Seattle Opera stages Salome with submarine-inspired set for Halloween

Seattle Opera will present Richard Strauss's 1905 opera Salome on Oct. 31, a date that aligns with the Halloween season. The company selected this specific date to capitalize on the production's reputation for dark imagery and dramatic intensity. The opera, which draws from Oscar Wilde's 1892 play, has faced criticism and bans since its premiere, including a forced closure after one performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1907. Despite its controversial history, the work has established a lasting place in the operatic canon. Seattle Opera's current staging emphasizes visual starkness and physical confinement to heighten the narrative's psychological tension.

The production utilizes a set designed by Bruno Ravella for the Irish National Opera's 2024 staging. This set creates a chamber-like environment that resembles the interior of a submarine, trapping the dysfunctional family at the center of the story. The Seattle Symphony provides the musical accompaniment for the performance. Brenda Rae appears in the title role as Salome. The opera's content advisory lists several intense elements, including blood, gore, and themes of suicide and incest. A severed head is a central visual element in the plot, a detail that contributed to the scandal surrounding the work's early performances.

Other cultural institutions in the Seattle area are scheduling events that align with the season's themes of death and the macabre. Orquesta Northwest is performing a concert of Mexican music and mariachis at St. James Cathedral on Oct. 30. The event celebrates Dia de Muertos and offers free tickets with reservation. The Stranger is hosting a conversation titled See You at the Crossroads: Death & Hip Hop at Black & Tan Hall on Oct. 29. Journalist Charles Mudede will speak with Dr. Daudi Abe about the relationship between hip-hop music and death. DJ Vitamin D will provide live music for the event.

The theater season includes several productions with dark or supernatural elements. Theatre Off Jackson is running Nanay through Nov. 14. This contemporary tale is based on Filipino demon mythology. The Bootlegger's Ball is performing at the Reverie Ballroom through Oct. 31. This show combines Seattle's Prohibition-era true-crime history with a cabaret format. Guests are invited to dance between acts, and costumes are encouraged. Emerald City Trapeze is presenting Carnevolar XIV: Ascension from Oct. 28 to 31. This aerial and acrobatic show features a solo hiker encountering creatures in the Northwest woods. Alana O. Rogers Dance Company is presenting Fractured from Oct. 30 to Nov. 7 at Base Camp Studios. The piece explores the isolating effects of smartphones.

Dance Theatre of Harlem is performing Firebird at The Paramount on Oct. 30 and 31. This version of Stravinsky's 1910 ballet was choreographed by John Taras in 1982. Taras set the Russian folktale in a Caribbean locale. Pacific Northwest Ballet will present Ghost Stories from Nov. 6 to 15. This mixed bill features moody dance works. In a separate event related to infrastructure, the Washington State Department of Transportation is closing all lanes of Northbound I-5 from I-90 to Northeast 45th Street this weekend. This closure is part of the Revive I-5 project and marks the end of bridge repair annoyances. The construction crew performed a dance piece during the total lane closure.

Roq La Rue Gallery is hosting its third annual Fantasmagoria through Oct. 31. This group exhibit references Victorian spook shows. The display includes ominous swans, vampire bites, and fungi that appear sentient. Gallery 110 will open Sarah Barnett's show Spectacle of Being on Nov. 5. This exhibition runs through Nov. 28 and features paintings of medical operating theaters. The actor Tom Skerritt died last week at the age of 93. He lived in Seattle for several decades and appeared in films such as Alien, Top Gun, and A River Runs Through It. Skerritt also starred in the 1992 film Singles and the 2021 film East of the Mountains. He is remembered for his roles in both major studio productions and local independent films.