OVERVIEW
Title: Iron Road
Composer: Ka Nin Chan
Librettist: Mark Brownell
Commissioned By: Tapestry Opera and CBC Radio-Canada
Language: Cantonese, English
Producer: Tapestry Opera
Run Time: 150
Roles:
Role | Voice Type | Range ? | Character Description |
---|---|---|---|
Lai Gwan | high | A3-Eb6 | A young Chinese woman |
Ama | middle-high | B3-E5 | Lai Gwan's mother |
James Nichol | middle | B2-Bb4 | A white railway man |
Manli | middle-low | G2-F#4 | A broker of Chinese workers and Lai Gwan's father |
Sir John A. MacDonald | middle-low | B2-E4 | Canadian Prime Minister |
Donald Smith | silent-spoken | Spoken | Co-founder of Canadian Railway |
Ah Lum | silent-spoken | Spoken | Poor Chinese worker |
Ah Charm | silent-spoken | Spoken | Poor Chinese worker |
Herder | middle | A sheep herder | |
Chinese Chorus | high | Chorus | Chinese workers |
White Workers | high | Chorus | White workers |
SYNOPSIS
In 1880’s China, Lai Gwan, a young impoverished woman, stands on the brink of momentous change. Her dying mother urges her to respect and honour the memory of her father, Manli, whose disappearance to the New World haunts them both.
Armed with the hope that she will find her father alive, Lai Gwan, disguised as a young man, braves the cruel voyage across the Pacific to work in the land of Gum San, the Golden Mountain. When they reach Canada’s shore, the Chinese railway workers’ dreams of a better life collide with the brutal realities of the harsh land, dangerous work, and intense racism. At the same moment, they meet the force of another collective dream: the historic laying of the last tracks of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Iron Road begins as a humble, individual quest and opens into the immigrants’ epic struggle for dignity and identity. Within the story, a poignant, forbidden romance takes shape and Iron Road ends on a note of reconciliation and hope.
MUSIC DESCRIPTION
Merging East and West cultures was a primary goal. Buddhist chant opens the opera and the Taoist natural elements of water, rock, fire, metal and wood are each identified in the principal characters. Lai Gwan is water, but also the warrior woman of popular Chinese mythology. For the Canadian icon of “the last spike,” Brownell chose the satirical approach, as Donald Smith fumbles his first try with the sledgehammer. When the locomotive arrives, it is a Chinese dragon that winds its way through the audience.
SCORES FOR PURCHASE
Arias & Excerpts:
Filled with regret over his life, Manli sings of an abandoned love.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Manli | middle-low | A2-F4 |
Lai Gwan compares her love for Nichol with the pull of the cool mountain water.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Lai Gwan | high | D4-A5 |
Lai Gwan compares her love for Nichol with the pull of the cool mountain water.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Lai Gwan | high | E4-B5 |
Lai Gwan compares her love for Nichol with the pull of the cool mountain water.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Lai Gwan | high | D4-A5 |
Lai Gwan compares her love for Nichol with the pull of the cool mountain water.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Lai Gwan | high | E4-B5 |
Before dying, Ama tells Lai Gwan of her father, gives her a wedding dress, and urges her to go to North America to find her father - but always remember Chinese traditions.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Ama | middle-high | G3-E5 |
Lai Gwan | high | A3-A5 |
Village Women | high | Chorus |
Aboard a ship taking Chinese workers to British Columbia - they are hungry & thirsty. Ah Lum starts a fight with Lai Gwan, who is disguised as a young man, but they stop as the coast comes into view.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Lai Gwan | high | D4-G5 |
Chinese Workers | silent-spoken | Spoken/Chorus |
Coolie 1 | silent-spoken | Spoken/Chorus |
Coolie 2 | silent-spoken | Spoken/Chorus |
Coolie 3 | silent-spoken | Spoken/Chorus |
Cook | silent-spoken | Spoken/Chorus |
Ah Lum | silent-spoken | Spoken/Chorus |
Ah Charn | silent-spoken | Spoken/Chorus |
In Ottawa, Canadian politicians and moguls toast the launch of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. The Railway Foreman James Nichol encourages the workers until the impenetrable Rocky Mountains block their way. The Bookman comes to supply the cheap Chinese labour that will allow Nichol to conquer “The Great Divide.”
