This production of Werther shows a director giving free rein to his ideas, which fortunately are not as outlandish as those that have informed other San Francisco productions -- I think particularly of Macbeth, which is remembered for the egg beater and hula hoop and the typewriter atop the prompter's box. The same set is used for all four acts: a metal wall on three sides, featuring a strip of fluorescent lighting from one end to the other; a gigantic stack of boxes taking up most of the rear left quadrant, "trees" with bare limbs and aluminum trunks, an out-of-view (from the orchestra section) staircase by which people enter and leave, and in front and below the floor level of Charlotte's home, a scruffy hotel room or apartment for Werther with an unmade bed and lots of books on the floor. We see much more of Albert than is called for in the text. In particular, he reads over Charlotte's shoulder as she reads Werther's letters at the beginning of Act 3. He even tears one of them up. But, as mentioned, not excessively outlandish. Even having seen the dress rehearsal, I wasn't able to comprehend the director's vision, but at least I was willing to believe that he had some sort of consistent vision, even if I didn't get it. Oh yes, I should mention that when Werther returns to Charlotte's home at Christmas, there are three of him, each carrying a torch. They all three shoot themselves (in Charlotte's home). One falls out of sight, one falls where Charlotte can mourn the body, and the third (the tenor) gets to wander around the stage singing.
My favorites were Brian Mulligan as Albert, with a fine baritone, and Christian Van Horn. I'm quickly becoming a CVH fan! He was the King of Egypt in Aida, and he will be the Bonze in Butterfly. The other singers (Ramon Vargas as Werther, Alice Coote as Charlotte, Heidi Stober as Sophie) acquitted themselves well though not memorably. We were originally scheduled to hear Elina Garanca as Charlotte. Having seen the Met HD broadcasts of her Carmen and Cenerentola, I was really looking forward to hearing her in person, but apparently her agent managed to get her double-booked, and San Francisco lost.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Anna Karenina version 3, Opera San Jose, Sept. 25 2010
It just keeps getting better! I wound up with an extra ticket to Anna Karenina, so I exchanged the ticket for the final performance by the opening night cast, making the third time I had heard that cast (Jasmina/Krassen/Kirk/Michael), counting the dress rehearsal. I've heard that the fourth performance has a tendency to be the best. This was the fourth by this cast, and the results add evidence to that assertion. Everyone was in fine form, but I have to particularly note the contribution of Kirk Eichelberger as Karenin, who was simply superb. The only difference in performing forces was the conductor. Our own Bryan Nies took over from Stewart Robertson, the conductor of the Florida premiere and the St. Louis reprise. Bryan led a performance every bit as fine as the ones I had heard previously.
So after a summer of reading the novel, seeing the 1935 Greta Garbo and 1948 Vivien Leigh movies, attended a number of Opera San Jose events, giving two of my own previews to my friends, and seeing four performances, Anna Karenina is a wrap. It's not going to replace Madama Butterfly, but it's the best new opera I've seen since Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking.
On to Tosca, Opera San Jose's next production!
So after a summer of reading the novel, seeing the 1935 Greta Garbo and 1948 Vivien Leigh movies, attended a number of Opera San Jose events, giving two of my own previews to my friends, and seeing four performances, Anna Karenina is a wrap. It's not going to replace Madama Butterfly, but it's the best new opera I've seen since Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking.
On to Tosca, Opera San Jose's next production!
Aida at the ball park, San Francisco Opera, Sept. 24 2010
What fun! In recent years San Francisco Opera has been simulcasting a live performance of an opera to AT&T Park, where the San Francisco Giants play. They wisely chose a late-September date for the event; we often get our warmest weather at that time. Nevertheless, I went loaded for bear, with a woolen overshirt and two jackets, prepared for the vagaries that might be presented. I only needed the overshirt. It stayed very pleasant all evening long, from 8:00 to 10:55. I don't know whether they chose Sept. 25 for the full moon as well, but as I took my seat said moon had just appeared over the East Bay hills and the moonbeams were reflecting off the Bay.
