Director’s Stand-In Does Solo Turn on ‘Screw’ : Opera: David Ritch gets a chance to make his mark by implementing Jonathan Miller’s wishes. ‘I know my own value. So does he.’

As he inches closer into the face of each cast member, miming the desired gesture or expression and mouthing lines with breathless intensity, David Ritch epitomizes the hands-on director.

He’s rehearsing Benjamin Britten’s “The Turn of the Screw,” which is being presented by the Music Center Opera beginning Saturday, and no one doubts his authority or conscientiousness or inspiration.

But the program book says something else: “Production by Jonathan Miller. Stage Director David Ritch.”

In this age of the super-director--it’s Peter Sellars’ “Figaro” and Patrice Chereau’s “Ring,” Franco Zeffirelli’s “Traviata” and Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s “Butterfly”--the man in charge here turns out to be the second lieutenant, the assistant sent to carry out the auteur’s wishes.

For Ritch, the occasion is rife with opportunity, though, a chance to escape the shadow of Miller, that charismatic original thinker, and have the stage to himself, so to speak.

After two Miller projects seen recently in Los Angeles (“The Mikado” and “The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny”), this one marks the first time that Ritch can step out alone, and he’s not about to squander his solo turn.

“I can’t deny how marvelous it is to feel your own hands on the steering wheel,” he says, polishing off a turkey-on-rye during a lunch break.

“But you know I have 60 other productions to my credit-- without benefit of that magnetic personality.”

Being hired as the main man’s man is a common practice. Both of Music Center Opera’s current productions are in the hands of deputies; director Harold Prince did not personally supervise his 13-year-old staging of “Fanciulla del West,” so he sent Vincent Liotta, who is listed as associate stage director, in his place.

Typically, the super-director turns over his conception lock, stock and props to the knowledgeable assistant, who then stages it according to that plan.

Ritch, described by one admiring cast member as “the perfect implementer of Miller’s ideas,” says he never feels subservient to his celebrated partner:

“With Jonathan there’s always a team spirit, a great generosity and sharing of ideas,” Ritch says. “He’s not an authoritarian--and because he doesn’t believe he can do it alone, everyone gets to feel important.”

“The Turn of the Screw,” their first vehicle together, is one of English National Opera’s most acclaimed productions. It was given its London premiere in 1979, and Ritch, the head of staff directors at ENO, stages the road productions, as he’s doing here.

Asked for a copy of the London review of the opera, he laughingly offers to provide it “so long as you don’t mention Miller’s name.” When asked his age, Ritch coyly answers: “the same as Jonathan’s” (56).

But the ruddy-faced director suffers no ambivalence about “The Turn of the Screw.” His enthusiasm in describing the work is hardly less animated than the rehearsals he conducts.

“My goal,” he says of Henry James’ ghostly novella, “is to tell a rattling good story. As clearly and movingly as possible. I will not institute any changes aside from adapting little details to this specific cast”--which boasts the American soprano Helen Donath making her Music Center Opera debut.

According to Ritch, the tale taps into fear of the unknown. It deals heavily in ambiguity and focuses on the psychology of the outsider.

The title, Ritch says, refers to “each tightening of tension” as the plot progresses. “Whoever turns the screw further risks the wood splitting. It’s done in a below-the-stairs atmosphere with projections of Fox Talbot’s 1840s sepia photographs.”

But even with all the above going for it, he concedes that “Turn of the Screw” does not rival a Puccini opera in popularity.

“It takes an audience with literary appreciation,” he says with a twinkle in his eye.

“That’s why the Russians love it so. They know their James and are incredibly literate. We staged it at all the important theaters there--the Bolshoi, the Kirov, Kiev. . . .”

While mounting a proven production may relieve one’s anxiety, Ritch also longs to start from a clean slate.

“There’s nothing as intoxicating as taking a risk and being inspired by the tension of potential hazard--if it comes out well. But all’s relative.

“Meanwhile, I don’t see my association with Jonathan Miller as a cross to bear. I know my own value. So does he. Someone has to remember the things he’s forgotten.”