50th Season 2005–2006 |
The Rake’s Progress Music by Igor Stravinsky Libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman after the engravings by William Hogarth |
Music Director: Mary Chun, Stage
Director: Jonathon Field
Set Design: Jean-François Revon, Costume Design: Richard Battle, Lighting
Design: Chad Bonaker
Act I, Scene 1: The Garden of Trulove’s Country House
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Tom Rakewell (Gerald Seminatore) and Anne Trulove (Rhoslyn Jones) dream of their future, ever happy, ever fair. |
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Mr. Trulove (Douglas Nagel) tells Tom that his reluctance to seek steady employment makes Mr. Trulove uneasy. |
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Nick Shadow (Kirk Eichelberger) informs Tom that a forgotten uncle has died and left Tom a rich man. |
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Nick Shadow convinces Mr. Trulove that Tom must go to London since even a thriving fortune has its roots of care. |
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Mr. Trulove assures Tom that the sooner he settles his estate, the sooner he and Anne can be as one. |
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Nick Shadow tells Tom that he will owe nothing for Shadow’s service for a year and a day, and then will pay no more or less than what Tom agrees is just. |
Act I, Scene 2: Mother Goose’s Brothel in London
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Nick Shadow brings Tom to the London brothel run by Mother Goose (Ariela Morgenstern) so that the progress of a rake may begin. |
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Asked by Mother Goose to define “pleasure,” Tom (Gerald Seminatore) says it is the same whether flirts define it as a hat or old maids as a cat. |
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Nick Shadow (Kirk Eichelberger) assures Tom that the hours will obey his pleasure; later he may repent at leisure. |
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Mother Goose and Nick Shadow watch Tom entertain the brothel girls. |
Act II, Scene 1: A Room in Tom’s House in London
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Alone in his London flat, Tom Rakewell (Gerald Seminatore) finds himself missing Anne. |
Act II, Scene 2: The Street Outside Tom’s House in London
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Anne (Rhoslyn Jones) follows Tom to London and discovers to her dismay that he has married Baba the Turk. |
Act II, Scene 3: A Room in Tom’s House in London
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When Tom (Gerald Seminatore) ignores her, Baba (Carla López-Speziale) expresses her dismay at being scorned, abused, and neglected. |
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Tom tells Shadow about a strange dream in which he devised a marvelous machine that converted stones to bread. |
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Shadow takes Tom off to find backers for the production of his fantastic machine. |
Act III, Scene 1: A Room in Tom’s House in London
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Anne (Rhoslyn Jones) arrives at Tom’s house to find a crowd discussing Tom’s ruin while waiting for the auction of his possessions to begin. |
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Sellem the auctioneer (Michael Mendelsohn) encourages the crowd to bid. |
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Emerging from the dust cover, everyone is amazed to see Baba (Carla López-Speziale) who is stunned to find all her treasures gone. |
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Baba assures Anne that though Tom is but a shuttle-headed lad, he still loves Anne. |
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Baba announces that she will go back to grace the stage. |
Act III, Scene 2: A Graveyard
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A year and a day have passed. Nick Shadow (Kirk Eichelberger) prepares a grave for Tom. |
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A gentleman at heart, Shadow proposes a game of chance to decide Tom’s fate (Gerald Seminatore). |
Act III, Scene 3: Bedlam—the Madhouse
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In Bedlam, the madhouse, Tom (Gerald Seminatore) believes he is Adonis and cries for his Venus. |
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As Venus, Anne (Rhoslyn Jones) assures Tom that his ravishing penitence brightens all the past. |
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Tom feels the chill of death’s approaching wing. |
Epilogue
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Anne (Rhoslyn Jones) reminds the audience that not every rake is rescued at the last by Love and Beauty. |
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Baba (Carla López-Speziale) warns the ladies that good or bad, all men are mad. |
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Tom (Gerald Seminatore) tells young men who fancy themselves Virgil or Julius Caesar may awake to find themselves only a rake. |
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Mr. Trulove (Douglas Nagel) heartily agrees with Tom’s warning. |
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Nick Shadow (Kirk Eichelberger) bemoans his fate—day in, day out poor Shadow must do as he is bidden. |
