Out West Arts: Performance at the end of the world

While I'm in New York this week, a number of OWA's team of roving eyes and ears were out and about. Bon vivant and man-about-town Ben Vanaman also filed this report following Saturday's recital from Piotr Beczala at The Broad Stage.

Anticipation was high for the recital given by Polish tenor Piotr Beczala this weekend at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica. Not only was his star turn opposite Anna Netrebko in the Metropolitan Opera’s recent run of Massanet’s Manon fresh on one’s mind, but this was the singer’s first public recital according to Broad director Dale Franzen in remarks to the audience before the evening’s performance. This seems remarkable given the breadth of the singer’s operatic work, much of it in Europe. However, let’s accept our good fortune, because this was such a memorable occasion. L.A. has seen recitals over the past couple of years from a roster of operatic luminaries ranging from Rene Pape to Jonas Kaufmann, Dmitri Horostovsky to Karita Mattila, but Beczala stood right with them in delivering a fully committed and engaged performance.

Flanked by noted accompanist Brian Zeger, Beczala strode onto the stage radiating joy and confidence before launching directly into “Di’ tu se fedele” from Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera. The aria’s portent of fate yielded smoothly enough to the impassioned serenade of Leoncavallo’s “Mattinata,” Beczala concluding the first portion of his recital with a reading of “Dei miei bollenti spirit” from La Traviata that felt slightly more tentative than his thrilling delivery of the first two numbers. Still, this is a magnificent voice, particularly at the top, where it sounded clarion and secure, even if on occasion a little showoff-ish. If you’ve got it, flaunt it.

One was particularly grateful to Beczala for programming a generous selection of operatic arias, including such rarities as the “Song of the Indian Merchant” from Rimsky-Korsakof’s Sadko, and the haunting “Jontek’s Aria” from Stanslaw Moniuzko’s Halka. The program’s second half, largely focused on the work of Russian and Polish composers, found Beczala more relaxed and opened-up. Here, he included four short songs by 19th Century Polish composer Mieczyslaw Karlowicz, yet the lieder selections –including seven songs from Schumann’s Dichterliebe in the first half- didn’t seem as interpretively powerful as they might have been apart from a commandingly sung trio of Richard Strauss songs before intermission. But perhaps this only seemed the case because German baritone Matthias Goerne raised the bar so high on the lieder recital in his nuanced and mesmerizing performances last week of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise at Disney Hall.

Still, there’s no disputing that Beczala’s the real deal. He has a ringing instrument that, combined with a generally authoritative delivery, brought the house down even before the recital was over: Romeo’s aria “Ah! Leve toi, soleil!” from Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette, the evening’s penultimate selection, was followed by an impromptu standing ovation. A spirited reading of Franz Lehar’s “Freunde, das Leben is lebenswert” from Giuditta concluded the official part of the program. There were a few additional quibbles. Accompanist Zeger soloed with Schumann and Chopin selections that were no doubt intended to let Beczala rest his voice, but these intervals were distracting. And the encores, led off by “O Sole Mio,” felt like a carnival sideshow with Beczala hamming it up unnecessarily. But this is not to detract from the excellence delivered in this recital by a singer at the seeming peak of his career, but for whom some further recital discipline might be warranted. It’s worth mention that Beczala’s rapturously floating pianissimos at the end of the Rimsky-Korsakov aria and one of the Karlowicz songs proved even more thrilling than when he was singing full voice.

Labels: Broad Stage 11/12

David Cromer’s much lauded production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town made it to Los Angeles this week. It’s landed at The Broad Stage, a venue that is quickly developing an incredible track record for bringing the best in theater to Los Angeles. I’m happy to report that Our Town is another chapter in that growing, remarkable history. The production dates back to 2008 where it originated under the auspices of Chicago’s The Hypocrites and a successful long run in New York followed. (In fact it was the longest New York of run of the play ever since its premiere in 1938.) Director David Cromer and many of the original cast have followed the show West along with Helen Hunt who plays the role of the stage manager as she had during a later part of the New York run. And what’s arrived at The Broad is sensational and profoundly moving.

