Racked by unrelenting pain, Mexican painter Frida Kahlo wrote in her diary shortly before she died: 鈥淚 joyfully await the exit 鈥� and hope never to return.鈥�
Yet return she does 鈥� if only briefly 鈥� on the Day of the Dead in 鈥淓l 脷ltimo Sue帽o de Frida y Diego鈥� (鈥淭he Last Dream of Frida and Diego鈥�), a Spanish-language receiving its Metropolitan Opera premiere this week.
The opera, with libretto by playwright Nilo Cruz and music by Gabriela Lena Frank, imagines Kahlo鈥檚 spectral reunion three years after her death with Diego Rivera, the great Mexican muralist with whom she had a tempestuous romantic relationship.
In a twist on the Orpheus legend, Rivera has grown weary of life without Kahlo and 鈥� on the holiday that honors the dead and welcomes the return of their spirits 鈥� he summons her from the underworld in the hope they may be eternally reunited.
For mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, who stars as Kahlo, the opera is 鈥渁 journey of emotions that every human can possess, told through the lens or perspective of iconic humans that many of us admire.鈥�
Joining her in the cast are baritone Carlos 脕lvarez as Rivera, soprano Gabriella Reyes as Catrina, gatekeeper to the underworld, and countertenor Nils Wanderer as Leonardo, a spirit who impersonates Greta Garbo. conducts six of the seven performances Thursday through June 5, with the May 30 matinee broadcast to cinemas worldwide in HD.
An opera two decades in the making
The idea for the work dates back more than 20 years, when the late Joel Revzen, then director of the Arizona Opera, asked Frank to write an opera about Kahlo.
The collaborators agreed they wanted to avoid conventional approaches and instead leaned into magical realism.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 interested in writing a biopic,鈥� Cruz said. 鈥淲e had the movie with Salma Hayek 鈥� and I鈥檇 seen a couple of monologues that had to do with Frida and her life.
鈥淪o this whole concept of Diego approaching the end of his life, especially on the Day of the Dead, I thought was interesting,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think opera should be bigger than life, so anything that鈥檚 mythical makes for a good opera.鈥�
In setting Cruz鈥檚 text, Frank said she steered away from melodies and rhythms that would too closely echo traditional Latin music.
鈥淲hat I wanted to convey instead was something very colorful, something that sounded otherworldly, sometimes ancient,鈥� she said.
鈥淵ou will hear a lot of instruments you won鈥檛 always hear in opera,鈥� Frank said. 鈥淭he marimba is in almost every scene 鈥� It might be covering the clarinet line or the voice and you didn鈥檛 realize it was there. But it makes it sound to me as if it鈥檚 from Central America.鈥�
In praising the score, New Yorker critic Alex Ross wrote that 鈥渢he challenge of intermingling biography and myth might have defeated a less adroit composer. One can imagine a score cluttered with Mexican folkloric effects and supernatural noises. Instead, Frank establishes a dreamlike, liminal mood from the start.鈥�
Met reunited 鈥楢inadamar鈥� team
The opera had its COVID-delayed premiere in San Diego in 2022. It was a huge success, and the original production has been performed in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and elsewhere.
When the Met decided to stage it, general manager Peter Gelb hired the team that worked on 鈥� director and choreographer Deborah Colker and set designer Jon Bausor 鈥� to create a new production. Bausor and Wilberth Gonzalez collaborated on the costumes.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not anything against the original,鈥� Gelb said. 鈥淏ut when you have a work as important and appealing as this there鈥檚 no reason why there shouldn鈥檛 be more than one production. It鈥檚 a sign of its artistic success.鈥�
Finding inspiration in a Kahlo painting
Bausor said his inspiration for the set design was an oil painting by Kahlo titled 鈥淭ree of Hope, Remain Strong鈥� that depicts two Fridas. One shows her in an elegant Mexican dress seated on a hospital gurney that rests on cracked earth. Another Frida lies behind her on the gurney, swaddled in sheets with angry red stitches in her back 鈥� a reminder of the constant pain she suffered after a 1925 bus collision with a streetcar.
There鈥檚 no literal tree in the painting, but the title gave Bausor the idea for one of the centerpieces of his set: a large, blood red tree with twisting branches and roots that resemble arteries of the human body.
鈥淚t gave us a symbol for the audience to understand that we weren鈥檛 in a real space,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a link between the living world above with the foliage at the top and the dead world with the roots below,鈥� he said.
The sides and rear of the stage are draped in recycled blue plastic that Bausor calls 鈥渁 kind of shroud, or blue gauze like you might wrap wounds in.鈥�
Above the stage is a mirror, a nod to the one that was installed under the canopy of Kahlo鈥檚 bed to help her paint while she was immobilized from the accident.
And like the Kahlo painting, the stage has cracks from which dancers dressed as skeletons emerge, moving their joints in jerky fashion a bit like break dancers.
Despite its ghostly scenario, the opera has a happy ending of sorts: It grants the lovers the reunion in death that was denied them in reality. Rivera wanted to be cremated and have his ashes mixed with Kahlo鈥檚, but his family refused and buried him in a cemetery.
鈥橧t was fascinating to me that he wanted his ashes to be united with hers,鈥� Criuz said, 鈥淚 thought 鈥� this is a story of love after death. So that became the theme of the opera.鈥�
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