Out West Arts: Performance at the end of the world

Marlis Petersen as Lulu and Wolfgang Schöne as Dr. Schön
Photo: Dan Rest/LOC 2008

How does one evaluate an experience that one has nothing personally to compare to? That’s how I feel after seeing the Chicago Lyric Opera’s new production of Alban Berg’s Lulu. It was my first live experience with the opera and it was just as overwhelming for me as my first experiences with Wagner. I feel that even after four hours I’ve just barely scratched the surface of this masterpiece. If I were in Chicago, I’d make the effort to see every performance I could. However, all that being said, I’m not sure how it really rates on the gamut of Lulus overall. This is an opera that, in this country at least, still lives in the shadow of Pierre Boulez and Teresa Stratas. With so few American productions to reference, it seems nearly impossible to separate it from the sounds and images of one or maybe two legendary performances that have been preserved over the last 30 or so years since the opera arrived in its full three act form.

And yet, here it is in Chicago in all of its glory, you lucky bastards you. Obviously there were more than a few people who were intrigued by the presentation considering the house appeared nearly 70 percent full. For this opera on a Monday in the current economy, my friends, that is a big success. The orchestra was lovely under music director Sir Andrew Davis in the second time he has led this opera for the house. The performance was detailed and edgy if perhaps not as darkly beautiful as is possible. The cast includes two of the leading proponents of their respective roles – Marlis Petersen as Lulu and Wolfgang Schöne as Dr. Schön/Jack the Ripper. They are both excellent and Petersen’s take on the title character is both intellectually admirable and thoroughly engrossing. She manages Berg's quite difficult score with apparent ease and manages a wide variety of vocal technique throughout the evening. Neither victim nor perpetrator, her Lulu is doing the only things she knows how in a world not of her choosing or design. Meanwhile, the cast is rounded out with top-quality American performers. Jill Grove is Countess Geschwitz and nothing short of fantastic. Every time I see her I love her more and more, and her closing passages in Act III were shattering. The ever-handsome William Burden sang Alwa which makes sense given the more romantic qualities of his voice, but I wasn’t completely convinced that this was a prime role for him.

The new production was directed by Paul Curran whom I have not always had the highest regard for. However, this production was well thought out, looked sharp, and carried a big emotional wallop with plenty of decadence and more than a little explicit sexual activity. Infused with a 1920s German film glamor and updated about 30 years from its original setting, the opera takes place in a series of bright white rooms appropriately appointed with what you’d expect. Lulu in Act I has her portrait painted in a Harlequin costume, which later returns in a more revealing format for her backstage scene. In between the set changes, Curran uses the curtain and scrim to project a variety of black and white images tinged with small amounts of red to imply the coming action. Also included was the film Berg called for in the score during the Act II Interlude. Here Curran dove headlong into the German Expressionist style with great results. It's a straight-forward take on the opera as Curran usually prefers, but the angularity of the set design and the superb cast keeps things from getting boring.

So now is your chance, Chicago. This is an event that only comes around so often and it is a formidable one. It would be a shame to miss it.

Labels: Opera Review 08/09, Out of Town

Kate Aldrich, Vittorio Grigolo, and Renée Fleming
Photo: Karin Cooper/WNO 2008

Yes, I did get to see one of the four Renée Fleming Lucrezia Borgia performances at Washington National Opera on my current trip out of town. And guess what? The show wasn’t half bad. In fact, it’s thoroughly enjoyable despite the obvious problems. It is true that Borgia will not be a role for which Fleming will be fondly remembered. She does not have the bel canto chops to pull this off despite many other charms. But it was still a remarkable vocal turn and honestly I can think of a couple dozen performers regularly performing roles with far less success and much greater frequency than this. Fleming’s an opera mega-star at the top of her game. Even her missteps are more interesting than most people’s big successes.

If you want an aesthetic fall guy, take aim at conductor Placido Domingo. The orchestra was never consistently anything, speeding up and slowing down seemingly at random. Domingo on a couple of occasions backed everyone off at a musical climax for the benefit of the vocalists, which kind of killed the mood in a couple key moments. Despite this, it turns out there were at least three other performers besides Fleming who had no trouble generating their own amount of excitement regardless of what else was going on. Ruggero Raimondi took the role of Duke Alfonso with appropriate gravity. Kate Aldrich, who gave a seriously remarkable performance earlier this year as Queen Elisabeth in Maria Stuarda in San Diego, gave another one here in Washington as Orsini. Both she and Vittorio Grigolo, who played Borgia’s son Gennaro, quite gamely engaged director John Pascoe’s take on the homoerotic subtext of the story. Given that Aldrich had the trouser role, I think many in the audience were still somewhat lost on this point when the two started making out all over each other in the final act. Grigolo has a youthful and athletic voice with an Italianate quality, which is nicely complemented by the fact that he is what we used to call a buff nugg.

