HOLIDAY PARTY WITH CITY LYRIC OPERA

Megan Gillis and Kathleen Spencer

What a pleasure it is to watch City Lyric Opera thrive! Co-Founders and Artistic Directors Kathleen Spencer and Megan Gillis, singers themselves, know exactly what singers need and have established an artist-centric company, a niche of which we heartily approve.

Last night, a gracious Upper West Side lady (and we do mean "lady") hosted a salon in celebration of the holiday season. With Amir Farid at the piano, there was plenty of singing, both professional and audience participation. Sets were well paced with plenty to eat and drink during the intermission.

We love being introduced to new singers so we had a field day, as they say. Mezzo-soprano Taylor-Alexis Dupont who sang in Porgy and Bess at The Metropolitan Opera appeared in a total wow of a red dress to deliver as passionate a delivery of Richard Strauss' "Zueignung" as we have ever heard. Clarion tone and fine German diction added up to a stellar performance.

It was a good night for mezzo-sopranos. Stephanie Feigenbaum was not new to us. We enjoyed her performance as Nancy in Britten's Albert Herring with Utopia Opera and also as the good witch Melissa in a Caccini opera with Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble. Last night she showed us two different aspects of her talent.

"What a Movie" from Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti was delivered with perfect English diction, generous use of gesture, and just the right degree of irony. We were reminded of our own guilty pleasures and how we sometimes knock the things we enjoy because they are thought to be "beneath us"--like James Bond movies, for example.

Later, she sang "Make Someone Happy" from the forgotten musical Do Re Mi for which Comden and Green wrote the lyrics and Jules Styne composed the music. What a change from irony and histrionics to a quiet sincerity!

Baritone Joshua Miller sang a Charles Ives song called "Down East" that reminded him of his Maine roots. His mellow instrument and clarity of phrasing were joyful to hear.

Sadly, an unavoidably late arrival prevented us from hearing tenor Kameron Ghanavati sing a song by Ben Moore and soprano Celeste Morales singing Hugh Martin's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "I'll Be Seeing You". We were told they were both excellent and we are sure to catch up with them some other time.

Special Programs Manager Nehemiah Rolle led a discussion among the artists on the topic of what the holidays meant to them. It was an interesting idea and allowed those of us in the audience to see them as people, not just performers. We got to hear some charming stories.

There was group singing of "Winter Wonderland" and "Auld Lang Syne" (endless verses of it) but your faithful writer just moved her lips lest she send the entire group fleeing from the room!

At this time of year, think generously of the boutique opera companies that fill out the cultural landscape of our fair city with such beauty. City Lyric Opera deserves your support!

© meche kroop

A SEASONAL SEANCE FOR HALLOWEEN

Philip Stoddard, Cristina Marie Castro, Chantelle Grant, Jackson McKinnon, Kathleen Shelton, JoAnna Geffert,
and Joshua Miller

In 1946, commissioned by Columbia University, Gian Carlo Menotti composed the music and wrote the lyrics for a work entitled The Medium. Within a period of five years, it achieved a Broadway run, a television production, and a film.

It has been called an opera but, in our opinion, it comes across as a play with music. In its one hour duration, it has a great deal to say about deceit, gullibility, and abuse. As far as the "music" it is non-melodic, although there are three fine arias, two of which are for Monica and one for Madame Flora, her mother.

Although we have seen it before, the production we saw by City Lyric Opera hit all the right notes dramatically, thanks to Stage Director Mikhaela Mahoney who apparently included contributions from her excellent cast. Subtexts were revealed which were completely relevant to today's world.

The cast was uniformly excellent with Philip Stoddard portraying the mute Toby as a gangly adolescent whose mental faculties have not kept pace with his physical maturation. He conveyed so much with his face and gesture that speech would have been redundant.

As Monica, soprano Cristina Marie Castro invested her role with pathos and ambivalence. Clearly her abusive mother (Madame Flora) has brought her up with poor morality. She is obliged to serve her mother by fraudulently convincing Madame Flora's clients that she is the spirit of their departed children.

The one joy of her life is the presence of Toby whose backstory is only hinted at; he was rescued from the streets of Budapest and is mistreated by Madame Flora. The two youngsters are playmates but Monica cannot resist physicalizing their relationship in a way that confuses poor Toby.

Ms. Castro's shining soprano was lovely in "Monica's Waltz" and in the soothing song she sings to calm her anxious mother--"The Black Swan".

Chantelle Grant has an interesting texture to her mezzo-soprano instrument and was completely convincing as the duplicitous medium. Tampering with the world of spirits has its risks and Madame Flora becomes frightened when she hallucinates (or did she?) hands around her throat. She blames Toby for this, just as she blames him for everything.

She begins to decompensate and when her clients arrive for the next seance, she returns their money and tells them everything was a hoax. But they won't believe her and insist that their children actually contacted them! We see the same human flaw today in people who won't face the truth and clutch desperately to wishful thinking.

Ms. Grant takes to the bottle and sings a heart rending aria "Afraid? Am I afraid?" The three arias are in English and therefore less indicative of the quality of the voices than arias sung in Italian; but to our ears all the singers sounded just fine.

