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New Zealander Teddy Tahu Rhodes makes his U.S. debut in 'Dead Man Walking'

By Robert Wilder Blue

Barely three years ago, Teddy Tahu Rhodes was working as an accountant in New Zealand and singing small roles in a local opera company. "I had done a post-graduate course in singing for a year at Guild Hall School of Music and Drama in London, but after, I had returned to New Zealand and was putting my commerce degree to use working as an accountant. It's a fairy tale story in a way. I was given my break while singing Marcello in La Bohème with the local company. It happened that the gentleman singing Rodolfo was from Opera Australia and when he returned there he told them they should hear me. And literally within five weeks, I was on stage in Sydney singing the role of Dandini in La Cenerentola because the original baritone had pulled out. So I went from very small to very big very quickly."

The fairy tale continued when he was invited to join the cast of the world premiere production of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking in the fall of 2000. "[San Francisco Principal Guest Conductor] Patrick Summers was here at Opera Australia and he recommended me to San Francisco. I auditioned for them quite a while later and was given the opportunity for the cover of Joe De Rocher in Dead Man Walking. At that point, I think it had been completely cast.

"I had seen the movie in New Zealand. It is very well-known here, so when I told people about the opera, everyone had an immediate reference. It's a subject that comes up in our part of the world as well. We don't have capital punishment, but it's a worldwide issue, not just an American issue.

"My time in San Francisco was wonderful in so many ways. The way the Company took me in was very special and I look very fondly on the experience. I think I was the only non-American who had a role in the opera and I felt very privileged to be there, especially since it was such an American event.

"I did a huge amount of preparation for the role, partly because I knew I wasn't going to get a lot of rehearsal time as a cover. I was more prepared than I had been for anything I'd done before really. [He laughs.] I should be as prepared for everything I do! But, I can't deny that it didn't make me edgy having only sung with the orchestra once. Kris [Kristine Jepson, the second cast Sister Helen Prejean] and I didn't really work with [director] Joe Mantello at all, we rehearsed with his assistant. We watched the first-cast rehearsals from the sidelines and picked up on what they were going after. I suspect Kris would agree with me, once we had seen Susan [Graham] and John [Packard], who were just fabulous, we had to incorporate our own selves into it. I was very nervous about trying to imitate what John was doing. But, you can't take on someone else, you have to be yourself. I respected and admired John immensely but I had to bring in myself to the role.

"The lack of rehearsal added a little bit of pressure but in other ways it was a bit of an advantage, I was so on edge it came out in the performance. Originally, I knew I was going to have one performance but by the time I arrived in San Francisco, a performance had been added, and then it was so successful another performance was added, so I got three performances, which was really a bonus. I felt like the role was starting to get into my body by the third performance. It would be wonderful to be able to do it again. When you perform a role several times, you become more comfortable with the music and the technical aspects of the performance. But also, some of the first performances can be the best ones because you are so focussed and on edge.

"Obviously I was extremely nervous, making my American and San Francisco Opera debut. And with this, the expectation was enormous because it had been such a success on opening night. But as far as preparing for the first performance, I went through my general routine of getting up and having breakfast and a normal morning. Then in the afternoon, I picked up the score and sang a little and then went to the theater two hours before the show. It was mostly a matter of mental focus. Joe De Rocher was quite a physical role in many ways, which is different than many traditional opera roles. There was the scene in act two where he does the exercises that takes preparation for.

"Whether you are playing classic opera or modern opera, although there may be a different level of realism, you still have to be real and serious about what you are trying to play, whether it's Dead Man Walking or a comic opera like La Cenerentola. I always try to have realism in what I'm doing, otherwise it doesn't really work. But I think that the approach of playing both is really the same. Playing Joe De Rocher gave a certain satisfaction, even if it was emotionally grueling. But I had to be very careful not to let him consume everything I did outside of the theater. You're on stage for three hours but when you walk out of there you have to leave it behind. Certainly it's going through your mind but I tried not to let it take control of the rest of my time."

Dead Man Walking opens with the realistic and violent presentation of the rape and murders by Joe De Rocher and ends with the murderer being strapped to an electric chair and put to death. "It was an emotional experience that I had not imagined myself going through. I had to sit outside myself to be able to put myself in that position, to imagine what it would be like. I think it was one of my most powerful human experiences. The opera didn't take a stand on capital punishment either way. I don't think it asks the audience or the artists to make a judgment on that either. It was very much a story based on what happens in the lives of these people and how it affects each one individually. We were there to play out the role of the individual we were portraying and we didn't have to put our own personal stand on it."

Renown mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade sang the role of Joe De Rocher's mother. In her emotional first scene, she addresses the prison board, asking them to spare her son's life. "Flicka's scene was one of the most compelling scenes dramatically I've ever seen in opera. She had an amazing ability to be able to draw out every ounce of emotion from what was written on paper. She was really so kind to me in San Francisco. When I was offered the role and someone told me that she was in the cast, I had to pinch myself to think I'd be on stage with her at the same time. It was an honor."

Did you learn an American accent for the role? "I did. I don't know who successful I was, I think my New Zealand accent came through every now and then. Although I think it was reasonably convincing.

"I found the music stimulating. I think that what Jake did was fantastic and it was an inspiration to sing. It was fantastic in and of itself, but it was part of the whole package. I couldn't have imagined it written any other way. I hope I get a chance to do it again. Anyone who has the chance to do this role is in for an amazing experience. It was such a great thing for it to be the first thing I did in the United States also. No one had any preconceived ideas about me.

"I think Dead Man Walking is certainly an opera that would play in Australia. I have no doubt it would get a great response and be very successful. It's fabulous theater and I think it would work here."

American audiences have a chance to see Mr. Rhodes again in the fall. "I'll be coming back to San Francisco to cover Danilo in The Merry Widow and I'll be singing Belcore [in L'Elisir d'Amore] in Philadelphia.

"I've been singing for such a short time professionally - it's been barely three years since I got my first job. It's been such a whirlwind that everything I do is new to me. I love playing the classic operas as well as modern. It's so satisfying just being on stage and taking on all the different characters and being part of such a wonderful art form."

See also related conversations with:
Jake Heggie
Kristine Jepson
Frederica von Stade
John Packard
Susan Graham