Susannah, San Francisco Parlor Opera, Nov. 5 2011

What is San Francisco Parlor Opera? We didn’t know, but when we discovered that they were performing Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, my favorite post-Puccini 20th-century opera, we jumped at the chance to see it. SFPO, as its name implies, performs opera in private homes. As a result, tickets are quite limited. This performance was limited to 55 attendees, and took place in the Zellerbach Mansion, across the street from the Panhandle of Golden Gate Park. Or rather, the performance took place in the back yard of the Zellerbach Mansion, during the first good rain of the season. Yes, they put up tarps in an attempt to keep the patrons dry. No, it didn’t entirely work. With only 55 patrons, in a private home, I was not expecting a full orchestra; I expected a piano, and got a piano. I expected an electronic piano that would sound like a piano, but I got a very distorted electronic piano that no one could possibly confuse with a real piano. The performing space consisted primarily of the steps from the yard up to the first floor. The young voices in open air did not carry well to the back of the audience. In general, my expectations were not very high. For the most part, even low expectations were not met. We bailed after about 10 minutes. At least we had a nice dinner at Jannah Restaurant beforehand.