HAPPY BIRTHDAY NORA LONDON

Craig Rutenberg, Danielle Orlando, Nicholas Pallesen, and Angela Meade

Some songs were old and some were new; perhaps some were borrowed and many were blue.  It was a most unusual program at the Morgan Library as Nora London's birthday was celebrated yesterday.   As you have read here, the George London Foundation for Singers is renowned for supporting young singers.  Winners of the annual competition are invited back to perform in a series of superb recitals.

Both baritone Nicholas Pallesen and soprano Angela Meade have been setting the opera world on fire and garnering lavish praise and precious prizes for their dazzling vocal artistry.  Yesterday we got to see and hear them "up close and personal".

Mr. Rutenberg, a peerless piano partner, opened the program with some introductory remarks about Francis Poulenc's 1942 song cycle Chanson villageoises, written under the German occupation of France.  France under siege is a topic that cannot help but resonate with us today.  Poulenc's songs are spiky, filled with irony and somehow reminiscent of the cabaret.  We have never heard this cycle before but hope to become more familiar with its treasures.

Mr. Pallesen is a singer of great artistry, demonstrating a consummate ability to communicate the intentions of the composer.  He is equally comfortable with the charming, the frisky and the angry.  His technique is so refined that one doesn't notice it.  We found ourself overwhelmed by the drama, particularly in the bitter "Le mendiant" and the sad "Le retour du sergent".  Poverty and war are never pretty but Mr. Pallesen made them moving and upsetting.

Continuing in the French language, Ms. Meade offered a quartet of songs by Giacomo Meyerbeer that we had likewise never heard before.  Her piano partner Danielle Orlando leapt right into "Le voeu pendant l'orage" with some rumbling in the piano which shifted to some rather tinkly figures.  She is fearless in her accompanying and a perfect partner for Ms. Meade who grabs a song by the throat and doesn't let go. Her operatic expressiveness served her well in these songs of melodic richness and rhythmic intensity.  These songs also merit a second hearing.  Truth to tell, we would happily have had an instant replay of the entire recital!

This ground-breaking portion of the program was not over yet.  Mr. Pallesen and Mr. Rutenberg returned for "Ha! noch einen ganzen Tag!....Ha! welche Lust aus schönen Augen" from Der Vampyr by  Heinrich Marschner, a contemporary of Meyerbeer. This is a role Mr. Pallesen has been performing and he filled the aria with great excitement and power without neglecting German diction.  Every word was clear as crystal; consonants were crisp without cheating the vowels.  We never noticed the absence of titles.

The second half of the program took us to more familiar territory.  Ms. Meade initiated with "Crudele!...Non mi dir", Donna Anna's aria from Mozart's Don Giovanni. This was the perfect vehicle for Ms. Meade to show the ample size of her beautiful instrument, her elegant phrasing, and ease with embellishments.

Five songs by Charles Ives were then sung by Mr. Pallesen; our favorite was "Charlie Rutledge" which he sang with a Texas accent with some contributions from Mr. Rutenberg.  What fun!

The four Strauss songs chosen by Ms. Meade for the next set are very familiar to us but that never detracts from the pleasure we get from the passionate importuning "Stänchen", the joyful "Zueignung", the soulful "Allerseelen" and the enthusiastic "Cäcilie".  Indeed, Ms. Meade brought her unique communicative skills to the performance and made the songs new again.  Her voice seems made for Strauss!

To close the program, both singers joined to perform one of Verdi's father-daughter duets--"Figlia t'avanza...Tu pur lo sai" from I Due Foscari.  In this duet, a woman begs the Doge of Venice, her father-in-law, to intervene on behalf of his son.  It is beyond our understanding how he could resist!  It was such a captivating performance that we now yearn to hear the entire opera, if and when we get the opportunity.

So...happy birthday Nora London and many thanks for the fine way in which you honor your husband's memory.

© meche kroop

THE BRONX IS UP

Steven Fredericks, Gilad Paz, Caroline Tye, Terina Westmeyer, Halley Gilbert, Heather Roberts, Christopher Grundy, and Erik Bagger

Albert Herring proved that Benjamin Britten could create comedies that were just as successful as his dramatic masterworks such as Peter Grimes and Billy Budd. A turn-of-the-last-century English village is shocked to discover that chaste young women are in perilously short supply, so bashful Albert is crowned "King of the May Festival," only to launch a night of revelry that leaves his elders aghast and his chums impressed.