Aside from the three arias, all the other dialogue could be considered sprechstimme. No one would mind if the lines were spoken. As a matter of fact, since Music Director Jackson McKinnon played the piano with such an excess of volume, we would have preferred that, since many of the lines were drowned out. In all fairness, we were sitting very close to the piano, so if you attend one of the next four performances (and we hope you will) we advise sitting as far from the piano as possible.

The smaller roles were finely enacted. Kathleen Shelton portrayed Mrs. Nolan who wanted to communicate with her sixteen year old daughter. As the Gobineau's, JoAnna Geffert and Joshua Miller were convincing as a couple who had lost their two year old son and were satisfied just to hear him giggle. Of course it was Monica in both cases.

There were several small touches, which we will not reveal here, that made the production far more effective than it usually is. It was genuinely spooky and upsetting, which speaks well for the director and the performers. The casting was spot on. The roles of Monica and Madame Flora are double cast so you, dear reader, may see a performance that is slightly different from the one we saw. Still, we recognized the names of the second cast and can assure you that you won't be disappointed.

No one was credited for the set; it was simple but effective--a table, some chairs, a period lamp or two, and a neon sign advertising "Psychic". Dallas Estes' eerie lighting added to the experience. The uncredited costumes seemed period appropriate and fortunately did not call attention to themselves.

If you are unfamiliar with City Lyric Opera, let us fill you in. In a couple short years, Co-Founders and Co-Artistic Directors Kathleen Spencer and Megan Gillis have created a valuable niche for themselves with an artist-centric company that relies on an original vision to bring people into the world of opera with very modest ticket prices. Aside from their Mainstage Productions, they present Salons and WorkshOperas. These events must be experienced to be appreciated.

© meche kroop

A PC MIKADO

W.S. Gilbert (Joshua Miller), Richard D'Oyly Carte (Matthew Wages), and Arthur Sullivan (David Macaluso)
(photo by Carol Rosegg)

For us, art and music of quality are what it's all about; we confess to care not a whit for political correctness and we resent tampering with the classics.  We approached New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players' new production of The Mikado with a great deal of trepidation.

We need not have worried. Whatever offensive material that was extirpated from the original "really won't be missed". This version succeeded on every level and can be recommended without reservation. Director David Auxier's concept is a framing device that brought to mind Mike Leigh's fascinating film from 1999--Topsy Turvy--which showed the trials and tribulations that underpinned the seemingly effortless oeuvre of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Today, in similar fashion, a full year of labor and much consulting and compromising with a mostly Asian advisory board were not visible in the finished product. What the audience gets is a lengthy evening of effervescent entertainment that flew by in double time. Part of the credit goes to the prodigious talents of composer Arthur Sullivan and librettist W.S. Sullivan. The rest goes to Mr. Auxier's concept and a lot of hard, but invisible, work.

In a clever framing device, we get a glimpse of the interaction among Gilbert, Sullivan, and impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte. There are petty squabbles and negotiations plus various complaints from the members of the D'Oyly Carte company. A case of writer's block is solved when Gilbert gets knocked out by a falling sword which D'Oyly Carte has brought back from a London exhibit of Japanalia. As we recall, in the Victorian period, Great Britain was fascinated by the recent opening of trade with Japan.

The blow to Gilbert's head leads him to imagining all of the cultural inconsistencies of his own nation grafted onto a mythic Japan. The Mikado is the result. Gilbert's skill always lay in satirizing the ridiculous bureaucracy, sexual prudery and cultural inconsistencies of his time and place. Moreover he did so by skillfully using his native language in a manner that has never been equalled.

Sullivan brought to the table a banquet of musical gifts. The tunes are infinitely hummable and we dare anyone to attend without humming a few of them all the way home and on into the night and next day. His rhythms are infectious and, to appreciate his consummate compositional skills, we recommend listening to the harmonies and overlapping voices of "Young Man Despair" sung in Act I by Pooh-Bah, Nanki-Poo, and Pish-Tush--or the "merry madrigal" of Act II.

Once the prologue ends, the opera begins and scenic elements and characters from the Prologue are transformed. D'Oyly Carte becomes the ambitious Pooh-Bah (sung by baritone Matthew Wages). Sullivan becomes Lord High Executioner Ko-Ko (sung by baritone David Macaluso), and Gilbert becomes Pish-Tush (sung by baritone Joshua Miller).  The men are dressed in Victorian fashion but with Japanese fabrics and accoutrements. Gilbert carries a notebook and we are never allowed to forget that he is writing his libretto in his head.  This work, like others of Gilbert and Sullivan, examines British mores and institutions and ridicules them. It is not at all unusual in the world of opera for plots to be transposed to other countries or other epochs. It is easier to look at oneself from afar!

Tenor Daniel Greenwood made a splendid Nanki-Poo and impressed with his delivery of "A Wondering Minstrel I";  soprano Sarah Caldwell Smith made a winsome Yum-Yum, his love interest. We enjoyed her aria "The Sun Whose Rays Are All Ablaze".  It was a memorable performance, both vocally and dramatically.