I had failed to make contact with friends who were saving a seat (note to self: be in line at 5:30 next year, not 7:30, and try to zero in on section 212), and wound up one level above. That seat turned out to be perfectly fine: just a little bit above the gigantic display screen above center field, and a bit left of home plate. The display screen, if I remember correctly, measures 103 feet diagonally. It's a smaller field of view than my seat in the opera house, but with the camera closeups, it makes no difference. The sound doesn't match what is heard in the opera house, but it's entirely adequate in the best sense of the words. You get to go to the opera wearing your jeans, you get to eat garlic fries and other ball park food, and in a pre-performance announcement the general director admonished the folks at the opera house to turn off their cell phones but said that the folks at the ball park could do what we want.
The performers were the same as when I saw it at the opera house, but for this special occasion I think they dug a little deeper and delivered an even more impressive performance -- except for Marco Vratogna as Amonasro, who continued to be the most impressive of all.
At intermission, our hosts (KDFC announcers) told us that the attendance was estimated at 32,000. I think that's a record for the four or five ball park simulcasts. I hope they all turn into subscribers!
I had failed to make contact with friends who were saving a seat (note to self: be in line at 5:30 next year, not 7:30, and try to zero in on section 212), and wound up one level above. That seat turned out to be perfectly fine: just a little bit above the gigantic display screen above center field, and a bit left of home plate. The display screen, if I remember correctly, measures 103 feet diagonally. It's a smaller field of view than my seat in the opera house, but with the camera closeups, it makes no difference. The sound doesn't match what is heard in the opera house, but it's entirely adequate in the best sense of the words. You get to go to the opera wearing your jeans, you get to eat garlic fries and other ball park food, and in a pre-performance announcement the general director admonished the folks at the opera house to turn off their cell phones but said that the folks at the ball park could do what we want.
The performers were the same as when I saw it at the opera house, but for this special occasion I think they dug a little deeper and delivered an even more impressive performance -- except for Marco Vratogna as Amonasro, who continued to be the most impressive of all.
At intermission, our hosts (KDFC announcers) told us that the attendance was estimated at 32,000. I think that's a record for the four or five ball park simulcasts. I hope they all turn into subscribers!
Anna Karenina version 2, Opera San Jose, Sept. 23 2010
Tonight was the first time I had seen these principals in the opera. Opera San Jose has two casts for every production. Most of the time the major roles are shared between two people, and the minor roles may be assigned to only one person. For example, Khori Dastoor sang all of the Kittys, and Paul Murray sang all of the Yashvins. The part of Anna was shared by Jasmina Halimic (heard Sunday) and Jouvanca Jean-Baptiste (heard this evening); Vronsky was shared by Krassen Karagiozov and Torlef Borsting; Karenin was shared by Kirk Eichelberger and Isaiah Musik-Ayala. Years ago when I had only one season ticket, I got tired of missing some of my favorite singers, and decided that the easy way to solve that problem was to get two season tickets, one for each cast.
Jouvanca made a fine Anna Karenina, with a beautifully clear voice. Torlef (Vronsky) made an imposing figure with his full head of hair, thick beard, bushy eyebrows, and stout physique; he made me think of a Russian bear. However, his relatively lightweight tone didn't match the "Russian bear" image. He's brand-new as a resident artist, and I hope to hear him develop during his Opera San Jose career. Isaiah (Karenin) is developing. This is his second year, and he sings with a fuller, more rounded voice than I remember from last year. Alexander Boyer sang Levin (sharing the part with Michael Dailey) nicely; Tori Grayum (sharing with Bettany Coffland) made an impressive Dolly. Michael Mendelsohn was a more reserved Stiva than Christopher Bengochea, who had nearly burst with energy.
I continue to be impressed with the overall production. The 19 scene changes are handled with dispatch; the sets, even if simple, are lovely and effective -- no "weird stuff" such as the Werther that is currently running at San Francisco Opera.
