Out West Arts: Performance at the end of the world

Anthony Dean Griffey and Spike Sommers in Peter Grimes
Photo: Ken Howard/LAO 2009

Although it may be a bit premature to say so, San Diego Opera’s current production of Peter Grimes is clearly the highlight of the their 2009 opera season. More specifically, Anthony Dean Griffey’s performance in the title role is world-class and riveting. He was widely lauded for his performance of the same role at the Metropolitan Opera in early 2008 which has now found life on an excellent DVD. But there is really no comparison to seeing him live, and San Diego is offering its audience a big treat by staging this 20th-century masterpiece when other California companies of less nerve have backed away from Britten’s admittedly dark work in the coming months. Griffey brings a tragic innocence to the part in an interesting parallel to the very boyishness he’s accused of murdering by the community in which he lives.

Of course, Griffey isn’t alone on stage, and San Diego has delivered on the challenging and quite beautiful choral music Britten calls for. Grimes’ never-to-be paramour Ellen Orford is sung by American soprano Jennifer Casey Cabot who warms up over the course of this production starting out a little more schoolmarmish and developing into a loving, and sadly abandoned, woman as all her good intentions unravel around her. Rod Gilfry was a dignified Captain Balstrode, and Kristopher Irmiter’s Ned Keene hit just the right combination of sly and warm. I must say that I was really pleased with Greg Fedderly’s Bob Boles as well. A thankless role of a zealous townsman who whips up religious fervor and negative sentiment against Grimes, Bob Boles is far less showy than Mrs. Sedley, a character who serves a similar function but receives much more attention. Fedderly proves you can make the most out of even the seemingly smallest part and he made the loathsome Boles very menacing without resorting simply to shouting in the town’s square.

Not everything is perfect. John Copley’s well traveled production is less than ideal. While not as bad as some of his Handel and Mozart monstrosities, he still can’t completely lay off the kitsch. The chorus too often is directed into unnecessary histrionics during crowd scenes and the dark and somber mood of the piece is often marred by what look like sitcom antics. There is some effort to focus on the placement of light and color, but the stage images veer towards the cartoonish at times. There seems to be an uncertainty about entrances and exits with Grimes just wandering on and off the stage whenever he’s headed into or out of the sea in a show with a paradoxical absence of a maritime feel. Worse yet, Britten's beautiful sea interludes, which were handled so well by the orchestra under Steuart Bedford, were treated as little more than scene change music with the curtain down and lots of rumbling backstage. The audience delivered plenty of applause in these stretches, effectively squashing perhaps some of the loveliest musical moments in the whole show. Still there’s too much to like here to miss, and you may want to check this out if your in town during the last two performances this weekend.

I also noted that San Diego Opera announced its reduced, four-production 2010 season this week. After months of talk about all the cutbacks and financial woes of the organization, they should be lauded for a very smart, if not necessarily daring, schedule next year. Wisely counter programming what’s left of its nearest large competitors, San Diego is going with big Italian staples while San Francisco Opera is dark and Los Angeles Opera is on hiatus from its reduced schedule before diving into all German programming in Spring and Summer 2010. San Diego will start with La Boheme starting in late January starring German superstar Anja Harteros as Mimi and the rapidly rising Piotr Beczala as Rudolfo. Following this will be Verdi’s Nabucco, which hasn’t been around these parts in a while and featuring the talents of another very impressive lead, Zeljko Lucic, in the title role. March will bring Gounod’s Romeo And Juliet with Stephen Costello before ending the season with Elizabeth Futral taking another swing at La Traviata. Times being what they are, what’s not to like?

UPDATE 4/23: I was just informed by a reader that all tickets for the last two performances of Peter Grimes this weekend on the 24th and 26th are 50$/25$! That is one great bargain.

