FALLING FOR FALSTAFF

 

Juilliard Opera Theater's production of Falstaff 

(photo by Maria Baranova)

One can always count on Juilliard Opera to produce a musically superb production with the young singers showing great artistic promise and the Juilliard Orchestra doing great credit to the music. In this case it was Maestro Joseph Colaneri's baton putting the musicians through their paces with a lively interpretation of Verdi's score.

Writing music with a comedic tilt is just as difficult as directing and performing comedy and Verdi's score manages to be light-hearted but never trivial. Much of the comedic influence can be heard in the wind section.

Let us now credit some winning performances. Minki Hong is not the huge mountain of a man that we have come to expect in the role and if he were wearing a "fat suit" it was not very padded. Nonetheless he gave a fine interpretation of a lovable rascal and employed his baritone instrument to fine effect.

As far as those "Merry Wives of Windsor" (from which Shakespeare play Verdi's librettist Arigo Boito drew, along with material from King Henry IV), each one brought something very special to their respective roles. As Alice Ford, Page Michels used her vocal and dramatic skills to create a believable character, as did Sophia Baete who employed both vocal and thespian artistry as Meg Page.

Lauren Randolph created a Mistress Quickly like no other and Shiyu Zhuo made an adorable Nannetta. We completely relished their plotting their revenge against the Fat Knight, as he is called.

The men were equally exceptional with Titus Muzi admirably limning the character of the jealous Ford. Falstaff was not written with any emphasis on arias but his "È sogno? o realtà?" was a special moment.

As Fenton, Adam Catangui was so cute in his duet with the adorable Ms. Zhuo (the photo above shows them together) that one just wanted to see them wed at the end of the opera. And yes, the voices were fine with color suited to the character.

It was difficult to see the young Chester SeungYup Han as Dr. Caius, the unpleasant elderly suitor intended for Nannetta's hand; however he sang as well as everyone else and we have no complaints on that regard. Nathan Romporti took the role of Bardolfo and Pistola was played by Lin Fan--both fine and funny.

Having dispatched our encomia for the superb singers, let us express our distaste for the production. We most definitely belong to the Werktreue camp, and not the Regietheater camp. Director Marcus Shields is entitled to his artistic philosophy; we read his notes following the performance and found them to be self-referential doublespeak. We are not lacking in intellect but his theories made no sense to us. We prefer our performances to be true to the story, including time and place.

In Mr. Shields production we are in a bare white room with a rectangular hole cut into it and a trap door in the floor. There are two nondescript chairs but singers generally sat on the floor, thanks to Scenic Designer Frank J. Oliva. The final scene in Windsor Park was a great relief. It was performed in near-dark allowing us to use our imagination.

Costume Designer Avery Reed seemed to have no concept whatsoever.  Some of the costumes appeared to be of the 1960's but nothing related to the characters or the story.

Several irritating or disappointing moments come to mind. When the women try to hide Falstaff from Ford and the enraged mob, they put him in what seems to be a pillow case, reminding us of the final act of Rigoletto. The Thames is not even suggestd when servants carry him offstage. When Mistress  Quickly comes to manipulate Falstaff with her "Reverenza!" she has been presumably directed not to manipulate but to seduce by means of weird twerking motions. We could go one and on but we won't.

Was it funny? The audience's laughter seemed to line up with the projected titles rather than with the action onstage. We felt disgruntled until the final scene which we did enjoy to some extent. We were moved to consult our prior reviews of Falstaff, going back to 2012 when Martina Arroyo's Prelude to Performance (much missed) gave us a magnificently directed and costumed production which she repeated a few years later. Santa Fe Opera did a decent historically accurate production which suffered only from an excess of stage business. Del'Arte Opera did a minimalistic production that worked by means of dramatic validity. Until last night we had never felt so turned off. The performance was only rescued by the voices.

In sum, the operagoer should not need Director's Notes. The work should speak for itself. Verdi's rich orchestration and Boito's clever lyrics are sufficiently humorous and humanistic to not require such directorial interference.  We would say "Keep your theories in a book and keep your directorial arrogance off the stage!" Oh we feel so much better getting that off our chest!

© meche kroop

A GIFT FROM GERDA LISSNER

 Danielle Orlando, Latonia Moore, Alice Chung, Titus Muzi, and Ethel Trujillo

One could not have asked for a more satisfying experience than that provided last night at The Greene Space by The Gerda Lissner Foundation, starring singers of the Academy of Vocal Arts, eleven alumni of which are performing this season at the Metropolitan Opera, including some of our very own favorites such as James Morris, Ailyn Perez, and Latonia Moore. There was a warm welcome from Scott Guzielek, Vice President and General Manager of AVA and the ever-delightful Midge Woolsey of WQXR.

