EIF26: The Galloping Cure
Festival Theatre, 9/8/26
Orchestra of Scottish Opera; The Ensemble of ‘The Galloping Cure’; Stuart Stratford (conductor); Daniela Mack (mezzo-soprano); Gabrielle Turgeon (soprano); Justin Austin (baritone); Susan Bullock (soprano)
‘The Galloping Cure’ is an opera in three acts with music by Missy Mazzoli and a libretto by Royce Vavrek. The inhabitants of a small decaying town are afflicted with chronic pain and a general malaise. The town’s doctor does her best but is powerless and racked with self-doubt and migraines. A carousel rolls into town. Its showman promises that riding the horses relieves all pain. The first ride is free, but thereafter pricing is ‘dynamic’. The ultimate ‘cost’ is hidden. Opening night at the Festival Theatre was the first of three performances at the EIF. An opera dealing with addiction is of course very dark, but there is humour too, with singing sheep and talking dogs.
Stuart Stratford conducted. Stage director, Tom Morris and his team provided a stunning projection - an array of long vertical LED colour screen strips, lowered into view as required. The ecstatic intoxication of characters ‘high’ on the carousel is made visible by psychedelic pulsating colours. Some of the beautifully sculpted suspended white horses can ‘fly’.
Argentine mezzo Daniela Mack plays the town doctor, Theresa Hart, in a compelling vocal and dramatic characterisation of impostor syndrome, doubting her own mantra “we’ll figure it out together”. Her daughter Noy, played by American/Canadian soprano Gabrielle Turgeon (an enraptured first hearing for me), is a disaffected teenage mother who abandons her baby to Theresa’s care. When the apathetic Noy returns from the carousel with an enthusiastic outlook, the sceptical Theresa reassesses, giving the “treatment” her endorsement. The showman/entrepreneur Lucky Mack, played by German/American baritone Justin Austin with a voice as velvety smooth as his character, acts the genial altruist, but the sinister truth emerges. The miracle of the horses depends on painlessly harvesting and transplanting human organs from the patient/customers when they run out of money, specifically hair, eyes, kneecaps and tongue. Ivona, a feisty old lady tormented by crippling arthritis, played by the wonderful Susan Bullock, is sarcastically critical of Theresa’s ability. She cannot afford surgery but, after aerial equestrianism (a first for Ms Bullock, despite career highlights as Brünnhilde), is the first to discover the ultimate price demanded by Lucky Mack and willingly yields to it, “dying happy”, according to him.
The music is eclectic and multi-layered with warm hints of American folk music contrasting with stark modernism in Theresa’s troubled soliloquies. The harsh discord representing Theresa’s migraines contrasts with the surreal music accompanying the hallucinatory visuals. A layer of a pre-recorded club beat track is added to mesmerising effect. The degree of integration of all creative and technical elements, aural and visual, is at a level I have never experienced before and truly remarkable. It points to an intensive collaborative process of co-creation, with a rare willingness to subordinate egos to professionalism. Frankly, I am blown away by this production.
The opera offers no easy answers and the lack of resolution will be a heartache for many. But it does assert that the essence of humanity is to ‘feel’ (the pain and pleasure of our senses; the joy and sorrow of our emotions) and the need to ‘care’ (for our community and environment, so that both can exist to care for us). The bottom line is, as Theresa said at the beginning, “we’ll figure it out together”. Before it is too late.
Further details of the synopsis, and names of other performers and creatives can be found at:https://www.scottishopera.org.uk/shows/the-galloping-cure/