LA RONDINE at MSM

 Curtain Call for La Rondine at Manhattan School of Music

Puccini's 1917 opera La Rondine is about falling in love in a moment; we fell in love with the work a couple minutes after Maestro Marcello Cormio raised his baton. There is no doubt that Mo. Cormio was completely in touch with Puccini's lavish melodies as well as the master's use of dance rhythms. As a matter of fact he appeared to be dancing on the podium and his obvious enthusiasm for the work was communicated to the student orchestra which responded in a manner that a professional orchestra might envy.

Puccini appears to have rewritten many of his operas; we believe we have seen several versions of his Madama Butterfly and we are rather opinionated about our favorite. That he also wrote three versions of La Rondine was unknown to us until we did some reading.  Director Katherine M. Carter wisely chose the first version in which our heroine Magda has agency. A century later, we are in a position to admire a woman who weighs her options, thinks about the future with a clear eye and makes her own decisions. We will not give away the ending here because we hope you will go and see for yourself, since there are several more performances this weekend.

It might have been tempting for a self-serving director to have moved the plot to contemporary times but we are very glad that Ms. Carter did not. It just doesn't ring true to tell a story about a "kept woman" who feels like an outcast, not when females college students have no shame about becoming "sex workers".

One could make a case for La Rondine being considered an operetta due to its lively tunes, its use of tropes familiar to us from Johann Strauss Jr.'s Die Fledermaus and its sharing of tunefulness with the operettas of Victor Herbert. However, we make no such distinction between opera and operetta. It is simply gorgeous music lending gravity to a story that resonates with us. Who has not regretted fleeing from a tempting situation in their youth, then hoping to recreate that situation years later. One recognizes that one cannot put one's foot in the same river twice. The river of time flows on and cannot be stopped.

The lovely Magda, so convincingly portrayed by the silver-voiced soprano Seolbin Oh, occupies a grand apartment, presumably paid for by her "patron" Rambaldo (the fine baritone Blake Stevenson who somehow manages to look and act like an older man) who provides her with costly gifts. She has a sassy maid named Lisette (the funny Sanne Vleugels) who thinks nothing of purloining her mistress' clothes for a night on the town. She has charming friends--Yvette (Abigail Williams), Bianca (Hailey Hye-In Ji) and Suzy (Grace Verbic)-- gorgeously costumed by Rodrigo Muñoz--who gossip about the newest trends in romance. Attending her salon is the poet Prunier (the sweet voiced tenor SeongBeom Choi) who gets to sing the opera's most famous aria "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" which becomes a duet when Magda adds her verse.

A young man arrives (as one does in La Traviata) who is the son of a friend of Rambaldo; the women fuss over Ruggero (tenor Fernando Silva-Gorbea)  and recommend that he spend his first night in Paris at Bullier's. Everyone leaves and Magda, dreaming of a missed opportunity of her youth, decides to go to the same nightclub. Of course, she winds up sitting with Ruggero. Of course they fall in love. Of course Lisette and Prunier show up. Of course Rambaldo also shows up.  And Magda breaks off her relationship with him.

As in Act II of La Traviata, the couple spend an idyllic time in the country and get to sing a beautiful love duet.  However, Ruggero's father does not show up to chastise him. On the other hand, his mother wants to welcome Magda (now calling herself Paulette) to the family and is anticipating a grandchild. And this is where our storytelling ends. You will have to see what happens for yourself.

You will also have to make up your own mind Dear Reader, whether this is a comedy or a tragedy. For us it was neither, rather a bittersweet tale that reminds us that we do not always get what we want and that every event in our lives has its own time and place. Thus, the resonance that makes this work of art meaningful and relatable. We learned (thanks, Wikipedia) that in 1995, one of those self-important directors of Eurotrash created a version in which Magda drowns herself at the end! This version was picked up by the Washington National Opera and the Los Angeles Opera. We are so happy that Manhattan School of Music and Ms. Carter did not burden this beautiful work with a toxic ending. One wants to leave this very human story with a wry smile, not sobbing in grief. We can save our sobs for Butterfly, Violetta, and Mimi.

We would like to give a shout to the many members of the Ensemble who provided such a lively and believable atmosphere to the scene at Bullier's with choreography by Stephanie Sutherland. Chorus Master Jackson McKinnon is to be praised as is set designer Brendan Gonzales Boston who created a glamorous Parisian salon as well as a stunning red nightclub.

© meche kroop

FOXY AND FABULOUS

 Vulpine Nuptials at Manhattan School of Music

(photo by Brian Hatton)

We wish to heap accolades upon Manhattan School of Music Graduate Opera Theater's production of Leos Janaček's fairytale opera The Cunning Little Vixen, also known as Vixen Sharp-Ears. It is a perfect example of team effort, involving the participation of Maestro Kirk Severtson who used the fine resources of the MSM Orchestra to illuminate Janaček's painterly score; of Director Dennis Whitehead Darling who told the story in the most engaging fashion; of the large cast of singers who filled our ears with the most thrilling sounds and, under the tutelage of Diction Coach Kathryn LaBouff, obviated the need for subtitles; of Costume Designer Jen Gillette and Wig, Hair, and Makeup Designer Loryn Pretorius who helped all the singers to embody their given characters; and of Scenic Designer Brian Ruggaber who provided the setting for this gem of a production.

