RUDDIGORE or THE WITCH'S CURSE

Daniel Greenwood, Sarah Caldwell Smith, David Macaluso, Matthew Wages, Hannah Holmes,

 David Wannen and Angela Christine Smith

 We have been enjoying the fruits of New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players' labors for quite a long time but we never realized that the company has been delighting audiences for half a century. During our time in New York City we have witnessed their growth in size, professionalism, and audience impact.  Every season brings new delights with constant reminders of why HMS Pinafore and Pirates of Penzance are such enduring classics as well as fresh introductions to Gilbert and Sullivan's  lesser known work like last night's Ruddigore.

The three hours spent in their company last night flew by with nary a dull moment. Ballads, madrigals, patter songs, and choruses tumbled over one another, exhibiting Arthur Sullivan's keen sense of melody. W. H. Gilbert's lyrics are replete with clever rhymes and plays on words. Although we have often heard excerpts from Ruddigore on many a prior occasion, this is the first time we had the opportunity to enjoy the entire work--and enjoy we did!

As in their other works, Gilbert's text manages to skewer all of Great Britain's "sacred cows"--aristocratic ancestry, serious opera, the Royal Navy, social etiquette, the institution of marriage, religion, and even income tax. The story concerns a hereditary baronetcy tainted by a long held curse that requires each baronet to commit a daily crime or die a horrible death. In a gloss on religious hypocrisy it just wouldn't do to commit a sole crime early in the day and then compensate by doing good for the remainder of the day.

The last baronet has apparently staged his own demise in order to escape the curse, and has gone into hiding as the shy and simple farmer Robin Oakapple, portrayed by the terrific tenor David Macaluso. The professional bridesmaids of the village, given some lovely choruses and dances (choreographed by David Auxier), have not had a wedding in months and are champing at the bit. They would like to see the lovely Rose Maybud wed.  Soprano Sarah Caldwell Smith, aside from having a lovely voice, excelled at creating a character who hides behind her etiquette book and whose willingness to wed seems not fixed on any particular suitor.

Robin is so shy and Rose is so constrained by the rules of etiquette that they cannot manage a courtship. Their duet "I know a youth" was delightful and charming.  Robin's foster brother Richard Dauntless is not so shy! As portrayed by Daniel Greenwood, he is an outwardly affable sailor who agrees to court Rose for Robin but decides to win her for himself. Alas, poor Robin!

There is worse in store for the hapless hero. His disguise is revealed by that old snake-in-the-grass Richard; Robin's brother, Sir Despard Murgatroyd, who has assumed the baronetcy, is thrilled to be relieved of his ancestral duty. Matthew Wages seemed to enjoy playing the evil man in "Oh, why am I moody and sad?". as much as he enjoyed playing him as a proper citizen when relieved of his position, leaving us to wonder "does the role make the man?"

One of the many highlights of the evening was the performance of mezzo-soprano Hannah Holmes as Mad Margaret who manages to outdo every mad scene you have ever seen.  In "Cheerily carols the lark", it was not just the singing that impressed us but the body movement amounting to a dance of madness. Once reunited with her beloved she assumes a staid mien, only occasionally erupting into the crazies from which she is brought back to normalcy by the safe word "Basingstoke" which probably had a significance for the late 19th century audience.

Vocally impressive was the contralto instrument of Angela Christine Smith as Ruth's aunt Dame Hannah.  We were happy to see her reunited with her long lost lover (or at least with his ghost) Sir Roderic Murgatroyd, portrayed by David Wannen. The tender duet "There Grew a Little Flower" placed two great voices in pleasing harmony.

Rounding out the cast was Patrick Lord Remmert who created the character of Robin's faithful servant Old Adam Goodheart, a "Vally-desham" in the titles which we figured out was Brit-speak for valet de chambre. 

Maestro Albert Bergeret brilliantly led his orchestra through the constant flow of musical numbers and also co-directed with Mr. Auxier. We found no fault with the direction which emphasized the melodramatic nature of the story and its stock characters, which are as familiar to the English speaking world as commedia del'arte is to the Italian speaking world. 

The set design was most satisfactory, attributed to Albére, after Edward Gorey.  Act I created a seaside village with a house on one side and a shed of some sort on the other, reminding us of the set for the ballet Giselle. Act II took place in the ancestral home of a the Murgatroyd's with an entire wall of ancestral portraits which, in a stroke of directorial genius, came to life.

