Living
Laughs in the libretto
New Wolf Trap-commissioned opera ‘The Inspector’ debuts next week
‘The Inspector’
A world-premiere opera based on Gogol’s play ‘The Inspector General.’ Music by John Musto, book and libretto by Mark Campbell. April 29 at 8 p.m. and May 1at 3 p.m.
Free one-hour talk at the Center for Education, next door to The Barns, an hour prior to each two-hour show.
The Barns at Wolf Trap
1645 Trap Rd., Vienna, VA
Tickets: $32-$72
877-965-3872/wolftrap.org
Mark Campbell (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Comedy is a different animal when it comes to opera.
That’s the experience of Mark Campbell, author of a new comic opera, “The Inspector,” that features his laugh-out-loud, incisive libretto matched perfectly to the expressive melodies in composer John Musto’s sophisticated-yet-fun style. It comes to the stage in its world premiere at The Barns at Wolf Trap on three nights beginning Wednesday.
Based on all advance indications, it will be another triumph for the veteran collaborators, Campbell and Musto, whose comic operas “Volpone” won major plaudits at Wolf Trap in 2004 and returned there for a successful reprise in 2007.
“We were their matchmakers,” Kim Witman, Wolf Trap Opera’s director, rightly boasts, about bringing the two together for “Volpone,” and she admits that “anytime you do that, you just don’t know at the beginning what’s going to work or not.”
This combo worked so well, says Witman, “that we’ll take the credit” for making it happen. About “The Inspector,” she says, “They both have an approach to this work that is modern in feeling, not as in avant-garde” — which in opera can be cold and remote — “but that hits the sweet spot.”
“The Inspector,” an update of the 1836 classic tongue-in-cheek satirical play by Russian writer Nikolai Gogol, “intersects as music and words,” she says, “with its own spin on our contemporary world, because this is not about high art, but they each set out to entertain.”
What’s great about the two, she adds, is that “they use actual English words and the same syntax you would use if you spoke to someone on the street, so it doesn’t feel theatrical, it just sounds familiar,” in Campbell’s way with words and Musto’s melodic punctuation.
Witman, an old hand at making opera come alive for new audiences, admits that “We’re hampered by the fact that we are called opera,” but she stresses, “in many ways ‘The Inspector’ is really musical theater. It’s simply that it’s sung by people with operatically trained and expressive voices, without microphones.” She points out that on Broadway, singers’ voices are amplified, but not in opera. “That’s what makes it opera,” but with “The Inspector,” she says, “in everything else it could just as easily be musical theater.”
Opera is alienating to some, she says.
“Many people won’t come out to anything called opera, because they think they’ll feel stupid or that it’s stupid because they can’t understand it. It’s because of the trappings of opera, the exaggerated posturing, that people stay away, and because it’s in another language, so people think ‘I won’t understand it,’ and because they think it’s going to be five hours long.”
But “The Inspector” is sung in English, with constant wisecracks, and she says, “is very fast,” clocking in at just two hours long.
Campbell — who is gay, and openly declares, “I’m single and available for marriage, unfortunately not yet in New York (he lives in New York City), but in D.C.” — says that he and Musto “were told to write a comedy because they (Wolf Trap) loved ‘Volpone,'” which was based on the English play of that name (in Italian it means “sly fox”) written by Ben Jonson and first produced in 1606.
Musto is Italian — half Sicilian and half Neapolitan — so Campbell says that when they put their heads together they soon decided to revamp and relocate the classic Gogol comedy, set in Tsarist Russia, to Mussolini-era Italy, and instead of Russian-flavored music, Campbell says it is very Italian in flavor, with tarantellas, those Italian folk dances with fast upbeat tempos, not cossack-style dances.
“The composer must help make the opera funny,” and all of Musto’s music, says Campbell, is created to make sure that the comedy of the libretto — the words — lands with flair and funny impact.
This is their fourth opera together. Three are comedies, and the fourth, says Campbell, has comic elements — “Later The Same Evening,” based on the paintings of American artist Edward Hopper.
“When it comes to comedy, we know how to do this,” he says.
That doesn’t mean it’s easy.