The libretto, adapted by Eric Crozier from a short story by Guy de Maupassant, offers splendid opportunities for storytelling involving a motley collection of colorful characters inhabiting a small English village at the turn of the 20th century.

Britten's music, written in 1947 for a chamber orchestra (The English Opera Group), provides excellent opportunities for musicians to show their stuff, limning the stunning orchestration and sneaking in several musical references such as a motif from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde when Albert drinks the spiked lemonade.

The opera was an excellent choice for the Bronx Opera.  They have been producing opera for nearly a half-century but this is the first time we have reviewed their work.  The weather was bitterly cold and perhaps the best compliment we can pay them is that the evening was well worth the two-hour round trip.

The venue, the Lovinger Theater at Lehman College, is absolutely perfect with fine sight lines and acoustics, and an orchestral pit that descends below stage level. Musical values were splendid all around.  The dozen musicians were individually and collectively superb and finely balanced under the expert baton of Michael C. Haigler.  There was one long duet for alto flute (Lisa Arkis) and bass clarinet (Monte Morgenstern) which took our breath away.  The singers were also well-balanced, particularly in the sextet of Act I, Scene 1.

The singers were exceedingly well cast.  Each singer created a character with a distinctive personality--the aristocratic and domineering Lady Billows (Terina Westmeyer) commanded the stage with a room-filling Wagnerian soprano and a walking stick, justified by a limp; her much put-upon housekeeper Florence Pike (Caroline Tye) kept things in order with a low and resonant timbre; the straw-hatted schoolteacher Miss Wordsworth (Halley Gilbert) who used her fine soprano in a very funny scene leading her three students in a musical encomium to Albert; the controlling Mrs. Herring (Heather Roberts) who kept poor Albert tied to her apron strings with a fine mezzo; and the flirtatious Nancy (Yselle Blum) whose equally fine mezzo managed to captivate her boyfriend Sid, Albert, and the audience.

Among the men, we enjoyed tenor Erik Bagger's portrayal of the eponymous hero--at first under his mother's thumb, shy and stooped over, later intoxicated and silly, and finally joyful and liberated.  Steven Fredericks employed his rich bass to portray Superintendent Budd of the police force; Tenor Gilad Paz made an excellent conciliatory Mayor Upfold; baritone Christopher Grundy was perfect as Vicar Gedge and had admirable diction. Baritone Steven Eddy portrayed Sid, the butcher's assistant who plotted with Nancy to lead poor Albert down the primrose path.

The singing and acting could not have been better but the diction could have been improved.  The men fared better on this account than the women, with Ms. Blum being an exception.  This is a common problem when operas are sung in English.  The Bronx Opera chooses to perform all of its operas in English and one would think that the goal were to make the story clear to the audience.  In fact, the synopsis in the program made the story clear but a significant part of the dialogue got swallowed.  Fortunately, the acting was so effective that the humor succeeded.  Titles would have been welcomed.

Production values were way beyond what one would expect from a small company. Professionalism of the highest degree was noted in the fluid direction by Rod Gomez, the perfect costuming by Peter Fogel and the effective sets by Meganne George. Simple elements combined to create Lady Billows' black and white parlor with its Victorian silhouettes and Mrs. Herring's grocery with its colorful baskets of fruits, vegetables and flowers.  Lighting by Joshua Rose contributed a great deal, especially during scene-changes which recreated the images of the Victorian silhouettes.

We haven't seen Albert Herring since the Santa Fe Opera performed it 4 1/2 years ago with an all-star cast.  The production we saw last night was in no way less impressive.  If you live in the Bronx you may wish to catch today's matinee.  Otherwise there will be two more performances next weekend at Hunter College.

(c) meche kroop

NAVIDAD ESPAÑOL

BRUNO PEÑA, AMAYA ARBERAS, ALBERT CARBONELL AND CORO CASA GALICIA

We spent a most satisfying evening yesterday at Casa Galicia in Astoria, Queens. Not only were we royally entertained and well fed but we managed to learn something new about Spain.  Galicia is in the northwest corner of the country, bordering Portugal, and retains its own identity.  Half of the inhabitants speak Galician which is close to Portuguese.  Casa Galicia is a home away from home for Galician folk in New York and provides a center for cultural identity, maintaining a music school for the youth.

