SHAKEN AND STIRRED

Cast of Heartbeat Opera's production of Der Freischütz

We count on Heartbeat Opera to take an opera and shake it up; we count on Heartbeat Opera to stir our feelings. With a very rare exception we enjoy the process and we always leave provoked in some way, ready to reconsider issues that were previously given the "already/always" treatment. (If you are so inclined, dear reader, take a look at our review of their production of Beethoven's Fidelio by entering it in the search bar.)

Last night at the Rose Nagelberg Theater of the Baruch Performing Arts Center we saw Carl Maria von Weber's 1821 opera Der Freischütz, an opera that we had never seen and, therefore, felt no investment in preserving in its original form, as we would with, say, La Traviata. As a matter of fact, we avoided reading anything about the opera beforehand, and especially not the Director's Notes. We firmly hold the position that a work of art should speak for itself! This one spoke loud and clear.

The story is based upon a German folk legend with supernatural elements and contains spoken dialogue which, we posit, puts it in the category of singspiel, like Die Zauberflöte. For this production, the story was moved up from its original setting (as we have since learned) in 1648 Germany to contemporary United States.

It appears to be post-Afghanistan or post-Iraq and takes place in what must be a Red state since all the men are armed and very much attached to their guns. We sensed that the hero Max and his buddy Kaspar are veterans. The townspeople are a nasty bunch and infected with toxic masculinity. The chief forester Kuno of the original has been changed to a sheriff whilst Max and Kaspar seem to be his deputies.

Max wants to marry Kuno's daughter Agathe but Kuno insists that his prospective son-in-law be the best shot in town; Max seems to have lost his groove and suffers humiliation at the hands of the locals; their particular form of torture seems to be a form of waterboarding (learned in Iraq, we presume).

Max is now ripe for the machinations of Kaspar who promises to solve his problems--with a little supernatural help. Let us leave the story here for awhile so we can give credit where it is due. 

Friedrich Kind's original libretto has been adapted by Co-Artistic Director Louisa Proske who, in our eyes, is some kind of artistic genius. Dialogues were written by Michael Attias; we have no idea how closely they hew to the original German but they succeed in telling the story and making it work.

The music is as von Weber wrote it and it is magnificent. Music Director Daniel Schlosberg has scored the work for piano/keyboard/accordion (which he played himself), violin and viola (played by Concertmaster Jacob Ashworth), another set of higher strings, a cello, a guitar, and several winds played by three additional musicians. There was a great deal of sound coming from seven musicians!

Never having heard the orchestral version, we have no basis for comparison but what we heard was glorious to the ear and filled with interesting harmonies and sonorities. From the first wind chorale, we were completely drawn in.

We might add that the supernatural scene taking place in the Wolf Canyon involves some electronic input (credited to William Gardiner) that felt just right. The direction of this scene (Direction by Ms. Proske and Chloe Treat) was the most chilling scene we have ever witnessed at the opera, thanks to some special effects like visions, smoke, and a very talented Butoh dancer named azumi O E who enacted the part of Samiel with twisted body and twisted hands. The entire effect was cinematic and would have been right at home in a horror film.

We realize we have yet to mention the singers who were uniformly excellent in their acting as well as singing. Tenor Ian Koziara made a sympathetic "underdog" and we truly felt for him. Poor Agathe was portrayed by soprano Summer Hassan who excelled at being the tortured bride-to-be, anxious about Max and the upcoming wedding. The scene in which her bridesmaids come to help her with her toilette was a marvel.

We loved soprano Jana McIntyre as her cousin Ännchen; she had quite a lot to sing and sang it well. We enjoyed the contrast between Agathe's heavy hearted singing and Ännchen's cheerful singing.  Von Weber's vocal lines and rhythms beautifully limned each character.

The manipulative Kaspar was powerfully sung and acted by bass-baritone Derrell Acon. Baritone Quentin Oliver Lee sang the role of the Governor, and also that of one of the locals named Kilian. Sheriff Kuno was portrayed with strength by bass Kevin McGuire.