Jouvanca made a fine Anna Karenina, with a beautifully clear voice. Torlef (Vronsky) made an imposing figure with his full head of hair, thick beard, bushy eyebrows, and stout physique; he made me think of a Russian bear. However, his relatively lightweight tone didn't match the "Russian bear" image. He's brand-new as a resident artist, and I hope to hear him develop during his Opera San Jose career. Isaiah (Karenin) is developing. This is his second year, and he sings with a fuller, more rounded voice than I remember from last year. Alexander Boyer sang Levin (sharing the part with Michael Dailey) nicely; Tori Grayum (sharing with Bettany Coffland) made an impressive Dolly. Michael Mendelsohn was a more reserved Stiva than Christopher Bengochea, who had nearly burst with energy.
I continue to be impressed with the overall production. The 19 scene changes are handled with dispatch; the sets, even if simple, are lovely and effective -- no "weird stuff" such as the Werther that is currently running at San Francisco Opera.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Anna Karenina, Opera San Jose, Sept. 19 2010
This production is a feather in Opera San Jose's cap. Everything came together this afternoon: singers, orchestra, sets, costumes, acting were all first-rate.
With 19 or so scene changes, the sets needed to be simple. They were, but they were also effective. In the prologue, in which an accident at the train station results in the death of a railway worker, the train was simply one single bright light, framed by an Erector Set-like structure. The actual death was enacted on stage by a super jumping into a trap door on stage in front of the bright light. It wasn't a large trap door; I imagine that considerable expertise is required to jump into it without hitting your nose on the edge. The sets for interior scenes involved a minimum of furniture: a few elegant chairs; a desk to represent all of Karenin's study; for the dinner party a long table with candles and flowers was wheeled in. (All set changes took place quickly and in full view of the audience.) For outdoors scenes, a large (say 15x30) backdrop was lowered from above; park benches were supplied when necessary. Anna's suicide in front of the train was represented by her walking toward the bright headlight of the train, ultimately disappearing into the darkness beneath it. To repeat, simple, but very effective. Kudos to the set designer!
Costumes were remarkable. Again, nothing over the top, but all well-executed and entirely appropriate. The amazing thing was how many costumes there were. Anna appears in about half of the 19 scenes, and she seemed to have a new costume for each one. Vronsky had two officer uniforms, one white, one green, and elegant civilian clothes for the scenes following his resignation from the army. Even Karenin seemed to have at least three variations on ultra-formal attire.
Jasminia Halimic made a fine Anna; Kirk Eichelberger as her husband Karenin almost stole the show from her with his mellifluous bass voice. I regretted that no opportunity for applause was provided following his big aria "How strange she is tonight." He would have gotten an enthusiastic audience response. Krassen Karagiozov was somewhat stiff as Anna's lover Vronsky, perhaps reflecting his military position. Michael Dailey as Levin was fine; I think I detect an improvement in his voice since last season. Khori Dastoor (Kitty) is always delightful; Bettany Coffland was good as Dolly, and a much thinner Christopher Bengochea was an active, bouncy, almost too enthusiastic Stiva. Paul Murray, who had impressed me so much as Alidoro in last year's La Cenerentola, had a small part as Yashvin. I would have liked to have heard more of him. The orchestra was conducted by Stewart Robertson, who conducted the opera's premiere in Florida and its repeat performance in St. Louis. He guided them admirably through the "modern" music. The music itself I found to be very lovely in spots, and certainly approachable everywhere. The interlude between parts 5 and 6 is gorgeous, as is Anna's short aria in Part 1 scene 1, "I remember when he first saw you."
My only reservation about today's opera was the architecture of the work. There are 19 scenes, none of them very long, some of them very short. That is something of an echo of Russian opera, think Boris Godunov and Khovanschina, which also consist of a number of scenes that don't particularly flow into one another. The effect in Anna Karenina of the small scenes is that hardly any of them have the time to develop an arc; no time to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Characters come on stage, present practically a snapshot of the action, and then it's time for the next scene. The librettist has been very faithful to the novel, to the extent of including Tolstoy's Part 8 as an anticlimactic final scene following Anna's suicide. I ruminate about a different approach, using Carmen as a model. The original Carmen is a very short novella; nevertheless the librettists not only threw out characters (such as Carmen's husband, whom Don Jose also killed), but added Micaela and completely changed Carmen's murder. And he got four acts out of it, each with a beginning, middle, and end. Could something similar be done with Anna Karenina? Or would you need something the size of the entire Der Ring des Nibelungen?
