Larger-than-life characters abound in operas, along with romance, high adventure and a death or two.
But composer Lee Hoiby’s “Bon Appetit!”, one of three short operas to be presented by Chicago Opera Theater June 5 to 13 at the Athenaeum Theater, reduces the cast of larger-than-life characters to one–Julia Child–and ditches the romance and death.
But there’s adventure, all right. It’s supplied by a chocolate cake.
Now, for anybody who thinks a cake can’t provide a challenge of an operatic nature, talk to Karen Brunssen or Susan Nicely, the mezzo-sopranos who will alternate as Child.
When the accomplished singers say they’re just a wee bit nervous, it’s got nothing to do with the singing.
It’s that cake.
“I don’t cook,” Nicely said. “Not at all.”
“I eat out almost every night,” Brunssen admitted.
Allow them some sympathy. “Bon Appetit!” requires its leading lady to teach the audience to make a bittersweet chocolate cake on stage–measuring flour, beating eggs, greasing pans–while she’s singing. Most of the libretto by Mark Shulgasser was adapted from an actual episode of Child’s “French Chef” public television series that centered on her recipe for Gateau au chocolat; l’Eminence Brune.
“Both of my divas said, `You mean I’m going to have to separate eggs on stage?’ ” said Chicago Opera Theater’s artistic director Carl Ratner, who is directing “Bon Appetit!” Ratner laughed as he recalled that.
But he was laughing with them, not at them. Because he’s a little nervous too.
After all, he has directed divas who have died, divas who have drunk, and divas who have tripped the light fantastic. This is the first time he’s directing one who stages an egg-whisking competition between her stand mixer and the strength of her right arm.
“There’s lots of food in opera,” Ratner said. “But usually, you’re not cooking it.”
Kitchen choreography aside, the singers and director have no qualms about the lyrics or the score, both designed to whet the appetites of a broad audience. (There’s even cake served at the end.)
What they seem most enthusiastic about, though, is the opera’s main character.
“When do you get to be Julia Child?” Brunssen said. “It’s a blast. It’s in English, which is nice. And there’s no soprano to steal my thunder.”
“(Child) is kind of operatic in her own way,” Nicely said. “The more time I spend with it the more affection I have for her.”
Neither singer is going to do a satiric impersonation, but rather will let the libretto, sprinkled with Child’s distinctive sense of humor, convey a celebrity her audience is very familiar with.
And, for Nicely, there’s a personal bonus: “By the time I get through with this opera, I know I’m going to be able to make that cake.”
For ticket information, call 773-292-7578.
BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE CAKE (GATEAU AU CHOCOLATE; L’EMINENCE BRUNE)
Preparation time: 50 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
This recipe is adapted from “From Julia Child’s Kitchen” (Knopf). Like most French chocolate cakes, it is moist and, even by other standards, slightly underdone. To keep the cake light, sifted cornstarch rather than flour goes in.
The chocolate:
2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee granules
1/4 cup boiling water
7 ounces semisweet baking chocolate
2 ounces unsweetened (bitter) chocolate
2 teaspoons butter, softened
1/4 cup flour
The batter:
4 large eggs, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar, extra-fine if possible
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch salt
2 tablespoons additional sugar
3/4 cup cornstarch
Chocolate and butter glaze:
1 teaspoon instant espresso coffee granules
2 tablespoons boiling water
4 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees; set rack in lower-middle level.
2. The chocolate. Blend coffee and water in pan, set in larger pan of simmering water, and remove from heat. Break up chocolate, stir it into coffee, cover, and set aside to melt slowly until you are ready to use it.
3. The cake pans. Smear butter inside two 8-inch round cake pans, covering them completely. Place rounds of wax paper in bottom of each, butter it, then roll flour around in first pan to coat inside completely. Knock flour out into second pan, coat it, and knock out excess flour.
4. The batter. Separate eggs, dropping whites into one bowl and yolks into another. Start beating yolks, gradually adding sugar, and continue beating until yolks are thick, pale yellow and, when a bit is lifted in blades of beater, it drops off in a thick ribbon that slowly dissolves on surface of mixture–about 3 minutes of beating.
5. Finishing the chocolate. Chocolate should now be soft. If not, remove pan and reheat water; remove from heat, set chocolate pan in again, and beat the chocolate with the portable mixer until perfectly smooth. Beat in butter 2 tablespoons at a time. Gradually beat chocolate and butter into egg-yolk mixture.
6. The egg whites. Immediately change beater blades (or rapidly and thoroughly wash and dry dirty blades), and proceed to egg whites. Start beating at moderately low speed a minute or so, until foaming, and beat in cream of tartar and salt. Gradually increase speed to fast, and continue beating until whites hold their shape in soft peaks; gradually beat in the 2 tablespoons extra sugar, and continue beating until stiff, shining peaks form, 3 to 4 minutes.
7. Folding. Being sure chocolate and yolk mixture is smooth and soft–stir over hot water if it has stiffened–sift in 1/4 of the cornstarch, and scoop in 1/4 of the egg whites; stir in with rubber spatula. Then scoop rest of egg whites on top, sift on 1/3 of the remaining cornstarch, and begin to fold as follows: Plunge rubber spatula down from top center of egg whites to bottom of bowl, bring to edge of bowl, then turn it as you lift it back up to surface, thus bringing a bit of chocolate up over the whites. Rapidly repeat the movement several times, rotating the bowl as you do so. Sift on half the rest of the cornstarch, continue with several rapid scoops of the spatula, then sift on the last of the cornstarch, and continue folding until blended. The whole process should not take much more than a minute, and your object is to deflate the egg whites as little as possible.
8. Into the cake pans. At once turn batter into prepared cake pans, running it up the edge all around with your spatula to prevent cakes from humping in the middle as they bake. Pans will be about half full. Bang once on work surface to settle the batter, and place in heated oven, one near rear corner of rack, and the other diagonally across near front corner.
9. Baking. Bake 15 minutes. Cakes will rise to about top of pans, and are done when only the center shakes a little when moved gently. A cake tester should come out almost clean when inserted around the edges, but have a number of wet brown specks attached to it when plunged into the center.
10. Cooling and unmolding. Set pans on racks, for air circulation, and let cool. Cakes will sink slightly and will shrink from sides of pan. Because cake texture is very soft and delicate, you will find them easiest to unmold when chilled and firm; thus, when cool, wrap and refrigerate an hour or so.
11. Filling, icing and serving. Melt chocolate with the coffee as described in Step 2, then beat in butter. If too liquid for easy spreading, beat over cold water until lightly thickened. Unmold one of the cakes directly onto serving plate, and stick pieces of wax paper underneath all around to catch icing dribbles. Spread top with a 1/8-inch layer of icing. With the help of a flexible-blade spatula, unmold second cake on top of first. Cover top and sides with icing. Peel out the wax paper strips from under cake. If you are serving soon, leave at room temperature. Otherwise cover with an upside-down bowl and refrigerate (or freeze), and let come to room temperature for an hour or so before serving, to let the chocolate icing regain its bloom and the cake its texture.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ………… 575 Fat ………… 38 g Saturated fat .. 23 g
% calories from fat .. 60 Cholesterol .. 155 mg Sodium ……. 165 mg
Carbohydrates …… 62 g Protein ……… 6 g Fiber ……….. 4 g