Two stars of the musical firmament provided the excellent entertainment.  The excellent soprano Amaya Arberas opened the program with selections from Händel's Nine German Arias, HWV 202-210.  This work is said to be the inspiration for Haydn's Die Schöpfung, inasmuch as the text refers to the creation of the universe. We particularly enjoyed the aria about the creation of flowers and the one about the rolling of the waves. There were multiple melismatic passages of great beauty.

Ms. Arberas, whose Spanish singing we have reviewed several times, showed her facility in German; following this group of songs she sang in Italian--a lovely aria by Claudio Monteverdi "Quel sguardo sdegnosetto", offering the opportunity to show off her ease with fioritura. Accompaniment by Albert Carbonell was by electronic keyboard since a harpsichord was nowhere to be seen or heard.  It sufficed.

Bruno Peña was onstage to contribute some gorgeous pieces for violin.  He performed "Meditación" from Jules Massenet's Thaïs with great sensitivity and Pablo Sarasate's "Playera" with suitable Spanish passion.  Many phrases concluded with the rhythmic "fa-mi-do" we love so well, often heard in flamenco guitar.

Although our taste favors the Classical, we confess to enjoying the second half of the program in which our versatile Ms. Arberas gave the jazziest rendition of James Lord Pierpont's "Jingle Bells" we have ever heard, overcoming our fatigue with Christmas music.  The chorus of Casa Galicia entertained with a program of Christmas carols from many lands, sung mostly in Spanish.  The audience favorite was clearly José Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad"  the melody of which has been running through our head all night, as good melodies tend to do.

What a privilege to spend an evening exploring another culture!  If we were a food critic we would go on and on about the generous meal that followed but we will close here and wish our readers a very Happy Holiday season.  There will most likely be a break in reviewing until the new year.  We have enjoyed sharing our opinions with you during 2014 and look forward to the many fine musical events coming up in 2015.

ⓒ meche kroop

 

CAN'T BEAT THIS TOM-TOM

Thomas Muraco and cast of La Bohème at Manhattan School of Music

Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème is arguably the favorite opera of many; however, some opera lovers of our acquaintance refuse to see it unless there is a notable debut in one of the roles at The Metropolitan Opera.  Indeed, the Zeffirelli production is spectacular and astonishingly realistic and also tends to overwhelm the story and the singers.  Not so the production we enjoyed last night at the Manhattan School of Music.

Conductor Thomas Muraco guided his Opera Repertoire Ensemble through an intimate and involving production; he clearly loves this music and his young artists, most of whom are graduate students working on their Master's Degree.  If great sums of money were not lavished on the production, compensation was in the form of attention to detail and the achievement of intimacy.  The emotional intensity built slowly from the first act--all horseplay and romance--to the last, which left us in tears.  Such involvement is worth more than fancy sets.  What more do we want from opera than to be transported to another century, another country, another life?

In this case, we are in late 19th c. Paris in the world of starving artists and the women who love them.  Tuberculosis is running rampant and would claim the life of Mimi by the final act, forever altering the lives of these carefree young people. We are made to think of the late AIDS crisis which claimed so many young lives.

The orchestra was supplanted by two pianos, four hands, belonging to Jeremy Chan and Dura Jun with Yeon Hwa Chung's harp making significant contributions.  Mr. Muraco himself did the orchestration and we were able to hear strands of melody and motives that have gone unnoticed when hearing a full orchestra.  

The singing and acting were equally impressive.  No director was credited and we were given to understand that the young artists came up with the stage business themselves.  Perhaps that was why we found the storytelling to be so effective.  Who knows youth better than the young?  Witness the horseplay in Act I and Act IV.

In Bryn Holdsworth we met a slightly different Mimi--not quite as innocent as other Mimi's we have seen.  She used her lovely expressive soprano and her highly expressive face and gesture to show us a young woman a bit desperate for her next meal, a bit sly in her seductiveness, a bit manipulative--but also capable of deep love for Rodolfo.  It was a stellar performance, given her fine phrasing and just right vibrato. We couldn't take our eyes off her as she eavesdropped on the duet between Rodolfo and Marcello in Act III as she= is being confronted with the loss of her own life.

