In 2024, the International Brazilian Opera Company received a request to authorize a performance of Plastic Flowers, an opera by João MacDowell.
This educational production was set to take place at the Janáček Academy in Brno, Czech Republic, with the music adapted and performed in the Czech language.
Plastic Flowers is an opera available for mezzo-soprano or countertenor in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Czech. This documentary explores the students’ journey in producing the monodrama, showcasing its bold, emotive musical language and dramatic settings.
Plastic Flowers
“Plastové kvety”
Monodrama
an opera by:
João MacDowell
Czech libretto version:
Tomáš Studený
Direction, stage, costumes, and lighting design:
Martin Baöista
CAST
Penelope (mezzo-soprano):
Zuzana Jerábková
Piano:
Linda Coganová
CZECH PREMIERE
CESKÁ PREMIÉRA
Semester project of students in the fields of Opera Directing, Singing, and Musical Production.
Musical preparation:
Linda Coganová
Production:
Filip Gargulík
Anna Hartmanová
Nina Lapcíková
Barbora Málková
Anna Marie Ruöikvasová
Vendula Vrbová
Musical Faculty
EDUCATIONAL GUIDANCE
Direction:
MgA. Tomáš Studený, Ph.D.
Production:
Ing. Zdenka Vlachovská
Singing:
MgA. Zdenek Plech
Acting:
MgA. Lubomíra Sonková
Piano:
Prof. Alena Vlasáková
Janáček Academy
Dean:
Prof. Barbara Maria Willi
Studio Devítka,
Music Faculty JAMU,
Komenského náměstí 6
Brno
Special Thanks:
Zdenka Vlachovská,
Tomáš Studený,
Lubomíra Sonková.
Department of Building Administration
at HF JAMU
Studio Marta
Eve Kourilová, and
Katerina Siaušiková
from the Theater on Orlí
Juraj Gondo
Libor Kocíma
Plastic Flowers is currently available for mezzo-soprano or countertenor, in: English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Czech.
www.brazilianopera.com
www.iboc.nyc
TRANSCRIPT
Interview Transcript
Everybody’s there!
And we will have one more performance, like in two hours, in hour one hour actually.
Excerpt from Plastic Flowers
Scene 1 – Penelope Alone
I cried until I could no longer
See my eyes in the mirror.
I tore in small pieces the letters
That once I kept with my secrets
I cried because I tore apart
The flowers I had by the window.
There’s red all over my face.
There’s red all over my body.
There’s red when I close up my eyes.
It’s painting my body like roses.
My body is covered with flowers
The colors are bright in the corners.
Even my glass desires seem to break down.
Lonely hours, broken-hearted,
Wasting time takes forever.
You bought me plastic flowers
You said that plastic flowers last forever
But I won’t be your plastic flower
anymore.
Interview Transcript
So, you can start with the director of the project:
Hi, I’m Martin I’m from Slovakia.
And I tried to direct, your music, actually. It was a great experience uh I would like to have quite more time with my colleagues but we managed that’s what I’m going to say so: Thank you.
- Thank you, the photos look great I’m I’m I’m very impressed with the job and the elements that we could see you know the plastic box the little boxes all the elements I’m a little curious about the old telephone because it reminds me of one of the references that I had which was “La Voix Humain” I don’t know if you’re familiar with from Poulanc, which had the telephone and I saw that. It was like I’m wondering what was your thought process on that.
I had the telephone in my imagination we haven’t used the main voice that you already have in your recordings it was something really nice about connection and feeling when you’re are abandoned and something between how people connect where when they don’t want to be in touch with anyone but they need something, something to have a chance to live.
Excerpt from Plastic Flowers
Scene 2 – Daddy
Daddy used to make up songs for me
Da da dum di dum da…
Pequeñita,
¿Dónde estamos?
¿Dónde vamos?
Pequeñita!
Pequeñita,
Pequeñita!
¿Dónde estamos?
¿Dónde vamos?
Pequeñita!
Pequeñita!
¿Dónde estamos?
¿Dónde vamos?
Pequeñita!
Pequeñita,
¿Dónde hemos de pensar que la vida nos sería
siempre hermosa, siempre rica, siempre maravillosa?
Pequeñita!
Interview Transcript
I’m Suzanna, I’m a singer.
It was really nice to search for the character, to study your music understand what to say how to say and it was pretty hard but at the end I think that we did great job I’m really happy that I could sing this role I could do this Solo Opera and it was really nice work for me I’m really grateful that I could do that yeah sometimes it was difficult like to understand where where my node is where to how to understand the harmony how how to be right with the rhythm now I think we are pretty confident so because this is the pianist. I’m like her second hand, maybe.
