Lyric Opera’s stunning The Listeners

The brand new Mazzoli/ Vavrek opera The Listeners now briefly on at the Lyric is a challenging work that engages the mind, heart and soul in a way that only opera can.  It is about so much: about chronic debilitating conditions, about women getting to an age and asking: is this it, about wanting to be seen and heard, about how far one might go to belong.  It is about the violence rampant in our current times, it is about toxicity, it's about how frustrating a teenage daughter can be: all this in two hours and 20 minutes, and I guarantee you won’t stop thinking and talking about the issues raised in this work for a long while.   

The main character, Claire, is a middle aged teacher with unruly students in a stultifying suburban life who can’t stop hearing a noise that is driving her to the brink of mental functioning.  If you have never suffered from a chronic condition it is impossible to relate to how crippling its constancy can be, especially conditions that are not easily identified or cured. Sung by Nicole Heaston, Claire is real and you feel for her. Along with a student, Kyle sung by Jonas Hacker, who has the same condition, they find a support group meeting in their town, led by a psychiatrist Howard, the sexy bass baritone  Kyle Ketelsen, who has some very unorthodox methodologies.  His meetings have rituals and it soon becomes clear he is creating a cult with himself as the leader. He offers some relief to the community he is creating, but he sets himself up as the only answer and exploits the women in the group. His methods  have horrific consequences– no spoilers here since part of the power of the story is that you do not know how it will all end. The chorus in this opera returns almost to its classic Greek tragedy role, a character of its own. There is a surrealistic character with no lines or song: the Coyote, a dancer, who serves as Claire’s alter ego and internal state. And there are police and gunshots.  

One of my takeaways is that people will sacrifice everything to find relief from their suffering but the motivation to get that relief destroys their judgement: critical thinking goes offline with tragic consequences. 

This is a visually arresting production: the “confessions” of each member of the Listeners is projected like a Chuck Close painting in immense realism. The southwest landscape frames the action and gives a desiccating desolateness to the story. Hannah Wasileski’s projections design comes together with Adam Rigg’s set design to give us a compelling stage picture for this unsettling tale.  

You need to see this uncomfortable opera in this cultural moment.  It will tear at your compassion, make you fear the unnamable, and provide food for thought for a long time.

You don't have much time: the Listeners is only being performed again on April 2, 5, 8 and 11 at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive in Chicago’s loop: for tickets and information go to    https://www.lyricopera.org/shows/upcoming/2024-25/the-listeners/

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