A View From the Bridge

Washington National Opera

October 22, 2011, 1:00 pm

Composer: William Bolcom
Conductor: John DeMain

Cast:

John Del Carlo (Alfieri), Kirk Eichelberger (Louie), Greg Warren (Mike), Kim Josephson (Eddie), Christine Brandes (Catherine), Catherine Malfitano (Beatrice), Robert Baker (Tony), Gregory Turay (Rodolfo), Richard Bernstein (Marco), Harvey D. Fort (1st Immigration Officer), Tim Augustin (2nd Immigration Officer)

William Bolcom’s opera, based on Arthur Miller’s classic "A View from the Bridge,"  follows the story of a longshoreman who struggles in 1950s America.  This distinctively American opera is set among immigrants in New York, and its story easily lives up to Puccini's description of his own dramatic style, as one that puts "great sorrows in little souls."

Additional information

Act I
Scene 1. Red Hook, Brooklyn. 1950’s. The lawyer Alfieri commences the tragic story of
longshoreman Eddie Carbone, and the chorus of Eddie’s friends and neighbors joins in the
retelling.
Two stevedores, Louie and Mike, tell Eddie that the ship transporting his wife’s cousins
from Italy has landed. The two cousins, illegal immigrants, will be brought to Eddie’s house
that evening.
Scene 2. Arriving home, Eddie finds his niece Catherine dressed up; she has grown from a
sweet child to a disturbingly beautiful young woman. She calls for Eddie’s wife, Beatrice, and
Eddie announces the safe arrival of the two cousins, Rodolfo and Marco. Catherine breaks in
with news of her success at stenography school and a job offer, which irritates Eddie. He
advises her about entering the world of work.
Scene 3. Eddie impresses Beatrice and Catherine with the importance of silence about the
“submarines.” The chorus recounts the tale of a young man who betrayed information to
Immigration and the community’s exacting of punishment.
Scene 4. Rodolfo and Marco arrive at the Carbone home.
Scene 5. After they are introduced, Marco and Rodolfo tell a rueful story of the poverty at
home that necessitated their trip. Rodolfo, whose blond charm gets on Eddie’s nerves,
reveals his dream—to own a motorcycle (“When I am rich”). His quieter brother Marco has
a family in Sicily, but Rodolfo has, according to himself, “a nice face but no money” and thus
cannot marry. But he can sing, from operatic arias to what he thinks of as jazz, and he
demonstrates with a Neapolitanized version of Johnny Black’s “Paper Doll.” He is shushed
by Eddie, who fears the neighbors’ suspicions.
Scene 6. Weeks have passed. It is evening, and Eddie and Beatrice are outside their home. Eddie
has become exasperated with Rodolfo’s flashy style. But the tension in the Carbone home has
a deeper source: Eddie has not made love to Beatrice in months, long before the cousins’ arrival.
She finally confronts him with the fact (“When am I gonna be a wife again?”).
Scene 7. Eddie is walking home late after work. His friends congratulate him for sheltering
the two Sicilians. He becomes uncomfortable when they mention how they enjoy both
brothers, Rodolfo in particular.
Following their evening at the Brooklyn Paramount, Rodolfo and Catherine stroll home; the
view of Manhattan inspires Rodolfo (“New York Lights”). Eddie orders him into the house
and warns Catherine of his suspicion: Rodolfo wants to marry her only to obtain legal immigration
papers. Beatrice begs Eddie to desist. As he skulks off, she sets Catherine straight
about Eddie’s feelings toward her (“Was there ever any fella that he liked for you?”).
Scene 8. The desperate Eddie calls on Alfieri to ask if there is any legal way he can keep
Catherine out of Rodolfo’s clutches, since it is his duty too protect her (“Because I made a
promise”). Eddie questions Rodolfo’s sexuality. No, says Alfieri, except for the unthinkable—
telling Immigration about the brothers.
Scene 9. At the Carbone’s home, Eddie’s gruffness shuts down any attempts at conversation.
Catherine defiantly puts on a record of “Paper Doll” and invites Rodolfo to dance. Eddie explodes
in anger. Suddenly, under the pretext of teaching him to box, he forces Rodolfo to fight him, landing
a blow that stops the fight. Marco realizes that Eddie needs reminding of a few things—
family loyalty among brothers, for one—and proves that his is the greater physical strength.

Act II
Scene 1. Longshoremen scramble on the docks for bottles. Several crates of imported Scotch
have broken open, as has probably happened every year two days before Christmas. Tony,
Mike, Eddie, and Louie celebrate the ritual taking of whiskey bottles in their yearly doo-wop
quartet (“Oh ho ho, somehow, somehow”). But Eddie is different this time, drinking so
much that it excites comments from his concerned friends; he staggers off.
Scene 2. Rodolfo and Catherine realize that this is the first time they have been alone in the
house. Catherine explains her desire to live in Italy after their marriage, but Rodolfo is committed
to staying in the United States. He assures her, however, that it is she he loves, not
America. More than living in Italy, Catherine actually wants simply to get away from Eddie,
whose recent behavior confuses her, although she still loves him (“But you do not know
this man”). Rodolfo nudges her toward the bedroom.
Eddie enters the house drunk. Finding the two coming out of the bedroom, he orders
Rodolfo to leave. Catherine wants to leave, too; Eddie responds by violently kissing her.
When Rodolfo tries to pull him off, Eddie kisses him even more brutally.
Scene 3. Alfieri muses about Eddie’s case (“On December twenty-seventh”). Eddie arrives
and tells Alfieri that he kissed Rodolfo to shame him in front of Catherine. Alfieri rebukes
Eddie, and Eddie is left with only one way to get rid of Rodolfo: the call to Immigration.
Scene 4. Beatrice sadly puts away Christmas decorations. When Eddie appears, she tells him that
the brothers are now renting a room upstairs. She pleads with Eddie to consent to Catherine
and Rodolfo’s wedding. Eddie is furious to hear that there are two new illegal immigrants now
sharing the room with Beatrice’s cousins. Eddie’s command to get all four men out of the
house is interrupted by a loud knocking: Immigration is responding to Eddie’s telephone call.
Two officers search the house and find the four “submarines” with Catherine, who, along with
Beatrice, suspects Eddie’s involvement in the arrests. Marco, certain that Eddie betrayed them,
spits in his face as the group is led away in front of the neighbors. They, too, turn from Eddie
in his shame.
Scene 5. In jail, Marco recalls the odyssey that has brought him to this moment (“A ship
called hunger”). Just as American law will not give Eddie satisfaction in ridding him of
Rodolfo, Marco feels frustrated since the law will not help him exact even an apology from
Eddie.
Scene 6. Eddie refuses to go to the wedding or even to let Beatrice attend. Rodolfo rushes in
to warn Eddie that Marco is out of jail. Rodolfo, Beatrice, and Catherine beg Eddie to leave
before Marco arrives, but Eddie refuses to budge. The neighbors let Eddie know that he has
lost all respect. Beatrice confronts Eddie with the unthinkable: his obsessive love for Catherine
has consumed him.
Eddie’s denial is cut off by Marco’s arrival. No apology is possible: Marco demands that Eddie
fall to his knees before him. They fight, with Eddie pulling a knife. Marco’s superior strength
forces Eddie to stab himself to death with his own hand. The reenactment of Eddie Carbone’s
tale is over, and the townspeople and Alfieri wish us goodnight.
—Adapted synopsis courtesy of Lyric Opera of Chicago

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