Arts & Entertainment
In full ‘Force’
Washington National Opera’s modern production restores a Verdi classic
Washington National Opera’s Verdi reboot gives the show a bold, modern setting. (Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy WNO)
‘The Force of Destiny’
Through Oct. 26
The Kennedy Center
2700 F St., NW
Tickets $25-$300
kennedy-center.org/wno
202-416-8500
As conductor Xian Zhang mounted the podium Saturday evening for the Washington National Opera’s opening night of “The Force of Destiny,” the audience seemed to lean in, eagerly anticipating the driving overture that is the work’s most recognizable calling card. Yet, only silence remained. The curtain rose on a dumb-show dinner scene in a luxurious home, where a family broke bread and a maid stood anxiously by the large window, looking out into the blackest of nights.
Like the unsuspecting characters of Giuseppe Verdi’s sweeping work “La Forza del Destino” (WNO oddly translates the title into English), the audience would have to wait for destiny to come to us on its own terms. Director Francesca Zambello’s creative opening gave the story an unexpected immediacy, especially as the tragic events surrounding the heroine Leonora (Adina Aaron) and her lover Don Alvaro (Giancarlo Monsalve) unfolded in the first scene. Once the die was cast, however, the overture blared from the pit as an interlude between the life the protagonists dreamed of and the tumultuously bloody years ahead.
Zambello, a lesbian, moved the drama from the mid-1800s to the present day, complete with signs advertising sex, pole dancers displaying their wares outside a club and costumes evoking a city’s downtrodden, but this change of scene isn’t done thoughtlessly to bring in new opera fans. It actually works — beautifully at times.
Leonora, costumed as a vagrant, flees her broken family home and the wrath of a brother hell-bent on killing her, and lands outside an urban monastery, with graffiti scrawled on its walls and a neon cross over the door. Yet, as she drops to her knees and begs God to rescue her from this miserable life, the plight of the modern-day heroine seems less antiquated and more real, reminding us of our own dark nights of the soul when we’ve turn to a God we may or may not believe in to see us through ‘til dawn.
The vision doesn’t always work seamlessly — penitent monks wandering through a raucous, sex-crazed street crowd seems more fitting for an earlier era — but the production takes what can be a tottering opera and restores it to a seat reserved for Verdi’s best musical and dramatic writing.
‘Forza’ is not an easy work to cast, given the intense demands for protagonists and chorus alike, but under Zhang’s evocative baton, the artists delivered crackling, if not always subtle, performances.
Aaron was an electrifying presence, her body trembling with pathos, almost as if she was unable to control the power coursing through her. Her final act aria, the famed “Pace, Pace, mio Dio,” was simply perfect in both vocal and dramatic delivery. It may have been opening night nerves, but elsewhere in the opera, she sometimes sped through passages that required focused negotiation between a marvelously dark chest voice and her more velvety middle register, and a couple of notes sounded a hair off-pitch. Hopefully, these kinks will iron themselves out, because her overall performance is spectacular.
The lower-voiced roles took home the prize among the men. Mark Delavan’s Carlo never seemed to flag over the course of a long evening, his rich tone creamy from bottom to top. Italian bass Enrico Iori was a sumptuously formidable, yet also delicately heartbreaking, Father Guardino, and the rousing chemistry between him and Aaron makes one wonder what the two could make of “Don Carlo.”
The dark tenor hero Don Alvaro is a complex role. His music often sits in places tenors would rather muscle through in order to sail onwards to their glorious high notes, and the character’s emotional journey is deliciously multifaceted. Monsalve delivered acting in spades, giving us a sexy and then tormented Alvaro, but his singing was uneven. He seemed capable of only two dynamic choices — shout and bellow — and while, when appropriate, those choices were lovely, they made for a loud night.
By the opera’s end, though, when death had claimed so many and forgiveness seemed like the frailest of hopes, it was Zambello who walked away with the crown for a production that not only made us listen, but also made us think.
History
Julius’ Bar ‘sip-in’ laid groundwork for Stonewall
Tuesday marked 60 years since four gay activists held protest
While Stonewall is widely considered the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement in the U.S., a lesser-known protest inside a Greenwich Village bar three years earlier helped lay critical groundwork for what would follow.
Tuesday marked 60 years since the Julius’ Bar “sip in.”
On April 21, 1966, four gay rights activists — Dick Leitsch, Craig Rodwell, John Timmons, and later Randy Wicker — walked into Julius’ Bar and staged what would become known as a “sip-in” to challenge state liquor regulations on serving alcoholic beverages to gay men — with a drink.
