The Toronto Theatre Review: Crow’s Rocking Horse Winner

By Ross

“Get me to the luck,” he cries out as he rides hard on that wooden rocking horse at the center of this captivating opera trying to harness love and attachment from a dysfunctional non-maternal narcissist. It’s a captivating visual, with this ride to ruin playing a small number of vocally stellar performances at the Crow’s Theatre main stage. The emotional need and desperation are present, almost from the get-go inside Tapestry Opera‘s new production of Rocking Horse Winner, and even for us who aren’t that accustomed to opera, the gallop is invigorating. Reuniting much of the original cast and creative members for our enjoyment, the opera begins with four souls, referred to as “The House” (solidly performed by Midori Marsh, Alex Hetherington, Anika Venkatesh, and Korin Thomas-Smith), singing out a simple childlike refrain while dancing like toy soldier marionettes upstairs above the fray. It signals a whispering and haunting element that, as directed with care by Michael Hidetoshi Mori (Sacramento Opera’s Rigoletto), majestically brings forth the perils and dangers of all that is wrong in the house of Paul. Beautifully portrayed by tenor Asitha Tennekoon (Loose Tea Music Theatre’s Angel’s Bone), the central young figure draws us into his depth and despair, roping us in and whose fragility powers all that is dangerous within.

This is really a story about Paul and his torturous relationship with a mother who can’t see beyond her superficial self and her never-ending hunger for a grander life. Fueling this strong structuring, the production easily and wisely sets the musical stage for the unleashing of this award-winning creation based on D. H. Lawrence’s masterful short story. In Rocking Horse Winner, as written by composer Gareth Williams (‘Rubble’) and librettist Anna Chatterton (Sweat) with solid musical direction by Kamna Gupta (Washington National Opera’s Songbird), the tale of unrelenting greed and need unwraps its symphonic themes with a straightforward but well-crafted style, vocally digging into the unhappiness that lives and breaths inside that house with an expertise that astounds, even for us that lean more to the musical theatre side of the spectrum.

As designed grandly by Jawon Kang (Factory’s Armadillos), (based on the original designs by Camella Koo) with well-formulated costuming by Ming Wong (Crow’s The Master Plan) and atmospheric lighting delivered well by Echo Zhou 周芷會 (Studio 180’s The Chinese Lady), the house expertly unpacks the cycles of greed and desire for approval. Those aspects hang heavy on the young child-like shoulders of Paul, filling him with a simplistic need for some love and care as he looks down on his sad mother Ava, played fully by Canadian soprano Lucia Cesaroni (Metropolitan Opera’s production of Giordano’s Fedora). It’s a complicated dynamic, one filled with a need for approval and love, from a woman who only sees what isn’t there for her, not what actually is.

Ava only pays attention to her greed, her perceived poverty, and her forever want for more, as she sings of her frustrated disappointment being a wife to an “unlucky man” and mother of such a “difficult” son. “Nothing is as it should be,” she sings, focused only on her husband’s failure and weakness. Yet Paul only wants his mother to smile and be happy; to see him as enough and love him. He, in his somewhat problematic “too young” persona, can’t find his way to understand her sadness, thinking that if he only finds his way to luck and then to money, he can bring joy to her. “You’ll see,” he sings, “Paul’s lucky!”

In Rocking Horse Winner, the house hangs over him and his mother, shielding her from the winds of societal change outside. As the director states, “Her tragedy is due to being stuck in ideas of the past and believing the solution to misfortune is luck, not love.” And Paul takes it upon himself to make things better, by riding to a place of luck, and therefore, he will bring love back into the house.

Paul climbs on his lucky wooden rocking horse, riding it hard in hopes that it will bring his sad home some relief. Through a chance, somewhat clunky interaction with Paul, his uncle Oscar, played solidly by tenor Keith Klassen (‘Silly Distance’) sees a magical pathway to making some easy money through Paul’s ability to name the winners of horse races. It comes from Paul’s mad ride towards knowing, and with the help of Bassett, the caretaker and trusted companion of Paul, well-played by baritone Peter McGillivray (Metropolitan Opera’s production of La Bohème), the adult men embrace their “luck” and their greed, ultimately ignoring the toll it is taking on the young boy. They only harness their own desire for more, much like that house that never seems to give anyone any peace. Backed by that obsession, they drive the boy harder and harder towards their ‘luck’ and financial salvation.

The whispers of the house never give up though, and as embodied by the four somewhat ghost-like presences that magnificently float through the space echoing Ava’s constant desire for more, the cycle of perpetual need proves to manifest the accumulation of some wealth, but at a huge cost to Paul. His love for his mother sings true, but it is unheard, by her or anyone else in this cautionary tale. The voice of the house becomes more urgent, forever pleading, “There must be more money,” but there will never be enough to make Ava smile, something Paul never really sees or learns, so he continues, pushing himself far beyond what he can tolerate and survive.

The Rocking Horse Winner magically gifts him the names of actual live horse race winners, much to the surprise of his uncle. Thus beginning a dangerous, but ultimately successful game of betting on these horses at the race track. With great success, the winning only changes the financial circumstances, not Ava’s endless need for more. “The House” never seems satisfied, staying obsessed with money and the drinking of “bubbles.” Paul’s mother continues to refuse to welcome the embrace of a desperate son who stands before her pleading for her happiness and a smile. Tapestry Opera‘s Rocking Horse Winner, in association with Crow’s Theatre, re-shines the saddle with operatic sparkle, forcing our gaze on the dangers of materialism and the enormous cost of expending all your energy and focus on wealth. Luckily for us, Rocking Horse Winner rides strong and true, finding poetic beauty in the destruction of a young boy caught in a dysfunctional web that will never gallop away from his home. No matter how much winning there is.