Opening night at the San Diego Opera is a night like no other. The gowns, the jewels, the kilts, the furs ... and that’s just in the audience. Some might call it a battle of the high society divas. Not even at an Imperial Court Coronation does more of San Diego’s royalty come out – and, ladies, these are the real deal!

It’s been more than 35 years since the West coast has seen a production of Mary, Queen of Scots. With a 56-piece orchestra, a cast of nearly 70, including six principal cast members, and a budget of nearly $1.5 million, the Elizabethan costumes are magnificent and 75 giant pearls embellish Elizabeth’s crown.

Opera supporters, adorned like queens and dressed to the nines, compared pelt lengths and sized each other up, but that couldn’t measure up to the showdown between the two divas on stage. Audience members filled all 2,900 seats at the Civic Theatre in Downtown to watch director Andrew Sinclair’s version of this verbal assault hurled

In the end everyone knew that a queen’s head was going to roll. Still it was a performance that demanded seven curtain calls and a standing ovation that lasted for minutes after the historic heroines hit the high notes.

The day before Mary, Queen of Scots premiered, Andrew Sinclair talked with the Gay & Lesbian Times about Gaetano Donizetti’s tragic bel canto opera, Mary, Queen of Scots – the second opera of the San Diego Opera 2008 International Season.

Gay & Lesbian Times: For our readers who may not be familiar with opera, tell us a little about what bel canto is and why it is such a challenge.

Andrew Sinclair: Bel canto literally means beautiful singing. But I think a lot of people imagine that to be singers almost singing in concert version because it’s very different, it’s actually extremely dramatic stuff. And the way that it is presented is almost slightly more difficult. Rather than perhaps rushing around the stage, waving their arms, as one does in certain operas, there is a lot of dramatic color in the voice, there is a lot of drama visually in the body and in the face. It’s hard to do, but dramatic, it certainly is.

GLT: I understand the set was built 35 years ago and borrowed from the New York City Opera?

AS: That is correct. San Diego Opera has done a bit of refurbishment on that. It is incredibly well-lit by Ron Vodicka so that we never really lose the feeling with all these columns and gates and grills. Because both of these ladies are really in a sense prisoners; Elizabeth a prisoner of a situation of whether Mary should be executed or not, and Mary is literally a prisoner.

GLT: Opera is one of the last art forms that people perceive as inaccessible, whether it is language, ticket price, etc. as a director what obstacles do you face connecting to modern-day audiences with the art form of Opera?

AS: The obstacles I face these days are all the things that are trying to make opera something it’s not in order to be accessible – reality television particularly. In contrast it is great for the public. But somebody singing one aria on a reality show, probably with an orchestra greatly reduced from the size they have in the theater, is not realistic because they are singing that aria out of context. If they sang in context they probably wouldn’t have the voice by the time they got to it. The public doesn’t see that. I think the public are denying themselves actually by just doing the visual thing with opera.

GLT: How long have you been involved in opera?

AS: I have been directing opera for 28 years, but I was a stage manager before that.

GLT: Performers have to go through a rigorous amount of training. Can you tell us a little more about that training?

AS: I’m not a performer myself and I don’t sing. But having been around the performers for a long time and having friends who are, I can tell you that it is a very tiring position to be in. They have to study with teachers, and they have to work extremely hard on their voice. It’s not like being in a theater with a microphone. They have to project. If you think about a pianist, you know that your instrument is already there. But the voice is a different instrument, and things change. Such as when you get older, or when a female has a baby, the instrument changes. The voice is a constantly changing instrument and they have to adapt to that. Therefore the roles they sing change along with it.

GLT: The 2008 San Diego Opera season is full of love triangles, elaborate upon the romantic triangle with the Earl of Leicester?

AS: Well this is something that never actually existed. There are a couple of things in Mary, Queen of Scots that didn’t actually exist. The confrontation of Mary and Elizabeth is an invention of playwright Frederick Schiller, who wrote Mary Stuart, on which Donizetti has based his opera. Personally I think it is pretty good stuff. It is good dramatic theater, but they actually never met.

GLT: What’s the power in taking this artistic license since most historical accounts say that Mary and Elizabeth never met and the cousins face off in Act II?

AS: It’s pretty good. Schiller also wanted to explain a lot for audiences in Europe who didn’t really understand history. Leicester and Mary’s love affair is a bit more problematic. This is a slight operatic formula, where there has to be a love interest and a love duet. Indeed it is a beautiful duet. But it is slightly more problematic for historical relevance.

GLT: We saw Kate Aldrich in the San Francisco production of Carmen and she received raves, but Elizabeth is so different. What will she bring to this role?

