| As designed by playwright and poet Ben
Ohmart, Frankenstein features a theatrical device often suggested in literary
analyses of the novel but seldom even hinted at in cinematic treatments, i.e., it proposes
that Victor Frankenstein and his creature are in fact two aspects of the same personality.
To that end, the characters of Victor and the creature are assigned to a single performer.
Victor is a speaking role, not confined to the rhythmic constraints of Sprechtstimme
but inflectionally free, in the manner of 19th-century melodrama; in contrast, the
Creature is a deep basso. In addition to the dual role of Victor/Creature, the opera's dramatis
personae include Elizabeth (lyric soprano), Victor's father (baritone), Henry
Clerval and the ship's captain (both tenors, and portrayable by the same performer) and
the mimed characters of a female servant and Victor's young brother William.
Frankenstein has modest accompanimental requirements: a simple chamber
orchestra consisting of flute, bass clarinet, English horn, bassoon, two French horns,
harp, two percussionists (one playing timpani) and strings. The total running time of the
two acts is approximately 100 minutes.
Perusal scores and MIDI demo tapes are available upon request to the composer. |