I discovered this buried in my drafts. Apparently I finished it, but never posted it. Oops! The performance was on April 26, 2014. Enjoy! The setting: The not-so-distant future, when overpopulation and global warming have made water and other natural resources very, very scarce. The cast: A traveling acting troupe, a gaggle of orphans, and a tribe of desert people. The fare: Theatre of the Absurd bookended by environmentalist surrealism. Opera Parallele's presentation of two one-acts warning of selfishness and decadence was excellent. OP seamlessly melded the two works and crafted them into a play-within-a-play form. They presented it as a wandering theater troupe who stops to present a morality play for a group of desert people. The staging was a bit static in a couple places and the acting unfocused at times, but the singing was very good throughout. The least exciting moments came in Mahagonny at the beginning. The ensembles are very challenging, so the director catered to that, clumping the unsavory gentlemen beautifully singing the quartet ("Auf nach Mahagonny") together for a card game at the edge of the stage. This was fabulous for the sound and the cohesion between the orchestra and singers and was in keeping with the narrative and characterization, but visually and emotionally it was somehow not engaging. The set design was inventive, with a full-sized, functioning boat on wheels that had a foldout platform attached as the biggest and most impressive set piece. Unfortunately, it was quite heavy, and it seemed the cast had not had enough time to play with and get used to it. The lighting catered and contributed to the atmospheric changes onstage. The costumes were interesting but not distracting. In short, the design team did a great job. All of the performers were top-notch. Even the chorus was engaged and vibrant. They sang well, with good verve, volume, and cohesion. The children, culled from the San Francisco Girls' Chorus, were charming with a healthy dose of annoying (when they were supposed to be so). The main cast was quite excellent. Rachel Schutz particularly stood out and did a good job changing her physicality for her different characters. Her lovely and expressive voice carried clearly through the hall. Throughout his life, Bertolt Brecht was adamant that theater should make the audience THINK, not FEEL. He put forth that theater should be a call to action; the audience should leave the theater uneasy and wanting to DO something, rather than feeling cleansed by and reveling in the catharsis they just experienced. However, his Verfremdungseffekt (alienation effect) tends to not be very endearing. People enjoy being immersed and lost in a narrative; escapism is the name of the game, with fantasy films (yes, superhero movies count as fantasy) and comedies topping the movie box office charts. OP struck a working balance between call to action and narrative. It was a cerebrally and emotionally engaging and thoroughly enjoyable show.
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Washington Concert Opera's concert production of I Capuleti e i Montecchi was sublime. End of story. I wanted to write something insightful and nuanced about this experience, but I really don't have much beyond the fact that it was practically flawless, deeply moving, and thoroughly enjoyable.
Antony Walker's conducting was splendid. He literally jumped up and down on the podium and had incredible energy through the whole opera. I started smiling literally seconds into the overture; he was so into the music and the orchestra played so brilliantly together that I knew this was going to be a great show. Walker also kept the tempi moving, which was lovely because there is nothing worse than lugubrious, self-indulgent Bellini. Bravo Maestro. Kate Lindsey (Romeo) stole the show. Apparently this was her first time performing the role, but you wouldn't know it to experience her sensitive phrasing and nuanced acting. Her voice was warm and even through the registers. Her consummate artistry had me riveted and breathless almost the entire time. The entire cast was wonderful. Nicole Cabell (Giulietta) gave a beautiful and committed performance. The role of Giulietta can easily drift into wallowing teenager mode, but Cabell gave her character exactly the right amount of sadness and was never over the top. David Portillo (Tebaldo) really made an impression with his clarion, pleasant voice and engaging presence; after Kate Lindsey, he was my favorite performer of the night. Jeffrey Beruan (Capellio) sang with a lovely round tone. The weakest performer was Liam Moran (Lorenzo), but even he sang very well and delivered a solid performance. I enjoyed every second of this excellent production. Bravi tutti! Merola Opera Program's Don Giovanni (directed by James Darrah with Martin Katz on the podium) was a dark, sexual, and thoroughly enjoyable experience. The production style was bleak and abstract. The staging was wonderfully varied. A standout exception to that was the end of Act I, where most of the characters were frozen except Don Giovanni and Zerlina, who were grappling in the midst of them. It was