But bare chests and spiky blond anime hair does not a production make, and as has been widely reported, Pascoe augmented a rather traditional set with Battlestar Galactica outfits. Fleming gets some black leggings and metallic Gaultier-like corset with giant cape for the final act and a spiky blond wig of her own. Frankly, though, I thought this all worked fairly well. Yes, it’s crazy, but this is a crazy opera and the contrast ensured no one was taking all of this too seriously. It was regal and glam rock at the same time. And how’s this for a bonus, Fleming’s tendency to have a somewhat matronly bearing when performing actually works here when she’s playing a mother - a seriously messed-up one, but a mother nonetheless. Now my only wish was that I had a reason to stay around to see what the incredible Sondra Radvanovsky does with all this on Friday. But I’m moving on.

Labels: Opera Review 08/09, Out of Town

Nathan Gunn and cast
Photo: Robert Kusel/LOC 2008

It’s a uniquely uninteresting opera production where even the bare chest of opera’s bare-chest-standard-bearer Nathan Gunn fails to hold your attention. But such is the case with Chicago Lyric Opera’s current run of Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles now wrapping up its run and which I saw last Saturday. To be fair, this opera may be more plagued with uninspired stagings than any I can think of right off the top of my head. However, Nicholas Joël’s production was bland enough to make me actually long for the day-glo garishness of Zandra Rhodes’ take on the piece, which has been all over the country. By comparison, Joël’s Ceylon seems almost reserved and matronly like something from the set of a Laurel and Hardy picture. His "other" is still exotic, just not quite as sexualized.

Still there was a requisite amount of flesh to be seen, but it didn’t really matter considering how well sung the whole thing was. An all-American cast was on offer including Gunn, Eric Cutler as Nadir, and Nicole Cabell as the priestess/virgin/whatever Leïla. Also sounding quite excellent, and deserving a big shout out, was Christian Van Horn as Nourabad. (You can check out his nifty blog at the right which includes a candid after hours boys night out photo of the cast - unfortunately, it's completely SFW.) Cutler and Gunn were both solid as a rock vocally and complemented each other well. My biggest pleasant surprise though was Cabell whom, despite all the hype, I’ve had some doubts about after a rather lackluster Musetta in Santa Fe a couple of summers back. She was on target here—clear, bright and lustrous throughout. Apparently all that was needed was a little indoor reverberation to pull it all together for me. I could have used a little more allure and a little less nurture in the acting department, but it’s really squabbling.

In the pit was John Mauceri, of all people. It was a respectable performance, and it was nice to know that there is life after the Hollywood Bowl for a conductor who may be trapped exactly midway between John Williams and John Adams. So, it was enjoyable and that’s not so bad. Not the greatest thing I’ve seen, but definitely worlds better than the intestinal flu, as I was reminded in the days subsequent to the performance. There are still a couple of shows left next week to see this fine American cast if you’re in the Chicago area.

Labels: Opera Review 08/09, Out of Town

Natalie Dessay and Jonas Kaufmann
Photo: Dan Rest/LOC 2008

No, I’m not dead. I’m just in Chicago. Which I love, especially when I see people just dressed as themselves and not in some bizarre “look” so common in my own hometown. You can take the boy out of the Midwest…. But I’m here (at least in part) for opera so let’s start with the Lyric Opera’s opening production this season of Massenet’s Manon. It’s a big ticket affair with the likes of Natalie Dessay and Jonas Kaufmann. But despite really solid performances from both, I wasn’t completely sold. I think much of it was the David McVicar production, a large open area surrounded by a slanting semi-circular gallery where period costumed revelers alternately watch and participate in the action in a sort of meta-performance way. McVicar does depravity with a twist of S&M better than anyone else these days. And, while this is ideal for Rigoletto and Don Giovanni, it makes his Manon seem strained and off-kilter. Strip-poker, bondage, cutting, and candle-wax-eroticism do have their place in the operatic world, but it kind of takes the wind out of your sails when we're talking about Massenet. Then you have the trademark muted colors and harsh lighting which drive the effect home. It just never seemed that fun or over-the-top to me.

Emmanuel Villaume conducted the orchestra in a performance that was only periodically infused with dynamics and was more often than not dragging and ponderous. The stop and start pacing killed the first two acts for me. It was like every cast member on stage had a parent in the audience and Villaume wanted to ensure that even the most minor players got every ounce of attention they could for the folks back home. Which brings me to the principals. Now I am a Dessay fan overall and vocally I thought she was adequate. But honestly, there was a little too much of the pixie-shtick here for me. I never really got the sense that her Manon was desperate or had her heart broken, though she did pout at times. I found myself longing for the richer, warmer tones of Fleming in this role, which is saying a lot considering how matronly she typically is in it. Give me Netrebko as Manon any day. Jonas Kaufmann in a very handsome and able tenor. His top notes seemed a little thin, but he gets around the stage well in a convincing manner. I never felt a lot of chemistry between him and Dessay, but maybe I’m asking too much. I will say this, though. I thought Manon's death in des Grieux' arms was perhaps one of the more convincing renditions of that scene I've witnessed. Maybe all the depravity finally paid off. In the end it's a worthwhile production with some great singing. It just left me wanting more.

Labels: Opera Review 08/09, Out of Town