Thesis: classic Italian opera represents the core tradition of the art form and success as a singer means being able to master the genre. Anti-thesis: opera is an evolving live form, and the work of contemporary composers is relevant, forget about the old dead ones. Synthesis: let’s toss a little bit of everything on the wall, old and new, domestic and foreign, we’ll see what sticks, and call it the Merola Grand Finale.

To conclude the apprenticeship program’s 50th season, the Merola program gave its grand finale concert last Saturday at the War Memorial Opera House. The singers did not present a full fledged opera, as in the previous concerts this summer, but selected arias to display what they can do best. The staging was minimal, and the costumes were black tie attire, but felt like what a formal 50 year high-school reunion in Texas would wear: expensive, full of satin, but bland, bland, bland.

To explain what was at stake: last year, Heidi Melton and Noah Stewart gave superlative performances, and were later invited into the prestigious ranks of the Adler fellows, and voila, they were both singing in the cast of the Rosenkavalier on arguably the second best opera stage in the country a couple months back. While all singers on Saturday were amazing, many in the audience were trying to figure out who was going to “make it,” who was going to be the next Thomas Hampson or the next Patricia Racette.

Above, Jamie-Rose Guarrine and Vince Yi; below (left to right) Ani Maldjian, Cynthia Hanna, Alek Schrader, Sam Handley (w/ scroll), Alexander Boyer, Tom Corbeil, Matthew Hanscom, Kenneth Kellog, Paul Murrihy (ponytail showing), Matthew Moore, Nathaniel Hackman, Daniela Mack (blue dress), Tamara Wapinsky (black dress). Photos by Kristen Loken/SF Opera

We were thinking of Chekov’s principle of drama: "One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it," when Hotel Casablanca opened with a rack full of guns hanging on the wall. Was it to illustrate that Thomas Pasatieri, the composer/librettist of this new opera, had relocated the original French play in NRA-friendly Texas, or were the weapons instrumental to the plot?

Well, we won’t spoil the story, but thanks to the performance of the Merola program apprentices, the light comedy did fire, and on all cylinders. We found it gutsy for these aspiring opera singers to present the world premiere of a new opera, but it turns out that the work is not much of a challenge. It is an opera with training wheels, if we may say. Written to feature all its performers pretty much evenly, it goes down easily and painlessly, in a short two hours.

It is a streamlined version of La Puce à l’Oreille, a French turn-of-the-last-century comedy by Feydeau, with a few catchy tunes which would not be out of place on Broadway (“Everything is bigger in Texas” for one, which keeps going: “especially your aunt’s ass….ets”). The cheap bad jokes are actually faithful to the original, it’s French but sophisticated it ain’t. This version is definitely a notch up: the seedy love hotel which gives its name to the opera is actually called the Minet Galant in French, which has several meanings, one of them the Gallant Pussy…

Tenor Andrew Bidlack carrying Chekov's gun, photo by John Lee