Nixon in China is still sometimes discussed as a CNN opera, a musical version of events as they transition from headline to history. The opera tells the story of that old “cold warrior” President Richard Nixon’s 1972 groundbreaking visit to China to meet Chairman Mao Tse-tung and establish diplomatic relations.
But really this work, with music by Berkeley’s John Adams and a libretto by Alice Goodman, is an odd satire, told as a series of increasingly surreal daydreams.
How could it not be when Air Force One appears out of the clouds as the overture begins, looking a lot like a giant panda with its black shiny nose? And Mao’s aria, when he meets Nixon, is no small talk or political duet; it’s a dense weave of opaque metaphor and riddle. “Founders come first,” he sings, “then profiteers.”
I saw Nixon in China’s first production in San Francisco, a workshop at the Herbst Theatre in 1987 with John Adams at the keyboard. Based on that performance, I could hardly guess at the rich music Adams had written, a tapestry of orchestral color and melody layered on a base of rhythmic minimalism. The San Francisco Opera is presenting the city’s first fully staged production — and it’s a great one.