Black and ‘Blue’: an NYPD opera at the Coliseum

Growing up as a black male in Harlem, New York, there are rules for avoiding unwanted police attention — for example, by never, ever running away when challenged. In Blue, the father, a police officer — who corrects his son whenever the latter uses the term cop — has taught him these rules. A loving and caring man who won’t be pushed around, he maintains his cool even as his student artist and activist son accuses him of being a white man’s dog.

However, it all starts delightfully when the expectant mother invites her girlfriends together to announce her pregnancy. When they learn it’s to be a boy, they are horrified: “Thou shalt bring no black boys into this world,” is their refrain, but they come round to it eventually. The father’s friends, by contrast, are delighted, even jealous that their fellow officer is fathering a son.

Such is the setting of Jeanine Tesori’s extremely well-constructed opera, which premiered in 2019 at the Glimmerglass Festival in upstate New York. The festival had commissioned it, and this new staging by Alex Lowde, under the direction of Tinuke Craig, provides a compelling focus on the interactions among a small group of people, while giving an impression of the broader landscape of Harlem. The composer draws on blues, jazz, musical theatre and hymns to create a remarkable melding of differing styles, and the libretto by Tazewell Thompson provides a strong thread that deliberately breaks in Act 2.

Exactly how, I shall not reveal, but only quote the one-sentence synopsis in the programme, which states: “The family and their community grieve a great loss.” This is all quintessentially American — a land where one has to be careful when being stopped by the police. I recall in Chicago being warned never to get out of my car if the police stopped me. They have to defend themselves and don’t know whether you are armed. In this opera, it seems, someone ignored the “rules” and ran. Tragedy ensues.

There’s strong singing from the entirely black cast, headed by Nadine Benjamin as the mother and Kenneth Kellogg as the father, who sang in the original Glimmerglass production. Fine support from Chanáe Curtis, Sarah-Jane Lewis and Idunnu Münch as the three girlfriends, and John-Colyn Gyeantey, Rheinaldt Tshepo Moagi and Joshua Conyers as the three police officers, along with South African tenor Zwakele Tshabalala as the son, and Ronald Samm as the pastor, all under the incisive musical direction of Matthew Kofi Waldren.

Productions like this are exactly what the English National Opera should be doing to attract new audiences to opera. Despite a few years when they lost their way, doing outré productions of classics, they seem to have found their vocation. The Arts Council must support — not sabotage — the ENO, because bringing in new and diverse audiences to opera is something they now take very seriously.

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