“Turn of the Screw” review: Chilling ghost story premieres at Central City

Having already launched two productions of unusually high quality — one of the most beloved American musicals and one of the most beloved Italian operas — Central City Opera placed a capstone on a remarkable summer series with a more daring choice — Benjamin Britten’s 1954 chamber opera “The Turn of the Screw.”

The work, closely based on the Henry James novella of the same title, premiered Saturday and, while the plot and psychology of the drama are inherently difficult and the music quite prickly, the company went out of its way to make it easy for the audience to grasp the nuances of this ghost story.

Following the lead of the two preceding productions, director Alessandro Talevi and designer Madeline Boyd constructed a setting of extreme economy that nonetheless transmitted the chilling, spooky mood of the story. Projections at the rear included upside-down images of the background, making it clear that something isn’t right. Ramps on either side from which the ghostly characters emerge from the depths are used to great effect. The set conveys both the physical location and the main character’s psychological state.

Despite the English libretto, the wise decision was made to project the texts as titles above the stage.

Not only does this help to follow the bizarre storyline, but it clarifies things that are sung in often dense counterpoint as well as the often florid, literary, reference-rich language.

The cast and the instrumental ensemble are both small. Steuart Bedford conducts Britten’s thirteen-player ensemble with extreme precision. The chamber orchestration is a huge part of the opera’s atmosphere, with strategic deployment of such resources as an oddly busy, often isolated timpani part.

The instruments convey a sense of restlessness almost throughout.

The central character of the Governess is an extraordinarily demanding role. Soprano Sinéad Mulhern remarkably projects the character’s struggling emotions as she decides how to handle the appearance of the two threatening specters and how best to protect the two children in her care. Singing with flawless diction and precise pitch, Mulhern completed the trio of magnificent female leads begun by Maureen McKay in “Oklahoma!” and Elizabeth Caballero in “La Bohème.”

Tenor Vale Rideout relished the role of Peter Quint, a malevolent and probably pedophilic spirit.

Britten had a keen understanding of the tenor voice, having written so frequently for his life partner Peter Pears. Quint is a role that exploits that understanding, especially in the blood-curdling offstage cries of “Miles!” — referring to the child Quint is attempting to possess. Rideout also sings the opening prologue.

Rebecca Nash is equally creepy as the second ghost, Miss Jessel, and Maria Zifchak provides a strong, if futile attempt at sanity in her assured portrayal of the housekeeper Mrs. Grose.

Finally, there are the children. The girl, Flora, is typically played by a very young adult soprano. The striking Alisa Suzanne Jordheim was mesmerizing in the role, really revealing the process of the girl’s possession by Miss Jessel. Jordheim is downright frightening in her closing invective against the Governess.

The opera’s success, however, really is dependent on whether a boy treble is found who can negotiate Britten’s unforgiving vocal demands in the role of Miles. Seventh-grader John Healy was confident both dramatically and vocally, especially in the highly disturbing closing scene of Act I and in the haunting song “Malo in adversity.”

The staging of the opera coincides with the centennial of the composer’s birth in 1913, whose celebrations begin this year.