Maria Brea as Marguerite in Village Opera's production of Gounod's Faust
We have given this a lot of thought lately. When we began writing about small opera companies and young opera singers about a dozen years ago, Manhattan was home to a dozen small opera companies that provided performance opportunities for these young opera singers. They operated on a shoe string, transforming church basements and black box theaters into makeshift playing areas. Costuming was equally improvisational but storytelling was generally excellent and imaginative, ticket prices were affordable, audiences had a great time, and a considerable number of people were introduced to the art form.
So, what happened? Part of the answer can be found in the Covid epidemic which kept people at home and then forced them to wear uncomfortable masks in public places. Other companies dropped out for other reasons, often financial. Sometimes it was just the inability to break even or gross financial mismanagement; in one case, a too rapid New York Times induced fame led to premature arrogance and self-satisfaction. Other times, a successful production team disintegrated when one partner jumped ship or moved away.
What is left, other than the successful long-established Regina Opera Company in far flung Brooklyn, and the equally distant Bronx Opera Company and The Lighthouse Opera, both of which attract sizable audiences. Here in Manhattan we have Heartbeat Opera which can be wonderful but often goes off the rails, and the struggling Amore Opera which badly needs a better venue.
We do get annual two-day visits from the superb Teatro Nuovo, which presents marvelous bel canto discoveries performed by young singers for a packed house; and we had a one day major success from Classic Lyric Arts Vocal Academy who gave us a vocally superb and dramatically powerful production of Puccini's Il Tabarro. What we need is a small company to perform the classics on a regular basis, giving performing opportunities to young singers.
But never fear, Dear Reader, if anyone can accomplish this, we place our bets on Felix Jarrar, well known as a composer, conductor, and pianist. Although the early efforts of his Village Opera just came to our attention, we found his concert version of Gounod's Faust to be promising. There was much to enjoy that Sunday afternoon and enjoy we did.
The lion's share of our pleasure can be attributed to the stunning performance of soprano Maria Brea in the role of Marguerite. We have been following Ms. Brea since her performance as Marie in the much missed Prelude to Performance's production of Donizetti's Fille du Regiment. Her performance was not only vocally admirable but she did not let the music stand of this concert version prevent her from relating to her fellow cast mates.
This feature was also notable in a vocally powerful and dramatically connected performance of William Clay Thompson in the role of Mephistopheles. He also reached beyond the limitations of the concert production style and gave us a snarly and scary character.
Maestro Jarrar performed a piano reduction of the score that captured all the colors of an orchestra and gave necessary support to the singers, which included tenor Eric Botto as Faust, Joseph Canuto Leon as Valentin, Christina Marie Esser as a believable Siebel, Evan Fleming as Wagner, and Brooke Larimer as Marthe. There was good support from the chorus which comprised the cover cast.
It was a very short while ago that we attended a rather overproduced and concept driven production of this same opera, a production that distracted us from Gounod's gorgeous melodies. The Village Opera production, minus titles, allowed us to focus on the music and singing.
It would be our dearest wish if Mo. Jarrar could work his way toward traditionally staged productions of other masterpieces of the operatic canon, giving young singers an opportunity to learn a new role and giving Manhattan residents an authentic operatic experience. We could do without elaborate sets and a minimum of costuming would suffice. What we really need are sound musical values and some good storytelling . Where there's a will there's a way!
© meche kroop
