ROMEO AND JULIET FOR TODAY

Scott Ingham and Kendra Berentsen-photo by Jacob Lopez

In Shakespeare's play, we are moved by the language; in Sir Kenneth MacMillan's ballet, the choreography gives us thrill after thrill; in Charles Gounod's opera Roméo et Juliette, the music goes straight to the heart.  As presented by the New York Opera Exchange this past weekend, we were presented with a modern dress version performed by some superb young artists and the New York Opera Exchange Orchestra, conducted by David Leibowitz.

Gounod's music always relates to the emotions of the scene and serves to augment the feelings.  The overture is portentous and has some interesting fugue-like figures originating with Concertmaster Suxiao Sue Yang.  We want to commend the chorus (comprising singers with smaller roles) for such fine diction.  French is one of the more difficult languages to sing clearly and, in this case, every word was understood.  We wondered who coached them--perhaps Music Director Alden Gatt?

We were very impressed with soprano Kendra Berentsen who made an innocent and vulnerable Juliette, expressing her emotions with a room-filling sound and beautiful phrasing.  The challenging aria "Je veux vivre" is filled with trills, thrills and scales, none of which daunted her; her easeful upper register resonated gloriously.  The harmonies with her Roméo were delightful and emphasized the chemistry between the two.  Tenor Scott Ingham was superb in that role, demonstrating a powerful sound and some top-notes that were free of the strain so often heard in young tenors.  We loved his "Ah! Lève-toi soleil". We eagerly awaited the softer orchestral passages in the final scene in order to hear what he sounded like at reduced volume.

Special mention must be made of baritone Nicholas A. Wiggins who performed the role of Mercutio as well as we have ever heard it.  The "Ballad of Queen Mab" was superb.  Mezzo Rebecca Henry made the most of her role as Gertrude, Juliet's nurse.  Initially she was quite disapproving of her charge's romance but she comes around to a place of empathy.  In the pants role of Stephano, mezzo Sarah Miller gave a spirited performance and sang "Que fais-tu blanche tourtourelle?" with a lovely sound and fine vibrato.

Bass-baritone Colin Whiteman was fine as Frère Laurent, Victor Starsky sang the role of Tybalt, Joseph Palarca performed the role of Benvolio, Joseph Beckwith was a kindly father Capulet and Javier Ortiz was Paris.

We were delighted to observe the youthful nature of the audience; perhaps they related more to the contemporary clothing (costumes?).  We, sadly, did not.  The story is a window into another century and another country.  It could not have happened in the USA in present times.  We did not miss the swordplay but we did miss the authenticity.  For example, a sleeping potion would not be given by a cleric to his parishioner whereas a friar would have known all about herbs and potions.  Similarly we found the bizarre headdresses used to replace the masks at the ball to be a distracting touch; indeed Juiette was obliged to wear a schooner on her head!  But these are minor quibbles when the overall production and musical values were so excellent.  The production was directed by Andreas Hager.  We are looking forward to Die Zauberflöte in February!

© meche kroop

DON GIOVANNI AS POLITICIAN

The cast of Don Giovanni--New York Opera Exchange

In New York Opera Exchange's radical new production of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, the eponymous "hero" is reimagined as a politician in l963.  His sense of entitlement is the same as it was centuries earlier and the media have not yet taken control of the daily dissemination of political scandals.  Men of power take what they want just because they can.

How successful is Director Jennifer Shorstein's concept?  Measured by the rapt attention of the audience, which comprised mainly 20-somethings, the production is a roaring success.  We did not observe the texting that takes place regularly at The Metropolitan Opera; cell phones were whipped out only during intermission.  We wondered whether it was the immediacy of the performance, the intimacy of the space or the youth of the artists.  Surely, few members of the audience had been born a half century ago and yet they seemed to relate.

Still, there are a few wrinkles that might bother a veteran opera goer who has seen Don G. more times than there are women he has seduced.  When a story is updated, there are generally conflicts between the libretto (Da Ponte's) and what happens onstage.  Supertitles (credited to Danielle Bendjy) dealt with the discrepancy by substituting the words that described what was happening onstage, i.e. "cavalieri" became "politician".  Audience members who understand Italian may be thrown off by this strategy but we doubt whether anyone cared.  People died, whether by sword or pistol.

We further doubt that anyone noticed a missing aria or the missing onstage ensemble in the ballroom scene.  Nor did anyone get the joke during the penultimate scene when Don G. is listening to arias from Nozze di Figaro.  None of this matters.  What counts is that young people were enjoying themselves and new opera lovers were being born.  We were overjoyed to see this.