But I have to do it by memory. So…
Excerpt from Plastic Flowers
Scene 3 – The First Boy
My first love was a boy
And he came to me with flowers
He held on to my hand
All the way up to my door.
He took me to the fair
And we rode the roller coaster
And he gave me a teddy bear.
“…baby let me be, your loving teddy bear,
put a chain around my neck
and lead me anywhere…”
He talked about himself
And he called me his princess.
I felt your body so hot
I needed finding what’s love…
Yet it never felt so lonely
As when you got yourself going
Like I was not there
Like you did not care
And I cried into the pillows
For the moment was so fast.
And he was gone.
Interview Transcript
I’m the pianist and I study here at the Janacek Academy for me it’s also very great experience and it’s quite different from the music that we usually play. It’s very challenging for me and also for us and I think we should be really connected together to make the whole piece come to life.
Excerpt from Plastic Flowers
Scene 5 – The Song of Songs
My third love was a storm
And we met outside the church
We would talk for days on end
And she told me of her feelings
Your hands all over me,
My fingers dripped with myrrh…
Your kiss so sweet
Your sweat so sour
Sometimes I’m thinking that I love you.
But I know it’s only lust.
I was afraid.
I had to go.
Interview Transcript
It’s supposed to be originally six of us. Filip who is connected from, unfortunately different city is also part of our team and we are the team of managers in charge of making every vision of every artist in the project come to life I’m sorry that the another two members of our team couldn’t be here to be in this call but this is Anichk hello, hi. This is Vendy. Hi. As I mentioned, there is also Fillip the only guy in our team basically in our manager team and I am Nina.
I did the part of the program and Tomas Studeny helped me. Like everyone kind of helped me but the program was my thing, my responsibility to do. Can I show you the program? Do you want to see it?
- It’s beautiful. I love the work you guys did. And I am very proud of it.
And also I did part of the photos with Barbara the other manager who’s not here.
Excerpt from Plastic Flowers
Scene 6 – The Wedding
Then I met you in the Summer
Like someone who comes from nothing
You never gave me fancy gifts
Nor did you ask many questions
You just took me by the hand
And led me to the bed
You just seemed so undeniable
That I thought it was love at last…
And in the church
I did say yes.
Oh, how I felt I looked so pretty
In my white dress…
Oh, my pretty wedding dress…
Oh, my pretty wedding dress…
Oh, my silly wedding dress…
And I spilled wine on my dress
But you did not seem to mind that.
Interview Transcript
I did the plan, time plan, and today I was actually play the sounds. I helped with the stage and and the props she also help with the props and Vendy is also in charge of the reservations so basically the guest list and the Tickets so yeah I’m Nina and I was in charge of the costumes of trying to interpret the director’s vision of the costume and find the most suitable options and also gather everything for the for the makeup and also all the all the clothing pieces which are presented during the scenes in the in the closet and also yeah we we were communicating with u a friendly theater here in Brno which we like often cooperate with so I was sort of in charge of that and of gathering some props from them.
- That’s a very important part in this production because the Opera is so much about the dress. Right?
When we were doing the stage I would say, we were all there, discussing things also with
Martin with the director and Tomas. My separate part was to do documentation I was doing the recordings then helping with the sounds. We were doing so many things together helping each other so yeah there you can’t even think of all the things that we had to do for searching the uh the Closet it was pretty hard and I was helping with it and so everybody done like I would say everything but not everything but we mix the mix the stuff, all of us who were doing the production and we got our stuff to do we got it separated but we are all six, we study production at JAMU.
Excerpt from Plastic Flowers
Scene 7 – Abandoned
And you left me all alone
In a house away from everyone
Just the highway and the halls
I could go out shopping
I could see the newest mall
But I never had a child.
I see signs of time in the mirror,
I see signs of love that have gone
And I never get and answer
Why does the clock tick so loud?
Interview Transcript
Because I teach the Opera Stage Direction in the Janacek Academy. Martin the the director is is on an internship in our Academy, because his mother Academy is in Slovakia when we have Opera directors in normal studium they have projects some like this which is a smaller project with piano only and in Chamber Opera in in bigger theater with Orchestra and and all together and this is the smaller project and so I tried to find some monodrama or something like that so I Googled and Googled and Googled and I found this interesting work and I like it and it was possible to buy the vocal score on in the internet so so I did it and then we had another singer who had a condition to sing in Czech because she is from Ukraine and she has to sing in Czech to practice. I tried to make translation of the complete Opera. It is very complicated to find a good sound for the musical phrase with the correct accent, the correct Rhythm, the correct pronunciation, and good vocalization. Because to sing it’s something completely different like saying something I believe that we did some correct job that the meaning is good meaning the original meaning and it sounds natural and it is possible to sing very naturally.
