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There Will Be Blood: ‘Elektra’ Unfolds Like a Horror Movie at SF Opera

Dissonance and death anchor this vigorous Richard Strauss one-act opera, set at night inside a museum.
Gabe Meline
A woman in a black suit outfit hoists a double-edged axe in the air as a second woman in a light pink dress gazes up at it in a stupor
Elza van den Heever as Chrysothemis, Elena Pankratova as Elektra, and Kyle Ketelsen as Orest in Richard Strauss’ ‘Elektra.’ (Cory Weaver / San Francisco Opera)

It’s a horror-filled time in the nation’s movie theaters. Rather than the typical summertime superhero fare, it’s Obsession and Backrooms, horror films made by young directors who came from TikTok and YouTube, which are raking in audiences and topping box-office charts.

Then there’s Elektra, a 117-year old opera currently running the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, a Richard Strauss bloodfest of beheading, stabbing, bathtub murder and night terrors. Here’s the plot twist: at 1 hour and 44 minutes, it’s even shorter than Obsession or Backrooms.

The two-story set, designed by Boris Kudlicka, of Richard Strauss’ ‘Elektra’ at SF Opera.

As staged by Keith Warner and last seen at San Francisco Opera in its 2017 U.S. premiere, this Elektra is set inside a 21st century museum, its revenge drama unfolding overnight through the eyes of a stowaway visitor after closing time. In addition to a wonderful set with video tableaus and rooms that slide in and out of the museum’s walls, aided by stellar lighting, this voyeuristic framework lends the staging a Rear Window quality that’s engrossing and fun.

It’s also a little bit convoluted. As the museum visitor, and simultaneously Elektra, Elena Pankratova doesn’t display the acting skills to really sell the gambit. I found myself discarding the premise of the museum exhibit coming to life, and focusing instead on the sheer endurance of her marathon singing performance (one in which she’s onstage for nearly the entire show, which at times showed in her voice).

Two women in black and blue wardrobe sit on a bench, looking afraid
Elena Pankratova as Elektra and Michaela Schuster as Klytemnestra in Richard Strauss’ ‘Elektra.’

Without having to deplete her lungs over and over like Pankratova, Elza van den Heever brings projection and rounded tone to the role of Chrysothemis as Elektra’s sister. Unlike her siblings, she does not seek revenge upon her mother Klytemnestra, played by Michaela Schuster, for having an affair with Aegisth and killing her father Agamemnon.

But the two women nonetheless convey a necessary suspense onstage. Meanwhile, Kyle Ketelsen as the avenging Orest is resolutely delightful, and William Burden as Aegisth is appropriately bumbling.

Elena Pankratova as Elektra and Elza van den Heever as Chrysothemis in Richard Strauss’ ‘Elektra.’

The real star of the show, however, is below the stage.

Elektra brings with it the largest orchestra the Opera House has ever seen: 95 musicians, fueled by Eun Sun Kim’s baton and charging through Richard Strauss’ score like a locomotive. At the moment when Elektra recognizes her brother Orest, it’s as if the orchestra’s train crashes through an entire city block — Notes! Notes! Notes everywhere! — bleating a full-volume, clustered chord. It is one full minute of dynamite slowly morphing into a feather, as powerful as it is wondrous, while Kim very gradually applies the brakes.

A large orchestra is stuffed tightly into an orchestra pit before a large stage
Eun Sun Kim leads the San Francisco Opera Orchestra in a rehearsal for ‘Elektra’ at the War Memorial Opera House.

The despair in this staging never decelerates, however. Elektra unfolds in a milieu where happiness is a burden, and the Gods determine that anyone having too much fun must die. If that sounds like the setting of a horror movie, then bring on the dread and unease.

One last thing: you’ll never look at a kitchen sink in the same way again.

‘Elektra’ runs through June 27 at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. Tickets and more information here. 

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