The colorful costumes by Gail J. Wofford were a propos to time and place, adding to the success of the performance. We greet the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players with a grand. "Huzzah"!!!! We can barely wait for their production of The Pirates of Penzance in January.

© meche kroop

WHEREFORE ART THOU?

 Curtain call at Manhattan School of Music's Romeo et Juliette

Love stories are timeless, as is said; and so are antagonistic families. Nonetheless, Gounod's beloved opera Roméo et Juliette seems to us to be very specific to Renaissance Italy or what, in Gounod's time, would become the nation of Italy. (At the time in which Shakespeare set his play, upon which Jules Barbier and Michel Carré based their libretto, Verona was a city-state ruled by the Scaligero family, for which the famed opera house La Scala was named.)  

The peculiar staging of the opera at Manhattan School of Music appeared to be an ante-bellum ball in the American South and seemed to be a bad directorial decision.  Fortunately, nothing was altered musically or text wise, leaving us free to ignore the costumes and focus on some truly superb voices.

In terms of capturing the emotion of the story, we have been most deeply affected by Kenneth MacMillan's ballet for American Ballet Theater which utilizes a highly dramatic score by Sergei Prokofiev. We have seen 40-year-old ballerinas convince us that they were 14 years old and still playing with dolls. Not so effective were the play and prior opera productions we have attended. It is believed that only mature actors can fulfill the two starring roles and only mature opera singers can fulfill the vocal requirement.

For that reason, we were thrilled to see comely young graduate students (from Manhattan School of Music) with finely tuned voices bring the opera to convincing life before our very eyes. 

For example, Sofia Gotch sang the role of Juliette with brightness and clarity, exhibiting excellent French diction. In her Act I aria "Je veux vivre" she showed us a spunky young woman, full of life and ready for adventure, making her ultimate demise even more tragic. Gounod made many demands on the soprano portraying Juliette, and she definitely rose to the occasion. She also showed herself to be a fine scene partner in her tender duets with Romeo scattered throughout the opera, each one outdoing the prior one

Her Roméo was sung by tenor Wonjin Choi, whose fine instrument revealed itself immediately in  "Ange adorable" and even more in "Ah! Lêve-toi Soleil!". His infatuation started strong and only got stronger. The performances of the leads were stellar, leaving absolutely nothing for us to criticize.

Other roles were similarly well cast and well performed. Two mezzo-sopranos made a fine impression. Xiaowei Fang seemed to relish her part as Gertrude, fussing over Juliette, and filling out a couple of lovely quartets, which, we might add, were well balanced. As the page Stephano, Yiqian Heng made a strong impression with "Que fais-tu, blanche tourterelle?", taunting the Capulet family with a provocative aria, likening Juliet to a dove in a flock of vultures.

Benjamin R. Sokol made a fine Frère Laurent, portraying the friendly friar with an admirable combination of gravity and levity. Blake Stevenson admirably fulfilled the role of the pugnacious Mercutio and impressed us with his dueling skills--as did Fernando Silva-Gorbea as the unpleasant and menacing Tybalt. Props to Fight Director Chris Dumont.

Donghoon Kang made Capulet a gracious host but a demanding father. Making a brief appearance as Le Duke was Daniel Navarrete-Estassi, appearing quite authoritative as he commutes Roméo's death sentence to banishment. The unfortunate suitor Paris was enacted by Graham Rui Guan. Grégorio was portrayed by Juan Angel Johnston-Chavez and Justin Hong took the role of Benvolio.

Just as excellent as the singing was the orchestra conducted by Maestro Pierre Vallett. The simple set by James Rotondo was dark and simple with lots of doors and windows serving multiple purposes. Evocative lighting was by Marika Kent. Stephanie Sutherland's choreography gave the large and effective chorus plenty to do and provided dances appropriate to the weird 19th century. setting. 

And this brings us back to the peculiar direction by Katherine M. Carter.  As is our habit, we looked for the Director's Notes after the performance, hoping to learn some justification for moving this Renaissance story to, judging by the costumes, the early 19th century. We had to keep trying to block Gone with the Wind from our mind to focus on the singing.

We also wondered why, with a perfectly good upper level, the balcony scene was staged at ground level. Another nitpicky observation was that during the several emotionally intense duets, Roméo and Juliette were positioned so that they did not appear to be facing each other. This is generally accomplished by placing them at a 90 degree angle to one another, thus creating the illusion of actually facing each other.  