Labels: San Diego Opera 09

Ferruccio Furlanetto and Denyce Graves
Photo: Cory Weaver/SDO 2009

San Diego Opera is currently providing a rare opportunity to see Massenet’s Don Quichotte, an opera deserving of more attention than it is usually afforded. It’s a treat to hear, especially considering that under the right conditions it could be as easily entertaining as Verdi’s Falstaff. And while, sadly, these are not quite such circumstances; there are some things worth seeing. First and foremost is bass Ferruccio Furlanetto. He’s a longtime friend of this company, and this production was staged more or less exclusively for him. And why not? He’s great, infusing Cervantes’ hero with real humor and pathos. To make the situation even better, he’s abetted by Eduardo Chama in the role of Sancho Panza. Chama is solid throughout and works well here with one of the biggest stars of the operatic stage. The San Diego Symphony Orchestra was in the pit under Karen Keltner who fared well even if it wasn’t the most French sound one could imagine.

However, Massenet and Furlanetto are not alone in this endeavor, but little else lives up to their standard. Company General Director Ian Campbell directs this rather pedestrian staging, which appears to at least have the benefit of being non-descript enough to stand in for about two dozen other operas with little more than a costume change. It's a brand new production, but you wouldn't know that to look at it. The lighting was quite good, however, with Marie Barrett turning some minimal moments into far more enticing propositions including the windmill scene. The chorus sounded fine, but could have used a little more stage direction. The bitterest pill, though, was Denyce Graves as Dulcinea. Graves gives her character a worldliness, but vocally things are far too out of control for her at this point to manage this role. It was a white-knuckle performance – and not in a good sense.

Still, for San Diego to put time and effort into something a little off the beaten path these days is admirable. You’re not going to hear this work again soon, especially given the unfairly bad rap French opera gets in this country. There is one more performance on Sunday the 22nd.

Labels: San Diego Opera 09

Greer Grimsley as Scarpia and Sylvie Valayre as Tosca
Photo: Ken Howard/SDO 2009

The 2009 opera season kicked off on a dramatic note Saturday down in San Diego with a revival of Puccini’s Tosca. And as with most arts organizations these days, it seems to be a contest whether more drama is onstage or off given the financial straits many houses now find themselves in—what with greatly reduced endowments, dwindling contributions, and decreasing ticket sales. As if to drive that point home more clearly, the company’s general director of over two decades, Ian Campbell, appeared on stage before the performance to update the festive crowd on just how tight things have gotten and to appeal for the crowd’s support in face of a reduced season of productions in 2010. While this stiff-upper-lip stuff is certainly necessary, it did run the risk of making the show that followed comparatively anti-climactic.

But luckily, the show itself was a reasonable evening that was warmly received by a near capacity audience, although it certainly isn't going to set the world, much less anything smaller, on fire. The San Diego production, originally designed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and directed here by Andrew Sinclair, is a fairly effective if standard-issue affair that dates back over 30 years. It still works well without being overly dark or cartoonish. Edoardo Müller was at the podium and the orchestra performed admirably. The Tosca for this run is Sylvie Valayre, who has worked primarily in Europe but is making more U.S. appearances this season. She sings most of the big Puccini gals specializing in Turandot, Butterfly and Tosca. And while her voice is not small, it is a rather blunt instruments that does get the job done despite weakness in the lower range. I was rather thankful she elected to go with more of an ingenue approach to the role as opposed to the “fiery” histrionics favored by too many others. She also eschewed the whole Callas cross and candle preparation of Scarpia’s corpse in Act II, a gesture which frankly has looked tired for almost the entire age of this particular production. Valayre’s Tosca is never quite dangerous, but seemed somewhat more accessible, although her retelling of her murderous actions to Cavaradossi in Act III did produce a few unintended titters from the audience.

On the men’s side were two known quantities – Marcus Haddock as Cavaradossi and Greer Grimsley’s Scarpia. Haddock sounded less strained than I’ve heard him recently and he is convincing in a youthful way. Grimsley is probably the strongest vocally in the cast and he is menacing despite having to perform such gestures as removing a periwig in preparation for a planned ravishing. But still, if you like Puccini and live in the area, you could do worse than this Tosca. Or maybe not. With the dwindling opera options in Southern California following the closure of Opera Pacific, San Diego may be one of the best options for those interested in fully-staged fare that don't want to drive up to L.A. San Diego has a number of other interesting productions this winter including a rarity in Massenet's Don Quichotte in February with Ferruccio Furlanetto and Denyce Graves; and Peter Grimes with Anthony Dean Griffey in April following his sensational performance of this role in New York last year.

Labels: San Diego Opera 09