MADELEINE

Shane Brown, David Seatter, Keith Broughton, JoAnna Geffert,
Claire Leyden, Jonathan Hare, Andrew Klima, and Thomas Woodman

There was much to enjoy in Victor Herbert Renaissance Project Live!'s production of the composer's 1914 one-act opera Madeleine. The talent onstage was excellent. The chamber orchestra played beautifully under the baton of Jestin Pieper. William Hicks' superb musicianship on the piano was augmented by violin, cello, bassoon, and harp. Alyce Mott's direction was on point, as usual.

Mr. Herbert's enormous contribution to the music theater canon is vast. He can be considered the source for American Musical Comedy. Few people know that he wrote two operas. After finishing the grand opera Natoma, which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 1911 (and was produced a century later by VHRPL!), he created Madeleine, with libretto adapted by Grant Stewart from a play by Decourcelles and Thibaut. Frankly, the words were dated and stilted, something one doesn't recognize when opera is sung in a foreign language.

Probably, the story was more charming in French. A highly narcissistic opera diva, much spoiled by suitors bearing gifts, is alone on New Year's Day. Every one of her suitors has declined her invitation to dine at her home because each one is dining with his mother. Even her maid has refused her. We guess that spending time with mama on New Year's Day was a French custom.

She throws a terrible tantrum and fires everyone. A visit from a good-natured childhood friend Didier restores her balance. Narcissists require a great deal of admiration and support, rarely considering the feelings of others. However, his invitation to dine with his humble family touches her. She considers the invitation but realizes what an intrusion it would be and stays home dining with a painting of her mother which Didier has restored.

It is evidence of the vocal and dramatic artistry of soprano Claire Leyden that we were able to care for this self-centered woman and to consider how narcissists act out their inner emptiness by manipulating and preying upon others.

As Didier we enjoyed the believable performance of baritone Jonathan Hare who has a lovely warm tonal quality. We remember well his charming portrayal of Figaro in Christman Opera Company's Il barbiere di Siviglia.

As the maid Nichette mezzo-soprano JoAnna Geffert created a lovely unselfish character to which she lent her finely textured instrument.

As the suitors we had three fine gentlemen--Andrew Klima, Keith Broughton, and Thomas Woodman--all of whom sang well and created interesting characters. 

The servants were effectively portrayed by Shane Brown and David Seatter, who has appeared in every single VHRPL! performance.

The musical scholarship that went into reducing this work for such an unusual combination of instruments impressed us. William Hicks spent a year and a half performing what one could call a "labor of love". All of Herbert's music was preserved with the lines distributed among the instruments. This "experiment" parallels Herbert's experiment in writing opera, indeed a huge pushing of boundaries all around.

Critics in 1914 were not enthralled with the work and we would be inclined to agree. The story was fine and character driven, whereas Herbert's operettas were story driven.  No problem there. The problem for us was the lack of tunes. What we have enjoyed of Herbert's operettas has been the luscious melodies and the set pieces of waltzes and marches as well as the chorus.  None of that here!

In a lecture by Ms. Mott, we learned of the influences upon this opera by Debussy, Strauss, Wagner, and Puccini--all composers we like. But we were unable to discern the leitmotifs for each character. Possibly if one were to listen to the opera several times it might have become apparent.

There were some musical moments that made the evening worthwhile. To have heard Ms. Leyden sing "When I am Happy" made us happy. Her crystalline soprano opened to a ringing top. For Didier's aria about the pursuit of elusive happiness, Mr. Hare's performance was affecting. We heard a lonely bassoon when he left.

The conclusion moved us, with piano and harp mourning the loss of Madeleine's own mother, whose portrait would be her dinner companion.

In sum, it was a worthwhile project to undertake and a rare opportunity to experience a musical titan pushing his own boundaries. We wouldn't have missed it for the world. We are looking forward, however, to VHRPL!'s resumption of operetta with Mlle. Modiste on May 5th and 6th!

© meche kroop

MARIO! SU!