Also adding to our pleasure is the knowledge that emerging artists are given an opportunity to add roles to their resumés as well as the opportunity to perform with full orchestra, just as Mozart wrote it, only with keyboards substituting for harpsichord continuo.  Maestro David Leibowitz conducted the New York Opera Exchange Orchestra, the only community orchestra focused solely on operatic repertoire.  We feel quite confident that as the relationship progresses, problems of balance between sections of the orchestra and between orchestra and singers will be on the upswing.

And what about those singers!  The three women had very different types of soprano voices, a real benefit in a vocal world where so many sound alike.  Kaley Lynn Söderquist was an excellent Donna Anna and was particularly lovely in "Non mi dir", with fine phrasing, evenness throughout her range and easily understood Italian.  Rebecca Shorstein has a darker soprano and threw herself into the role of the desperate Donna Elvira with gusto and a fine vibrato; we liked her "Mi tradì", although in Act I she was occasionally overwhelmed by the orchestra, as was Sydnee Waggoner as Zerlina, whose bright clear soprano sailed over the orchestra in the upper register but got lost in the middle register.

Nicholas A. Wiggins made an excellent Don G. both dramatically and vocally.  Likewise Andrew Hiers was a fine Leporello and Jacob S. Louchheim was an appealing Masetto.  Paul Khuri Yakub played the Commendatore with a sense of menace appropriate to a Mafia don (yes, that was in the synopsis) but was drowned out by the brass chorale in the final scene. Brian Michael Moore's sweet tenor was perfect for Don Ottavio and he gave a lovely rendering of "Il mio tesoro" such that we were sorry that "Dalla sua pace" had been cut.  Isn't it usually the other way round?

Sets were basic and costumes by Fabiana Pires Moore seemed appropriate to the early 60's.  Zerlina was payed as a "hippie chick" and looked perfect but Donna Elvira's costuming was unfortunate, especially when the libretto calls for her being described as noble and majestic.

There are several more performances until Sunday and you will surely have a good time if you go.  And just wait until you see what is in store for next season.  GO, NYOE!

© meche kroop

A VALENTINE BONBON

All we were expecting was an evening of opera scenes but we got so much more.  Possibly inspired by the Metropolitan Opera's creation of Enchanted Island, a pastiche of arias and ensembles by baroque composers, Director Jennifer Shorstein created her own pastiche of arias and ensembles by 19th c. French composers entitled The Masked Ball.  The setting was a contemporary cocktail party with the men in dinner jackets and the women in multihued satin dresses.  As the young partygoers interacted with one another, arias and duets by Gounod, Massenet and Offenbach were pressed into delightful service.

The other pleasant surprise was the presence of the New York Opera Exchange Orchestra, led by Maestro David Liebowitz.  As the program notes pointed out, a community orchestra in New York City that focuses solely on the operatic repertoire is a rare thing.  The mostly young musicians played with enthusiasm and talent, matched by the enthusiasm and talent of the young singers who seem to be on the cusp of major careers, already singing in companies around the United States and Europe.

Gounod's soprano roles are all exciting ones and thus the women all had opportunities to shine in their respective roles.  Rebecca Shorstein's fioritura in "Je veux vivre" from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette was dazzling in its accuracy.  Kendra Berensten's duets with the fine tenor Aaron Short from the same opera were no less wonderful.  Rebecca Henry's fine mezzo in Siebel's "Faites lui mes aveux" from Gounod's Faust seemed delightfully different since she sang it as a woman.  Emily Lockhart's soprano was perfectly suited to "Ah! Je ris de me voir" as she received a jewel box from her suitor.  Courtney Ross' "N'est-ce-plus ma main?" from Massenet's Manon was performed superbly with lots of seductive moves that left her Des Grieux (wonderful tenor Jonathan Winell) all aquiver.   Their voices blended beautifully and delighted the ear.  Bronwyn White was an adorable Olympia and attacked the stratospheric tessitura fearlessly.  There was a very funny moment when she collapsed (in this case, not as a mechanical doll running down but as a live woman who maybe had drunk to excess) and was given a slap on the derrière and carried offstage.

We heard sturdy baritone Kendrew Heriveaux as Mercutio in "Mab la reine des mensonges"; baritone Joseph Beckwith gave Mephistopheles just the right amount of menace in "Vous qui faites l'endormie"; baritone Alex Boyd made a severe Valentin in "Avant de quitter ces lieux"; tenor Scott Ingham was a most seductive Faust in "Salut! Demeure chaste et pure".

That all the partygoers onstage interacted with one another and came across as real people with different personalities made the evening so much more appealing than a mere succession of arias.  We applaud the innovation and were gratified to see so many young people in the audience, many of them not experienced opera goers, but all enjoying themselves.  We are looking forward to New York Opera Exchange's May presentation of Don Giovani set in our nation's capitol.  What will Artistic Director Justin Werner and General Manager Francesca Reindel think of next???

(c) meche kroop