We have yet to mention the dancing. Woodland scenes were populated by swarms of beautiful butterflies recruited from the ranks of the Music Theater Department. Choreography by Felicity Stiverson was just about perfect.

It is almost 10 years to the day that we were introduced to this work by Juilliard Opera and it was performed in street clothes and used a non-woodland set with a good translation by Yveta Synek Graff and Robert T. Jones. We were to see it several more times within a couple years, once at MSM Summer Voice Festival in a deficient translation that fought with the music, and once by Dell'Arte Opera in an imaginative production, sung in Czech, which we found most effective in following the accents of the music.

And oh, what music it is! Although it was written a quarter of the way into the 20th century, the utilization of Moravian folk tunes overrode any instances of atonalism. Showing evidence of the excellent teaching by James Morris, Yeong Taek Yang employed his superlative vocalism and convincing acting to create the character of The Forester as an Everyman, longing for the romance he missed when he married, and now perhaps more in love with his dog Lapák (the excellent Alexandra Lovisa Olsson Andersen) and just maybe the fox kit he captures and brings home as a pet.

And this brings us to the completely winning performance of Joo Yeon Kim as Sharp-Ears. She managed to convey a blend of animal instinct and human foibles. She is a proto-feminist, urging the hens to rebel against their pimp (sorry, the rooster) but then reverts to animal instinct by killing the hens. Like a human woman, she flirts with a possible mate--Gold Stripe (finely performed by Seolbin Oh) who wins her by bringing fresh meat.  (Think wooing with a steak dinner in contemporary times!) The pair move into a home seized from  the grumpy Badger in a swipe at capitalism since the Badger ( effectively portrayed by Benjamin R. Sokol) keeps the den all for himself and does not share. Woodland gossip about their cohabitation leads to a shotgun marriage.

There is a great deal of mime which, along with the evocative music, serves to tell the story. The Forester's wife (Zhe Nancy Xiong) scolds her husband for bringing home the fox cub but he persuades her to relent. Who cannot relate to the familial conflict? Their two bratty boys Pepik and Frantik (Madison Marie Fitzpatrick and Grace Verbic) beat and taunt the kit until she lashes out and Mama must console her crybaby son. We can sense The Forester's despair at losing the battle and losing the kit that maybe he has fallen in love with. Who has not grieved when a parent or spouse has made them give up a beloved pet?

When Vixen and Sharp-Ears meet we are no less moved than we are by the meeting of Mimi and Rodolfo in Act I of Puccini's La Bohême. When The Forester sits at the tavern with his two drinking buddies, their conversation could take place today. The sad sack Schoolmaster (Woo Jin Dong) mourns the unavailability of the gypsy girl who prefers another.  Life has passed him by. The pedantic Parson (Mr. Sokol again) will find employment in another town. The men stagger home inebriated (falling down drunk). The tavernkeeper and his wife (William Velasco and Julia Johnstone) seem like any couple running a business together and dealing with rowdy customers who don't like to pay up.

The joyful wedded bliss of Fox and Vixen is ended by the poacher Harašta (Nan Wang) who wants a fox pelt for Terynka, his bride to be. He doesn't consider all the kits in the litter left without maternal care. Our world today has daily reminders of people who kill for spoils or for fun. Is the human world crueler than the animal world?

This wonderful story of love, death, and rebirth was adapted by Janáček from a story which originated as a serial comic strip. He wrote the libretto himself. The work was "reduced" by Jonathan Dove but there was no mention of the translator in our program. Fortunately there were no "Director's Notes" to tell us what to see and feel. The work speaks for itself and allows us to appreciate many issues on our own--the cycle of life, the rituals of courtship, the selfishness of human beings, disappointments, loss, social injustice, the treatment of women, the treatment of animals.  Every moment since the curtain has brought a new insight. As we were writing we just thought that foxes are know for their cunning. Who was more devious, Sharp-Ears or Harašta who puts on an innocent air whilst poaching animals?

In spite of all the sadness and loss, this work is never maudlin; it is a clear-eyed view of reality and also allows us moments of lighthearted humor, as when the Mosquito (Mr. Dong again) uses a hypodermic to draw blood from a human and then squirts it into his mouth. It is to the credit of Mr. Darling that we enjoyed many similar moments of directorial invention. Every character had a personality and every singer did a fine job of acting.

Our mind is filled with images and thoughts about life that can only come from great theater and only when the direction gives us leave to draw connections on our own. This can be thought of as the best operatic experience we have enjoyed.  OR, we wish to call it the best THEATRICAL experience. It has been said that art holds up a mirror to our society and shows us who we are. This production succeeded equally as entertainment and illumination.

© meche kroop