OPERA WITH A TWIST

Soprano Amanda Zory onstage at National Opera Center

Accustomed as we are to reviewing emerging talent, we spend a lot of time enjoying bel canto and the lighter repertory to which the flexibility of young voices lends itself so well. We rarely get to hear large voices so it is a special treat for us to hear Verdi and Verismo opera arias and duets.

Thanks to Opera With a Twist we had a satisfying exposure to some works that we love. The "twist" was a surprise--some outstanding unamplified singing of cabaret and jazz which we will get to later.

There were several highlights to the operatic portion of the evening. The Executive Producer of Opera With a Twist is Amanda Zory, one of those big beautiful girls with big beautiful voices. As much as we love duets, we would have preferred to have heard her solo, since we didn't find her male stage partners to be as interesting. 

What we liked about Ms. Zory, other than her richly textured instrument, was her total commitment to whatever role she sang. As the seduced and abandoned Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, she was totally convincing in her revenge seeking aria ("O Signore vi mando"), exposing Lola's transgressions to Lola's husband Alfio, a moment which sets the tragedy in motion. 

As Alfio, we heard promising baritone Joseph Gansert who sang with power and fullness of tone. To take his performance to the next level, he would do well to take some acting lessons. He needs to learn how to react to what his scene partner is revealing. 

He would also do well to learn to color his words to suit the material. This was particularly clear in "Eri Tu" from Un Ballo in Maschera, an aria in which Renato must express a wide palette of emotions toward the wife he suspects of infidelity. He sounded far more believable singing Alfio's joyous aria "Il Cavallo Scalpita" from Cavalleria Rusticana, an aria not requiring as much variety.

Ms. Zory's other scene partner, seasoned tenor Salvatore Motisi, certainly knows how to act and sang with a lot of "garlic", but with such volume that one could smell the garlic all the way to Seventh Avenue. We don't know why an experienced singer did not know how to scale his voice to the size of the hall. There was a deafening level of shouting. This was unfortunate because Ms. Zory's acting and singing were impressive in her aria of confrontation with Turridu "Ah lo vedi". 

Another performance we enjoyed in the operatic part of the evening was that of mezzo-soprano Vivien Shotwell whose choice of "O Don Fatale" from Verdi's Don Carlo was a good one, exploiting the rich texture of her voice.

The aforementioned cabaret/jazz performance highlighted the gifts of vocalist Leah Reis-Dennis. Our favorite of the set was "Bewitched" by Rodgers and Hart. To hear it performed without affectation and just enough gesture delighted us. There are probably lots of songs we would enjoy outside the realm of opera if we could hear this lovely lady sing them. She also performed Wardell Gray's "Twisted" and Duke Ellington's "Hit Me with a Hot Note". Christopher Wilson, the excellent Music Director/Pianist easily made the transition from op to pop and gave her the instrumental support that was required. 

Should we consider Sondheim's Follies an opera? Don't mind if we do! "Too Many Mornings" was given a nice performance by Ms. Zory and baritone Brian Michael Henry. We don't know this show but felt tempted by this duet to explore further.

Soprano Heather Petruzelli and tenor Byron Singleton performed a not terribly convincing "Ah, soave fanculla" from Puccini's La Bohême. Once again, the tenor shouted. We longed for a floated high note! Soprano Karen Luna did not capture our ear with a lackluster performance of "Se come voi piccina" from Puccini's Le Villi, an opera/ballet which we have never seen.

Perhaps the low point of the evening was the trashing of the "Flower Duet" from Leo Delibes' Lakme, a work which we usually find transporting. Ms. Luna and Ms. Petruzelli were upstaged by a distracting "modern dancer" named Kristen Mangione who reminded us of the satirical cartoons of dancers by Jules Feiffer in the late lamented Village Voice. The duet is about beauty of nature and flowers so why the harsh angular movements and pained facial expression? Why the hideous costume in two shades of maroon with bra straps showing? It was so appalling that we did not photograph it. Just in case you don't remember Jules Feiffer you can see these cartoons by googling "Jules Feiffer dancers'.

As per our custom, photographs of the other artists can be seen on our Facebook page Voce di Meche. 

If you are a fan of large voices you will want to attend a subsequent performance on Friday August 9th at 7:00 PM at the National Opera Center. Even when your picky reviewer was disappointed, the rest of the audience seemed to be having a wonderful time.

(c) meche kroop

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