By Julie-Anne Whitney
‘Fellow Travellers’ – Opera by Gregory Spears; Libretto by Greg Pierce; Based on the 2007 novel “Fellow Travelers” by Thomas Mallon; Conducted by Emily Senturia; Directed by Peter Rothstein; Set Design by Sara Brown; Costume Design by Trevor Bowen; Lighting Design by Mary Shabatura; Surtitles by Greg Pierce; Sung in English with English surtitles; Produced by Boston Lyric Opera at the Emerson Paramount Center Robert J. Orchard Stage through November 17, 2019.
Gregory Spears’ opera Fellow Travelers chronicles the doomed love affair between two men, State Department employee Hawkins Fuller and writer/reporter Timothy Laughlin, set during the height of McCarthyism in 1953 Washington D.C. The story sheds light on Senator McCarthy’s ruthless hunt for “sexual deviants” working for the federal government, otherwise known as The Lavender Scare.
Executive Order 10450, signed by President Eisenhower in April 1953, stated that “immoral conduct” and “sexual perversion” were legitimate grounds for dismissal from federal government jobs. Without explicitly referring to homosexuality, the executive order all but declared gays and lesbians to be a threat to national security, thus making them “unfit for government service.” Throughout the next six decades, nearly 10,000 federal employees were fired from their jobs until the order was finally repealed by President Obama in 2017.
The fear and tension of this troubling time period is what drives the opera’s dramatic action. Throwing caution to the wind, Fuller – sung with a strongly grounded, rich baritone voice and played with heartbreaking complexity by Jesse Blumberg – hits on the unsuspecting Laughlin – played with tenderness and courage by the creamy-voiced tenor Jesse Darden – and helps Laughlin get a job as a speechwriter on Capitol Hill. The pair then spend a passionate night together, which proves to be both transformative and traumatizing for Laughlin, who is a devout Catholic and cannot help but view the encounter as a mortal sin. Rumors begin to spread, and Fuller is interrogated for possible “deviance” but manages to escape with his reputation intact. Confiding in his new friend Mary Johnson, Fuller’s assistant – sung with beautiful precision and care by soprano Chelsea Basler – Laughlin decides to join the army in a desperate attempt to end his obsession with Fuller.
Confidently played by a 17-piece orchestra led by conductor Emily Senturia’s graceful, steady hands, Spears’ score for Fellow Travelers reaches right for the heart. When the characters can’t speak for themselves, the music speaks for them. The score is flirtatious, seductive, emotional, triumphant, playful, melancholy, and mysterious; it tells you not only how the characters are feeling, but how you could (or should) be feeling, too. In the volcanic Act I duet, “Bermuda,” when Fuller and Laughlin make love for the first time, the persistence of the pulsing piano and the urgency of the spinning strings elevates the scene to heavenly heights, pushing the men together in a way that feels destined and natural.
Immediately following the love duet is Laughlin’s stunning solo, “Last Night,” in which he confesses his sins to God. The piece has moments of full rapturous orchestra followed by whispers of tantalizing winds – which mirrors Laughlin’s conflicting feelings about his encounter with Fuller (pleasure and fear, happiness and doubt, etc). With the help of librettist Greg Pierce, Spears’ intuitive storytelling continues with Fuller’s Act II solo, “Our Very Own Home,” which starts with a single, repeated melody on the piano, emphasizing Fuller’s new lonely state, having cast off his friends and betrayed the man he loves. The song ends with Fuller singing in an empty bedroom: “…Just let me hold you for an hour. That’s what we get, that’s what we’re given. Let me hold you. I’ve waited all my life just for an hour, you and me and the moon…”
Fellow Travelers is an opera for today. The story is more accessible, relatable, and inviting for modern audiences than many of the overproduced (albeit still immensely popular) classical operas that center on gypsies, courtesans, and Queens. The characters in Fellow Travelers are real people struggling with real issues, just like the rest of us. While it is alarming to realize that the rampant homophobia in this 1950’s story still rages around our country today, it is reassuring to know that for a few hours on a cold night in Boston a group of strangers sat together and collectively participated in an act of empathy. And that, my friends, is how change happens. For tickets and information, go to: https://blo.org/fellow-travelers/
