Out West Arts: Performance at the end of the world

It was grey, cold, and overcast in San Francisco last weekend; perhaps the perfect weather to complement San Francisco Opera’s premiere of Dvorak’s Rusalka on Sunday. Perfect in that the weather outside easily mimicked the dark, gloomy, latter-day Victoriana, which is the preferred stomping ground of David McVicar, the new production’s director. SFO imported the production from Lyric Opera Chicago for their second ever presentation of Rusalka following a company premiere with Reneé Fleming in the title role in 1995. This tale of a water nymph who makes a bargain with a witch to become human and pursue a man she loves has been steadily growing in operatic popularity over the last thirty years thanks in no small part to a number of advocates including Charles Mackerras and Fleming herself. McVicar’s take on the story emphasizes the role of the Prince who rejects Rusalka’s love and later regrets it greatly. In this version, Rusalka is a dream of sorts of the unhappily married Prince as laid out in a pantomime that opens the staging. It’s an interesting idea, but one that rings hollow given that the libretto focuses almost exclusively on Rusalka’s internal emotional state. There are also overtones of the degradation of the natural world that parallel the characters’ emotional degradation. The woodland glen of the opening act is encroached upon by industrial runoff structures as the evening moves on. All of this is very dark and murkily lit, resulting in a show that is attractive if not always newly insightful. And while McVicar’s gloom certainly resonates with certain themes of this very adult fairy-tale, the performance itself was unabashedly one of brightness and shiny luster.

SFO has gathered together a world caliber cast for the performance, including the role debut of American soprano, Rachel Willis-Sorensen. Her star has been on the rise in the US and Europe in recent seasons and this is a major success for her. Her bright, easy tone soars above Dvorak’s lush orchestral writing and she is perfectly heartbreaking in the conclusion to this work. She is reason enough to see this production and undoubtedly a super-star in waiting. Opposite her is Brandon Jovanovich, a SFO favorite, as the Prince. His muscular tenor is well-suited for a role which seems like it was written for him. There is real chemistry between the two performers, which does more to sell this story than any amount of stage fog does. The witch Jezibaba is voiced by Jamie Barton, who again proves to be the most-valuable player in just about every performance she steps into. Despite being saddled with perhaps the worst of the corseted Victorian garb of anyone in the cast, she rises above it all with a remarkable rendition. The orchestra, under the direction of conductor Eun Sun Kim, was appropriately light and warmly lyrical at every turn.

Playing opposite Rusalka this summer in San Francisco is the company’s second ever performances of Handel’s Orlando. SFO has an exceptionally good track record of presenting Handel’s operas and there are many things to admire about this staging as well. The production places the action in a London hospital during the Blitz. Orlando has let the battlefront in search of his love Angelica who is accompanying her love, Medoro, injured during combat. All the action takes place in various rooms of the hospital and director, Harry Fehr, cleverly recasts the magical spells Zororastro uses on Orlando at different moments in the libretto as psychiatric treatment used to help a shell-shocked Orlando “recover” from his angry plans of vengeance for a spurned love. Boldly this includes a scene of Orlando undergoing electric-shock treatments in the final Act. It all works decidedly well in a smart looking production that keeps up the pace in a Baroque plot that can seem muddled at times. Fehr also deftly deployed video elements at critical points in the story to elucidate actions critical to the plot but perhaps difficult to see from the audience such as the gifting, and later loss, of Orlando’s ring.

The cast was again filled with many notable American vocal artists. Orlando was sung by Sasha Cooke, who was announced as sick at the beginning of the evening, but performed admirably despite this. Heidi Stober, Christina Gansch, and Christian Van Horn all gave committed performances as well. If there was a stand out in the cast, it was countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, who sang Medoro. He was a replacement for the originally announced David Daniels, who was withdrawn from the production last year. Cohen was on fire on Saturday. Vocally agile, warm, and powerful, he dominated every moment he was on stage. Christopher Moulds made his company debut in the pit with a well-paced and detail-oriented performance.

Labels: SF Opera 18/19

San Francisco Opera has opened its 2018/2019 season with two productions that raise questions about the links between various operas and how those links can inform individual productions or performances. The season opened with two of the most closely linked operas in the standard repertoire, Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci. These two staples of the verismo tradition have commonly been presented together due to the many stylistic and content similarities between them. But the performance precedent that binds the two works wasn’t quite enough of a connection for this 2012 production designed and created by tenor José Cura who bound the two even more tightly together by attempting to make them two acts within a single narrative. The setting is moved to La Boca, an Italian-immigrant neighborhood in 1920s Buenos Aires with characters from both opera appearing onstage throughout the evening. In fact both Mascagni and Leoncavallo themselves appear to watch the action they have written transpire onstage, and the prologue to Pagliacci is performed by the character Leoncavallo himself. Mamma Lucia also becomes a central figure commiserating with Marco Berti’s Canio in Pagliacci 6 months following the death of her son in the evenings first half. She also steals the last line of Pagliacci right out of Canio’s mouth. It wasn’t clear to me how successful this narrative approach was and it was just as puzzling at times as it was dramatically engaging.

However, much about this performance seen on the 16th of September soared. Daniele Callegari elicited a well-paced and passionate performance from all the musical artists. The star of the afternoon was easily Dimitri Platanias, the Greek baritone who appeared as both Alfio and Tonio. He easily commanded the stage at all times and went further toward providing glue between the elements of both operas than any of the symbolic machinations of the set design. Jill Grove was a great Mamma Lucia and showed off her excellent acting chops in Pagliacci where she was often present with nothing to sing. Tenor Roberto Aronica goes back many years with this company and his Turiddu was a fine addition to the many roles he has excelled in here.

The other opera opening this San Francisco Opera season was Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux. The opera is one of three that Donizetti wrote about England’s Tudor royal family. (The others being Anna Bolena and Maria Stuarda) So there are natural companions to this bel canto masterpiece, and many opera companies have presented them in series with appropriate vocal artists to fill thee very challenging leading roles. In this instance, SFO imported a recent production of Devereux from the Dallas Opera by Stephen Lawless. Lawless designed a circular stage mimicking an Elizabethan theater to compliment the time frame of the depicted events of the opera. In Dallas this set was used for all three of Donizetti’s Tudor operas over different seasons, but on this outing in San Francisco it stood alone, mostly as a vehicle for star soprano Sondra Radvanovsky. Given that the production was taken somewhat out of context of the trio it was originally intended for, elements of the staging that was suggestive of linkages between the works could seem confusing or out of place here including large glass display cases containing bodies for the assassinated victims of Donizetti’s other Tudor operas.

Musically, this production seen on Friday September 14th wasn’t as solid as the verismo offerings. Radvanovsky is rightly a huge star. Her large, colorful tone has been the centerpiece of Verdi and Puccini performances all over the world for well over a decade. She has taken on these Tudor roles in the last several years including at the Metropolitan Opera in New York where she performed all three in a single season. And while she makes the role her own, the bel canto works are not as natural a fit for her as many of her other signature roles. She could turn overly steely at times and her Elizabeth was as likely to seem petty as regal. She was well matched by a world class cast including Russell Thomas in the title role and Jamie Barton as Sara who both gave warm, well-developed performances. Riccardo Frizza conducted the performance, which could have been a bit crisper. Still this is a prime change to see a A-level cast in a rarely performed opera.

Labels: SF Opera 18/19