As familiar as we are with students at New York City's three conservatories, we have only been introduced to the students of AVA on occasions when they have appeared in competitions. We were happy to have made up somewhat for the lack and quite interested to learn that students at AVA pay no tuition! They must be doing something very special down there in Philadelphia, judging by what we heard tonight.

Soprano Latonia Moore headlined the evening with "Il est doux, il est bon" from Massenet's Herodiade, adding gentle coloring to her sizable voice. What we liked best, aside from the magnificent instrument she possesses, was her total immersion in the character. The vibrato was one of innocent rapture and her gestures limned the character of a young Salome.

We heard her later in the program as Cio-Cio San in Puccini's Madama Butterfly--first (accompanied  by mezzo-soprano Alice Chung as Suzuki, about whom more later) in "Scuoti quella fronda di cilegio" in which her voice was colored with joyful anticipation, and later in "Tu, tu piccolo iddio" in which she bids farewell to her beloved son, with sorrow and despair. Having both scenes on the same program gave us a picture of the evolution of character, so necessary to the believability of the story. When singing is so perfect, it is this characterization that makes the difference between talent and artistry.

This quality seems to be a feature of AVA singers. Take, for example, the scenes from Don Pasquale, Donizetti's comic masterpiece. The widow Norina is ambitious and wily and makes a fine team with the shrewd and calculating Dr. Malatesta as they forge a plan to deceive the stingy Don Pasquale. The singers must work hard to get us to like these characters or the opera falls flat. And all this must reflect the commedia del'arte underpinnings of the story.

Soprano Ethel Trujillo and baritone Titus Muzi succeeded admirably at this. In "Quel guardo il cavaliere", Ms. Trujillo reveals Norina's romantic side, using her facility with fioritura and a warm coloration of the voice to put us squarely in her corner. There was an exceptionally clean descending scale and a notably fine trill none of which distracted us from the character she created.

But just watch how she reacted to the plot hatched by Mr. Muzi's Malatesta. His warm baritone was perfect for the role and he created a likeable character whom we could accept as one helping Norina to achieve her dreams, rather than as a wicked manipulator taking advantage of Don Pasquale.  The two artists worked very well together as he instructed her in how to play her part in the deception. They are marvelous comic actors as well as singers.

Mr. Muzi created a quite different character, playing Valentin in Gounod's Faust as a sincerely devoted and responsible brother. In the mid-section he revealed the stalwart soldier. It was great to see this other serious side of his artistry.

Ms. Trujillo also had another opportunity to dazzle us. Regular readers know about our passion for zarzuela and the soprano's choice of "Me llaman la primorosa" from Giménez and Nieto's El barbero de Sevilla suited her perfectly. We haven't heard it since New Camerata Opera presented it way back in B.C. (before Covid). The aria gave her a chance to show all kinds of vocal flair and personality. Again we noted the very fine trill and facility with even scale passages. At one point she exchanged phrases with the piano in a most charming fashion.

Mezzo-soprano Alice Chung, whose voice blended so beautifully with Ms. Moore's in the Butterfly duet, had some riveting solos which we found incredibly moving.  Perhaps "Voce di donna" is the only aria from Ponchielli's La Gioconda that we remember but Ms. Chung's performance brought the entire opera back to mind and we could just see La Cieca blessing Laura.

Even more remarkable was a Korean art song "Longing for GeunGang Mountain" by Choi Young-Sup, apparently written after the Japanese occupation ended, an historical turn of events which permitted Korea to develop its own art song tradition. In spite of being written in the 20th c. the song is melodic and the confluence of the melody in the music and the melody in the words brought tears to our eyes. It was obvious how deeply the artist related to the song.

Toward the end of this drama-filled evening, Ms. Chung performed a work of brevity and utter simplicity--William Bolcom's "Waitin'",  another triumph for this gorgeous voice.

Piano accompaniment was provided by the very gifted Danielle Orlando, whose playing captured our attention during some American folk songs arranged by Clifford Shaw, a most different experience than a piano attempting to replace an entire orchestra. We could really appreciate the writing and the performance.

If you didn't make it into the small Greene Space, perhaps you heard the live stream.  In which case, you are welcome to provide your comments below. Please note that the Gerda Lissner Foundation will have a competition at Zankel Hall on May 1st. We advise you to get your tickets now.

© meche kroop