“It’s harder to do than drama, because it must do the same thing that drama does, create clear characters who want something, the same thing as when you tell any story, but it must also be funny.”
Campbell says that “you’d have to ask my friends if I’m funny” but that he thinks that he’s “actually a pretty miserable person, as are most people who have a comic bent, because at the core of their heart is something that’s pretty dark.”
Soprano Anne-Carolyn Bird, who sings the role of the mayor’s daughter, Beatrice, in “The Inspector,” agrees. She has worked with Campbell before, in the 2007 revival of “Volpone,” when she also sang on the cast recording of it which was nominated for a Grammy.
“He’s very friendly,” she says, “but at the same time he’s very private, and a lot of artists are like that.”
“We know how to bond with people, but we save ourselves for a few people and put the rest into our art,” so she says that “you get to know more about Mark by reading his work than by spending time with him in a casual setting.”
And “The Inspector” is funny, albeit set in a dark time, in late 1920s Sicily, when the new Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, the fascist leader, or “Il Duce,” decided to try to clean up the inbred corruption on the island with its Mafia-style gangs that ruled in politics and society with a heavy hand of thuggery and thievery.
“His ego had been hurt,” says Campbell, who spent a long time researching the history of the period, “so he sent in his own inspectors — called “prefetti,” or prefects — to clean up the corruption in local power centers on the island. So the scene is set for the village (imaginary but based on his research) of Santa Schifezza, whose local mayor’s rule is both criminal and unchallenged, until someone the mayor (Fazzobaldi) believes to be Mussolini’s inspector arrives.
Tancredi, this mysterious stranger, traveling with his manservant Cosimo — exceedingly smart, acerbic even, and definitely more pragmatic than his “master” — arrive just as the citizens of Santa Schifezza have gathered to rehearse the town’s new anthem — which is so bad it’s utterly funny — for the next day, Municipal Mayor Day, a day Mayor Fazzobaldi has instituted in honor of himself.
But the mayor has been informed that an inspector from Rome will soon arrive, incognito, and put at risk the entire way of life, based on corruption, he has worked so hard to keep going. When the goofy twins, Bobachina and Bobachino, who run the post office, stumble in with the news that they have spotted a new arrival at the inn, and that he is tall, eloquent, elegant — and blond — the mayor immediately jumps to the conclusion that he must be the anticipated inspector.
“Comedy as a form of theater is different from humor,” says Campbell, born in D.C. and a Maryland resident until age 12. “In opera it’s usually found,” he says, “when characters are so obsessed with something — with greed or in the case also with abuse of power — that audiences don’t find it sad but funny.”
But he says his own favorite moments in comic operas are the sad or tragic moments, such as in the character of Figaro from the Beaumarchais play which formed the basis for Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro” and Rossini’s opera “The Barber of Seville.”
“I have done my job,” Campbell says, “if I have first seduced people with the jokes and then pull a 180-degree turn and stop them dead in their tracks, surprising them with an incredibly sad moment. Opera allows you to do that, and in many other art forms you just can’t do this so efficiently, because it has music which allows you to cut to the chase faster than with mere language.”
Campbell, who wrote the funny lyrics to the musical “And The Curtain Rises,” which just closed its world-premiere run at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, has also just come from Norfolk, Va., where the Virginia Opera premiered this month his musical theater piece based on a Civil War theme, “Rappahanock County,” in collaboration with the composer Ricky Ian Gordon, who is also gay and whose own musical “Sycamores” premiered last year at Signature Theatre.
Campbell is philosophical about being single, having been, he says, “in several long-term relationships, which were fairly happy ones, but I am not someone who believes in love forever, because people change and can evolve into a relationship and then evolve out of it.”
Three of his former partners “are now among my best friends,” he says. “If you love someone, you want them to be happy, and if you’re truly invested with someone it’s just a matter of reformatting the relationship.” But he’s also realistic — because first “you must get past the awkwardness of the first couple of years and the first new boyfriends.”
Could a comic opera on the subject be far behind?
Michael,
I’m 34, and after being on the dating scene for about 12 years, I’m coming to the conclusion that I don’t want to be in a relationship.
