THE GOLDEN AGE

The Cast of "The Golden Age"

Under the loving leadership of Artistic Director Judith Fredricks, the delightful singers of Opera New York have taken opera out of the concert hall and into the places where people eat and drink. One might think this would be noisy or distracting but that is not the case. People became very quiet until each number ended and then they burst into enthusiastic applause.

The pleasant and welcoming venue was Mont Blanc 54, a Swiss restaurant on West 54th St. We indulge in fondue only during the winter but the room was filled with people dipping bread into cauldrons of bubbling cheese or enjoying Veal Zurichoise. We can however attest to the quality of the french fries, of which we ate way to many!

Last night, the cast abandoned the world of opera for that delightful hybrid of opera and Broadway musical theater--operetta. Ms. Fredricks herself narrated the evening with interesting tidbits about the composers and the singers who popularized their work. The way it seems to us is that operetta began in Europe as light entertainment and was brought to the USA by composers who left their homeland for the New World and brought their music with them. This would seem to have evolved into "The Golden Age" of Broadway. 

We are ardent fans of The Victor Herbert Renaissance Project Live! which presents several Victor Herbert operas each year, so his music is familiar to us. Soprano Elena Heimur, a regular cast member of Opera New York, had a wonderful time singing the "Italian Street Song" with a lot of "zing-zing". This song was the hit tune of Herbert's 1910 Naughty Marietta. Ms. Heimur was joined by the male ensemble, comprising Walter Hartman, Scott O'Brien, Carlos Correa, and Robert Montgomery.

Heartthrob baritone Roberto Borgatti, another regular, had the audience members swooning with Sigmund Romberg's "One Alone" from the hokey operetta The Desert Song. Today we find these stories silly but a century ago they provided an escape from the upheavals of The Great War.

Herbert's Student Prince was given a lot of stage time, enough to grasp the familiar plot of an aristocrat courting a commoner. Soprano Tate Chu was lively as the barmaid serving steins of beer to the Ensemble and lovely as the love object of tenorrific Edgar Jaramillo (another regular) who leaned into the romance with gusto and open-throated singing.

The clever lyrics of "Every Day is Ladies' Day with Me" from Herbert's The Red Mill was performed by veteran bass Walter Hartman. We have seen the entire operetta, thanks to VHRPL! and cherished the opportunity to once again giggle along with the funny rhymes.

Who doesn't love The Merry Widow by Franz Lehar! The title role was sung by Ms. Heimur and we were dumbstruck at one point in "Vilja" when she leapt to a delicately floated high note and launched into a magnificent crescendo. She was accompanied by the ensemble. Her lover Danilo was persuasively performed by Mr. Borgatti who created a dapper "creature of the night" in the winning song "Maxime's", in which he tells of the many ladies of the nightclub --Frou Frou, and LuLu, or something like that.

But the number we all wait for is "The Merry Widow Waltz", which Mr. Borgatti sang in German and Ms. Heimur in English. Frankly, we prefer the German. The pair got to show off their ballroom skills in a charming waltz.

Rudolf Friml's Rose-marie is so silly that one couldn't play "Indian Love Call" straight and so Ms. Heimur and Mr. Jaramillo camped it up and the audience loved it.

There was also a surprise! As a teaser for the upcoming concert of Disney songs, soprano Zoë Lowenbein sang a song from The Little Mermaid. Although we prefer Dvorak's Russalka, we were quite happy to hear the charming Ms. Lowenbein's winning performance.

Accompaniment was provided by Michael Pilafian, another Opera New York regular. It seemed as if the artists enjoyed themselves as much as the audience!

(c) meche kroop

OPERA TO DIE FOR

Michael Pilafian, Edgar Jaramillo, Tate Chu, Judith Fredricks, and Joseph Flaxman

What a clever title for a program of opera scenes, all of which dealt with death. Actors relish dying onstage and apparently so do singers.  Last night's recital by Opera New York, helmed by Artistic Director Judith Fredricks, gave us lots of great music performed by a group of excellent young artists.

The first three scenes were extracted from Verdi operas, so you know the music was good-- but also challenging for the singers, who uniformly rose to the occasion.

In Ballo in Maschera, Riccardo, the Governor of Boston, meets his bloody end at the hands of his Secretary Renato, who has joined in the assassination plot because he learns of Riccardo's love for Amelia, his wife. Amelia tries to warn Riccardo, to no avail.

Edgar Jaramillo's warm tenor was perfect for the role of Riccardo and his bloody death by stabbing was convincing. Soprano Courtney Delisle made a fine Amelia; baritone Joseph Flaxman did well as Renato, and soprano Xueyan Fan opened the scene as Oscar, the page.

Opera New York has frequently put the Act IV quartet from Rigoletto on their programs, but this is the first time they have performed the final scene in which Gilda dies in the arms of her father. The actual stabbing had occurred earlier in the act at the hands of the assassin Sparafucile.

Here, we were able to get a better appreciation of the skills of Ms. Fan who went from the frisky Oscar to the tragic Gilda. The handsome Mr. Flaxman did a great job of hiding his assets under a black cloak and transforming himself into a hunchback. Mr. Jaramillo gave us some "La donna è mobile" from offstage and sounded great. Whoever was responsible for lighting (uncredited in the program) put the scene in the dark with flashing lights successfully creating the illusion of lightning.

In the third Verdi scene, extracted from Don Carlo, baritone Roberto Borgatti performed the role of the heroic and loyal Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa, who "takes a bullet" for his friend Don Carlo. We enjoyed hearing his "Per me giunto" and "Io morrò", happily recalling the time we heard Hvorostovsky sing the role at the Met.

The last operatic selection was the final scene from Gounod's Faust in which Marguerite, imprisoned for killing her newborn, of which Faust was the father, is visited by Faust and Méphistophélès. Soprano Tate Chu has a lovely instrument and was convincing as the unbalanced Marguerite. Mr. Jaramillo demonstrated his versatility by singing Faust in excellent French, and Mr. Flaxman created a devilish devil, dragging Faust away in a move reminiscent of the Commendatore dragging Don Giovanni to hell.

We even had organ music from Walter Hartman joining the offstage chorus for that uplifting spiritual moment. Otherwise, pianist and Music Director Michael Pilafian accompanied the singers with his customary professionalism.

All that death and dying was relieved by Scott O'Brien singing "If I Can't Love Her" from Alan Menken's Beauty and the Beast, and the dazzling coloratura of Jennifer Ter Keurst animating "Glitter and Be Gay" from Bernstein's Candide, an aria that always leaves us happy and humming

(c) meche kroop