AN OPERATIC HOLMES PART 2

YESTERDAY IN PART 1 HAYLEY COYLE of BBC News reported on “What the Deuce? Sherlock Holmes Opera Debut.”

A Matter of the Mysterious “The.” This new opera, “Sherlock Holmes and the Sign of the Four,”  is based on the second of four Holmes’ adventures written up by Dr. John H. Watson as novels: A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and The Valley of Fear. Other tales published as short stories are often described as “Adventures” (and not italicizes as novels). 

How come the Leeds opera renders it “the” Four? For this, I consulted Leslie S. Klinger’s The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Novels: “The Sign of Four was published in Lippincott’s Magazine in February 1890 under the title ‘The Sign of the Four: or, The Problem of the Sholtos.’ The first British book edition was published as The Sign of Four by Spencer Blackett in October 1890.”

Klinger writes, “Numerous American and English editions, both authorized and pirated, contain countless textual variations. The original manuscript is in private hands and unavailable.” 

Klinger chooses The Sign of Four as the title. However, earlier annotator William S. Baring-Gould also mentions the original manuscript and reproduces its first hand-written page titled The Sign of the Four.    

Why This Particular Tale? Artistic Director Ward tells Coyle, “We chose The Sign of the Four because it’s also a love story and there are more female characters in it. There are some great set pieces in it too… wonderful moments and a great all-round evening of entertainment.”

“A sneak peek,” Coyle says, “included seeing one of the most dramatic scenes of the story unfold—a frenzied boat chase down the River Thames.” 

The cast of the opera during rehearsal of the River Thames scene. Image by Lian Furness for BBC News.

Fun Staging. Coyle reports, “The staging has been sourced from charity shops, Facebook Market Place and antique fairs, Mr. Ward said, and Northern Opera Group has stayed faithful to the original ‘good old-fashioned Victorian detective caper.’ ”

Composer/librettist Lliam Paterson doubles as rehearsal pianist. The tall bloke is bass Ed Hawkins who portrays the real Sherlock Holmes. Image by Hadley Coyle for BBC  News. 

“Though Mr. Ward, 35, hopes it will be taken seriously by sceptical opera lovers,” Coyle says, “he was also keen to point out that ‘at the forefront, it’s entertainment.’ ”

Coyle concludes, “Sherlock Holmes and The Sign of the Four” runs from 28 to 31 August at Leeds School of Arts. 

I’ll bet a good time was had by all, even without a non-Canonical “Elementary, my dear Watson.” ds

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024