I don’t love hanging out with the same person over and over again. I don’t feel all gooey when I’ve been with someone for a while. I run out of things to say, and also, it just gets boring.
I like my space. I don’t like having to share the bathroom or have someone next to me all night, especially when they want to go to sleep holding me. I know that sounds like heaven to a lot of people but it just feels intrusive to me.
It’s a pain to have to compromise what I want to do. When I want to go someplace on vacation, or try a restaurant, or get up early to go to the gym, or sleep in, I don’t want to have to run that by someone else and get their OK. Life’s short. I want to do what I want to do.
I feel like we are constantly bombarded with the message to date and find a mate, but I don’t really see the point. I don’t think I’m an introvert—I have a lot of friends—but I also like to spend time by myself and not be accountable to anyone.
When I think about marriage, it seems like a very old-fashioned concept, developed for straight people who want to have children. Historically you needed one person to work and another one to stay home and raise the kids. And you needed to stay together to give your kids two parents and a stable home. I get that.
But if I’m not having kids, what’s the point? I don’t need a husband to have sex. I can and do hook up all the time. It’s so easy to find someone online. And I get to have a lot more variety when I’m single than when I’m dating. Even though my relationships are always open, when I am dating someone, I always hook up a lot less, because I have to worry about the boyfriend’s feelings being hurt if I hook up “too much.”
I know I sound unromantic and maybe selfish but this is how I see it.
My friends are all about having a boyfriend. They think I’m being ridiculous. Can I get another opinion?
Michael replies:
You make great points. Relationships do require us to give up some of our independence. They can feel stifling at times. And when the excitement of a new partner fades, things will at times feel “boring” in all sorts of ways, including sex. You can choose to avoid all of this by remaining single.
But relationships also give us tremendous overlapping opportunities to grow, including:
Being pushed to develop a clear sense of self: When we must constantly decide what we are willing to do or not do as part of a couple; and when our partner inevitably and frequently has interests, values, and priorities that conflict with ours, then we are challenged, over and over, to decide what is most important to us and how we want to live our lives.
Frequent opportunities to build resilience: All those old issues from our past that get us upset or riled up? We have to work through them so that we can stay (pretty) calm rather than losing our minds when our buttons are pressed.
Improving our ability to have hard conversations – and without rancor: Unless we’re able to disagree, speak up, or confront when it’s important to do so, we are going to twist ourselves into a pretzel striving to accommodate the other person. And being able to engage in tough talks in a loving way is necessary if we want to have a loving relationship.
Becoming a more generous person: You wrote that you like to have things your way. But part of life, whether or not we are partnered, involves being thoughtful, considerate, and willing to put someone else first at times. Great relationships require us to do all of these things regularly—and many of us find that contributing to the happiness of someone we care about can increase our own happiness.
Besides these ongoing challenges, relationships give us the experience of someone knowing us deeply, and knowing someone deeply. There can be great comfort in going through life with someone with whom we have this intimate connection, along with ongoing shared experiences of trust, support, comfort, and love. Long-term companionship is also an adventure: Can we keep the relationship vibrant and fun as we both keep changing over time?
If you choose to remain single: Many people play their friendships on the easy setting, keeping things pleasant, on-the-surface, and non-confrontational; and cutting people off when things aren’t going well. Hanging in there to deal with the rough stuff can lead to deeper, longer friendships, and plenty of personal growth.
I do have a question for you: I am curious what sort of relationships you saw growing up, and what your own relationship experiences have been.
Intimate relationships aren’t for everyone, and you get to decide what is right for you. But if your negative view of relationships is influenced by having witnessed or experienced intrusive or just plain awful relationships, maybe you want to do some work (therapy, for example) to heal from this stuff, rather than letting your past limit your future. A healthy relationship means being part of a couple while also remaining a vibrant individual, not being stifled, bored, and losing your independence.
(Michael Radkowsky, Psy.D. is a licensed psychologist who works with couples and individuals in D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and New York. He can be found online at michaelradkowsky.com. All identifying information has been changed for reasons of confidentiality. Have a question? Send it to [email protected].)