We were happy to see bass Eric Delagrange in a role at the end that puzzled us. As deus ex machina, he is supposed to be a holy hermit but in this iteration he seemed threatening. We are going to have to think about that issue for awhile.

The female chorus was superb, comprising Emily Donato, Jessica Harika, Claire Leyden, and Siobhan Sung. No less superb were the men: Phillip Bullock, Michael Celentano, Cory Gross, Patrick Lord-Remmert, and Anthony McGlaun.

The set by Sara Brown was remarkable. The Rose Nagelberg Theater was converted into a small town with the audience on three sides, making us feel very much a part of the action and therefore complicit. A house was constructed in one corner with shades that rolled up, giving us a view of the action inside. Wolf Canyon was created with "smoke and mirrors", a miracle of lighting by Oliver Wason. Beth Goldenberg's costumes were on point.

The amount of creativity that went into this provocative production impressed us enormously but what really mattered was the effect the production had on us, since it related so deeply to contemporary issues: military PTSD, gun culture, toxic masculinity, superstition, etc.

We were so affected by it that we plan to return to hear the other cast and to sit on the other side to get a different perspective and perhaps some additional insights.

© meche kroop

FAITHFUL TO FIDELIO?

Derrell Acon, Malorie Casimir, and Kelly Griffin in Heartbeat Opera's radical Fidelio

How is it that Beethoven only wrote one opera and spent a dozen years doing it?  It must not have come easily to him. Indeed, he rewrote the overture to Fidelio several times and the opera as well.  It premiered for the first time in 1805 in Vienna which was, at that time, under French rule.  Largely influenced by the ideals of the French Revolution it was denied performance by the censors and only achieved production due to the intervention of Hapsburg Empress Maria Theresa.

Two centuries later, Co-director of Heartbeat Opera Ethan Heard brought Beethoven's opera (actually, a singspiel with spoken dialogue) into the 21st century, emphasizing the need for social change in the important area of incarceration. In case you didn't know this, with only 5% of the world's population, the USA has 25% of the world's prisoners!  And guess which racial group bears the brunt of this injustice! They make up about 37% of the prison population, which is thrice the percentage of their representation in the population of our nation.

In Mr. Heard's adaptation of the original libretto by Joseph and Georg Friedrich Sonnleithner, the role of Jaquino has been eliminated, shifting the focus of the opera to the interaction between three main characters--Leah (Leonora) the faithful wife, Roc (Rocco) the kind-hearted jailer, and Marcy (Marzellina) his daughter.

Playing the LGBTQ card, Mr. Heard has made Marcy a lesbian so that Leah needn't pretend to be a man. Roc pushes  the two women to get together! It was a an interesting directorial choice but did not contribute much to the impact of this iteration and seemed to distract us from the main thrust of the story.

By way of contrast, an addition that contributed enormously to the impact of the story was the use of actual prison choirs to sing the prisoners' chorus. No, they were not released from prison and put onstage. Mr. Heard traveled to the Midwest with Daniel Schlosberg as accompanist and recorded prison choirs on video. 

This part of the performance was incredibly moving for us; as we listened, we wondered what this meant in the lives of the incarcerated men and women who participated.  Did it give them hope in the face of despair, which was Beethoven's intention? Did music serve to soften their rage at society and any injustices they suffered? We need not have wondered. Grateful letters from the inmates were posted in the lobby.

Now this is opera we are reviewing and not politics but surely music, and especially opera, can serve political ends. (We'd love to see an opera shaming our pussy-grabbing POTUS.)

The singers did very well in the vocal and acting department. As the eponymous Fidelio, we heard soprano Kelly Griffin whom we so enjoyed as one of Daniel Cardona's large voiced "finds". She impressed us as a different Leonore, the one in Verdi's Forza del Destino with New Amsterdam Opera.

