A PROVOCATIVE POPPEA FOR OUR TIME

Cast of Poppea presented by BARE Opera

Bare Opera surely has their finger on the operatic pulse of 21st c. New York City, especially the pulse of young opera goers. Instead of waiting four long hours to hear "Pur ti Miro", the ravishing duet between Nerone and Poppea that concludes Monteverdi's last and greatest work, L'incoronazione di Poppea, the audience got the main points of the opera with as much glorious music as one would wish for, in the space of two hours.

Instead of sitting and yawning, staring through binoculars, the audience members were seated on three sides of the playing area, giving everyone an "up close and personal" involvement with the morally challenged characters whose lust and ambition resonate so well with our present time.

Instead of lengthy and abstruse program notes trying to justify the director's "concept", director David Paul wisely allowed the work to speak for itself. His focus was on the main characters of the drama. The Prologue and extraneous characters were eliminated and certain scenes were played out to highlight the eroticism. For example, Nerone and Poppea play out their drama in bed, for the most part.  And Nerone's homoerotic "song competition" with Lucano became a boxing exercise with a "happy ending". It was clear which man was the "top"! 

Let it be noted, before anyone protests the cuts, that there is really no definitive score remaining from the 1643 Venetian premiere. The opera was reworked several times (like Puccini's Madama Butterfly) before it was lost to oblivion for two centuries.  Since its "rediscovery" it has been performed frequently.

Musical values were excellent and, although the program was strictly "bare bones", we suspect that Maestro David Moody was responsible for the arrangement and the judicious cuts. His boutique baroque ensemble gave us everything we wanted. The string quartet was augmented by a bass, theorbo, and baroque guitar. A piano with a soft sound replaced the harpsichord.  If there were Baroque period purists in the audience, they did not complain. Nor did we. We loved every moment.

For those who do not know the story, it bears no resemblance to the history of 60 AD. The libretto was written by a wealthy poet by the name of Giovanni Francesco Busenello, a leading musical dramatist of the 17th c. One might call his writing that of a cynical realist. It has been suggested that the work, which premiered in Venice during the 1643 Carnevale season, was meant to draw a contrast between Venice and the morally inferior Rome, thus the glorification of lust and ambition depicted in Ancient Rome.

Nerone (Ariadne Greif) has tired of his wife Ottavia (Briana Hunter) and would like to put his mistress Poppea (Maria Lacey) on the throne. Ottone (Vivien Shotwell) is in love with Poppea and suffers intense jealousy, intense enough to try to kill her. Drusilla (Alexandra Smither) is in love with Ottone, enough to help him with his plot and enough to join him in exile when he is pardoned at the end of the opera.  All of the major characters had splendid voices and used them well, particularly in the melismatic passages and in the concitato genere, demonstrating ease with the Baroque style of singing.

Bass Christian Isaiah Simmons made a marvelously dignified Seneca who endured a death far more violent than he did in history. David Charles Tay in female travesti, created the character of a housemaid/confidant to Poppea, wise and nurturing, and with a marvelously resonant voice that made us think "That's what a castrato must have sounded like". We hope, of course, that Mr. Tay did not pay the price!

Timothy Stoddard played the parts of Lucano, most arresting in the boxing/sex scene with Nerone, and of Liberto. Anne Marie Stanley and Max Potter portrayed Nerone's henchmen. The casting was absolutely perfect.

Briana Hunter's Ottavia was sympathetic, in spite of her murderous impulses.  She was tied to the bed by her ankle and sang movingly about the plight of women who give birth to the very people who enslave them. We were happy that she got a second chance to live in exile.

There was no set to speak of in the cold brick-walled playing space at the Blue Building. Plenty of heat was provided by the acting which took place predominantly in two beds--the huge one for the romantic couple and a narrow one for poor Ottavia.

Costume design by Sara Jean Tosetti was contemporary. Poppea wore a mini-length shift which was covered by a diaphanous floor length vest for her coronation. Nerone wore a flashy red jacket. Ottavia wore a leopard print dress.  If we'd read about it beforehand we might have expected to disparage the look-- but actually, everything worked well with the story, even the punk looks adopted by Ottone and Nero's henchmen.

Titles were effectively projected onto beams in the ceiling. Lighting by Anthony Tornambene effectively highlighted the part of the playing area where the action was taking place.

We were completely absorbed for two hours with not a single longueur. We rarely get to see an adaptation that works this well.  More credit to the innovative Bare Opera and their visceral take on this work, bringing a four centuries old opera into the modern age.

(c) meche kroop

SUPERSIZE ME

The sterling cast of Salieri's La Cifra, presented by Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble
(photo by Brian E. Long)

Leave it to Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble to uncover an opera heretofore unknown and to give it a sparkling and delightful American premiere performance. Its success rests upon many shoulders. Rising star director Brittany Goodwin has put a commedia dell'arte spin on Salieri's La Cifra which might have otherwise flopped. Actually, we can't imagine it presented in any other way, having enjoyed this zaniness so thoroughly. Ms. Goodwin is relentlessly clever.

And there are many other shoulders to credit. The Dell'Arte Festival Orchestra, led by Maestro Catherine O'Shaughnessy (and isn't it great to see a woman conducting!) played Salieri's tuneful music in a manner that led to total appreciation of this underrated composer.  As a matter of fact, having heard his Falstaff and this opera, we are sure that he would have been far more popular today had he not been eclipsed by the young Mozart. 

The fine cast of young artists appear to have profited handsomely from their summer session and avidly picked up Ms. Goodwin's direction, capturing the ancient commedia dell'arte style. Gestures and facial expressions were super-sized and outlandish. Yes, these are stock characters but they also managed to have individual personalities that went beyond what was expected.

