ON THE VIENNA-BHUTAN EXPRESS

Benjamin Dickerson, Dominick Corbacio, Maria Brea, and Kendrick Pifer

Franz Lehár's Das Land des Lächelns is translated as "The Land of Smiles". Our pleasure in the performance we saw at Manhattan School of Music was so intense that one might think the term referred to the effect of the piece on the audience.

Although Lehár's fame was established by his 1905 Die Lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow), we consider this 1929 operetta to be a superior work with greater depth and lovelier music. Whoever has not thrilled to "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" has probably never heard it. Hearing it sung last night by tenor Dominick Corbacio in the role of Prince Sou Chong was pure heaven. The song made Richard Tauber famous and we hope it will do the same for Mr. Corbacio. Accomplished way beyond his senior student status, he has a pleasing tone and floats his high notes without pushing.

The plot of this work likely satisfied the needs of the Viennese public to be exposed to the exoticism of Asia and the equivalent need to see Vienna as the best place on earth. It concerns Lisa (the lovely soprano Maria Brea), daughter of General Lichtenfels (effective bass Gabriel Rollinson), who graciously turns down the marital offer of Count Gustav von Pottenstein (superb baritone Benjamin Dickerson) to run off with Prince Sou Chong to wed him in his own kingdom.  Although the work was set in 1912 China, by the costuming we believe we were meant to be in Bhutan.

The Prince's Uncle Tschang (baritone Seok Jong Baek, excellent in a thankless role) does not recognize the marriage and insists that the Prince marry "the chosen one". This does not sit well with Lisa and when the Prince turns unpleasantly authoritarian, she realizes she cannot live under such restrictions and must be rescued by Count Gustav. This requires the lovely Maria Brea to go through a spectrum of emotions which she achieved, while retaining the clarity of tone and fine phrasing that made her a winning heroine.

A subplot involves the Count falling for the Prince's sister Mi,  sung by the delightfully charming Kendrick Pifer who brought the role alive with her winning personality and admirable coloratura. Their duet "Zig, zig, zig" was enchanting. When the Count left she switched moods and became wistful in "Wie rasch verwelkte doch!"

The bittersweet ending has everyone accepting their fates and relying on smiles to cover up the sorrow. Lisa is happy to return to her wonderful Viennese home.

It was hard to believe that the cast comprised undergraduates.  Although it is called Senior Opera Theater, some cast members were in their third year, But they could have fooled us easily!  Tenor Joseph Klebanoff made a fine showing as Cousin Rudi who sang "Seufzergässchen" as welcome comic relief.

Baritone Jonathan Thierer portrayed Colonel Bloch, who annoyed everyone except for the irritable Countess Frida (mezzo-soprano Erika Rush Robinson) whose lovely duet with him "Wer hat die Liebe" melted her icy demeanor.

Tenor Giovanni Pinto portrayed Fu-Li, the Prince's major-domo; the more officious and pretentious he got, the funnier.  The chorus of women were excellent at Lisa's birthday party. Lehár's wonderful waltz tunes permitted some charming choreography by Francis Patrelle.

All of these delights were pulled together by Dona D. Vaughn who directed with a sure hand, which we have come to expect. The work was treated with honesty, respect, and sincerity. No attempt was made to update the dialogue or the appositely stilted delivery.  It came across just as it should. We always prefer retention of the original style.

It was an excellent decision for the dialogue to be spoken in English; the songs were sung in German that was so accurate that we didn't need to read the titles. Kudos to Diction Coach Marianne Barrett.

Maestro Jorge Parodi led the orchestra with his customary relaxed rigor, bringing out every gorgeous tune that Lehár composed. The music flowed forth like honey on a warm day.

Sets were simple. For the General's home, a table and a pair of chairs, some topiary and some chandeliers were enough to suggest bourgeois comfort.  For the Prince's palace, a huge gong and some potted palms sufficed.  Nothing more was needed.

