Opera Review: Arctic Explorations

Due to some health issues (and other items that will be discussed later), this review has been delayed quite a bit. If you were waiting for this, I apologize. As a bit of context for any new readers, this blog is less about getting things out quickly and is more about making sure that posts are crafted in a way I deem satisfactory. Plus, I went to the final showing so it's not like anyone will be reading this before attending a performance.

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Exactly one month ago (March 10, 2024), I attended a performance of Arctic Explorations by Michael Dellaira (which was commissioned and developed by The Cell Theater and the New Amsterdam Singers), a new, one-act opera about... quite a few things. But, on its face, it revolves around a failed attempt by Elisha Kent Kane to find the Northwest Passage. Unfortunately, the opera only was performed that weekend (so you can't see it). However, the performance was recorded (snippet is here), so you may be able to see this virtually in the future.

As a disclaimer, my wife is one of the sopranos in the New Amsterdam Singers that performed this. I'm trying to be objective, but felt I should disclose.

1. The Northwest Passage

Starting with the Silk Road, trade with China and other Far East countries was extraordinarily profitable for Europeans willing to make the trek across the continent of Eurasia. However, moving goods by land was extraordinarily expensive, requiring large, slow-moving caravans. Further, due to the slow speed of these caravans, traders had to carry large amounts of provisions (which took up space that could be used for textiles and other goods). To increase profits, traders turned their attention westward to the ocean. Boats not only move much faster but also require fewer people per pound of cargo.

Despite what your elementary teacher said about Columbus, mankind was aware that the Earth was round since the time of the Ancient Greeks in the third century BC. Thus, explorers reasoned, there might be a sea lane to China. All you had to do was sail around the world. This is what motivated Columbus.

The "discovery" of the Americas threw a wrench in this plan as there was land between Europe and China. In case you are unaware, boats cannot sail through land. Once it was made obvious that there was not a navigable river that went through the continent, profiteers speculated about going around the continent instead. This hypothetical route was dubbed "The Northwest Passage."

Pictured: The current Northwest Passage routes. The first cargo ship sailed through in 1969.

Explorers searched for the passage for four hundred years. One such explorer, John Franklin of the UK, set off on multiple, high-profile expeditions to find the passage. His third and final attempt (departing in 1845) ended in utter failure with all aboard perishing. However, news travelled slowly and dead men tell no tales. Multiple voyages were sent to find and rescue Franklin after his wife, Lady Jane Franklin, managed to push the disappearance into the international spotlight in both the UK and United States.

Robert McClure was an English explorer who went after Franklin in 1850. Though he did not find Franklin, he was the first to make it through the passage after surviving four harsh winters in the Arctic. Upon returning to England in 1854, he was knighted and awarded a piece of a large monetary prize. He would never return to the Arctic.

Franklin's two lost ships wouldn't be found until 2014 and 2016.

Elisha Kent Kane was an American explorer who similarly set off to find Franklin's lost expedition in 1853. Though his expedition would fail, Kane would later pen two books about his journeys (one being Arctic Explorations). These books would become wildly popular, thrusting Kane into celebrity status. He regularly spoke to large crowds about his exploits.

Pictured: A reprint of the book in question. If you want a copy, you can find it here.

To avoid confusion, when I refer to "Arctic Explorations", I am talking about the opera unless I specifically say otherwise.

2. The Fox Sisters and Obscurity

During this same time, America was in the middle of the Second Great Awakening. There was a renewed interest in spiritual affairs, with multiple religions and denominations being founded, some of which continue to this day (such as Joseph Smith founding what would become the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints).

The Fox Sisters were three people who jumped onto this movement. Regularly hosting "spirit circles", the sisters claimed that they could commune with the dead through audible rappings on a table. The sisters enjoyed fame throughout the country and world, hosting celebrities' such as Czar Alexander, Sojouner Truth and James Fenimore Cooper.

Maggie, the middle sister, would later marry Elisha Kane in secret.

Pictured: The Fox Sisters

Due to their unique flair, many spiritual leaders and illusionists of the day (including Harry Houdini) went out of their way to discredit the Fox sisters. This culminated in 1888, where Maggie told the public that the rappings were a hoax and demonstrated how she could create the noises at will through her body. Though she would later recant this and attempted to continue providing readings, she was not taken as seriously post-confession and faded into obscurity.

As a bit of an exercise for this post, I wanted to visit the location of Maggie Fox's funeral in Brooklyn. The address was actually built directly into the opera: 292 Fulton Street. Now known as "Old Fulton Street", all of the street numbers have been changed. I asked multiple neighbors and went to the borough hall to try and locate this building without avail. An example of how even locations can fade from the collective public knowledge.

Pictured: One of the few signs that remains.

3. Opera Synopsis

Arctic Explorations opens with the spirit of the unknown taunting the audience, pressing them to search for the Northwest Passage and noting that glory awaits them if they are the one to finally get through.

The opera then turns to Maggie at one of her spirit circles, answering questions about how the spirits wish to assist humanity. In a call-and-response, Maggie notes that the spirits wish to reveal truths to the world, which will result in a more harmonious Earth. The spirits also label those critical of their mission as "bigoted" against the spirit world and notes that critics are "not as wise as they think they are."