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Voice | silent-spoken | Spoken |
Sir John A. MacDonald | middle-low | B2-E4 |
Nichol | middle-low | B2-G4 |
Manli (The Bookman) | middle-low | B2-E4 |
Moguls | middle-low | Chorus |
White Workers | middle-low | Chorus |
Women | high | Chorus |
The Chinese workers are led in and a disguised Lai Gwan challenges Manli the Bookman’s authority. He seeks revenge by assigning Lai Gwan to the most dangerous work in the camp: planting dynamite on the mountain face while suspended in a basket.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Manli | middle-low | B2-F4 |
Lai Gwan | high | C4-D6 |
Nichol | middle-low | D3-Bb4 |
Ah Lum | silent-spoken | Spoken |
Ah Charn | silent-spoken | Spoken |
Chinese Workers | middle-low | Chorus |
White Herders | middle-low | Chorus |
While she is bathing in a stream, Nichol disovers Lai Gwan is a woman - she asks for his help to find her father and to keep her secret. Manli interrupts them before Nichol decides what to do.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Lai Gwan | high | D4-B5 |
Nichol | middle-low | C3-A4 |
Manli | silent-spoken | Spoken |
The Chinese workers decide to strike, led by Lai Gwan, after another death with no proper funeral. The strike is put down and Nichol stops Lai Gwan from being hung by Manli. She discovers Manli is her father.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Manli | middle-low | Bb2-F#4 |
Lai Gwan | high | C4-C6 |
Nichol | middle-low | D3-G4 |
Ah Lum | silent-spoken | Spoken |
3 Voices | middle | TB Chorus (solo) |
Chinese Workers | middle | Chorus |
White Herders | middle | Chorus |
Lai Gwan dreams of the conflicting desires of her mother, father, Nichol and herself.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Lai Gwan | high | C4-B5 |
Ama | middle-high | G3-G5 |
Nichol | middle-low | D3-A4 |
Manli | middle-low | Bb2-D4 |
Chorus | high | SATB |
As Manli and Lai Gwan argue about their situation, Lai Gwan tells of Ama's death, which crushes Manli. He decides to set the next explosive charge himself. Nichol and Lai Gwan recognise their love and follow Manli into the tunnel.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Lai Gwan | high | C4-Bb5 |
Nichol | middle-low | C#3-Bb4 |
Manli | middle-low | A2-F4 |
Ama | silent-spoken | spoken |
Ah Lum | silent-spoken | spoken |
Ah Charn | silent-spoken | spoken |
Chorus | high | SATB |
Herders | middle | chorus |
In the explosion rubble, Lai Gwan and Nichol declare their love depsite Ama's warnings. Nichol dies as the workers rescue Lai Gwan and Manli, who declares his renewed love for his daughter.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Lai Gwan | middle | B3-A5 |
Nichol | middle-low | B2-A4 |
Ama | middle-high | B3-E5 |
Manli | silent-spoken | silent |
Herders | middle | F3-G4 |
Chinese Workers | high | chorus |
Workers watch the train come to Eagle Pass - while the whites are happy, the Chinese realize there is no more work for them.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
White & Chinese Workers | middle | Chorus |
Whites celebrate the finishing of the railway and officially dismiss the Chinese, who blame Manli for abandoning them.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Lai Gwan | high | C4-Eb6 |
Manli | middle-low | G2-F4 |
Donald A. Smith | silent-spoken | Silent |
Voice | high | Chorus |
Moguls | middle | Chorus |
White & Chinese Workers/Herders | middle | Chorus |
Manli and Lai Gwan decided to make a life together in Canada. As they collect and bury the bones of Chinese workers they remember all the dead, including Ama and Nichol.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Manli | middle-low | G2-F4 |
Lai Gwan | high | C4-Eb6 |
Ama | middle-high | B3-E5 |
Nichol | middle-low | F3-A4 |
PREMIERE PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Premiere Production: April 19 – 28, 2001 at the Elgin Theatre, Toronto ON
Producers: Tapestry Opera
Cast:
Role | Name |
---|---|
Lai Gwan | Zhu Ge Zeng |
Ama | Grace Chan |
James Nichol | Stuart Howe |
Manli | Zheng Zhou |
Sir John A. MacDonald | Curtis Sullivan |
Donald Smith | Martin Houtman |
Ah Lum | Jovani Sy |
Ah Charn | Henry Lee |
Herder | Bryan Düyn |
Role | Name |
---|---|
Music Director | Wayne Strongman |
Producer | Claire Hopkinson |
Stage Director | Tom Diamond |
Assistant to the Director | Denise Ozden |
Set and Costume Designer | Dany Lyne |
Lighting Designer | Bonnie Beecher |
Assistant Lighting Designer | Arun Srinivasan |
Choreographer | Xin Bang Fu |
Assistant to the Music Director | Vivienne Ya-Wen Wang |
Production Manager | Aidan Cosgrave |
Technical Director | Andrew MacFarlane |
Stage Manager | Isolde Pleasants-Faulkner |
Translator & Chinese Lyricist | George K. Wong |
Assistant Stage Manager | Janet Gregor |
Assistant Stage Manager | Nancy Dryden |
Apprentice Stage Manager | Marni Zarett |
CREATION
DEVELOPMENT
The World Premiere of Iron Road was an artistic achievement that defied common business sense. The $1.3M production was twice the size of Tapestry Opera’s annual budget in 2001. With a cast of forty and an orchestra of thirty-seven, the bilingual Cantonese-English production was the largest premiere production of a Canadian opera after the COC’s 1999 premiere of Randolph Peters’ The Golden Ass, which was the first Canadian premiere for that company since Harry Somers’ Louis Riel in 1967.
