Xerxes was described as a comic opera, rather uncommon for an instance of the genre of opera seria, “serious opera,” but as presented at San Francisco Opera, it certainly was comic. The director was highly inventive, calling for all sorts of “stage business,” and the singers brought it all off with considerable skill.
The pre-performance curtain looks rather much like a huge swath of artificial grass, hanging just in back of where the regular massive gold curtain would be. This green curtain is used during the overture to introduce the characters and their positions, a good idea in an opera with a plot as complicated as this one has. As the name and position of each character are projected on the green curtain, the singer of that role comes out on stage and mimes a suggestion of his or her role. When Elviro is introduced as a servant, he simply shrugs his shoulders and holds up his hands–but as he walks offstage, he stops and “conducts” the orchestra to its next cadence.
When the green curtain goes up, we see a representation of London’s Vauxhall Gardens: a gigantic room, the size of the War Memorial stage, with white walls on the left, right, and rear, all painted in green with depictions of the gardens. For some scenes, the rear wall is removed, revealing a rocky landscape with what looks like a scale model of the ruins of Persepolis. Scene-to-scene variety is provided by the contents of the room: a statue of Handel (labeled “Timotheus” on the pedestal), sling chairs for the supernumeraries to sit in, elegant restaurant tables with tablecloths all the way to the floor, twelve potted cacti, a lawn bowling game, etc.
Our cast:
Xerxes: Susan Graham
Romilda: Lisette Oropesa
Arsamenes: David Daniels
Atalanta: Heidi Stober
Amastris: Sonia Prina
Ariodates: Wayne Tigges
Elviro: Michael Sumuel
Conductor: Patrick Summers
Production: Nicholas Hytner
Susan Graham is simply an amazing performer. Every time I have seen her (Dead Man Walking, La Belle Helene, Iphegenie in Tauride, Ariodante) it has been an exceptional experience. Her “Scherza infida” (Ariodante) was one of the most compelling arias I have ever heard on an opera stage. Here in Xerxes, her stage presence was phenomenal. She owned that stage. There was far too much stage business to remember it all, so I’ll content myself with just one recollection: a fellow singer was performing his/her da capo aria, and with her gestures and body language, Susan appeared to mock the entire concept of the da capo aria. Priceless! More than anyone else, Susan Graham in the cast means that it will be a magnificent evening in the theater.
It wasn’t just Susan’s show; the other singers also fully participated in all of the stage business. The entire setting was inspired. At first blush, one might think that setting a (completely fictional) tale about an ancient king of Persia in Vauxhall Gardens, at one point in a restaurant in Vauxhall Gardens, to be yet another example of a director’s “concept” gone horribly awry–but this time it worked. My opera seria instructor, who has attended every San Francisco Opera production since 1969, declares this production to be the finest of an 18th-century opera in that entire time span. Personally, I would vote for the Semele of 2000, but I won’t contest the point. Xerxes could be the highlight of the fall opera season (still need to see Don Giovanni and Carmen), but it’s not quite an alpha.
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