The action required a hanging tree, but the rope for Dick Johnson's execution appeared magically from somewhere up in the sky. The Marshall’s Outpost was a much larger building, but it was mainly needed as a backdrop. Minnie’s cabin, too, was smaller and simpler than necessary but it provided the basics. There were rooms on either side of the bar, but the partitions only added to the aura of confinement. The building did not take up more than a third of the stage and it was hard to fit both soloists and chorus inside. Minnie’s Polka Saloon was a tiny shack outlined and lit by neon, suggesting the availability of electricity. Miriam Buether’s sets broke the stage up into cramped rooms. Santa Fe Opera has an open backed stage that can show the setting sun over the Jemez Mountains as the show opens, but unfortunately, director Richard Jones did not make use of the advantages the New Mexico city had over London and the result was a horseless “Western” that never showed any of the country’s natural beauty.
Santa Fe Opera presented the same production of Giacomo Puccini’s La fanciulla del West ( The Girl of the Golden West) that English National Opera staged at the London Coliseum.
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