Meghan Lindsay and Douglas Williams in Pelléas et Mélisande | Photo by Bruce Zinger
Dubussy’s score has a gentle yet ominous beauty. The French libretto, adapted from Maurice Maeterlinck’s symbolist play, asks more questions than it intends to answer. Most intriguing to me, as a fervid David Lynch fan, was director Marshall Pynkoski’s admission that the late artist’s work was a creative pole star during the crafting of Opera Atelier’s production of Pelléas et Mélisande. And, indeed, Lynchian trademarks abound: psycho-sexual neuroses, dubious motivations and ambiguous identities, diabolical persuasion and violence creeping at the edges of almost every interaction. Dream logic is the engine of this narrative—not merely inviting interpretation, demanding it. Continue Reading