"Oscar," at Santa Fe Opera, With David Daniels, Countertenor Ken Howard Oscar, about the trials of Oscar Wilde, an opera with David Daniels, center, in the title role and the dancer Reed Luplau (in skull mask). SANTA FE, N.M. - Press week at the Santa Fe Opera - when all five works in the season's repertory are presented within five nights - got off to a head-spinning start, contrasting Offenbach's frothy comedy "The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein," on Tuesday evening, with Theodore Morrison's pitch-black drama, "Oscar," on Wednesday. "The Duchess" was an apt vehicle for the wonderful mezzo-soprano Susan Graham. More on that another day. "Oscar," this season's centerpiece, based on the life of Oscar Wilde, was commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera and Opera Philadelphia for the excellent countertenor David Daniels. It had its premiere here on Saturday, and Wednesday's performance was the second. The opera concentrates on Wilde's later life: his 1895 trials, in a society that criminalized homosexuality, for consorting with the young Lord Alfred Douglas, affectionately known as Bosie, in the first act, and his two-year imprisonment in the second. The libretto, by Mr. Morrison and John Cox, an opera director and Wilde scholar, is a high-minded affair, preaching tolerance and abhorring bigotry at every turn. Mr. Cox, in program notes, makes a case for Wilde as a tragic figure. The opera goes further, all but deifying him. In the first scene, Wilde, free on bail, is harassed by detectives who ensure that no hotel will admit him. "No room at the inn," the libretto summarizes. Near the end of the first act Wilde, on the dock, sings, "My God, My God," and the music alludes to Bach's, when Jesus sings those words on the cross in the "St. Matthew Passion." And in the prison infirmary, which is festooned with crucifixes, Wilde finds himself in the company of two other prisoners, as Jesus did on the cross. One problem with agendas is that they don't always make for good drama. There is much to be explained and argued, and until the actual trial, late in the first act, there is much talk and exposition, whether spoken or sung (or danced), and little action. Walt Whitman, who knew Wilde but had died in 1892, acts as a spectral master of ceremonies, philosophizing in a prologue and commenting intermittently throughout. After the "inn" scene, Wilde takes shelter in a nursery in the home of a friend, the writer Ada Leverson, and they talk, talk, talk. Even in an extended sequence about the pleasures of absinthe (and yes, the line "Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder" limps into the libretto), they merely discuss them and don't indulge. They are eventually visited by a friend of both, Frank Harris, and they talk some more. Except for the one who doesn't talk at all: Bosie, who has fled to France and appears periodically as a second phantom, played by a dancer. Finally, something actually happens. The trial begins, in the nursery, with toys as judge and jury, to heighten the farcical aspects of the actual proceeding. Here is needed comic relief, and Kevin Newbury, the director, made the most of it with teeming and entertaining stage activity. Mr. Morrison's music, highly eclectic (Mahler, Stravinsky, Bartok, you name it), doesn't so much animate the plot as merely react to it. Melodies are too often of that aimless, blandly zigzag variety favored by composers who don't want to sound harshly atonal or tunefully accessible. In addition - Mr. Daniels being a Baroque specialist, as most countertenors are if they hope to make a living - Mr. Morrison seems to have thought that he should supply the occasional roulade or other ornament whether or not it makes particular sense in a line. The orchestration tends to lie in wait for a word or a concept to latch onto, most often in an obvious and literal way. Not once but twice Mr. Morrison illustrates mention of the fluttering of butterfly wings with flutter-tonguing in the flute. For all that, there are fine moments, one of them being a second-act aria in which Mr. Morrison went whole-hog Baroque, with a churning accompaniment as well as ample embellishment. And the staging and individual performances were generally excellent. David Korins's scenery - suitably raw and austere in the prison scenes, warm in the nursery - and David C. Woolard's costume design supported Mr. Newbury's conception well. Mr. Daniels was superb, not only singing but also acting the role with a savvy Wildean mix of arrogance and vulnerability. His sustained tone was beautiful, and his occasional purposeful flirtations with a baritonal register were amusing. The soprano Heidi Stober was especially fine as Leverson, soaring with ease and rich, full tone, and the tenor William Burden was impressive as Harris. Reed Luplau danced the role of Bosie beautifully, to choreography by Sean Curran. The conductor, Evan Rogister, led an energetic and fluent account, no easy task with all that lying in wait. "Oscar" runs through Aug. 17 at the Santa Fe Opera, where the season continues through Aug. 24 in Santa Fe, N.M.; (800) 280-4654, santafeopera.org.