The "Three Little Maids From School" trio is always a delight. Ms. Smith was joined by the lovely soprano Alexandra Haines as Peep-Bo and mezzo-soprano Amy Maude Helfer as Pitti-Sing who contributed greatly to the complicated execution plot, balancing the male voices.

Caitlin Burke brought the house down as the angry and violent Katisha, chiming in with her "daughter-in-law elect", infuriating the Mikado. There was something very touching about her softening when Ko-Ko wins her hand by singing "Willow, Tit-Willow".

Chris White electrified the proceedings with large booming tones as he related ways to "let the punishment fit the crime". He had suitably magisterial presence while keeping the humor going.

All of the singers seem to have experience in opera as well as musical theater and brought both excellent voices and convincing acting skills to the production. Mr. Auxier's direction and choreography could not have been better. The sets by Anshuman Bhatia were simple (a mountainous scene as backdrop and two shoji-screened rooms); the lighting by Benjamin Weill was dramatic.

IT WOULD BE A CRIME TO MISS!

Sarah Marvel Bleasdale, Joshua Miller, Duncan Harman, and David Pasteelnick in Utopia Opera's production of Sondheim's Assassins

Stephen Sondheim's 1990 musical Assassins was originally presented Off-Broadway by Playwrights Horizons (we were there) and remounted on Broadway in 2004, garnering 5 Tony awards. It is just as relevant today, if not more so, largely due to the intransigence of the NRA and the vehemence of their followers.

Utopia Opera's decision to present it as their season opener was based, as these decisions are, on votes from the audience. This show got more votes than any other show that was nominated. 

Although some of Sondheim's oeuvre seem quite kin to opera, this one is more like a revue. Although the topic of presidential assassination is a highly serious one, the show gives it a gloss of black humor and Sondheim's music is unmatchable. His dialogue is twice as clever as it needs to be.

With slim biographical data to go on, the characters in the show are fully realized by John Weidman's excellent book: paranoid schizophrenics, disaffected immigrants, woefully misguided idealists, pathetic victims of an exploitative society, and all-around loonies.

The parts were brilliantly cast, effectively enacted, and well sung by a cast that seemed to bring serious vocal training from both the operatic camp and the Broadway camp. Happily, the voices were not amplified.

The versatile William Remmers stepped down from the podium to assume the role of The Proprietor in vaudeville guise, ready to provide guns to the would-be killers. It was a knock-out characterization.

The Balladeer who tells the story of the American Dream and narrates the proceedings was portrayed by Chazmond J. Peacock, in fine voice.

Joshua Miller made a strong impression as John Wilkes Booth--not only in the scene in which he is wounded and tries to justify his murder of President Lincoln, but later when he "inspires" and goads the others to attempt their heinous acts. Of all the performers, his English diction stood out.  We missed not a single word.

Lauren Gismondi made a marvelous Emma Goldman, both looking and sounding exactly right. Her scene with Leon Czolgosz (a fine Duncan Hartman), the killer of William McKinley, was one of our favorites.

For humor we had Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme (Kayla Ryan Walsh) carrying on about her "love affair" with Charles Manson, and Sara Jane Moore (Sarah Marvel Bleasdale gleefully interacting, then hilariously messing up their intended assassination of President Gerald Ford.

Matthew Hughes portrayed the pathetic Giuseppe Zangara who tried to kill FDR, and David Pasteelnick enacted the manic Charles Guiteau who did away with James Garfield. He laughed all the way to the hangman's noose.

Michael Matthias excelled as the patently delusional Sam Byck who failed to rid us of Richard Nixon. Zachary Barnes was fine as John Hinckley, Jr. who tried to kill President Ronald Reagan to make an impression on Jodie Foster!  Jeff Goble was excellent as the weak-willed and suicidal Lee Harvey Oswald, falling under the influence of John Wilkes Booth's spirit.

The 13-piece orchestra, heavy on the brass, was conducted by Benjamin Weiss. Sondheim made good use of the American idiom and at one point quoted Leonard Bernstein. Although the instrumental balance was fine, we felt the volume frequently overpowered the voices, including Mr. Remmers' introduction.

It is also fair to point out that the enunciation was not always as clear as it might have been, particularly on the part of The Balladeer. Sondheim's lyrics are so important that we wanted to hear every word. It occurs to us that surtitles are just as important for English as they are for foreign languages.

Utopia Opera is a perfect example of substituting creativity and imagination for a big budget; they have done so much with paltry resources. There was no scenery to speak of but the costuming (Eric Lamp and Angel Betancourt) seemed quite apropos to the periods. It was quite a challenge to mount a show like this and much credit goes to the company for doing such a fine job. Mr. Remmers himself directed.

It is arguably the job of the artist to hold a mirror up to society and reflect us back to ourselves.  At this performance we felt entertained, enlightened, squeamish, and a bit ashamed of our violent history.  We need to experience our dark side before we can change it. The show has been produced overseas and we can only imagine how Europeans must judge our outmoded infatuation with firearms and revenge.

There will be two shows today, matinée and evening--similarly on Sunday. Can you allow yourself to be entertained and changed at the same time?

(c) meche kroop