Brian Michael Moore made an ardent Rodolfo and his inability to accept Mimi's death at the end arose from a deep understanding of the character. He knows she is dying by Act III but he doesn't really let it register. He is living in denial. His fine tenor faltered a bit in Act I, probably a consequence of pushing for volume at the top of his register, but he settled in nicely for the rest of the performance.

Young Kwang Yoo's pleasing baritone was just right for the lovesick Marcello. He's the one the two lovers consult (separately) when their romance is in trouble; he reacts just the way a young man would.  And then, just as a young man would, he behaves in a manner contradictory to his advice. His duet with Mimi was just gorgeous.

As Musetta, his love interest, soprano Yun Melody Xie played the part to the hilt, much to the audience's delight.  Her bright instrument and expressive body conveyed everything we needed to know about this survivor who uses every tool at her disposal to get by.  Her Act II aria "Quando me'n vo" was spectacular and so was her red gown.  We loved the way she tormented her elderly date Alcindoro (Stefano de Peppo) who also played the part of Benoit the landlord in Act I.  What a handful!!!

The delights of Act I involved not only Rodolfo and Marcello but also Colline the philosopher and Schaunard the musician.  Schaunard (excellent baritone Juan Daniel Melo) tells his hilarious tale of poisoning the parrot and the three "bohemians" sit around the table devouring the provisions he has supplied owing to his latest job.  His fine baritone went unnoticed by his flatmates but not by us.

Joshua Arky used his bass voice well in his portrayal of Colline.  The horseplay from Act I has been recapitulated in Act IV but the tone is rapidly changed when the dying Mimi is carried upstairs.  Everyone is sacrificing something and he is pawning his "Vecchia zimarra". Clearly, he is saying goodbye to his innocent youth, not just his old overcoat.

Similarly when Musetta is praying for Mimi, her candle goes out just about the time Mimi expires.  Witnessing the story in a small space, up close and personal, provides many such precious moments that we will recall the next time we see the opera. Unlike some of our friends, we hope that won't be too far in the future and we won't need to wait for a big debut at the Met.

HE'S A VERY NAUGHTY BOY

Eric Idle, Victoria Clark, William Ferguson, Lauren Worsham and Marc Kudish
photo by Erin Baiano

“Tis the season to be jolly... and jolly we were Monday night at Carnegie Hall when the Collegiate Chorale presented the New York premiere of NOT THE MESSIAH (He’s a Very Naughty Boy).  Inspired by Monty Python’s The Life of Brian and written by Eric Idle and John Du Prez, the work can be taken as a parody of the life of Jesus, in the form of an oratorio.  But what an oratorio!  We lost count of how many different styles of music we heard—mariachi, flamenco, country, Doo-wop, spirituals and a quartet of bagpipers, members of New York Metro Pipe Band.

Not only is it the season for jollity but it also seems to be the week for parody and gender bending.  Not only have we enjoyed the parodies of Christmas songs brought to us by New York Festival of Song (see prior review) but also the parody of ballet brought to us by Les Ballets Trocadero de Monte Carlo in which men get on point and get us to giggle over every classical ballet trope.  

In order to create effective parody one must have great affection for the thing one is satirizing.  We are reminded of the late (but not forgotten) La Gran Scena Opera Company that parodied great divas with great affection.

In this case, the Mother of the non-Messiah is named Mandy and her baby, fathered by a Roman, is named Brian.  Broadway star Victoria Clark, a mezzo-soprano, sang the role of Mandy with her usual pizazz and opera star William Ferguson lent his sweet tenor to the titular role.  His love interest (Yes!) named Judith was winningly sung by soprano Lauren Worsham who slips into operatic roles as easily as she does into cabaret and Broadway. Ms. Worsham and Mr. Ferguson sang so beautifully together we mentally cast them as Candide and Cunegonde.

Eric Idle narrated and sang while successful contributions came from bass Marc Kudisch. The stage was filled with the splendid Orchestra of St. Luke’s backed up by the enormous Collegiate Chorale whose singing was so perfectly in unison and so imbued with fine diction that we understood every word. More credit to Ted Sperling, Director and Conductor!

Not so with much of the other singing which was “enhanced” by body mics rendering much of the very clever dialogue muffled.  This was the only flaw in an otherwise sensational evening of broad satire and belly laughs. Happily, Mr. Ferguson and Ms. Worsham managed to be understood. When lyrics are that clever we want to hear every word. Titles would have been welcome.