Costumes by Summer Lee Jack were colorful but often ill-fitting and appeared thrown together. They suggested some indeterminate Asian country.

We would wish to have more operettas produced here in New York. They were a valuable bridge between European opera and the American Musical Theater. They are invariable tuneful and always worth a rehearing; this is more than we can say for contemporary opera which we endure and never wish to hear again!

(c) meche kroop

TAKING SIDES ON SONDHEIM

Perhaps Mr. Sondheim would not agree with our opinion but after delighting in Side by Side by Sondheim at The Manhattan School of Music, we consider his works to be operas.  They tell engrossing stories that are relevant to the audience; the music and the stories work together in a way similar to the operas of the 19th c.  They represent a continuation of the tradition far more than so-called "serious operas", the ones that we force ourselves to see once and never want to see twice.  American Musical Theater has evolved out of the operetta tradition and those works evolved from the opera tradition.  Well, no matter what you call them, they are superb.

The production given by MSM's American Musical Theater Ensemble was as superb as the work itself; we could see it transferred intact directly to Broadway!  Narrated by the singers themselves, the anthology of songs was introduced with a bit of background about the shows from which they came.  Carolyn Marlow directed the students of her ensemble with a sure hand; every gesture and action appeared motivated by the lyrics.  Vocal professionalism married with dramatic effectiveness and fine musical values added up to more than the sum of the parts.

The setting by Shawn Kaufman offered little besides a shimmering silver curtain and two pianos, played with high spirits by Musical Director Shane Schag and Eric Sedgwick..  The simple costumes of black and cobalt blue by Rachel Guilfoyle did not distract from the main event--the music.

And what music it was!  The rousing opening "Comedy Tonight" from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum was a perfect choice for starting things off with high energy.  Every song was a jewel but let us just mention a few that were for us highlights.  We loved Julia Suriano, just a sophomore in a group of graduate students, and Chelsie Nectow in "If Momma Was Married" from Gypsy (for which Sondheim wrote the lyrics and Jule Styne the music).  Ms. Suriano impressed us later with her interpretation of the flight attendant in "Barcelona" from Company.  Her sperm-of the-moment was beautifully portrayed by Kim Johansen.  We enjoyed this young performer once again in a unique interpretation of "Broadway Baby" from Follies.

Maren Weinberger and Clayton Brown were delightfully convincing  in "You Must Meet My Wife" from A Little Night Music; he waxed rhapsodic about his virgin bride and she did everything but roll her eyes.  What fun!  Ms. Weinberger has a flair for comedy as revealed in "I Never Do Anything Twice" from The Seven Percent Solution.

"Send in the Clowns" is one of our favorite songs and it was finely delivered by Christine Price who, with Ms. Weinberger, sang a moving operatic version of "A Boy Like That" from West Side Story (music by Leonard Bernstein).  Ms. Price was joined by Ms. Nectow and an hilarious Peter Tinaglia in drag for "You Gotta Get a Gimmick" from Gypsy--a number that gave costumer Rachel Guilfoyle a chance to shine and the audience a chance to laugh out loud.  Laughing out loud was also earned by Kendrick Pifer in "The Boy from..." from The Mad Show (music by Mary Rodgers).

As far as Colleen Durham's choreography, just look at those tappy-toes in "We're Gonna Be All Right" from Do I Hear a Waltz?;  Chelsie Nectow and Clayton Brown really showed their stuff!  If prizes were awarded for the Best Diction, we would choose Maren Weinberger for her "Losing My Mind" from Follies.  Accustomed to hearing German and Italian, we find that English is more difficult to comprehend; when lyrics are as special as Sondheim's are, we would have wished to grasp every single word.  We are not sure whether amplification makes it any easier; possibly the opposite is true.  In any case, in spite of the tradition of amplification on Broadway, we couldn't help wondering how the show might have sounded without body mics, taking into account the well-trained voices we were listening to.  Just sayin'.

©meche kroop