Wilder’s tale of everyday American lives in the early 20th Century was marked from its premiere with a stark, unusually barren staging – an artifice used to strip away what he saw as alienating pretenses of the stage including elaborate sets and costumes. Cromer follows Wilder’s stage directions to this extent with his actors pantomiming activities like cooking and cleaning. But Cromer uses other devices to brilliantly strip away the veneer of nostalgia associated with Our Town exposing the dark and blistering heart of the show. The stage of The Broad auditorium has been extended out over the entire seating area with the audience sitting on risers atop the expanded space in a U-shaped area. The narrow central corridor contains two tables with four chairs each and large walkways lie directly behind the first row of seating. All of this space is used by the cast completely integrating the audience into the day-to-day life of Grover’s Corners. The town’s children run down these aisles and Hunt is as likely to be sitting next to you as addressing you from the stage. Cromer goes further, though, dressing the cast in contemporary street clothes and playing down New England accents and overly expressive affect.

This all adds up to a certain darkness that sets in from the moment things begin, and suddenly the whole show is imbued by an awareness of human frailty and transience. This is not about longing for the past, but the exact opposite. The Our Town stands and screams with rage over our inability to live in the beauty of the moment which comes home to roost in a powerful third act. Cromer closes the show with a brilliant coup de théatre that I won’t describe here, but suffice it to say the audience was filled with sobbing patrons and I’m not ashamed to say I was among them. What’s more, not only has Cromer managed to expose the raw, painful crux of the play, but he’s done so in a way that feels contemporary. Despite its setting of events from over a century ago, this production of Our Town struck me as urgent a show as Next to Normal with modern day American families going about their lives. This is a not a gauzy John Ford version of the past but a dangerous, beautiful throbbing 'now' to be contended with. There is an excellent cast, not only including a superbly subtle Hunt, but James McMenamin as a heartbreaking George and Jennifer Grace as an Emily nearly bursting with youth. But all in the ensemble are quite good and there wasn’t a single moment in the calm, well-paced show that wasn’t worth savoring. I can’t say enough good things about the show. You should see it if you haven’t already before it’s gone on Feb 12.

Labels: Broad Stage 11/12

I’ve seen a lot of Shakespeare this year. I guess that’s true every year, as well, but this year seems particularly brimming with everything, from King Lear in New York (on two different occasions) to Julius Caesar in Oregon. So, with all the competition, who would guess that the home of consistently the best Shakespeare I’ve seen all year is at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica? They hosted a smashing Merchant of Venice last winter from Theater for a New Audience and on Saturday, the venue welcomed back Shakespeare’s Globe Theater for their third visit in as many years, this time with their recent production of The Comedy of Errors. The troupe has been beloved here going as far back as Mark Rylance’s days with the company, but the Globe’s association with The Broad Stage has been very fruitful with satisfying touring productions of Love’s Labour’s Lost and The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Perhaps most striking about Shakepeare’s Globe is how physically little it takes to get it right. This point was driven home after seeing the elaborate reconstruction of the Globe Theater at The Park Avenue Armory this summer under the auspices of a residency from The Royal Shakespeare Company. A huge edifice, big casts, and elaborate sets rarely amounted to good theater there. But the Globe players, who are often traveling light, manage to impress with their focus on the best parts of Shakespeare – the language and desire to connect with the audience. The Comedy of Errors was directed by Rebecca Gatward and with its simplicity creates the deception that the show might be some summertime backyard lark. The set consists of little more than a large wooden pallet set upon the stage with a canvas-covered shack just behind it. Some chairs and a handful of props complete the physical stuff of the performance outside of the eight members of the ensemble and their costumes. It’s not Elizabethan dress per se, but evokes a 20th-century Turkish look with fezzes and sandals.