Autos
Wagons ho! High-class, head-turning haulers
Automakers still offer a few good traditional station wagons
As a teenager, one of the first cars I drove — and fell in love with — was our family’s hulking full-size wagon. It stretched over 19 feet in length and weighed a whopping 5,300 pounds. That’s three feet longer and 1,000 heavier than, say, a Ford Explorer today.
But this Leviathan felt safe and practical, especially when tootling around town with my crew or traveling solo cross-country. Of course, this hauler was also an eco-disaster.
Luckily, that’s not the case today. And even though the number of traditional station wagons keeps shrinking, automakers are still offering a few gems.
VOLVO V60 CROSS COUNTRY
$54,000
MPG: 23 city/31 highway
0 to 60 mph: 6.6 seconds
Cargo space: 51 cu. ft. (rear seats folded)
PROS: Elegant design. Composed handling. Top safety features.
CONS: So-so power. Modest rear legroom. Only two trim levels.
The 2026 Volvo V60 Cross Country doesn’t cry for attention — and that’s the point. This is the automotive equivalent of Kristen Stewart, a celebrity who’s confident in her own skin and sees no need to post about it.
Under the hood, there’s a four-cylinder turbo engine paired with a mild-hybrid system, producing 247 horsepower. You won’t outrun other drivers, but there is a sense of calm authority when accelerating. The standard all-wheel drive and 8.1 inches of ground clearance mean this wagon is ready for dirt roads, bad weather or a spontaneous weekend jaunt.
And inside? Scandinavian minimalism at its finest. Clean lines. Gorgeous materials. Google-based infotainment that mostly works — though occasionally the system could be a bit faster, at least for my taste. The ride is smooth, composed and quiet, even if acceleration feels more “measured sip” than “espresso shot.”
But here’s the twist: After more than a decade, this is the final Volvo wagon in the U.S. Its farewell tour ends in 2026. That alone gives it collector-car status.
MERCEDES-AMG E53 WAGON
$95,000
MPG: 21 city/25 highway
0 to 60 mph: 3.4 seconds
Cargo space: 64.6 cu. ft. (rear seats folded)
PROS: Supercar vibe. Hybrid versatility. Stunning interior.
CONS: Some fussy controls. Can feel heavy when cornering.
If the Volvo V60 Cross Country is subtle, the 2026 Mercedes-AMG E53 Wagon is a screamer. It’s like being at a Lil Nas X concert: flashy, high energy, and full of shock and awe.
This performance wagon — a plug-in hybrid, no less — pushes well over 500 horsepower (and in some configurations over 600 horsepower), launching from 0 to 60 mph as fast as a $300,000 Aston Martin supercar.
Yes, deep down, this is still a wagon. But you also can do a Costco run in something that could embarrass sports cars at a stoplight. That duality is delicious.
Inside, Mercedes leans all the way in. The high-tech Superscreen setup stretches across the dash. Ambient lighting glows like a curated art installation. The 4D surround-sound audio literally pulses through the seats. It’s immersive. Borderline excessive. And entirely the point.
Rear-axle steering helps mask the size of this car, but there’s no hiding the weight — it’s a big, powerful machine. Still, this hauler handles far better than physics suggests it should.
PORSCHE TAYCAN CROSS TURISMO
$121,000
Range: 265 miles
0 to 60 mph: 2.8 seconds
Cargo space: 41 cu. ft. (rear seats folded)
PROS: Lightning fast. Space-age design. EV smoothness.
CONS: Very pricey. Options add up quickly. Limited rear visibility.
The Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo completely rewrites the wagon formula. Fully electric. Shockingly fast. Designed like it belongs in the Louvre.
Performance is instant. Depending on trim level, you’re looking at 0-to-60 mph in less than 3 seconds. No exuberant engine noise — just that smooth, purring EV surge.
Handling? Pure Porsche. Low center of gravity thanks to the battery-pack placement. Precision that makes winding roads feel like choreography. And then — hello — there’s also a Gravel Mode for light off-road use.