But tackling any such problem with the architecture is not within the scope of an opera company that chooses to perform the work. Opera San Jose has done a magnificent job of presenting the opera as written, and the results should encourage other companies to take it on.
With 19 or so scene changes, the sets needed to be simple. They were, but they were also effective. In the prologue, in which an accident at the train station results in the death of a railway worker, the train was simply one single bright light, framed by an Erector Set-like structure. The actual death was enacted on stage by a super jumping into a trap door on stage in front of the bright light. It wasn't a large trap door; I imagine that considerable expertise is required to jump into it without hitting your nose on the edge. The sets for interior scenes involved a minimum of furniture: a few elegant chairs; a desk to represent all of Karenin's study; for the dinner party a long table with candles and flowers was wheeled in. (All set changes took place quickly and in full view of the audience.) For outdoors scenes, a large (say 15x30) backdrop was lowered from above; park benches were supplied when necessary. Anna's suicide in front of the train was represented by her walking toward the bright headlight of the train, ultimately disappearing into the darkness beneath it. To repeat, simple, but very effective. Kudos to the set designer!
Costumes were remarkable. Again, nothing over the top, but all well-executed and entirely appropriate. The amazing thing was how many costumes there were. Anna appears in about half of the 19 scenes, and she seemed to have a new costume for each one. Vronsky had two officer uniforms, one white, one green, and elegant civilian clothes for the scenes following his resignation from the army. Even Karenin seemed to have at least three variations on ultra-formal attire.
Jasminia Halimic made a fine Anna; Kirk Eichelberger as her husband Karenin almost stole the show from her with his mellifluous bass voice. I regretted that no opportunity for applause was provided following his big aria "How strange she is tonight." He would have gotten an enthusiastic audience response. Krassen Karagiozov was somewhat stiff as Anna's lover Vronsky, perhaps reflecting his military position. Michael Dailey as Levin was fine; I think I detect an improvement in his voice since last season. Khori Dastoor (Kitty) is always delightful; Bettany Coffland was good as Dolly, and a much thinner Christopher Bengochea was an active, bouncy, almost too enthusiastic Stiva. Paul Murray, who had impressed me so much as Alidoro in last year's La Cenerentola, had a small part as Yashvin. I would have liked to have heard more of him. The orchestra was conducted by Stewart Robertson, who conducted the opera's premiere in Florida and its repeat performance in St. Louis. He guided them admirably through the "modern" music. The music itself I found to be very lovely in spots, and certainly approachable everywhere. The interlude between parts 5 and 6 is gorgeous, as is Anna's short aria in Part 1 scene 1, "I remember when he first saw you."
My only reservation about today's opera was the architecture of the work. There are 19 scenes, none of them very long, some of them very short. That is something of an echo of Russian opera, think Boris Godunov and Khovanschina, which also consist of a number of scenes that don't particularly flow into one another. The effect in Anna Karenina of the small scenes is that hardly any of them have the time to develop an arc; no time to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Characters come on stage, present practically a snapshot of the action, and then it's time for the next scene. The librettist has been very faithful to the novel, to the extent of including Tolstoy's Part 8 as an anticlimactic final scene following Anna's suicide. I ruminate about a different approach, using Carmen as a model. The original Carmen is a very short novella; nevertheless the librettists not only threw out characters (such as Carmen's husband, whom Don Jose also killed), but added Micaela and completely changed Carmen's murder. And he got four acts out of it, each with a beginning, middle, and end. Could something similar be done with Anna Karenina? Or would you need something the size of the entire Der Ring des Nibelungen?
