The Maryland Opera Studio debuted its production of Fishwife at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on Friday with nothing but a fishing rod, a bucket and the cast’s whistles mimicking the sounds of the ocean.
Composer Ashi Day wrote the opera for the studio’s graduate students, reimagining the Brothers Grimm fairy tale “The Fisherman and His Wife.” The classic story follows an unhappy couple as the wife’s demand for wealth and power grows after her husband’s discovery of a magical wish-granting fish.
While the original ending — where the couple miserably returns to the same conditions they began with — warns against the dangers of excessive greed, Day’s reimagining allows them to reconcile in the realization that their truest fulfillment comes from community and a deeper understanding of each other.
“Having more things, having more power … that doesn’t satisfy or fulfill us as humans,” said Alla Salakhova, an opera performance graduate student who played the fisherman. “I think that that’s a really beautiful message, and it’s been really a joy to work on this show that has this message.”
In the opening scene, the fishwife screams in frustration after her husband frees the fish — a vocal challenge that opera studio graduate student Bailey Bower said she worked through with a vocal coach. While her character initially seems to be acting out of pure self-interest, the audience soon learns that she’s influenced by shadowy advisors and cultural notions of entitlement and wealth.
Day crafted each character — the fish, the couple and the disembodied voices — with distinct music styles, creating a collage of genres and operatic forms.
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She composed parts that showed off the talents of each opera studio member. Some characters displayed vocal control with impressive aria-like runs, while others sang brought deep baritone notes, lending to the show’s sea shanty-esque feel.
She also used the cast members’ personalities to create their roles, deciding whether to let them lean into their own character traits or challenge them to play the complete opposite.
Fishwife’s commentary on communication in relationships felt especially fitting with its fortuitous Valentine’s Day opening date. Though primarily a critique on the ills of capitalism-fueled greed and prosperity gospel, the story also reminds couples to keep learning about each other, even after years together.
“If you are living according to whatever role you’re taking on — gender roles, job roles, those kinds of things — and not giving yourself space to be the unique human that you are, you’re not going to be fulfilled long-term,” Day said.
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The show’s title is self-referential. Originally meaning a fish vendor, “Fishwife” later evolved to describe a brash or demanding woman. The term not only makes a reference to the nature of the show’s title character but also society’s compulsion to label women who defy traditional archetypes of femininity and wifehood.
“At first, when I looked at [the fishwife], it seemed she was just angry, angry, angry. It was just greed, greed, greed,” Bower said. “But the more that I thought about it, that I delved into the role, I realized there are all these influences speaking to her.”
Despite the tonal shifts, the show’s strongest moment undoubtedly lies in the ending — a moving duet between the fisherman and fishwife, revealing their true desires not just for different lives, but for one another.
“It’s just such a beautiful moment of [the fisherman] coming to that realization that maybe he hasn’t been the best listener throughout the relationship. And that’s a beautiful moment,” Salakhova said.
