The Pearl Fishers, Opera San Jose, Sept. 16 2012

Georges Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers is one of the oddities of the operatic literature. There are those who love it, and apparently there are those who couldn’t care less. A company with the first attitude is Opera San Jose. This is their fourth production of Pearl Fishers on my watch, which goes back to about 1986. In contrast, consider the Metropolitan Opera, whose only complete production comprised three performances, in 1916, with Enrico Caruso. Or consider San Francisco Opera, with only one main-stage production, in 2005. (SFO’s offshoot, Spring Opera Theater, performed it several times between 1962 and 1975.)

For this first production in the California Theatre, we had a lovely set that served the first and second act and the second scene of the third act. Downstage was a stone floor, with occasional 6-inch tall blocks of stone resting upon it. Upstage, and definitely up, several feet above the floor, was a platform that extended all the way from the left to the right. On stage left, stone steps led from the floor to the platform. In the center, more steps descended from the floor to the area beneath the platform, via which a number of performers entered and exited. On stage right, a large “tiki god” head rested on its chin, leaning at an angle against the side of the stage. In places, lush vines grew in profusion. It was a very impressive set. I expected that the audience would applaud it, but they did not.

The only variation in the set came in the first scene of the third act, the scene in which Leïla appeals to Zurga, offering her life if Nadir’s can be spared. The scene takes place in Zurga’s tent, which was represented by a large rectangular cloth for its wall, and a large triangular cloth for its roof.

Our cast (mostly, returning resident artists):
Leila: Cecilia Violetta López
Nadir: Alexander Boyer
Zurga: Evan Brummel
Nourabad: Silas Elash
Conductor: Andrew Whitfield
Director: Richard Harrell
Set Designer: Charlie Smith

All the principals sang competently, though not memorably. I’m a big fan of Silas Elash, but his Nourabad made me wonder whether he’s more comfortable with German opera than with French opera. The most disturbing part, though, was the cuts in the final scene. Most notably, very near the end, Nadir and Leïla are facing certain death. In the recording that I studied, they sing a lovely duet about their imminent arrival in heaven. In the performance, it was omitted, and not to squeeze the performance in under 3 hours—it lasted barely 2½ hours. Not quite a beta.