BARE OPERA ON A BARE STAGE

A Brilliant Success for Bare Opera

Well, the stage wasn't entirely bare; there were three benches and enough newspaper to remind us of our former neighbor "The Hoarder". The staging of Rossini's first opera was unusual with rows of seats on either side of the theater facing inward with the stage at one end and marvelous Maestro Sesto Quatrini and his fine chamber orchestra at the other.

Stage Director Cecilia Ligorio had some fine ideas and utilized both the stage and the central playing area, giving the singers lots of room to tell this humorous story. Maestro Quatrini at one end could conduct in full view of singers, musicians, and audience members. The only problem was that at times one felt as if one were watching a tennis match; if one needed to read the titles at the top of the stage this head swiveling became constant. But there is no denying that the experience was up close and personal, making it very very special and full of impact.

Rossini was only 18 years old when he composed La cambiale di matrimonio, which premiered in 1810 in Venice. (And what's YOUR 18-year-old doing tonight?). The libretto by Gaetano Rossi is a farsa comica, based on an earlier play which was probably based on commedia dell'arte. 

There is a mercenary older man, played with bluster by baritone Suchan Kim, who always turns in a great performance. There is a rebellious daughter, portrayed by the superb soprano Liana Guberman. There is her impoverished lover, effectively sung by terrific tenor Sungwook Kim. And there is a wealthy suitor from Canada (!) sung by the fine baritone John Allen Nelson. And of course there are two clever servants--Norton (the fine Colin Whiteman) and Clarina (the very gifted Kirsten Scott).

The successful introduction, written by Assistant Director Elias Markos, was delivered by the spunky mezzo-soprano Ms. Scott (who also happens to be the Executive Producer and Co-Artistic Director). Ms. Scott is not only a superb singer but also made an impressive interlocutor, explaining in English what the opera is about.

A wealthy English merchant wants to arrange a marriage between a wealthy Canadian and his daughter, who is in love with a poor fellow. The servants  help the young lovers to defeat the father's plan.

The directorial concept rapidly dealt with any reservations an audience member might have about watching something so old-fashioned as to be based on a man selling his daughter. Cast members read aloud articles from the plenitude of newspapers scattered about, dealing with such issues taking place contemporaneously in several foreign cultures as well as sex-trafficking closer to home. This introduction allowed the audience to experience the work as relevant and also to enjoy the high jinx and the music.

And what music! There is something quite exciting about hearing a composer's earliest works. One could hear the influence of Mozart and one could also hear the origins of Rossini's prodigious gifts. There was a gorgeous romantic duet for Ms. Guberman and Sungwook Kim. There was a face-off duet between Mr. Suchan Kim and Mr. Nelson. And there was a marvelous oppositional duet when Mr. Nelson tries to court the unwilling Ms. Guberman. The two servants also got plenty of stage time for frisky involvement and sang so well together.  And there was a terrific ensemble number as well.

Costumes by Laura Kung were modern and suited the characters.  Mr. Suchan Kim wore a "grandfather sweater", Mr. Sungwook Kim wore a motorcycle jacket, and Mr. Nelson was dressed like a clueless rube in plaid pants.

Music Director (and pianist) was Laetitia Ruccolo whom we just heard Thursday night at the Classic Lyric Arts Gala. Lighting Design was by Anthony Tornambene.

We are feeling particularly grateful to Bare Opera for bringing this work to our attention and for casting such superb artists; we were given all the best of musical and dramatic values, brought up to date without sacrificing the original intent--to entertain!

(c) meche kroop

GOYESCAS

The cast of Bare Operas' Goyescas

Enrique Granados' "opera" Goyescas has lain dormant for a century, just like Sleeping Beauty. We put opera in quotes because the way we experienced it was as a dance/ song/ theater piece. The marvelous music pulls it all together. Maestro Sesto Quatrini himself did the arrangement for his 14 piece orchestra which played Granados' music as beautifully as one might hope for.  Music Director Laetitia Ruccolo really knows the piano, the instrument for which the music was originally written.

Granados was inspired by the paintings of Francisco Goya who depicted the bohemians of the 18th c.  --the  majos and majas of Madrid.  Librettist Fernando Periquet y Zuaznabar was obliged to fit the text to the melodies of Granados' previously written suite for piano.

The story is a simple one. One of the majos, the bullfighter Paquito, flirts with Rosario a woman of the upper classes, angering his girlfriend Pepa and enraging Rosario's high-born boyfriend Fernando. Fernando will let Rosario attend their dance but only if he comes as her protector. At the dance, the intrusion is resented and insults are exchanged. Paquito and Fernando fight; Fernando dies in Rosario's arms.

This is not the frothy plot of a zarzuela; it reminded us of how many operas have men killing each other, or at least threatening each other, over a flirtatious woman. Eugene Onegin comes to mind and Cavalleria Rusticana, among several others. We are here dealing with more than simple jealousy, however, since class issues are involved.  We wondered what would happen today if some Wall Street types crashed a party in the projects.