Next, we turn to the wife of John Franklin, pleading with the United States to try and find her husband. Moved by this, President Zachary Taylor pledges to assist. Plus, finding the Northwest Passage would result in untold riches, which couldn't hurt. Kane then sets out on his fateful expedition. We hear some of the love letters between Maggie and Kane, with their two chosen professions being compared.

Kane's ship then gets caught in the hazards of the ice, with temperatures far below zero. Siarnaq, an Inuit woman, hears the ship and investigates. In discussing what the sounds could be, Siarnaq briefly touches on the theory of the spirit from the Inuit perspective; that everything (everything, not just conventionally "living" things but rocks, the wind, the sea, the moon) has a spirit and that it is released upon death. Thus, Siarnaq treats everything she touches with respect, lest the spirits be angry with her upon their release.

Pictured: A drawing by Elisha Kane.

After making contact with the explorers (and noting that they are but men), the Inuit community prepared a large reception for the crew. The heated rooms and walrus steaks were a welcome reprieve from the harshness of the outside.

We are then treated to a duet between Maggie and Kane, again illustrating the similarities between the supernatural experiences Maggie witnesses and the strangeness of the Arctic wilderness Kane finds himself in.

Due to the length of time that passed, the United Kingdom then presumed Franklin to be dead (which, to be fair, he was). His wife was not thrilled though.

Kane was not faring well, with his ship trapped in the ice. Realizing their perilous situation, Kane decided they needed to abandon the expedition and fled on sleds, barely making it to a Danish ship. Kane returned to New York. Though the expedition was technically a failure, Kane was still received as a hero, giving speeches about his adventures to large audiences. Maggie, on the other hand, faded into obscurity, with her final address being given on Christmas Day, 1892 at Carnegie Hall.

The opera closes on a more abstract note, with Siarnaq singing how global warming has completely changed the Arctic biome. She notes that the fauna has been moving away and that many species will disappear. She reminds the audience that her land is dying and that, once it is dead, it will be free to take its revenge.

As the opera draws to a close, Maggie sings how her and her husband are not so different after all, as both tell stories of far away lands that people want to know about. The tales that both told stretched what people believed possible and both achieved world fame for their respective adventures.

Finally, we return to the spirits that taunted the audience at the beginning, who reframe themselves as the spirits of places unknown. They note that we search for meaning because we are human and, as such, are both vain and full of courage. However, despite all of humanity's discoveries, there will always be things unknown and that spirit will haunt humanity forever.

4. Review

Overall, Arctic Explorations is a masterful blend of history, grit, human nature and spiritualism, Haunting yet hopeful, the score has a mystical quality that draws an audience into the strange worlds of the Arctic and the spiritual.

The opera itself is on the shorter side: I timed it at an hour and seven minutes. However, it was paired with a pseudo-overture of three pieces (that, combined, lasted roughly eighteen minutes) that thematically tied into the subject and feel of the main event. The final of these pieces (Northwest Passage by Stan Rogers and arranged by Ron Smail) sets the stage well and felt like it had been written to be performed in this exact circumstance. After seeing the opera with this beginning, I can't help but feel like a performance of just the opera would feel incomplete.

I particularly liked the balance of instrumentation. The accompanying band is a seven piece orchestra with a clarinet, guitar, banjo, violin, viola, double bass and a percussionist. This complimented the vocals well, feeling both "full" yet not upstaging the soloists or the choir.

The guitar and banjo also helped to differentiate the music so that it had a distinct sound compared to other modern operas. The choir themselves were fantastic; I'm yet to be disappointed by a New Amsterdam Singer's concert.

Pictured: A cool photo that sets the mood.

If I have to nit about something musically, the note I see repeated in my journal is that of "diction." It wasn't like I was missing anything due to the supertitles. But it would have been nice to not have to look at them and just sit back and listen a bit more. Another unfortunate thing about supertitles is that you can see exactly where people flub their lines. I'm not really hung up on this; had the script not been right there, I wouldn't have noticed. People handled that just fine.

Turning to the content, I found the book to be thought provoking and timely. Through workshopping, including hosting a preview at The Cell roughly a year ago (that I also saw), the book developed a more abstract feel. Despite its title referencing Kane's work, the opera feels more like an Arctic Exploration of its own that just so happens to have the story of Elijah Kane in it (and is far better for having taken this approach).

Though Kane's expedition is the titular event that the opera follows, there is a similar focus on Maggie and the spiritual. In my discussions with Michael, he noted that Maggie's story was integral to the piece, noting that Kane's travels were "never compelling enough for me to write an opera about" and that it was only after learning about Maggie that the opera began to take shape. After some tweaks in the workshopping process, Maggie was more prominent in the final version. For example, after its abstract beginning, we are met with Maggie's spirit circle and are told about her funeral up front. In the initial version, we began with Lady Jane's call to find her husband and heard about Maggie's circle afterwards (a fantastic change suggested by Kira Simring and Nancy Manocherian (both associated with the Cell Theatre)). The music of Maggie's scenes were also revised to be more haunting and stuck with me more than the initial version.