In “We Love Sheep”, Lynne Marie Rosenberg came onstage with three very realistic looking sheep who opened their mouths to sing along, creating an unparalleled moment of glee.  

Mr. Ferguson’s solo “I Want to Change the World” was incredibly moving and Mr. Idle’s “I Want to Be a Girl” was incredibly hilarious. Mr. Kudish had a very funny song “What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us”, a good satire of colonialism. 

Brian wants freedom from Roman rule and peace for his people; he joins The People’s Front of Judea and meets Judith.  They are caught in flagrante delicto by his mother.  Brian is just a very naughty boy, or so says his mother. Judith sings the lovely “You’re the One”.  The people are convinced he is the Messiah.  He denies it.  They insist. They find his sandal and, in a Cinderella moment, track him down. Mr. Kudish was particularly funny in “Hail to the Shoe”.

Nothing is sacred to Monty Python nor to Mr. Idle and Mr. Du Prez.  Even the crucifixion becomes an object for laughter.  Mr. Idle portrays a poor guy who gets crucified every morning and taken down every night.  The closing song was “Always Look on the Bright Side”.

Significantly, no one walked out in protest.  We can assume that the delighted audience knew exactly what they were getting into.

(c) meche kroop

THE FIFTH EDITION

Joshua Breitzer, Joshua Jeremiah, Ben Bliss, Olivia Betzen, Alex Mansoori, Wallis Giunta and John Brancy

Last night marked the fifth edition of Steven Blier's annual Christmas treat as part of the "Sing for Your Supper--NYFOS After Hours" series hosted by the affable Henry at the eponymous friendly and comfortable Upper West Side restaurant. These delightful evenings always have a theme and the theme for the December show is (trumpet fanfare) "A Goyishe Christmas to you!--Yuletide Songs by Jewish Composers".

The beloved Steven Blier serves as pianist, arranger and raconteur, regaling the appreciative audience with anecdotes and gossip about the composers, in this case many Jewish composers who had changed their names.  For example, Frank Loesser composed "Baby It's Cold Outside" to sing with his wife; the song was picked up for the show Neptune's Daughter and the couple divorced.

The song was performed by mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta and baritone John Brancy and we feel as if we actually heard it for the first time.  All the seduction lay in the voice and gestures; it seemed as if it were a scene in a film.  If this pair is not opera's next glamour couple we will eat our program!  

Rémy Yulzari joined them on the double bass and also accompanied Ms. Giunta in her lovely solo "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve" also by Loesser.  His bass playing equalled the expressiveness of her singing.  The instrument fairly spoke.  Or sang.

Mr. Brancy also had a solo--he sang "O Holy Night" by Adolphe Adam (possibly Jewish but evidence is contradictory) in both English and French; his voice has such a wealth of expressiveness behind it that we were moved close to tears.  He also provided an encore later in the evening--"I'll Be Home For Christmas".

Mr. Blier is fond of gender bending and "Winter Wonderland" was given a new slant, performed by Mr. Brancy and Joshua Jeremiah, accompanied by clarinetist Alan Kay. The cosy pair in their winter hats had the audience in stitches, especially when they were pretending the snowman was Parson Brown.

Even more gender bending was enjoyed when excellent tenor Ben Bliss (just seen at The Metropolitan Opera in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) sang one of the songs made famous by Eartha Kitt--"Santa Baby", written by Joan Javits in the 50's.  Here it was called "Santa Buddy" with appropriate rewriting of the Christmas list.

There was humor aplenty in the course of the program.  Joshua Jeremiah was hilarious in "Candle in My Window", also known as "God Bless the Christmas Jew" by Levitsky and Miller.  He has an expansive way of getting a song across as we noted in his duet with Cantor Joshua Breitzer--"Hannukah in Santa Monica", a Tom Lehrer song filled with his customary wit. They were accompanied by Mr. Kay who surely has a Klezmer background.

Cantor Breitzer regaled the audience with a Yiddish version of "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer".  Even if we didn't understand the words we enjoyed the sound of the language and the spirit of fun.  Mr. Kay and Mr. Yulzari accompanied.

Alex Mansoori contributed yet more fun to the evening with David Friedman's very funny "My Simple Christmas Wish" to which he gave a most theatrical delivery.  He also showed another side in "Silver Bells" (Jay Livingston/Ray Evans) which, as explained by Mr. Blier, refers to the Salvation Army collecting money for the less fortunate.  Now that's something we did not know and perhaps neither did you.

