Source: Back Stage
"Angel of the Amazon," the new opera by Evan Mack, produced by Encompass New Opera Theatre, mixes passionate, well-sung arias with shaky playwriting to tell the story of Sister Dorothy Stang, a nun who was murdered in 2005 for her defense of the Amazon rainforest and its indigenous people.Mack alternates between scenes pertaining to Sister Dorothy's death and scenes depicting her 36-year struggle to provide aid and counsel to her beloved Brazilian charges. But the murder-plot sequences have no dramatic force, because we know the outcome from the beginning. In contrast, the expository scenes hold our interest because they provide new information about Sister Dorothy.
Compounding this structural problem is a lack of character development. None of the characters have arcs, nor do they make significant choices. For example, Sister Dorothy never wavers in her convictions or develops into a fully rounded human being. Consequently, "Angel of the Amazon" grinds mechanically toward its violent ending without giving us a soul-searching conflict, an odd tack to take in an opera ostensibly about spirit.
But as weak as the playwriting is, the music often takes wing. Sister Dorothy's powerful aria "The Mountaintop" and the Act 1 finale, "Bring on the Rain," lift the show from the mundane to the exalted. In "Ten Long Years," Vito, a local businessman, passionately defends his family's heritage. Credit conductor Mara Waldman with eliciting strong vocal performances from her cast and sensitive backing from her 10-piece orchestra of piano, strings, guitar, and marimba.
As Sister Dorothy, Caitlin Mathes sings beautifully and has a presence that's earthy or ethereal as the occasion warrants. Adam Russell's Vito is perhaps a bit stiff at times, but when he does stand and deliver, Russell's voice is both powerful and intense. Director Nancy Rhodes stages the action simply and lets the singing take focus at the proper moments. John Michael Deegan and Sarah Conly provide a bare set that serves as a canvas for their time- and place-defining projections.
Is opera primarily a musical or a dramatic form? "Angel of the Amazon" clearly comes down on the side of the score, and considering Mack's hagiographic impulse, that's a wise decision. For the purpose of deification, nothing works better than music, and what we lose here in terms of psychological truth, we gain in honoring Sister Dorothy's simple but loving nature.