Modeled after the sit-ins that challenged racial segregation across the American South, the protest was designed to confront discriminatory practices targeting LGBTQ patrons in public spaces.
At the time, the Mattachine Society — one of the country’s earliest gay rights groups — was actively pushing back against policies enforced by the New York State Liquor Authority. One of those policies could have resulted in the loss of liquor licenses for serving known or suspected gay men and lesbians. The participants had visited multiple establishments, openly identified themselves as homosexual, and requested a drink — with the anticipation of being denied.
Their final stop was Julius’, where reporters and a photographer had gathered to document the moment. When Leitsch declared their identity, the bartender covered their glasses and refused service, reportedly saying, “I think it’s against the law.” The next day, the New York Times ran a story with the headline, “3 Deviates Invite Exclusion by Bars,” cementing the moment in the public record.
Though initially framed with disrespect — the term “sip-in” itself was coined as a play on civil rights protests — the action marked a turning point. It brought national attention to the systemic discrimination LGBTQ people faced and helped catalyze changes in how liquor laws were enforced. In the years that followed, the protest contributed to the emergence of licensed, more openly gay-friendly bars, which became central social and organizing spaces for LGBTQ communities.
The Washington Blade originally covered when the bar was officially added to the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
Today, historians and advocates increasingly recognize the “sip-in” as a key pre-Stonewall milestone. According to the New York City LGBTQ Historic Sites Project, the protest not only increased visibility of the early LGBTQ rights movement but also exposed widespread surveillance and entrapment tactics used against the community.
Marking the 60th anniversary of the event, commemorations have taken place in New York and across the country. Reflecting on its enduring legacy, Amanda Davis, executive director of the NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project, spoke about the event.
“Julius’ Bar is a place you can visit and viscerally connect with history,” said Davis. “We’re thrilled to have solidarity locations across the country join us in commemorating the ‘sip-in’’s 60th anniversary and the queer community’s First Amendment right to peaceably assemble.”
For current stewards of the historic bar, the responsibility of preserving that legacy remains front of mind.
“It’s a privilege and a responsibility to be the steward of a place so important to American and LGBTQ history,” said current owner of Julius’ Bar, Helen Buford. “The events of the 1966 Sip-In here at Julius’ resonated across the country and inspired countless others to stand proud for their rights.”
The timing couldn’t have come at a more important moment, Kymn Goldstein, executive director of the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives, explained.
“At a time when our community faces renewed challenges, coming together in resilience and solidarity reminds us of the power in our collective resistance,” Goldstein said.
The American Civil Liberties Union, an organization dedicated to defending rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution, is currently tracking 519 anti-LGBTQ bills across the U.S. The majority are targeted at restricting transgender rights — particularly related to gender-affirming care, sports participation, and the use of public bathrooms.
Some additional groups and bars that held their own “sip-in” as solidarity events to uplift this historic milestone are from across the country include:
Alice Austen House at Steiny’s Pub, Staten Island, N.Y.
Bellows Falls Pride Committee at PK’s Irish Pub, Bellows Falls, Vt.
Brick Road Coffee, Mesa, Ariz.
Brick Road Coffee, Tempe, Ariz.
Dick Leitsch’s Family at Old Louisville Brewery, Louisville, Ky.
The Faerie Playhouse & LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana at Le Cabaret, New Orleans
Harlem Pride & John Reddick at L’Artista Italian Kitchen & Bar, New York
JOYR!DE KiKi at Loafers Cocktail Bar, New York
Matthew Lawrence & Jason Tranchida / Headmaster at Deadbeats Bar, Providence, R.I.
Mazer Lesbian Archives at Alana’s Coffee, Los Angeles
New Hope Celebrates at The Club Room, New Hope, Pa.
Queer Memory Project at the University of Evansville Multicultural Student Commons / Ridgway University Center, Evansville, Ind.
Sandy Jack’s Bar, Brooklyn, N.Y.
St. Louis LGBT History Project at Just John Club, St. Louis
The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch was held at Salamander Washington DC on Sunday, April 19. Gov. Andy Beshear (D-Ky.) was presented with the Allyship Award.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
The umbrella LGBTQ sports organization Team D.C. held its annual Night of Champions Gala at the Georgetown Marriott on Saturday, April 18. Team D.C. presented scholarships to local student athletes and presented awards to Adam Peck, Manuel Montelongo (a.k.a. Mari Con Carne), Dr. Sara Varghai, Dan Martin and the Centaur Motorcycle Club. Sean Bartel was posthumously honored with the Most Valuable Person Award.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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