The four leads came across rather well with the standout being tenor Sean Christensen who sang with a full-throated tenor, much enlarged since we last heard him sing. Furthermore he seemed every inch an aristocrat, sneering disdainfully at the punk/majos.

Soprano Lauren Yokabaskas sang the role of Rosario and sang it well; she convinced us that she loved Fernando, even if she didn't convince him!  What was missing was an understanding of why and how she was flirting with Paquito or why she even wanted to attend the party. But the librettist didn't give us anything to go on. She was lovely in the wistful aria about the nightingale in the third scene and the subsequent duet when Fernando arrives, just before the fatal duel.

Hee-Pyoung Oh has a substantial baritone instrument and was quite convincing as the tough majo Paquito. He swaggered and threatened in a menacing manner which was quite different from the subtle threat and menace he portrayed when we heard him a couple months ago, singing the role of Giorgio Germont.

Molly Boggess as Pepa exhibited a fine mezzo-soprano and snarled in jealousy as her relationship with Paquito was threatened.

The work was fortunately sung in Spanish but our Latin American companion had as much trouble as we did understanding the Spanish. He also observed that the translation (by Angela Marroy Boerger) was often inaccurate. But the titles (Briana Hunter and Enrico Lagasca) were essential.

We agree with Bare Opera's goal of instituting innovations that make opera fresh and visceral, achieving intimacy in unorthodox spaces. Their first production took place in an art gallery. This production took place in a long narrow space (Bat Haus in Bushwick). The room was arranged so that everyone had a great view and a sense of intimacy, with the long side of the room providing a very wide but shallow playing space. Characters entered and exited by means of a staircase since there were no "wings". The orchestra was at the far end of the space. It all worked just fine. To our delight, we observed the mostly young audience enjoying themselves. Bare Opera is doing something right, selling out six performances. Tomorrow's matinée will have some of the same cast members and some different ones.
There was a stunning curtain raiser that served to set the mood. Excerpts from Isaac Albéniz' 1886 Suite Española filled the air with rhythm and color and the sounds of a guitar, imitated but not present. Stunningly choreographed by Liz Piccoli, who also served as Assistant Director, three dancers interpreted five of Albéniz' tributes to cities in Spain. Although our taste in dance runs heavily toward classical ballet, we were surprised to find so much to like in the dancing of Sharlane Conner (the girl in white), Tiger Brown (the girl in red) and Vivake Kamsingsavath (the boy in rags).

The dancing was varied and seemed to ride on the surface of the music as if it were being created spontaneously.  Ms. Conner is delicate but intense and uses her hands beautifully.  Ms. Brown is fiery and athletic with great leaps. Mr. Kamsingsavath showed great ease with the moves of hip-hop but made them artistic in "Castilla". There was a tender duet between him and Ms. Conner in "Granada". There was an interesting use of a rope as the three dancers seemed to work out their relationship with one another.  In "Asturia"  (our favorite) they were crowned with headgear made of tiny lights. In "Aragon", the crowns came off and the dancing became frisky and playful.

As much as we liked the dancing in Suite Española, we did not care for the dancers invading the space of Goyescas any more than the majos and majas enjoyed the invasion by the aristocrats.  We found it distracted us from the singing.

We were not pleased by the costuming. Obviously Costume Designer Laura Kung was going for a certain look but the costumes were not especially attractive and required even less attractive undergarments. Neither were we taken by her costumes for the women in Goyescas. According to the program notes, she had in mind the designs of Balenciaga for the aristocrats but we doubt that the audience would have been familiar with his work of that epoch. Fernando's black suit and shirt seemed just about right but Rosario's costume with loose plaid pants looked unflattering.

Stage Director Jonathan Warman elected to set the work in 1980, or at least to be inspired by Pedro Almodóvar's films of that period, when Franco's death in 1975 initiated repercussions of anarchic freedom, individuality, and the new wave of punk.

This is only the second production by Bare Opera which attempts to, and has succeeded at, providing a fresh modern take on the opera experience. Visual arts are put on equal standing with music. That doesn't mean that the set was lavish. There was only a small platform and a large banner proclaiming "Juventud Socialista Unida"...United Socialist Youth, as we translate it.

So yes, it was rather bare in framework but the dancing and singing made it a fine evening!

(c) meche kroop

BARE NOT BARE

Véronique Rapin and Kristina Bachrach

Liana Guberman, Sungwook Kim, and Dongkyu Oh

A new chamber opera company on Planet Opera is always a cause for celebration. Bare Opera made a delicious debut last night with two tempting French bonbons. Although the name is Bare, we consider the fledgling company to be very well-furnished with talent and imagination to spare.