jarring next to the vibrant music and emotions and implied action; the still staging crippled the energy at a point where the show needed it most. However, apart from two or three moments like that, where it flat-out contradicted the spirit of the music and libretto, the staging was brilliant, layered, and well-executed. I absolutely adored the allusions to rape culture and how the production addressed the cultural themes and dysfunctional relationships within the opera. The tableau during the closing sextet that illustrated the characters' unhealthy relationship dynamics worked for me. Also, having Elvira physically overpower Leporello at the end made me extremely happy. Edward Nelson brought wonderful intensity to the role of Don Giovanni. His voice was consistent and clear throughout the registers. His recitativi showed off his extensive vocal palette; a few were a tad too quiet and fast for the space, but still kept core sound. His acting was top-notch. His presence was unbelievable. I found myself hating him and rooting for him at the same time. His commitment to the moment, the music, and the acting was memorable and moving. I liked the idea of Don Giovanni being an artist. The five or so sketchbooks made for really engaging staging during the Catalogue Aria. Seeing the nude sketches really illustrated exactly how far Don Giovanni gets with the women he seduces. It gave Karen Chia-ling Ho (Donna Elvira) some really visceral and immediate images to react to. Although it might have been good for Szymon Wach, who was a fabulously endearing Leporello, to have had more practice time with the sketchbooks, his occasional difficulties provided some emotionally truthful moments and unexpected humor. All of the ladies brought real depth and beauty to their roles, in addition to showcasing their phenomenal instruments. Amanda Woodbury was an incredible Donna Anna. Her strong, clear voice embodied Donna Anna's inner strength, while the sadness she drew from herself really tinted her character a heartbreaking hue. Yujin Kim was an energetic, adorable Zerlina. Karen Chia-ling Ho was my favorite. She was just so moving. Her excellent acting and vocal ability came together to really bring Donna Elvira to emotionally poignant life. Rhys Lloyd Talbot (Masetto) was really engaging, even as such a buffoonish character. Making him nearsighted was brilliant; it made the mistaken identity moment (which coincidentally had some strangely homoerotic staging for a hot minute right before Giovanni starts beating Masetto) much more believable. This was a phenomenal, innovative, engaging, and brilliantly-performed production. Bravi tutti. http://merolaopera.com/merolaartists http://merola.org/ The Met does everything wholeheartedly, and The Enchanted Island was no exception. The cast was incredible, the sets fantastical and mutable, the costumes perfect, and the music sparkling. I enjoyed this production immensely.
That is not to say it did not have its flaws. It is quite a long production, at over three hours, and it felt like it. I happened to not mind, but the fire and energy of the orchestra and cast was the only thing that kept the show from dragging. The libretto leaves much to be desired. It wasn't particularly interesting or informative. In a few places, there were just too many words. I felt like the singers were struggling to fit them in. It seemed that Mr. Sams had forgotten that the recitatives are for wordiness and the arias are showcases for the voice and emotion. I wasn't familiar with the original arias, but it sounded like he was putting entire phrases where there were originally melismas and sustained notes. Bad form, Mr. Sams, especially when working with long-established music. The singers were absolutely phenomenal (not surprising, considering it was THE MET). Their voices were glorious and their acting was energized, committed, and engaging. Susan Graham (Sycorax) was the standout actor of the night, and Placido Domingo (Neptune) the standout voice. Luca Pisaroni won Most Adorable in this show; he was an infinitely lovable Caliban. Also, his voice had an extraordinary warmth and beauty, while still carrying easily through the hall. Danielle deNiese was enchanting as the androgynous Ariel, with great physicality and exceptional vocal stamina. Unsurprisingly for a pastiche, her arias were chock full of vocal fireworks; she sang them all with ease and agility. David Daniels (Prospero) and Andriana Chuchman (Miranda) were solid and enjoyable, if not particularly interesting. The quartet of lovers (Helena, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius) were hilarious. Elizabeth DeShong was particularly vibrant and engaging as Hermia. Her voice had wonderful clarity and richness; I hope to see her perform again in the future. The Enchanted Island was a fun show. It definitely helped that it was a mashup of two of my favorite Shakespearean plays (The Tempest and A Midsummer Night's Dream) and blockbuster baroque music. I had a fabulous time. Waffle Opera's double-billing of Bach's Coffee Cantata and Pergolesi's La Serva Padrona on Sunday outstripped even my excited expectations.
