replayed for a few more years. By 1953, the operahad its first television appearance in England, and by 1957 had made its way to Australia, performed live in mid-December in Melbourne and rebroadcast in Sydney on Christmas Day.

Even so, Menotti never thought of the opera as being confined to television, and only a few months after its premiereAmahlhad its first stage appearance at Indiana University in Bloomington. By the end of its first year, the opera had made it to Boston in a production by Radcliff College, the female educational institution affiliated with the (then) all-male Harvard.

Menotti, whose initial inspiration was Hieronymus Bosch's paintingThe Adoration of the Magi(hanging in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art), unapologetically introducedAmahlas a “children's opera” right before its premiere telecast. “It tries to capture my own childhood,”he explained, “because in Italy we have no Santa Claus.Our gifts were brought to us by the Three Kings instead.”

After coming to America and being surrounded by Santa—not to mention the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and the window displays on Fifth Avenue— Menotti said he'd forgotten all the traditions of his country. Then, having received the commission from NBC, he was struggling for inspiration when,strolling through the Met Museum, he encountered Bosch's painting and his childhood memories returned in a rush.

“As I was looking at it, suddenly I heard again,coming from the distant blue hills, the weird song of the Three Kings,” he recalled. “I then realized they had brought me a gift.”

Although productions ofAmahlhave come in all shapes and sizes, Amahl himself was fairly restricted by the composer. In his piano-vocal score, Menotti's production note indicates that the role should always be played by a boy: “Neither the musical nor the dramatic concept of the opera permits the substitution of a woman costumed as a child. “

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Which finally brings me around to the show I saw last month in New York. By now, I've seenAmahldone in college auditoriums and church basements, by students and opera professionals and every measure of vocal artistry in-between. But nothing quite prepared me for On Site Opera's production at the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen in Manhattan.

True to its name, On Site Opera shuns traditional venues. They've staged Gershwin'sBlue Mondayin a 1920s-themed nightclub, Rameau'sPigmalionat Madame Tussaud's and Mozart'sSecret Gardenerin,yes, a community garden. The last On Site show I saw was the US premiere of Milhaud'sLa mere coupable(based on the last play of Beaumarchais' Figaro trilogy) in a luxury showroom and event space called The Garage.

By comparison,Amahlis standard repertory, though very little was “standard” with On Site's production.Much like Heartbeat Opera's recentFidelio, which took the core of Beethoven's opera—a show about political prisoners—and updated it to reflect similar themes in the US today, On Site's director Eric Einhorn took the essence of the 2000-year-old Biblical narrative and spun it in a modern, urban setting.

What is the Christmas story, Einhorn's production asks, but a homeless family receiving abundant care in their time of need? Menotti had added another layerof artistry, focusing not on the “wondrous Child” but rather the less auspicious boy down the street. From the periphery, that message rings even more clearly.

Much of the show fell into fairly traditional focus,such as the relationship between the mischievous Amahl (sung by the young Devin Zamir Coleman) and his longsuffering mother (soprano Aundi Marie Moore).Rather than sliding into Scrooge territory, Moore's quiet desperation drew a measure of sympathy.Coleman's voice was a bit light for the space, but his pitch was spot-on, his articulation more than reasonably audible and his charm infectious.

Where Einhorn departed most overtly from other productions is with the Three Kings, who roll their shopping carts into the church carrying all their possessions. The “Kings”—to most eyes, anyway—are hardly distinguishable from the street people that audience members encountered on their way to the venue (and no doubt, on their way home). Here, their“royal” quest is either inspired or demented, and neither Einhorn nor his superbly balanced trio—Daniel Belcher's Melchior, Joseph Gaines's Kaspar or Musa Ngqungwana's Balthazar—helps the audience decide which.

But back to the “periphery,” which is where the show aims its heaviest artillery. Much in the spirit of Heartbeat'sFidelio, which presented that show's“Prisoners' Chorus” using actual prisoners, On Site's “homeless” production ofAmahlrecruited a ”homeless” chorus from current and former beneficiaries of an organization named Breaking Ground, a provider of permanent supportive housing to those in need.

現(xiàn)場歌劇團制作的《阿馬爾與夜來客》劇照

All of this, admittedly, plays fast and loose with Menotti's original concept. Even during the show, I questioned whether the shoulders of this slender one-act—commissioned for an hour-long broadcast,including commercials—could ultimately support such heavy directorial hands. And yet, neither the story nor the score (with chamber orchestra conducted by Geoffrey McDonald) showed the least signs of strain.

Would Menotti have been happy? He did, after all,cancel NBC's original video recording as soon as he legally could, simply because he hadn't been involved in the shoot. But apparently, the composer had one major concern—and for all its tinkering, On Site Opera at least found the right boy for the role.