But tackling any such problem with the architecture is not within the scope of an opera company that chooses to perform the work. Opera San Jose has done a magnificent job of presenting the opera as written, and the results should encourage other companies to take it on.
Aida, San Francisco Opera, Sept. 16 2010
San Francisco Opera either sold or discarded their prior Aida production, so they needed to create a new one. In a world of extravagant Aida productions, this one is far more modest, perhaps reflecting the budget-conscious times. The primary visual element was the side curtains that could be drawn across the stage, from either side. The edges were 30° from vertical, so that when left and right curtains were both drawn toward the center, the gap between them formed roughly a teepee shape. Said curtains were some variant of blue-green in color, and decorated with scribbles vaguely reminiscent of hieroglyphs. Beyond that there were painted drops, and occasionally some steps. Act 1 scene 2 featured a pyramid of steps, with a very lifelike statue on top. For Act 2 scene 2, the triumphal procession, there were some steps for the trumpeters to stand on, and elaborately decorated chairs for Amneris and her father the King of Egypt to sit in (at the front of the stage, blocking my view of much of the dancing), and lots of people. No elephants, but they mocked up an elephant: Radames entered standing on a platform carried by several men, while other men carried a fabric-covered structure representing the head of the elephant, complete with a trunk that a puppeteer waved back and forth. Other men carried two gigantic tusks, while still others carried "flags" in the shape of the elephant's ears. The entire elephant, save the tusks, was a light blue-green. For the final scene in which Radames and Aida suffocate in the vault, the side curtains were drawn partway onto the stage and Radames descended from high above in a steel shark cage, open on the side toward the audience. Radames clearly had a safety belt, as it took him an untoward amount of time to get unhooked from it so that he could step out of the cage. Aida of course emerged from the wings. Basically the production was true to the text, nothing at all outrageous, and couldn't have cost a great deal of money.
The outstaning performer for me was Marco Vortogna as Amonasro. He had a superb voice and was fully involved in his character. The only downside was his costume. Another reviewer compared it to Papageno's. The bulk of the costume was geometrically-patterned pantaloons, with furs (think coyote, not mink) draped over his torso. Yes, he's not dressed as the King of Ethiopia, but neither was he dressed in simple rags. Perhaps it's a beat-up version of what someone think that exotic Ethiopians wear. The big name in the performance was Dolora Zajick as Amneris. I think she saved herself for her Act 4 confrontation with Radames, which merited a "wow!" from me at the scene change; for the prior three acts, she was good but not spectacular. Micaela Carosi was adequate as Aida. Her high point was being heard over all of the assembled forces at the conclusion of Act 2. Marcelo Giordani sang well as Radames but could take acting lessons from our Amonasro. Also notable was Christian Van Horn as the King of Egypt, with a wonderful but not overpowering bass voice. You can catch a superb clip of him rehearsing the part of Karenin in Anna Karenina on YouTube. He also runs an interesting blog at christianvanhorn.tumblr.com.
The outstaning performer for me was Marco Vortogna as Amonasro. He had a superb voice and was fully involved in his character. The only downside was his costume. Another reviewer compared it to Papageno's. The bulk of the costume was geometrically-patterned pantaloons, with furs (think coyote, not mink) draped over his torso. Yes, he's not dressed as the King of Ethiopia, but neither was he dressed in simple rags. Perhaps it's a beat-up version of what someone think that exotic Ethiopians wear. The big name in the performance was Dolora Zajick as Amneris. I think she saved herself for her Act 4 confrontation with Radames, which merited a "wow!" from me at the scene change; for the prior three acts, she was good but not spectacular. Micaela Carosi was adequate as Aida. Her high point was being heard over all of the assembled forces at the conclusion of Act 2. Marcelo Giordani sang well as Radames but could take acting lessons from our Amonasro. Also notable was Christian Van Horn as the King of Egypt, with a wonderful but not overpowering bass voice. You can catch a superb clip of him rehearsing the part of Karenin in Anna Karenina on YouTube. He also runs an interesting blog at christianvanhorn.tumblr.com.
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