First and foremost, I have to commend the director of both works, Sarah Young. A perennial, very scary, and very legitimate concern that haunts opera directors is how to make a da capo aria interesting. Young found her answers time and again in this production and each returning melody yielded a new solution. Another directorial conundrum that she solved was what to do with those long orchestral interludes that Bach loved so much; she staged them. Young used the music to her advantage and furthered the story. Furthermore, she used the space very well; the performers entered and exited from all sides of the audience in both works and the minimal stage contours and set pieces were used very effectively. She also smashed the fourth wall multiple times in the Bach, which was a fabulous way to reel in the audience. Massive props to her for staging baroque works in an original and engaging way. There were no small parts (or small actors) in this production. Alan Briones consistently stole the show in the roles of "a businessman" and Vespone by totally committing to his characters. His one line in the Bach ("I'm reviewing this on Yelp!") was delivered with conviction, but this man needed no lines (or music) to endear himself to the audience. His acting was more than enough. Michael Desnoyers also shone in his role as Barista/Narrator in the Bach. His impersonation of a Mission barista, from the way he reverentially offered jars of coffee to the other characters to smell to how he tenderly mimed pouring hot water over grounds, was absolutely perfect. (I happen to know he's a coffee snob, so his accuracy comes as no surprise.) His singing was clear, lyrical, and crisp. Sergey Khalikulov appeared as Elder Schlendrian in The Coffee Cantata (making him Mormon was an excellent touch, and the audience laughed raucously the first time we got a good look at his book, aptly titled The Book of Mormon, by God) and Uberto in La Serva Padrona. He inhabited each character differently, making them distinct from one another. His melismas were not as clean as I wanted and he seemed to run out of steam two-thirds of the way through La Serva Padrona, although he found energy at the very end. However, he has a well-placed baby bass-baritone voice and I think age will fix any of the (slight) criticisms I had. The ladies outdid the men that afternoon. They were both spot on, with voices to match their characters and character to spare. Angela Jarosz was adorable as Lieschen, and her voice was bright and clean. She flirted unabashedly with the audience, not just as demanded by the direction, but with her vocalism and verve. A sparkling performance. Gabrielle Traub was flawless as Serpina. She made her voice nasal and whiny at the appropriate moments, but still kept beauty in the tone and line. Her acting was strong and believable; I actually found myself liking her early on in the show. It would have been so easy to err on the side of brattiness, but she managed to toe the line. Last, but most certainly not least, Misha Khalikulov on cello and Ben Malkevitch on "harpsichord" took the place of the orchestra and managed to make an orchestra seem unnecessary. They were wonderful. They balanced very well with the singers. They set excellent tempi and followed unerringly if the singers were faster or slower by even the tiniest bit. And they did it from all the way across the room most of the time. They played beautifully in the "orchestral" interludes. Brilliant musicians. Overall, this was a fabulous production. Baroque opera is a risky undertaking, but Waffle Opera mitigated the risk simply by putting on a brilliant show. They are a dedicated and incredibly talented group of young artists and I cannot wait to see Die Zauberflote in March and The Threepenny Opera in June. Find them at waffleopera.com. |
AuthorMaayan is a Manhattan-based opera singer. Archives
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