Outdoor performances of Opera Montana’s adaptation of Maclean’s 1976 novel offer locals unique previews
By Jen Clancey STAFF WRITER
Anglers may know how it feels for the world to fall away as the river runs past their shins. Opera Montana’s “A River Runs Through It,” adapting Norman Maclean’s 50-year-old novel about family, love and fly fishing on Montana’s Blackfoot River, aims to catch that feeling, and more, in music.
Montana residents can experience a live preview of the opera. A five-person shadow cast of talented Montana singers, who are understudies for the world premiere in Bozeman in September, will perform parts of the opera at local sites. One such preview is at Big Sky’s Riverhouse BBQ & Events at 7 p.m. on Sunday, July 26. The event is hosted in collaboration with the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center, whose Executive Director John Zirkle had the idea to hold the event at the local restaurant.
Michael Sakir, Opera Montana’s artistic director, explained why Big Sky’s event is unique.
“Of all of the events that we have this summer, this is the only one that’s going to literally be on a river,” Sakir said. The performances are called Page to Stage events, wherein a performer reads excerpts from Maclean’s novel, followed by the shadow cast performing a correlating scene and song. Other Page to Stage events will be held at Pine Creek Lodge July 14, the Red Ants Pants Festival in White Sulphur Springs on July 22, and Bozeman’s Sweet Pea Festival Aug. 4—all of which lead up to the opera’s world premiere at the Ellen Theatre in Bozeman in September.
Bozeman singer, actor, dancer and vocal teacher Annabella Joy will perform as Heidi at preview events. Joy described the opportunity as “moving.”
“So many Montanans have a personal connection to this story, whether through the novel or the film, so it’s an honor to introduce audiences to this new operatic telling,” Joy said. “I feel a very strong connection to the community performing this work. ‘A River Runs Through It’ is a Montana story and it’s also a very human one.”
Sakir raised a similar sentiment about the relatability of the story. The semi-autobiographical novel was published in 1976 as Maclean’s debut, and tells the story of his relationship with his brother who struggles with addiction, and the role fly fishing on the Big Blackfoot River plays in their relationship. For Sakir, it’s a family story about connection and trying to help those we don’t know how to help.
“I mean, that is a message and a story that I think resonates with all of us today,” Sakir said. Maclean’s son John Maclean, contributed his insights to the script of “A River Runs Through It,” and the musical adaptation was created by Composer Zach Medler and Co-Librettists Kelly Rourke and Matt Foss.
Joy said the music reflects the Montana landscape itself.
“It moves through these lush, sweeping, romantic moments to grounded, familiar sounds like the country song I get to sing called ‘Too Much,’’’Joy said. The preview in Big Sky will be outdoors, which Joy noted comes with unique challenges that require the cast to be “flexible and present,” including ambient noise and wind.
“But there’s also something really special about performing this music surrounded by the landscape that inspired it. For this preview tour that scenery becomes part of the performance, which I think creates a unique experience for these particular audiences,” Joy said.
Many may know the novel from its 1992 movie adaptation that was partially filmed along the Gallatin River, which will flow right beside the Big Sky performance. Squinting from under their early 19th century caps, Brad Pitt’s Paul and Craig Sheffer’s Norman, face the push and pull of their brotherhood and their lines in the river. Scenes from the movie resemble how the Gallatin looks on a warm summer day even today, albeit with updated fashions.
What fly fishing and river waters mean to people seems timeless, as readers continue to relate to Maclean’s original novel beginning with a now-famous line, “In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing.”
Sakir trusts audiences will understand that meaning in the Opera Montana’s take: “ I think what folks hear in the opera is something that is just as poetic and heartfelt and romantic as Norman Maclean’s original novel.”