The opera thankfully forwent having tales of Elisha studying civil engineering at UVA Charlotte or going over his otherwise milquetoast background. Indeed, the penultimate aria highlights how similar Elisha and his secret wife were, despite Kane's seemingly internal belief to the contrary. This feels like an overdue correction in adding context to the narrative in the original Arctic Explorations, especially for someone who failed to find the Northwest Passage.

Pictured: Robert McClure, who would actually make it through the Northwest Passage (returning to the UK the year after Kane left NYC).

Arctic Explorations was also developed closely with Nuka Alice, who was involved in developing the opera with Michael Dellaira even prior to The Cell Theater production, travelling to the US a few times from her home in Sisimiut, Greenland (with all of the annoying paperwork that goes along with it, compliments of the US Government). Nuka Alice said that this production was extremely important to her as Inuit representation and input is often limited (if present at all) in most other media. Arctic Explorations represented a large task in attempting to somewhat remedy this.

That task started with stylistically revising and supplementing the source material. For example, Kane's Arctic Explorations uses the term "eskimos", which, for clarity, is wrong. But this reworking needed to go a layer deeper; Nuka Alice and Michael had to dive past the narrative of the bold explorer on their journey to illustrate the truth of someone who had no idea what he was doing. In turn, some of the most poignant lines come from Siarnaq, illustrating the motivational separation between the "explorers" and the Inuit. That same wilderness that Kane struggled to survive in was Siarnaq's home. Siarnaq notes these differences in perspective through one of the strongest lines in the show: "Our world is of ice, danger, starvation. Your God would not put a man here. So when white man ask what I believe in I say 'I don't believe; I just fear'."

5. Why This Took A Month

I initially published this review on Houdini's birthday (March 24, two weeks after the performance) as a nod to his interactions with the Fox Sisters. However, a few days after publishing, Michael reached out to me regarding a few issues with the review (some actual, some perceived; at least in my opinion). I had tried to talk to Michael when I was doing my other interviews at the opera's closing reception, but he left for a cast party before we could talk.

In fairness, that version of the review included a misconception of mine involving the drum dance inclusion and leapt off of that misconception a bit. If you read that version, that was wrong. I truly am sorry for that. However, one of the main points of contention involved Nuka Alice's "fight" to be more directly involved in the opera. After checking in and doing some more due diligence, here's an overview of what I understand to be the case, which I think highlights the level of thought and detail that went into this production.

Michael knew at the opera's inception that it would need Inuit input (and specifically an Inuit of Greenland, where Kane was trapped). This shows a bit of self-awareness that many simply don't have. I think everyone can think of a time where someone's zeal to explore a topic on their own can lead to cultural appropriation.

However, Nuka Alice's initial role for this opera was limited to being a consultant to review the script and assist with translation. At the beginning, the book did not actually have Siarnaq's character in favor of a male Inuit character loosely based on Kane's description of the male leaders that he met in Arctic Greenland. After some time as a consultant, Nuka Alice expressed a desire to be a performer within the opera. This was particularly important to Nuka Alice as it enabled her to better represent her culture and people.

One of the barriers to this becoming a reality was the cost of travel and lodging. Michael and the rest of the production worked to fundraise for some of these costs. In addition, Nuka Alice had to do some of her own fundraising, eventually securing funding for airfare from the Greenlandic Arts Foundation.

Another barrier involved one of our good friends, the US Government. As a foreign national, Nuka Alice would need a visa to get past border security. The New Amsterdam Singers put in a good amount of work to alleviate this issue, even hiring an immigration lawyer. However, even with all of this prep work, Nuka Alice still had to blindly travel to Denmark without knowing whether she would be let in the country. Nice going Uncle Sam.

Nuka Alice also fought to include a drum song within the opera. Initially, Michael was "skeptical and resisted" this inclusion at the outset (his words; props for being honest), worrying that it might have interrupted the flow and sound of the opera. Through Nuka Alice's insistence, Michael found a way to include this (and it fit in quite well, to both of their credit).

Through all of this rigmarole, however, one thing is clear to me: This opera would not be the same without Nuka Alice. She elevated this opera to a better place through sheer force of will and I applaud her efforts.

Pictured: Nuka Alice, a boss of a person. When I asked her to describe herself she said that she is "a sister, a mother, an auntie, a friend,

a knitter, and a woman" (and a middle-aged one at that; she assures me that "it's fantastic" once you abandon the vanity of youth).

(Photo Credit to Angu Motzfelt).

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My final verdict? I highly recommend Arctic Explorations. This is an example that great media, and particularly great performances, are not done alone. This was very obviously a group effort of everyone involved (and it shines as a result). Bravo!

Michael, you did really well too and I hope that this sentiment is not lost in the details (re-read the first line of the review if you need reminding). I appreciate you reaching out to me afterwards to clarify things, but next time, maybe stay at the official reception until it ends. Insert a metaphor about a captain being the last to leave their ship here.