And while we are nitpicking, Juliette's face should not be smiling when she is told she is being married off.  Her face changed to misery when Paris' name was mentioned. But clearly she should be expressing misery at the idea of being married to anyone. The way it was played made it seem as if she had something personal against Paris. One of the features of sitting on the front row is being aware of small details like that.

Nitpicking aside, we commend the entire cast, and especially the members of the chorus, for creating an absorbing performance that was dramatically and musically compelling.

© meche kroop

COSI FAN WHAT?

Minki Hong, Dongwei Shen, Michael John Butler, Maestro Patrick Furrer, Kayla Stein, Tivoli Treloar, and Theo Hayes

All we could think of at the opening performance of Cosi fan tutte at Juilliard was a song from Chorus Line entitled "Dance 10, Looks 3"--only we were thinking "Music 10, Production 3". We heard six superb singers doing justice to Mozart's comedy, and the excellent Juilliard Orchestra, under the baton of Maestro Patrick Furrer, filling the Peter Jay Sharp Theater with glorious sound.  The set by Charlie Corcoran was colorful and appealing--but where were we? Surely not in Naples. We are in front of the City Lights Bookstore, so it must be San Francisco.

The costuming by Andrea Hood appears rather odd but it's not the 18th century, that's for sure. As is our wont, we have not studied the Director's Notes prior to the opera. We try to keep an open mind and to let a work speak for itself. This one spoke not with the intention of Lorenzo Da Ponte and dear Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart but rather with the political intention of director Mo Zhou who, bless her heart, was trying to make points about women's liberation. What a heavy weight to place on a classic that is perfect just the way it was written. Do we need to sneak into the Metropolitan Museum of Art at night and paint over the Rembrandts and the Degas?

We sense lately a mistrust of the audience who really could be trusted to see this masterwork and enjoy what was apt to the times and compare it with the mores of today. Instead of involving the audience and letting them do the work, Ms. Zhou saw fit to impose her point of view. She even, as the program notes mention, modeled the two sisters after the debutant Nixon sisters and portrayed the two boyfriends as surfer dudes! And the manipulative jokester Don Alfonso as the poet Allen Ginsberg, appearing to be in the same generation.

These sisters have agency! They sense Don Alfonso's plot and get their revenge by walking out on the men. Wooooo!!!!  Very definitive, in spite of Mozart's music that leaves us unsettled, never very sure whether the girls will return to their respective fiancés or stay with their swapped lovers? And what about altering the libretto to suit the "concept".  "Well, we can just fool the audience the way the men in the opera tried to put one over on the young women; maybe we can count on no one knowing Italian, stupid Americans as they are."

Nevertheless, the performance was worth attending for its excellent musical values; we would expect no less of Juilliard students. Some of the singers are pursuing their Artist Diploma and others, their graduate degrees.  All were in fine voice and did exactly what the director asked of them, much of it leaning toward the physically excessive. Similarly, the costumes  were too much of a muchness. Although the 1960's are as remote to us as the 18th century, we have seen enough newsreels to know how Jackie Kennedy dressed and what "hippies" looked like. Only the excellent set was consistent with the chosen epoch and location, with the unmistakable Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

Nonetheless, it is the voices that count and the six singers will leave this production with their respective roles "performance ready". If we were a casting director, we would hire all of them on the spot.

Beginning with the Fiordiligi of Kayla Stein, this super soprano had no problem negotiating the huge jumps in "Come scoglio", the acrobatics of which were reputedly created to skewer Da Ponte's mistress whom Mozart didn't like as she was cast in the role. The more gentle "Per pietà, ben mio, perdona" was affecting and persuasive. Ms. Stein has a lovely generous soprano, marked by agility.

Tivoli Treloar, as her sister Dorabella, successfully portrayed the more adventurous of the two and employed her pleasing mezzo-soprano instrument successfully in the emotional "Smanie implacabili" and later in "È amore un ladroncello" in which she justifies her behavior to her more faithful sister who is more successful at holding out against the importunate Ferrando.

Michael John Butler made a fine Ferrando. The hit tune "Un aura amoroso" is the aria the audience is waiting for but the hopeful sentiment becomes less hopeful in the subsequent "Io lo veggio" commanding a different more hesitant color in his warm tenor instrument.