The entire group, joined by Olivia Betzen opened and closed the program with ensemble arrangements of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" involving some lovely humming in harmony.  There was also a jolly encore of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree".  Let it be noted that the English diction was excellent.  We would not have wanted to miss a single word.

It was a fine show leaving the audience happy as can be.  Too bad we must wait a year for the next edition.

© meche kroop

LOTNY DOES FLOYD

Angela Mannino, Matthew Tuell and Tyler Putnam in Markheim (photo by Tina Buckman)

John Kaneklides and Carolina Castells in Slow Dusk (photo by Tina Buckman)

A double bill of Carlisle Floyd music-theater pieces was presented this past week by the ten year old Little Opera Theater of New York  with two rotating casts.  The first piece Slow Dusk was the composer’s first opera, written in 1949, and suffers from a less than dramatic libretto, Floyd’s own.  He presents himself a the poet of rural America just as Stephen Sondheim is the poet of late 20th c. Manhattan.  

The story concerns a young woman Sadie, beautifully sung by soprano Carolina Castells, who performed a lovely aria filled with foreboding.  Sadie is in love with young Micah, perfectly sung and acted by tenor John Kaneklides whose star is on the rise.  Their marriage is forbidden by Aunt Sadie and the reason had to be learned by consulting Wikipedia.  The exposition might have been given by Aunt Sue, sung by Janice Meyerson, whose interesting mezzo was marred by poor diction.  English is quite difficult to sing in a way that the audience can comprehend but the other three singers succeeded admirably.  Unfortunately Ms. Meyerson’s acting was way over the top and not in line with the mood of the piece. Baritone Robert Balonek made a fine appearance as Jess but we never figured out if he was Sue’s uncle or brother.  That’s what happens when one can’t understand the words.

The chamber orchestra comprised nine strings, harp, four winds and a wonderful percussionist (Charles Kiger) led by the excellent conductor Richard Cordova, who brought out all the nuances of Floyd's instrumental writing. The chamber arrangement by Inessa Zaretsky and Raymond J. Lustig worked well, even without a clarinet. The winds were particularly evocative over a carpet of sound laid down by the strings.  The orchestra nearly stole the show since Floyd’s vocal lines struck our ears as being less than melodic. 

The direction by Philip Shneidman was effective and Neil Patel’s simple set (lit by Nick Solyom) evoked an impoverished rural farm in the South.  Lara De Bruin's frumpy costumes were right on target.  The same excellent team was responsible for the more dramatically interesting Markheim which Floyd adapted from a Robert Louis Stevenson story in 1966.  It is a gothic tale taking place at Christmastime in 1880 in a pawnshop.  This gave Patel and De Bruin an opportunity to show their stuff.  The set looked exactly the way one would expect and the Victorian costumes were superb.

The singing was excellent all around.  Tenor Brent Reilly Turner created a very disagreeable pawnbroker of the Ebenezer Scrooge ilk. His ringing sound lent weight to the role as he toyed with his client, the reprobate aristocrat Markheim who has squandered his family fortune by gambling and is under the gun to repay some cutthroats.  He is guilty of theft, seduction and abandonment, blackmail and extortion—another thoroughly unlikable character.  But oh, what a fine baritone has Tyler Putnam whom we well remember from last summer at the Santa Fe Opera!  Both men’s acting was convincing.

It came as no great shock when Markheim strangled the pawnbroker who refuses to lend him money on a stolen work of art.  Enter….The Stranger!  This character, excellently portrayed by tenor Matthew Tuell, might be the devil and he might be a hallucination but he tries to provoke the eponymous anti-hero to murder Tess, the maid who is returning to the shop to retrieve a parcel.  Soprano Angela Mannino has a lovely stage presence with voice to match and the only character about whom we could care.  We were quite relieved when Markheim decided to spare her life and asked her to call the police.  This is evidence for the dramatic success of the story.

The work was bookended by a quartet of carolers comprising Ms. Castells, Ms. Meyerson, Mr. Kaneklides and Mr. Balonek, all from the curtain-raiser.  The overall quality of the production suited us more than the material.  But that’s just a consequence of our 19th c. Italian ears.

(c) meche kroop