He'll be back

Opera Vista's Viswa Subbaraman heads for Milwaukee but hopes for further Houstoncollaborations

It wasn't that long ago that Opera Vista was warming up to intone its swan song. A jack-of-all-trades, founder and maestro Viswa Subbaraman needed to reenergize his board, reorganize his priorities and reignite his desire to overhaul the way contemporary chamber opera is presented and perceived by audiences.

The nonprofit's financials weren't looking particularly healthy when this small-size company opted to cancel the second half of its 2011-12 season. But as they say, sometimes you have to take a step back before you can take two steps forward.

On a personal level, Subbaraman's respite from the wear and tear of arts administration, an endeavor that surely isn't for the faint of heart, paid off. He has landed an important gig at the Skylight Music Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisc., a position that he'll assume in July 2013, when he'll uproot his life in Houston and move to the Midwest.

The audition process took more than one year. Subbaraman originally saw the vacancy advertised and, like any hopeful, sent in an application, curriculum vitae and cover letter. Three interviews later, observations by the Skylight's search committee and a strong endorsement from American composer and Milwaukee-native Daron Hagen, who was a judge in Opera Vista's chamber opera competition and whose Vera of Las Vegas was performed by Opera Vista, and Subbaraman was extended an offer letter.

"It could be a great partnership for Opera Vista, this great little jewel in Houston."

"Going from a small company to one with a budget of $4 million with 33 people on staff, that's something I couldn't resist," Subbaraman, who's already working on casting and crafting Skylight's 2013-14 season, says. "I can concentrate on programming — on making art. Though the different administrative roles I took on at Opera Vista makes me value everyone who has a hand at running Skylight."

Subbaraman is attracted to the Skylight's wide gamut of works that comprise its season, among them opera, operettas and musical theater. He's already thinking about the big picture and dreams of a season that hones in and deciphers what it means to be human by exploring themes of freedom and revolution. He jokes that he's going to get out of the business of theater and get into the business of human ideas.

Skylight has seen its ups and downs as well. The performing group's troublesome financial statements in 2009 resulted in a publicized string of firings, hirings and resignations at the staff and board level. It changed its name from Skylight Opera Theatre to Skylight Music Theatre. The 2010 IRS 990 form lists a $500,000 decrease in contributions and grants and a revenue decrease of $200,000 from the previous filing, and total liabilities at $855,204. In 2011, Skylight's deficit was reduced to $30,000.

In a professional sense, that some of the theater industry's greats — Clair Richardson, Francesca Zambello and Bill Theisen — have passed through Skylight can only further his own career, Subbaraman says. Moreover, he also sees a silver lining for Opera Vista's future.

"It could be a great partnership for Opera Vista, this great little jewel in Houston," he explains.

"We brought Opera Vista into the world and now it's time for Opera Vista to stand on its own two legs, walk, live beyond me and become an integral part of the Houston art scene."

Subbaraman sees the possibility of Opera Vista becoming a forum to prepare emerging stage directors for larger and more ambitious productions. Strategically, such a mentorship program has the potential to keep Skylight fresh with new and innovative personalities, and heighten Opera Vista's visibility.

Subbaraman will continue to be involved in Houston for the next two to three years, though he will curtail his conducting engagements with Opera Vista. Local conductors Mark Marotto, who was recently appointed as the director of choral activities at Lone Star College-Montgomery, and Stephen Jones are candidates who could step up to the podium.

This season, Opera Vista aims to stage Andy Pape's Houdini the Great (Sept. 22 at Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens), for which a magic consultant will engineer escape tricks, and Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar (Nov. 17 and 16 at Zilkha Hall), a flamenco opera about Spanish poet Federico García Lorca. The latter calls for a large orchestral force and a sizeable cast, the biggest project for Opera Vista to date, one that Subbaraman will direct.

"It was the right call to take a brief break," Subbaraman says about the decision to take a short hiatus from producing chamber operas. "A new motivated board is in place, we've rethought our core productions to function more efficiently as an organization, and devised a strong fundraising strategy."

A transition plan is in the works. Opera Vista hopes to hire a managing director by the end of this season.

"We brought Opera Vista into the world and now it's time for Opera Vista to stand on its own two legs, walk, live beyond me and become an integral part of the Houston art scene."

Movie Review

Daniel Craig shines in Queer, an unapologetic tale of love and loss

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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