Then she refused the collaboration. So Suzana saved us, truly. And then we finished all the work with the help of the production team and the pianist and the singer.
It is the principal model of collaboration, because when you have a normal Opera Company there are many people with different professions working together, at the Academy, we go from smaller to bigger projects to simulate something like this, so we have the students teams creating these Productions.
Excerpt from Plastic Flowers
Scene 8 – The Shopping Mall
I went to the mall to get more.
I bought all the gifts from the store
I got all the goods from the ad
I was left just waiting for more.
I filled my plastic home with plastic people
Plastic toys for the children that I don’t have
Plastic toys from the sex shop
Plastic chairs where I can kiss my ass.
I am just a party doll that’s wearing make up
Showing my plastic face to your plastic friends
Serving you pleasure, like a blow-up doll.
Let’s party!
oh…
I went to the mall to get more.
I bought all the gifts from the store
I got all the goods from the ad
I was left just waiting for more.
Interview Transcript
Every feature of the scenography aspect of this actually comes from the head of the director he made the costume concepts and the concept of the scene so basically he just translated his ideas and the images in his head to us and we were just in charge of finding the most suitable materials and suitable pieces which could then be put to finalize the scene so I’m not actually the designer neither of us are the designers he is the designer of the scene and of the of the whole concept basically and the costumes which are to be played with as with props, in the same way, we pretty much have to go through the process with each individual piece separately when it comes to the dress of course it had to fit and the night gown had to fit as well so we paid a little bit of more attention to finding those we actually ended up buying them secondhand but when it comes to the wedding dress we were able to borrow that from a friend theater of the faculty of the music faculty of this Academy and then the majority of the pieces that are in the closet are froma different uh theater but also it’s a friend theater of the Academy
What’s more it interesting for me it’s a connection with yourself and with your soul and your inner self and in our interpretation at the end she’s just dying inside, she did not commit suicide. The whole process is about finding a way to understand your inner soul and to deal with the emotions hidden in our heart, in the end, it’s a feeling of great relief in our story I feel a big relief in the end If you completely accept your fate, your journey.
There is hope for her because her last sentences: “I have my red lipstick. I have my red dress. I have my luxury boots.” So, I want to fight, I want to go ahead. She is very strong. For me, there’s this big hope in this conclusion.
Excerpt from Plastic Flowers
Scene 9 – Suicide
I am lost to the world.
No one cares if I live or die.
Daddy,
They’ll be sending me to you in a box.
I could cut my arm and wrist.
Cause I don’t know
If there’s blood there
Or if it’s just pain
Or if it’s just air
No one looks at me
No one sees me
I’ll just fade away
Into the background.
Daddy,
They’ll be sending me to you in a box.
Interview Transcript
We are happy that we found one composer who writes very interesting operas nowadays it’s a great thing for us and it’s a great thing for us. Maybe we in in the future can do some some more in the Chamber Opera Studio for example.
One month for an Opera like this, if you want to do it in a really good way like musically, like dramatically, it’s really difficult.
I listened to your Orchestra version which inspired me to play more colorful and to be a little orchestra. The piano here is not only musical accompaniment, it’s a big part of the scene. Me and the singer is like a 50/50 one half is me and the second half is the singer and we should be really connected together, to make the story come alive.
I must say, as a pianist, she is incredible. That’s incredibly good, of course.
It was a pleasure to do your music and I hope we will meet somewhere, someday.
Excerpt from Plastic Flowers
Scene 10 – Penelope’s Conclusion
I cried until I could no longer
See my eyes in the mirror.
I tore in small pieces the letters
That once I kept with my secrets.
I cried because I tore apart
The flowers I had by the window.
There’s red all over my face.
There’s red all over my body.
There’s red when I close up my eyes.
It’s painting my body like roses.
My body is covered with flowers
The colors are bright in the corners.
Even my glass desires
seem to break down.
Lonely hours,
broken-hearted,
Wasting time
takes forever.
You bought me plastic flowers
You said that plastic flowers last forever
But I won’t be your plastic flower
anymore.
The thorns are deep in my skin.
But I can still fit on my red dress.
I can still get on my high heels
I can put on my red lipstick.
I know I can be on my own
I see flowers.
Flowers. Flowers.
But plastic flowers
never die.