Chan Ka Nin approached Tapestry in 1990 with an idea for an opera based on an intriguing historic photo of a young woman among several hundred Cantonese men, departing a Norwegian cargo ship in Vancouver, to work on the national railway. In the 1880’s, Canadian law forbade Chinese women to immigrate. Chan already had the CBC commission in hand and proposed that his brother Edmund be his librettist. Five skilled writers later, each contributing to the idea but unable to jive with the Hong Kong-born composer’s passion, it was Mark Brownell who gave voice to the opera. Chan acknowledged that in Iron Road he “rediscovered [his] musical journey and Chinese heritage.” Chan and Brownell met at Tapestry’s first Composer-Librettist Laboratory in 1995, but their creative bond finally crystallized in 1997.
Critical to the development of the story and score was the influence of dramaturg/director Tom Diamond, who grasped the epic scope of the opera but encouraged the team to pursue an intense and intimate human story. Iron Road appealed to the widest possible audience, many of whom would never have dared to attend an opera, let alone a new one. Over 50% of the audience was of Chinese descent, a community with whom Tapestry had previously had limited relationships.
Claire Hopkinson, who joined Tapestry a decade earlier, caught the creative vision, and with Board Chair Sylvia Morawetz, strategized the plan. By doubling Tapestry’s staff (from 3 to 6), mobilizing an army of volunteers, engaging with all levels of government, arts councils, foundations and corporations, Claire orchestrated the impossible dream. Senator Vivienne Poy, Ontario Lieutenant Governor Hilary Weston and the Honourable Henry R. Jackman pledged their patronage to the project. At the invitation of Senator Poy, Tapestry Artistic Director Wayne Strongman addressed and conducted Iron Road excerpts for the launch of the Chinese Canadian Heritage Fund in Vancouver. A cultivation event was hosted by the Lt. Gov. at Queen’s Park in addition to the pre-premiere performance reception at the Arcadian Court. Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson addressed the cast onstage after the curtain on opening night and hosted the post-premiere reception in the Elgin/Winter Garden lobbies.
Casting the production was a 2-year project for Strongman and Diamond. The production needed 40 cast members, including 22 artists singing in Cantonese and an additional 11 cast members of Asian descent. It was a top priority to find singers who were proficient in Cantonese and who could sing with the appropriate techniques to maintain credibility with Chinese audiences. After consulting with many singing teachers and visiting community and semi-professional choirs across the country, it became evident that the production would need to access non-professional singers. Significantly, several of the Asian performers who professionally debuted in Iron Road became part of the Stratford Festival company in Richard Rogers’ The King and I two years later.
QUOTATIONS FROM MEDIA
“A powerful pageant of hope and tragedy… and in the end there was nothing for the audience to do save cheer.”
- Toronto Star
“Terrible Beauty … translucent music… great operatic moments… the sonorities brighten and bloom into a glittering, full-orchestra sunrise…”
- Globe and Mail
AWARDS
Winner, Outstanding New Musical, Dora Mavor Moore Awards 2001
Nominated at the 2001 Dora Mavor Moore Awards:
Choreography (Xing Bang Fu)
Costume Design (Dany Lyne)
Direction (Tom Diamond)
Lighting Design (Bonnie Beecher)
Performance - Male (Stuart Howe)
Set Design (Dany Lyne)
Principal Role (Zhu Ge Zeng)
Production
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Iron Road was an idea that grafted new partnerships across many sectors, tapping into an historic icon, the building of the national railway, and the construct and myth of the “immigrant dream” which is so deeply embedded in Canada’s multicultural character. The timing coincided felicitously with the turn of the 21st Century, garnering the largest grant from the Canada Council Millennium Fund at $250,000. It also dared to reveal and honour a story that textbook histories had omitted, despite its profound impact on Canada as a nation, for more than a century. By celebrating the rarely-told stories of the thousands of Chinese immigrant workers who gave their lives to the completion of the railway through the Rocky Mountains, Iron Road became part of an ongoing awareness campaign that culminated in the Canadian government granting restitution to the survivors of Chinese immigrants who had been charged a head tax to stay in Canada when the railway was completed. Beyond the 8,100 people who attended the opera performances, “Honouring the past, imagining the future,” Tapestry’s education program engaged 3,000 young minds in the real story.
- Iron Road Education Program 2001 for schools, written by Mark Brownell and Chan Ka Nin. National Library.
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