And yet the production feels large with its outsized comic performances. A single actor is cast for each pair of identically-named and unwittingly separated twin brothers. Antipholus is played here by the debonaire Bill Buckhurst and the servants Dromio are embodied by Fergal McElherron. This is not an unusual strategy given that there are only two scenes (one being the finale) that involve both twins in the same scene at the same time. Of course, having a single actor dash back in forth in those moments adds to the hilarity, and true to form, the Act III confrontation where one pair of Antipholus and Dromio are barred from entering their own home by the other pair, is particularly well done as the actors dash back and forth to either side of a free-standing door deftly donning and removing the few props—like a pair of glasses—used to communicate their different identities to the audience. But Gatward ups the ante in this production by having almost all of the rest of the cast take on multiple roles as well. Emma Pallant plays both the Abbess and the Courtesan in a particularly artful twist further muddling the social relationships Shakespeare is parodying. The Globe company and Gatward also strike just the right note with the numerous slapstick and low-brow elements of the play. The cast provides their own sound effects with slide whistles and drums for the pratfalls. But the whole thing is done with such a keen eye for the text and language that it never feels cynical. There is no effort to update or transform references using modern cultural ones. But there is an expansive sense of the stage and surroundings with the cast often entering, exiting, and delivering dialog from various points in the Broad Stage’s intimate space.

The show, which runs through the 27th, is perfect for older kids and just about everyone. It’s also another big success for Shakespeare’s Globe and The Broad Stage here in Los Angeles, which leaves one wanting more. So how about a two month residency sometime with the company here in Los Angeles at The Broad with five or six plays running in repertory. We could show New York how it’s done (again) and we wouldn’t even need to build a replica of the Globe Theater inside.

Labels: Broad Stage 11/12, LA Theater Reviews

The great English baritone Simon Keenlyside made a much anticipated recital debut in Southern California on Saturday night at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica. He’s reportedly not a fan of frequent travels far from his family and home these days, so this visit was a treat and an appreciative, large audience showed up for the program. The evening included mostly traditional recital material with songs from Mahler, Strauss, Debussy, Duparc, and George Butterworth, which served as an island of music from between 1880 and 1911 in an otherwise all baroque weekend for me. And probably the best thing about the whole evening was how seriously musical it was. I don’t mean that it wasn’t filled with any charming or lighthearted moments, but that Keenlyside was clearly intent on presenting a thought-out, professional program. This was no celebrity showcase in leather pants and knowing smile, but a bona fide vocal recital. Keenlyside was clearly engaged with all the material and was physically involved in the characters contained in the music. He spoke eloquently about the subtext of the songs from George Butterworth, which he argued are tied to the time leading up to WWI and the tragic loses suffered during war despite the music’s pretty pastoral sound.

But the evening did have some bumps. Keenlyside sounded like he might be suffering from a mild cold although no announcement to this effect was ever made. Mahler’s “Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht” was interrupted midway by an outright cough, with Keenlyside starting over from the beginning. More than that, many of the pianissimo high notes seemed unstable and there was a hint of gravel here and there elsewhere throughout the night. Not so much that it created havoc, but enough to notice. When Keenlyside got louder and more dramatic the issue seemed to subside. But both the Mahler and Strauss were plagued by this despite the baritone’s excellent German. Strauss’ “Befreit” was particularly affecting with its dramatic proclamations of love in the face of death. Keenlyside has always had an affinity not only for his native English, but also French, and the highlight of the night was in the lovely intimate intonation of the Debussy songs. Keenlyside is still one of the world’s leading Pelleases and his affinity for Debussy made for some stirring and outright romantic moments. Things wrapped up with four encores from the likes of George Ireland and Schubert. But Keenlyside's commitment to the material never flagged and the show did leave me wishing we'll have more chances to hear him back in L.A. again soon.

Labels: Broad Stage 11/12