Inside, the style is restrained but high-tech. Digital displays dominate, including a 10.3-inch passenger side touchscreen. Yet the layout feels intentional rather than overwhelming. Build quality is exceptional. Options, including leather-free materials and an active-leveling system for hard cornering, are endless — and expensive.
Range varies by model. But as with any EV, your lifestyle (and charging access) matters.
Overall, this is a wagon that looks and behaves like one helluva class act.
Advice
My family voted for Trump and I cut off contact
Now my father is ill and I don’t know what to do
Dear Michael,
I stopped talking to my family last year because they all voted for Trump. It’s not like they didn’t know whom they were voting for — they’d already had four years of seeing him in action.
I decided that I couldn’t remain in contact with people whom I felt wanted to take away my rights as a gay man. That is what they essentially did by voting for Trump.
They had come to my wedding in 2012, they had welcomed my husband and me into their homes for the holidays for our entire relationship, so I couldn’t believe how little they actually cared about me and my community. I was profoundly hurt.
They’ve reached out but I have been too angry at their hypocrisy to engage in more than a perfunctory way. I miss them, sure, but as I’ve watched our community be attacked, I just get so angry that I don’t want to talk. I certainly don’t want to hear them justify bigotry and hatred.
Now one of my siblings has reached out to let me know that my father’s health is rapidly declining. I’m wondering if I should rethink my decision and reach out to him, maybe even visit, before he dies.
But then I think of ICE’s attack on our country and the removal of the Pride flag from Stonewall and I don’t want to talk to people who support what is happening to vulnerable, marginalized people and the LGBTQ community.
My father was a good father to me. Even when I first came out to him, he was loving and supportive. I can’t square his behavior personally toward me with his support of this regime. The hypocrisy makes me so angry. How could he purport to love me and then vote against my freedoms?
I would love some suggestions about how to square my two opposing viewpoints.
Michael replies:
Many years ago, a great mentor taught me that the one thing you can count on in a relationship is learning to tolerate disappointment: Both being a disappointment, and being disappointed in the other person. This is true for love relationships and it’s also true for other significant relationships. All of us are different in some major ways and so we are bound at times to disappoint our loved ones in major ways, and to be disappointed by them in major ways.
That is why I’m not a fan of purity tests. To expect that someone must think like you (much less vote like you) in order for you to have a relationship with them is unrealistic, impractical, and sometimes damaging.
Of course, a person may hold some beliefs that give you reason not to want to have any connection to them. But is that the case here?
From your description, your family has always been loving and supportive of you as a gay man. That is no small thing. They seem to care about you enough to have continued to reach out, even though you have stopped talking to them.
Perhaps they had some other reasons for voting as they did, other than to roll back LGBTQ rights and to attack immigrants.
Instead of wondering how they could be so hypocritical, how about talking with them and striving to understand their choices? I don’t know what they will say, and you may hear different answers from your various family members. But at least you will get some clarity, rather than presuming that they made their voting choices from a place of malice. Then you will be in a better position to decide if you want a relationship going forward.
Another point to consider: Very few things are set in stone. Even if your family made their voting choices based on holding positions that you neither like nor respect, they may be open to shifting their views over time. One way to perhaps influence their thinking is by engaging with them, sharing your thoughts, and asking them to consider the possible consequences of their actions. If you choose to re-engage with them, two points to consider:
First, don’t expect that you will change their minds. You can advocate for what you want, but you have to let go of the results.
Second, they are more likely to consider your points if you do not approach them from a judgmental, self-righteous stance.
Many years ago, when I was newly a vegetarian, I was eager to challenge and “educate” friends who weren’t following my dietary ideas. Guess what? It didn’t work. Then I got some great advice: A great way to influence others to consider eating fewer animals was to serve them delicious vegetarian food.
The same point is true here. We can’t beat people over the head to agree with us. But if we approach them with some kindness, rather than with the certainty that we hold the moral high ground, we may help them see a bigger picture.
And sometimes, we too may see a bigger picture.
Michael Radkowsky, Psy.D. is a licensed psychologist who works with couples and individuals in D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and New York. He can be found online at michaelradkowsky.com. All identifying information has been changed for reasons of confidentiality. Have a question? Send it to [email protected].
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