They call themselves an "alternative" opera company and have a mission to provide a more modern take on the opera-going experience. They embrace a collaborative spirit with innovative cross-arts productions, creating a casual and intimate experience in unconventional spaces-- in this case the Robert Miller Gallery.

For their debut, they wisely chose two infrequently seen works by French composers, sung in French, with good surtitles that were easily visible. The evening opened with Debussy's cantata L'Enfant Prodigue, a work which won the composer the Grand Prix de Rome in 1884 as he concluded his studies at the Paris Conservatoire. The text by Ernest Guiraud had been assigned, a simple story of a mother Lia who laments the absence of her son Azaël. His return to the family provides for a joyous reconciliation with her and the father Simeon.

Liana Guberman was convincing and ultimately moving as the mother, expressing emotions of grief and joy with wonderful colors in her beautiful soprano. We have heard her sing several times and are impressed with her artistic growth.

Tenor Sungwook Kim and baritone Dongkyu Oh, as son and father respectively, contributed their excellent voices to the creation of this happily restored family.

Conductor Sesto Quatrini accomplished the reduction of the score and guided his chamber orchestra through the beautiful music which presaged the composer's later impressionism. The orchestra comprised a string quartet augmented by bass, percussion, piano and winds--flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and French horn. The textures were lovely and the execution marked by clarity.

As far as the visual elements, there were some really beautiful images swirling on the screen projected above the singers. Fortunately they did not distract; but as to whether they contributed to our appreciation of the emotional landscape of the text and music, we cannot say. The abstract video created by Art Director Alexandra Posen of molten wax reminded us of nothing more than the light shows of the late 1960's. Not a bad thing!

For the second half of the program, Maurice Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, Ms. Posen created a trippy landscape looking for all the world like a video game constructed of Lego blocks. For this, Ms. Posen collaborated with Voxelbox and Minecraft artist Kupo. In this case, the projection served to establish the world of the child, a very naughty boy.

We recently enjoyed a performance of this delightful 1925 opera given by Utopia Opera, another chamber opera company.  It was amazing to enjoy it from another perspective with different performers and different direction (Anthony Laciura). The work began life as a ballet commissioned by the Paris Opera but became an opera with ballet sequences choreographed by none other than George Balanchine. The novelist Colette wrote the libretto. Ravel's score is eclectic with influences from jazz and popular music of that epoch.

It tells the story of a rebellious schoolboy who destroys his books, abuses the furniture and tortures animals. These objects come alive and teach the boy a lesson--meanness leads to loneliness and abandonment. In the happy ending, the boy bandages an animal's wounds and earns the praise of the other creatures.

Swiss mezzo-soprano Véronique Rapin made a very believable little boy, dressed in a sailor suit, throwing herself into the role with expressive gesture and voice. We were highly impressed by Francisco Corredor's performance as a googly-eyed frog and as the boy's neglected arithmetic lesson. We have enjoyed this character tenor's performance on more than one occasion.  There is never a false note, not vocally, not dramatically. He also did the choreography which worked splendidly.

Another singer we enjoyed was Larisa Martínez in her role as Fire that can warm but also destroy. We did not see any credits for costuming in the program but hers was red and floaty and quite special. Similarly her Nightingale was a standout.

Ms. Guberman reappeared as a Shepherdess and a Bat, both excellently portrayed; Mr. Kim lent his tenor to the role of Teapot with Inbar Goldmann as his Teacup. Mr. Oh did a fine stand as the Grandfather Clock and again as a Cat with Briana Hunter as his mate in a fine meowing duet. What fun to see singers stretch themselves and reappear in completely different guise.

Kristina Bachrach portrayed a Princess whose life was left in limbo when the bad boy tore up his picture book. (During this scene we appreciated the projected artwork of a Disney-style castle.) She doubled as an Armchair with the Sofa played by Enrico Lagasca who doubled as the Tree which was bleeding sap from a knife attack by the naughty boy.

As the mother Sarah Miller left us with memories of a mincing walk that went far in defining character. We recalled her fine performance with New York Opera Exchange in Roméo et Juliette.

Not only did all of the above mentioned singers make significant vocal contributions but the chorus did as well. Who coached them? Mr. Corredor of course.

Laetitia Ruccolo, Artistic Director of Bare Opera and pianist, was responsible for the very readable translation with titles done by Elizabete Sirante.

All told, we witnessed a highly talented group of young artists collaborate to put on a production that delighted a very packed house. We foresee a fine future for this group and are eagerly awaiting an announcement of dates for their next production--Goyescas by Enrique Granados.

This is exactly what a boutique opera company should be doing--bringing neglected works to an audience hungry for surprises. There is certainly room in New York for  small companies presenting the classics so that young artists can get experience with roles for which they may later be hired. But Bare Opera seems to have found their own niche. We heartily approve!

There will be two more performances.  Take heed!

(c) meche kroop