The Prototype festival in New York celebrates a decade of innovation and excitement in avant-garde opera, showcasing boundary-pushing productions that redefine the genre.
Prototype, the New York Festival of Avant-Garde Opera: A Year in Review
As the Prototype festival comes to a close, it’s clear that 2025 was a year marked by both excitement and turmoil. From the opening night at Here with John Glover’s Eat the Document to the closing performances across town, the festival presented a dizzyingly diverse spectrum of new opera-theater and music-theater.
Imitation and Innovation
One of the most striking aspects of this year’s festival was the theme of imitation. Shows like Black Lodge, which drew heavily from the past while attempting to harvest its ideas, fell flat in comparison to genuinely innovative works like In a Grove and Positive Vibration Nation. These latter two productions showcased the true potential of avant-garde opera, pushing boundaries and telling new stories in bold and exciting ways.
Highlights of the Festival
Eat the Document, based on Dana Spiotta’s 2006 novel about New Left activists, was a standout production. While it paid close attention to period detail, its musical score took few risks and stuck close to contemporary musical theater. Despite this, the show boasted several standout performances, including those by Danielle Buonaiuto, Amy Justman, Tim Russell, and Adrienne Danrich.
In stark contrast, Black Lodge at Bric Arts was a live multimedia event that failed to live up to its promise. The film inspired by William S. Burroughs’ life was more reminiscent of Matthew Barney’s Cremaster Cycle than anything in the worlds of Burroughs or David Lynch. While beautifully produced, it lacked the fug of nightmare and subterranean weirdness that makes its influences so compelling.
A New Direction for Avant-Garde Opera
However, not all productions were disappointing. Positive Vibration Nation, a musical theater rock guaguanco opera by Sol Ruiz, was a true highlight of the festival. This “LatinX space opera” follows six characters from Miami in the year 3050 as they journey in search of their roots and discover their “musical superhero power.” With its fast-paced action, exciting plot twists, and spectacular music, Positive Vibration Nation points to an exciting new direction for avant-garde opera.
A Triumph: In a Grove
Another standout production was In a Grove, an opera inspired by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s 1922 short story of the same name. With its minimalist staging and atmospheric score, this show was a triumph from start to finish. The performances were impeccable, with singers Mikaela Bennett, John Brancy, Chuanyuan Liu, and Paul Appleby carrying the show with trembling passion and immaculate skill.
A Year in Review
As the Prototype festival comes to a close, it’s clear that 2025 was a year marked by both excitement and turmoil. Whether its end times vibes represent an end or the beginning of another has yet to be seen. One thing is certain, however: Prototype takes a balanced approach to operatic apocalypse – the glass is half empty and half full.
...
