Review: Thea Musgrave's Mary, Queen of Scots Revived in San Francisco

Thea Musgrave's 1977 opera Mary, Queen of Scots opened at San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House as part of the company's 2026-27 season, in a co-production with English National Opera directed by Stewart Laing in his American debut.

The work brought a centuries-old story to the stage: one woman creating another, strangled by the lusts of men who wanted her power and more of her than she wanted to give. As the reviewer put it, Mary had her own lust for power too, "which contributed to her destruction."

Soprano Heidi Stober sang the title role — Mary, great-niece of King Henry VIII and cousin to Elizabeth I. She sang with "high energy, resilience, and force" and strong vocal detail through Mary's many conflicts. The critic noted, though, that Mary's drive to keep her throne and secure the succession limited the character's dramatic range.

What drives this Mary?

Almost every confrontation in the opera restates Mary's determination to dominate. With Darnley, Riccio, her half-brother James, or Bothwell, she demands help, insists on support, and refuses to submit. The reviewer found this "narratively excellent but somewhat repetitious dramatically."

The source review credits the opera's context: Musgrave wrote the libretto and score in the 1970s, when the women's movement's key thrust was women asserting themselves. Stober conveyed that point, and the audience "cheered her efforts." The review singles out Mary's cry "I am alone!" as "the theme song of the whole opera," and praises Musgrave — still composing into her 98th year — as more than a model of a living creative force: "She heightens our own inspiration."

Motherhood formed the other side of the coin. Stober explored the role of "mother" through the stories of Mary's rash love-making with Darnley conceiving the future James VI of Scotland — later James I of England, creator of the King James Bible. That side of Mary, the reviewer wrote, "remained dramatically repetitive and was not effectively developed" — through no fault of Stober's.

How did the rest of the cast fare?

• Christopher Sokolowski (Darnley), in his San Francisco Opera debut, sang with "luster and ringing tones" and a "lovely, luminous glow," though his inebriated scenes read as cliché.
• Thomas Kinch (Bothwell), a current Adler fellow, was "powerful and impressive," conveying magnetic force.
• Thomas Mole, making his American debut as James, sang with "beauty and fine resonance throughout," his platform confrontation with Mary a dramatic high-wire act.
• Hadleigh Adams (baritone) sang David Riccio, Darnley's lover and Mary's balladeer, with melodic contrast and appropriate melancholy.

Conductor Clelia Cafiero, also making her American debut, led the dynamic score "with gusto." Bassoon, horn, cello, harp and viola each colored the emotion of the moment. The reviewer identified the opera's key strength as "the thorough integration of music, story, and emotion" — no dividing the score from the drama, echoing Mary's line: "In the end is my beginning, in the beginning is my end."

Does the staging hold up?

Laing set the action in a tented environment, dressed in the style of second-hand clothing from Fillmore Street's thrift shops 25 years ago. The chorus, directed by San Francisco Chorus Director John Keene, and the physical set stayed in the hands of Scotland's people. The reviewer called the "everyday shabby" look lackluster in the foreground, arguing it downplayed the story's intrinsic beauty and diffused some of the opera's flames — though it didn't detract from the overall power.

The verdict: Musgrave's opera "filled our hearts and our ears with provocative music and a tableau of the human condition: once upon a time as today." Laurels, the review concludes, "are given for a notable performance."