Spoleto Festival USA will present Jules Massenet’s little-known 1893 opera “Thaïs,” directed by Crystal Manich and conducted by Timothy Myers, on May 23 and 25 at the Charleston Gaillard Center.
Set in Roman Egypt, the opera follows Thaïs — one of opera’s most compelling yet overlooked characters — a courtesan who Athanaël, a monk, tries to convert to Christianity. As Thais transforms, Athanaël starts to realize he has fallen for her.
Running two and a half hours, the production features the Spoleto Festival Orchestra performing alongside the cast onstage. The adaptation blends Massenet’s music with modern staging elements and stars Nicole Heaston as Thaïs and Troy Cook as Athanaël.
Myers, who conducted “Vanessa” at Spoleto in 2023, is no stranger to this style of production.
“Having the orchestra onstage makes the sound more immediate for the audience,” he said. “The singers can also hear it well, which makes it easier to bond them together. I have found that people love to sense the kinetic energy of the orchestra, the physicality happening in a performance.”
Myers has conducted four of Massenet’s operas, and although “Thaïs” is not among the most widely known French operas — or even Massenet’s most well-known — Myers believes in its cultural and musical importance.
“Massenet is a very special composer from a very special time in French composition history, where you had this French grand opera style that was very specific and very wedded to the culture,” he said.
A director’s vision for a grand opera
For the Spoleto production, Manich focused on intimacy within grand opera. She said she believes the staging of “Thaïs” can emphasize personal connections without flamboyant or heavy design. As the French say, “moins on en fait, mieux c’est,” which loosely translates to “less is more.”
“My belief is that these grand operas don’t have to always be done in a way that is as grand as one might look at it on the page,” Manich said. “The intimacy within that big story is really important to me.”
She also incorporated dancers to deepen the story’s impact and multimedia projection to help drive the narrative. Manich has previously used video in her work, sometimes favoring it over traditional grand opera sets.
“I very much view projections as emotionally driven story items, rather than just a replacement for scenery,” she said. For Manich, “Thaïs” is not a tragedy but a hero’s journey. Her direction shifts the focus to themes of mortality rather than vanity highlighting an ongoing conversation about beauty and aging — a topic as relevant today as it was in 19th-century France.
“I think it’s easy to write off Thaïs as being sort of a woman of artifice who only cares about her beauty,” Manich said. “No, caring about her beauty and looks is about aging, and it’s about a fear of death.”
A veteran soprano finds truth in the character Thai
Soprano Nicole Heaston returns to the title role of Thaïs in her third appearance at the festival. She also worked with Myers on “Vanessa” and performed as Thaïs in Utah Opera’s 2024 production.
“Not a lot of sopranos sing high — it’s notoriously a difficult role to perform,” she said. “But I actually love performing it. I think it’s so cool that I’m in a small group of people who are able to sing this role.”
Her portrayal of Thaïs explores the character’s struggle between physical beauty and spiritual awakening.
“She’s an aging beauty, and she’s someone that wants to hold on to that, and she’s a person of true faith and belief,” Heaston said. “She starts out believing in the power of Venus and love and sexuality, but the one thing she wants to do is for this to continue forever, and that just is not reality.”
The soprano expressed confidence in her ability to embody the title character, not only because of her voice but also due to her age — Heaston hopes to instill a sense of realism in Thaïs’s story, capturing the character’s fear of aging. “That’s an older woman’s discussion.”
Spoleto Festival USA will offer “Thaïs” at 7 p.m. on May 23, and May 25, at the Charleston Gaillard Center.
Mathilde Refloch is a graduate student in the Goldring Arts Journalism and Communications program at Syracuse University.
Help keep the City Paper free.
No paywalls.
No subscription cost.
Free delivery at 800 locations.
Help support independent journalism by donating today.