Mr. Heard and Marcus Scott wrote a spoken prologue for her, by way of exposition. Way upstage, she agonized over her husband's unjust incarceration. She explained to a slightly sympathetic but unavailable pro bono attorney that her husband was not a criminal but a political activist. He'd broken no laws but had been incarcerated without any contact with the outside world. She lost her temper at the lawyer's indifference. We felt her frustration and anguish.

This prologue set us up for the 90 minute tight retelling of the tale. After winning the confidence of Roc and offering the possibility of romance to Marcy, she succeeded in giving the prisoners a half hour outdoors. When called on the carpet for this act, it was attributed to a celebration of Martin Luther King Day.

Bass-baritone Derrell Acon was a powerful Roc, singing forcefully and creating a character who wavered between obedience to authority and human compassion. Morality is doing what is right regardless of what you're told. Obedience is doing what you're told regardless of what is right.

As Marcy, we were very happy to have another opportunity to enjoy the pleasing light soprano and winning stage presence of soprano Malorie Casimir, whose Sophie and Zerlina we had previously and enthusiastically reviewed.

Leah's husband Stan (Florestan) was not one of the prisoners released into the yard. He was being kept in a secret cell in solitary confinement because the Warden (effective bass-baritone Daniel Klein), a thoroughly evil character, planned to murder him in his cell after depriving him of sustenance for a very long time.

The role of Stan was sung by tenor Marc Nelson who, it was announced, was indisposed. His indisposition took away the luster of his voice but actually made him very believable. He sounded as one might expect someone to sound who had been shackled and starved!  But we want to hear him when he is healthy!

The scene in which Roc and Leah descend into the subterranean reaches of the prison was particularly effective as they navigated through the balcony of the theater (the Rose Nagelberg Theater of Baruch Performing Arts Center) carrying lanterns against the dark, climbing up and down.

It would not be an overstatement to say that we were on the edge of our seat for 90 minutes of rapt attention. We know the plot of the work but we didn't know what Mr. Heard was going to do with it. We won't tell you. You will have to find out for yourself.

What we will tell you is that we absolutely adored Maestro Daniel Shlosberg's arrangement for chamber orchestra, which included two pianos, a pair of horns and a pair of cellos. Schlosberg conducted from the piano and Ben Cornavaca contributed some stunning effects with percussion.

Reid Thompson's set was minimalistic--a few desks and chairs, well lit by Oliver Wason. Costuming by Valérie Thérèse Bart comprised prison uniforms.

Thinking about the mission of Heartbeat Opera and it's two Co-
Artistic Directors (Mr. Heard and Ms. Proske), there is no denying that they put old wine in new barrels and make opera accessible to a new generation.  Indeed, Heartbeat Opera makes a sizable number of free tickets available to students. We rode up in the elevator with a group of them who very much enjoyed the performance.

This revolutionary company deserves your support!

(c) meche kroop

SOMETHING OLD AND SOMETHING NEW

Robert Davidson, Maestro Ian Shafer, Madison Marie McIntosh, Jonathan Hare, and Francesco Pavesi

This is  Christman Opera Company's second evening, the first having been reviewed 6 months ago. Pianist and keyboard teacher Theodore Christman seems headed for a future as a composer of works that are entertaining. This is the second time he has presented a short work of his own composition, with Anna Winslow as his librettist; he pairs his own work with a well-established work and casts them both with fine young singers.

As we pointed out in our prior (archived) review his music is anything but academic; it is meant to be entertaining and employs melody to enhance the story line. The tunes and the text work together well in the manner of a Broadway musical. 

The work we heard last night at the National Opera Center was called "The Dreamer" and involved an encounter between Aidan, a businessman visiting Chicago in the 1940's and Elizabeth, the daughter of the bookseller whose shop he is patronizing. Aidan becomes infatuated with Elizabeth who dreams of becoming a novelist. She rejects him because she believes him to be married, but there is a surprise twist that leads to a happy ending.