AS: She’s extraordinary, because first of all, she looks great. She looks like a very young, very attractive Elizabeth I. Not only that, but her role is extremely difficult to sing, and you need to be a powerhouse in order to do it. And she certainly is. She also brings a lot of nuances and text into it. Kate is very clever about refining all of this, so that it’s almost like you’re watching a play. I didn’t see Carmen unfortunately, but you will see something quite different, but I’m sure just as exciting, when you hear her as Elizabeth.

GLT: American society is beginning to come to grips with women in power. How does Mary, Queen of Scots speak to the role of gender in power structures?

AS: These two women were actually very unusual because they were anointed queens who ruled in a world which was predominately male. The difference between them is that Elizabeth grew up in society as the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn and there was a great deal of controversy as to whether she was the legitimate heir to the throne. This is Mary’s argument, because she believed that she herself was the legitimate heir. Both women were powerful because they were created high profile, which is the same as what happens today. Elizabeth was incredibly intelligent. It was thought that she could even out think her counselors at times. Mary was more emotional, she wore her heart on her sleeve. She would have been a less successful monarch.

GLT: Over the last few years, especially through film, American audiences have been exposed to the rivalry between Elizabeth and Mary, but it’s mostly portrayed from Elizabeth’s perspective. As a director what are the challenges when presenting from the perspective of Mary?

AS: Because the opera is called Mary, Queen of Scots and is presented from Mary’s point of view, Mary was a victim. And I suppose you can say that they were both victims in a way. They were victims of the time. Elizabeth certainly did not want to execute an anointed queen. There was no question of that. But because she was such a threat, and a rallying point with Catholics in England, Elizabeth was caught in a political situation really. Mary firmly believed that she was queen of England, she was Catholic and that God intended her to be on the throne of England. She was portrayed very much historically, and in the opera, as a victim. She died as a Catholic Martyr. There is no doubt even if letters were formed that she plotted against Elizabeth. She firmly believed that what she was doing was right, so you have to try and present it from both points of view. In the end Mary makes her peace with God before she is executed. It is quite well-known that even the execution was a bloody affair, because they didn’t get the head off in one go, but it took three goes.

GLT: The old saying is that there are three things that should never be discussed at the dinner table: politics, sex and religion. Yet, that’s what this story is all about. How are the three intertwined in this tragedy?

AS: Well, I think that is what most operatic stories are about actually. Certainly, love affairs, the love triangle, religion and power. Sooner or later, most operas boil down to just that.

GLT: Mary, Queen of Scots is a tragedy. As a director, how far do you go to create empathy for the character we know is going to die in the end?

AS: We try and tell it like it is. Angela Gilbert is singing Mary. And we had a long discussion when we started rehearsal, and she absolutely didn’t want to be seen as the victim. I think inevitably the way the character comes out musically is sympathetic as well. You have to present her one way in one act, and when she realizes what her transgressions have been and goes to the block, she is presented differently. In the end you can say that it is Mary who won, because when Elizabeth died, it was Mary’s son that succeeded Elizabeth on the throne of England. But on the other hand, you can say that Elizabeth won because he ruled over a Protestant country. They both deal some pretty good cards.

GLT: The world has changed a great deal geo-politically since this opera was last presented. What lessons can be learned from the story of Mary, Queen of Scots?

AS: I don’t think anything you see has changed very much. The rivalry and factions between the Catholics and Protestants is what the point is really about. But Elizabeth did not see why there could not be Catholics inside her country provided that they were not a danger to the throne and to the realm. So that basically, everybody I suppose could have their own religion. The fanatics are always the ones who feel very strongly in one way or another.

GLT: How do you think audiences will react today to the opera as opposed to 35 years ago?

AS: The audiences 35 years later are much more aware of the difficulties involved in an opera. They are much more appreciative. The basic reason this is not done more often is because it is so hard to find people to sing it. I think that people are going to be much more appreciative that San Diego Opera is bringing back a piece after 35 years.

Perhaps they will think that this is a piece by Donizetti that we have never heard of, and I don’t know that they will bother to go. Whereas they really should go to see this performance, because it’s incredibly exciting dramatically, very beautiful musically, and extremely challenging, and just to hear these people sing it is a thrill.

GLT: As a director, what is your goal for audience members to walk away with?

AS: A great evening of drama. Musical drama. I don’t ever believe the direction should get in the way of the music. We are there to serve the piece. The piece is not there to serve us. That’s the most important thing; we are servants of the music that was written. But it doesn’t mean that it can’t be a really good night in the theater as well.

The San Diego premiere of Gaetano Donizetti’s tragic bel canto opera, Mary, Queen of Scots, which opened last weekend and runs through Sunday, Feb. 24, is the second opera of the San Diego Opera 2008 International Season.

Ticket prices range from $28 - $172 and can be purchased by calling 619-533-7000.

For more information, visit www.sdopera.com.