Hugo Vera, Thomas Woodman, and Edgar Jaramillo (photo by Robert J. Saferstein)

Regina Grimaldi (photo by Robert J. Saferstein)

Why do we love Puccini's Tosca so much? For starters, the melodramatic story moves forward at a rapid pace with no ridiculous twists and turns or irrelevant side-plots. The characters, although larger than life, have emotions with which we can identify--love, lust, terror, protectiveness, rage, and defiance.

The power mad Baron Scarpia will stop at nothing to possess the famous singer Floria Tosca. She is in love with the church painter Mario Cavaradossi, and her intense jealousy is turned against her by Scarpia. Mario is a good soul, torn between fear of the authorities and the wish to protect his friend Cesare Angelotti, in political disfavor and hunted by the police.

We had just read Fred Plotkin's persuasive argument against titles at the opera and last night at Chelsea Opera's production, we had an opportunity to enjoy Tosca as a site-specific work without titles, focusing instead, as Mr. Plotkin suggested, on the music.

Fortunately, we are sufficiently familiar with Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa's superb libretto that we did not need the titles.  We are not sure how audience members felt if they were not so familiar with the story, but we suspect that Lynne Hayden-Findlay's direction and the fine acting of the ensemble made everything clear.

Thus it was that we were able to focus our attention strictly on the music and how well Puccini's melodies followed the words of the libretto. We also appreciated a certain unity of the score with motives occurring and recurring and bouncing between singer and orchestra.

Conductor Samuel McCoy is of the restrained type but that was no impediment to his pulling an arresting propulsive performance from the excellent Chelsea Opera Chamber Orchestra. Karen Stern's harp frequently compelled our attention.

The singers all gave honorable performances. As the eponymous heroine, soprano Regina Grimaldi used all her assets in a deeply moving performance.  There was a generosity to her acting that managed to match the amplitude of her voice. Since her performance was perfumed with that "garlic" that we love, let us call it "l'abbondanza". Every facial expression and bodily gesture was consonant and à propos. Her "Vissi d'Arte" was memorable.

On the same page was tenor Edgar Jaramillo who always sings from deep within his soul and evokes our sympathy for whatever character he portrays. Here, he created a character we could believe in, every emotion showing on his expressive face and in his expressive voice. He has a warm Latin sound with excellent phrasing. "E lucevan le stelle" was heartbreaking.

Bass-baritone Thomas Woodman as the evil Baron Scarpia, Chief of Police,  leered while his agent Spoletta (tenor Hugo Vera) sneered. Both of them were so convincing that we felt fear just sitting there on those hard wooden pews.  (Yes, that is the price one pays for enjoying such excellent productions by the Chelsea Opera).

We also enjoyed bass-baritone Brace Negron's frantic performance as the terror-stricken Angelotti. Baritone Jared Guest made a fine jailor in the third act while bass-baritone Luis Alvarado created a believable Sacristan in the first act. Baritone James Shaffran sang the role of another police agent. Benjamin Barham-Wiese appeared as the shepherd whose simple solo introduces the third act. For unknown reasons, he sang onstage but may as well have been an offstage voice.

The staging of the opera made good use of St. Peter's Church, what with the private chapel for Angelotti to hide in, candles, and crosses; everything was put to good use. This served to foster the illusion that the first act was happening in real time and a real place.

Not only did Ms. Hayden-Findlay do a great job directing but also with the costume design, with major contributions from the Theater Development Fund costume collection. There was no doubt that we were in the early 19th c.; the opera premiered at the beginning of the 20th c. and here we are enjoying it in the 21st c.  The minimal set was provided by Leonarda Priore who, along with Ms. Hayden-Findlay co-founded Chelsea Opera over a decade ago.

The chorus made a significant contribution, led by Chorus Master Dean William Buck who is better known as the Conductor of Loft Opera.

There will be an afternoon performance on Saturday but tickets are scarce. Word has gotten out about Chelsea Opera's splendid productions and the church was packed from front to back.

(c) meche kroop