The lovely mezzo-soprano Marie Madison McIntosh, whose growth we have been chronicling, made a winsome Elizabeth, with the role of Aidan being taken by bass Derrell Acon whose melismatic singing had particular luster. Accompaniment was by one piano four hands, two belonging to Juan Condor and the other two belonging to Vesela Kirova. The arias were quite listenable with thematic repetition making the melody memorable--perhaps with a shade too much repetition. But, as we pointed out, it was a pleasure to hear words and music marching together. Unfortunately, the recitativi were a trifle awkward but the words were clear.  English diction was mostly good except for the high-lying passages of Elizabeth's arias. The best part was the harmonic writing for the duets.

It was a worthy entry as far as contemporary opera goes and held our interest far more than most entries in that field, even though it comprised a dialogue between two characters, without any activity.

Rossini was a composer who understood the concept of entertainment and if you do not find Il Barbiere di Siviglia wildly entertaining, your funny bone must be broken!  This opera has endured for two centuries exactly!  Rossini knew just how much repetition to use and just how far to carry a joke. The music sparkles and the plot moves along at breakneck speed. The characters are lovable although each has his foibles.

As the eponymous hero, baritone Jonathan Hare carried the evening with his pleasing and flexible voice, portraying a jack-of-all-trades with a winning personality and enough charm for several characters. He made ample use of gesture and facial expression to get this across. His "Largo al factotum" was as fine as one would wish and his excellence carried right through to the end.

Ms. McIntosh was a spunky Rosina, willful and devious when needs be, as she struggles to get out from under the domination of the controlling Dr. Bartolo. Ms. McIntosh has recently made the transition from soprano and her voice sparkles in the upper register; the breadth in her lower register keeps growing and there is a nice seamless quality from the tippy top almost to the bottom. The low notes are there and just a little work should integrate them more perfectly.

We love the way she delivered "Una voce poco fa" with plenty of razzle-dazzle in the fioritura; some of the embellishments seemed new to us. 

As Count Almaviva, tenor Francesco Pavesi sang the role beautifully, wafting garlic with every beautifully turned phrase. He had to portray frustration in the opening scene when Fiorello (baritone Clayton G. Williams) and his band of musicians fail to get Rosina to appear. He had to be conspiratorial with Figaro, romantic with Rosina, and drunk in his first appearance in Don Barolo's villa. His serenade of Rosina was ardent and beautifully modulated.

Soprano Erin Brittain shone in Berta's aria, lamenting her character's loneliness. She has a fine clear tone and an expressive manner. We look forward to hearing her in a larger role.

There were no titles but a minimal knowledge of Italian would have seen any listener through each scene, and for this we credit the fine direction of Eowyn Driscoll who did such a fine job as the Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas. She had no set to work with and no costumes, the only prop being a chair; wisely she focused on the interaction between the characters.

Bass-baritone Robert Davidson made a sturdy Dr. Bartolo who handled the patter well; he joined forces with Don Basilio (Mr. Acon) in an attempt to rule the unruly Rosina. "La calunnia" is always fun!  And so is the "Buona sera" scene when the conspirators try to get rid of the unwelcome Don Basilio. As a matter of fact, this opera has no mediocre arias, and especially notable are the ensembles which close each act, a Rossini trademark, in which all the characters are stupefied or chaotic.

Maestro Ian Shafer effected a suitable balance in this chamber orchestra, situated on half the stage, with the action taking place on the other half. Beside the string quartet there was a bass, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and two horns which behaved very well in spite of the horrendous weather.  Mr. Condor played the continuo part on the piano, in the absence of a harpsichord. Daniel Moreno was responsible for the fine guitar accompaniment.

Judicious cuts were made and toward the end there was a loss of continuity due to the omission of the scene in which Bartolo turns Rosina against Almaviva. The singing lesson scene also was truncated. None of these compromises proved fatal. A good time was had by all!

(c) meche kroop