In the starring role of Rusticone (rustic, get it?) bass-baritone (we think) Angky Budiardjono handled the vocal demands and the comedy equally well. His character, based on Pantalone, is a conniving old goat who has hidden the aristocratic identity of his foster daughter Eurilla, along with her inheritance, in the hopes of marrying her. In this role, soprano Rachel Barker-Asto revealed her bel canto chops and created a sympathetic portrait of a modest and good-hearted young woman. We loved the way her killing of a dangerous wild boar (with a paper rifle!) changed her personality to one of swaggering confidence.

She has grown up as Rusticone's daughter, unaware of her aristocratic birth. Her step-sister Lisotta, given an outsized portrayal by the excellent mezzo-soprano Allison Gish, is out to snag Milord (the aristocratic tenor Timothy Stoddard) who rode into town on a hobby-horse and promptly fell for Eurilla. Lisotta's character is vain, insolent, and self-important with aristocratic pretensions. There are funny scenes of the sisters fighting and reconciling.  Of course, Eurilla, with Cinderella-like magnanimity, forgives everyone in the end.

Sandrino is the Pierrot-like character, in love with Lisotta. The role was beautifully rendered by baritone Jay Chacon. This was a very anxious suitor, breathing from a paper bag, ostensibly to deal with panic attacks. We wondered whether 18th c. folk were aware of that remedy!

Milord's side-kick Leandro was performed by tenor Stephen Steffens; the excellent chorus comprised Makayla McDonald, Andrea Howland, Sam Strickland, Nicholle Bittlingmeyer, Ian Joyal, Charles Calotta and James Healy .

The inventive staging was as impressive as the singing. During the overture, members of the ensemble ran around setting up the stage with curious props. Sheets were suspended between ladders and later the ladders held a suspended clothesline. A head of cabbage made several appearances for characters to swear upon. Little light bulbs ran across the front of the playing area. Trunks were brought in and some basic furniture. Rain was created by tossing handfuls of packing popcorn. At one point, Milord wore glasses with bulging eyes popping out on springs. Every item added to the fun. Matthew Iacozza is credited with Scenic Design.

As far as Claire Townsend's zany costumes, they fulfilled Ms. Goodwin's concept to a "T", as one can see from the above photo.

Ms. Barker-Asto had her chance to shine in several arias; in her second act lament, a two-part aria seemed a preface to the bel canto aria with its lively "cabaletta". As a matter of fact, a number of features presaged the bel canto period, especially the wild and crazy sextet which ends Act I.

We enjoyed her love duet with Mr. Stoddard, replete with tenderness and exquisite 18th c. harmonies.  If serious drama requires comic relief, can we say that comedy requires some romantic relief?

Mr. Stoddard also did some fine work in his arias and in the male trio in Act I.  Mr. Chacon got his big aria in Act II but also had a fine duet with Ms. Gish.

There was a charming group dance when the townsfolk gathered, which reminded us of English country dancing. We understand that Owen Horsley, himself an award-winning Scottish dancer, is responsible for the choreography.

And once more we enjoyed Artistic Director Chris Fecteau playing the hell out of the harpsichord for the recitativi.

The ins and outs of this topsy turvy plot were created with panache by Lorenzo Da Ponte, whose libretti served Mozart so well. We recommend that you grab a chance to see this work. Who knows when you will get another chance. Try to get tickets for Friday night or Sunday matinée. You might get lucky!

(c) meche kroop

ALL IS FORGIVEN!

Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble's summer season has given us a very good look at the "glory that was Rome".  LOL!  Murder, abuse of power, treachery and seduction abound. But Mozart the Humanist, writing La Clemenza di Tito a century and a half after Monteverdi, ends his final opera with forgiveness.  In the photo above, at the glorious conclusion of this opera seria, the Emperor Titus, here called Tito, forgives Sesto and Vitellia who had plotted to assassinate him.

Mezzo Hilary Ginther impressed us with a lovely and unique quality to her voice and a dramatically valid portrayal of the weak-willed Sesto who was putty in the hands of Vitellia; the vengeful woman, feeling rejected as a marital partner by Tito, would do anything to destroy his happiness, although he is, by all evidence, a public spirited and generous ruler.  The role was sung by soprano Elana Gleason who used her stunning looks and equally stunning voice to good effect.  Tenor Timothy Stoddard brought his vocal gifts to the role of Tito and portrayed him as fair-minded and yet a ruler of authority.

Sesto's sister Servilia was beautifully sung by soprano Rachel Zatcoff and her lover, the self-sacrificing Annio, by mezzo Allison Waggener who demonstrated a fine legato in her phrasing.  Bass Brendan Stone was forceful as Publio.  Effective in the ensemble were Heather Gerban, Kristina Malinauskaite, Sanford Eliot Schimel and Charles Williamson.

Maestro Christopher Fecteau conducted the Dell'Arte Opera Festival Orchestra from the harpsichord, playing the Continuo.  They gave a tight performance; we cannot help but single out the clarinet playing of Samuel Marques whose tone on the basset horn was thrilling in the way that only a basset horn can thrill.  We do love those low notes!

As is the case with this company, production values focus on the singers with sets and costumes playing second banana.  Nina Bova dressed the singers in military costumes for the men and more or less contemporary dress for the women. Stage Director Walker Lewis moved the performers around in a meaningful motivated way and provided some interesting "stage business".  For example,  Vitellia's flights of fioritura were accompanied by Sesto nibbling on her neck.  Hot!

We especially enjoyed a duet between Annio and Servilio and the final gorgeous ensemble when all is forgiven.  We confess that we have never loved this opera on the big stage, but here, in the mid-size 13th St. Theatre, the work came across as an intimate drama between members of the court; we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and you can as well because there is one more performance tonight.

© meche kroop