A new opera

I went to the opera last night. The story of this opera revolved around … baseball. This is a new opera, premiered only last year, titled The Summer King.

The story follows the career of Josh Gibson, a real person. Never heard of him? You likely haven’t because he was black. But he was good. Some say he was the black Babe Ruth. Others insist Ruth was the white Josh Gibson.

In discussing this opera I have to use the N-word, no way around it. Gibson played for the Negro League – that was indeed its title. This was an alternative to Major League Baseball, which, in the 1930s, was all white. The Negro League had its own teams, including one in Detroit (actually in the enclave of Hamtramck). Gibson played for the Pittsburgh team and did play a game in the Hamtramck stadium.

An early scene is of Gibson playing in Yankee Stadium, in which he hits a ball out of the park, becoming the first person – white or black – to do so. Gibson is good enough that a local newspaper reporter begins to talk about Gibson being the one to break the Major League color barrier. A team owner actually talks to Gibson about joining his team, but into the conversation we see the owner held the meeting as a publicity stunt for the newspaperman and was really telling Gibson that it was a bad idea for him, or any black man, to consider joining the white teams. Gibson replies, what do I care? We have our own teams, playing fields, and fans. Though there is that little matter of pay.

Before the opera we heard a discussion featuring the composer, a baseball historian (I think), and Gibson’s great-grandson. The moderator commented that the Major League white players were not opposed to black teammates. They could see how good the Negro League players were and knew they’d be a great help in winning. Many white and black players were together on barnstorming teams during the off-season. While white players might have been welcoming, white owners and white fans were not.

Gibson and his teammates were offered jobs playing for a team in Mexico. The pay was much better and they were treated as the kings of summer (thus the opera title). A few years later when the Negro League offers to pay them the same as their Mexican teams they returned to America. But Gibson was beginning to have medical issues (the nature is never explained). A few years after that Jackie Robinson is announced as the one who will break the color barrier. Gibson is quite disappointed, but his medical issue takes his life a few months later.

The last bit of the opera declares that Gibson really was as good as his legend (he is in the Baseball Hall of Fame). And though he didn’t break the color barrier he played so well that other black men could figuratively stand on his shoulders and cross the color barrier he wasn’t allowed to cross.

A friend who also saw the opera said Gibson’s story didn’t really fit well as an opera. I agree. I also didn’t particularly care for the style of music (not all that melodic) and that the orchestra was frequently too loud and covered the singers.

Even so, a good evening.

Michigan Opera Theater does only four operas a year. This is the third year where one of the operas has been contemporary, written within the last fifty years. I thought the previous two made for excellent theater. This one, not so much. I applaud the for their efforts.