As Guglielmo, Dongwei Shen's sweet baritonal sound helped to ensure a successful courtship of Ferrando's fiancée Dorabella. "Non siate ritrosi" does not lead to immediate success but before long, he is a singing a sweet duet with Dorabella "Il core vi dono", the two voices melding in perfect harmony. (Who could resist?) We loved the scene in which his gloating over his success triumphs over his sympathy for the less successful Ferrando. Of course, his gloating is short-lived as his Fiordiligi eventually succumbs to the advances of Ferrando.

As the worldly wise Despina, mezzo-soprano Theo Hayes overcame some ludicrous costuming to give a vocally excellent performance, warning the two sisters about soldiers "In uomini, in soldati, sperare fedeltà?" and later, encouraging them to find new lovers after the young men have presumably gone off to (the Vietnam) war. (Drafted in error, according to this "modernization"). We wondered whoever wore a punk hairstyle in the 60's but, there it was.

The character who puts the plot in motion is Don Alfonso and it was difficult visually to perceive Minki Hong as a worldly wise older man due to the costuming but his excellent singing triumphed over both concept and clothing.

As a lover of ensemble singing, we particularly enjoyed "Soave sia il vento" as the sisters and Don Alfonso watch the ship sail off. Additionally there is a scene at the end of the first act in which all six characters are in a frenzy, suggesting to us the seedling that grew into the famous Rossini sextets. Interesting that we never noticed that before.

As noted, Mozart's character revealing music rose above any attempt to make the story "relevant". It may not be politically correct (we of course, are not) to mention that members of both genders in that age group often play fast and loose with the feelings of their lovers. (Maybe all lovers do, even those that transcend genderhood.) One could easily rewrite this opera and reverse the genders but we hope no one does. Our feeling is that if you object to the values and morals of a story, write your own damn opera!  Leave Mozart alone!!!!

© meche kroop
 

FROM THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE

 Miloš Repický, J'Nai Bridges, Evan Gray, Katie Trigg, and Sarah Fleiss

A favorable confluence of musical forces delivered an outstanding hour of music yesterday at WQXR's "The Greene Space". Sponsored by The Gerda Lissner Foundation and hosted by WQXR's  Midge Woolsey, five fantastic artists from The Curtis Opera Theater succeeded in lifting the spirits of an attentive studio audience and, we hope, listeners at home. In these dark days, musical beauty has become even more valuable in showing why life is worthwhile. And what could be more beautiful than vocal music.

An alumna of Curtis Institute of Music, the prodigiously gifted superstar mezzo-soprano J'Nai Bridges not only sang her heart out, but also, as we understand, spent a week in Philadelphia giving master classes to the three young singers whose artistry touched our heart and gave us hope for the future. Upon hearing young singers, we often enjoy mentally casting them in roles that we think would suit them. Sometimes we guess well and learn that they have actually performed those roles, giving us a somewhat smug sense of satisfaction.

Regular readers know how dearly we love duets and ensembles and we particularly enjoyed the opening duet "Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour" from Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffman performed in delicious harmony by Ms.  Bridges and rising star soprano Sarah Fleiss. The two filled The Greene Space with luscious harmony and brought back happy memories of the opera, seen most recently at the Santa Fe Opera.

Ms. Bridges is a gloriously centered and gracious stage presence (as well as a warm and delightful off-stage presence) and we loved the way she got the three young singers to talk about the songs they were about to sing. Since the program was "singer's choice", we got a glimpse of how the singers see themselves by means of their selections.

For example, Ms. Fleiss put so much intention into her performance of two of Samuel Barber's Hermit Songs that we felt an understanding of the appeal of solitude in "The Desire for Hermitage". This was paired with the contrasting companionate pleasure of "The Monk and His Cat". Let it be noted that Ms. Fleiss' diction was so perfect that we understood every word. This cannot be said of most American singers who tend to slur their words when singing English.

New Zealand native Katie Trigg, a mezzo-soprano,  introduced us to some Maori songs that, we could tell, meant a great deal to her. We were surprised to learn how singable the language is, with vowels similar to Italian. The sentiments were lovely, the melodies pleasing, and the performance intimate. We enjoyed the way she built the pianissimo beginning of "Whisper of Heaven" to a thrilling climax.  There was a very brief song in which a newborn, as yet unnamed, tells his mother (presumably) in reply to her question "What shall I call thee?", "Joy is my name". We wanted Ms. Trigg to give different colors to the mother's voice and the infant's voice.

Swiss bass-baritone Evan Gray delighted us with Schubert's lilting "Die Taubenpost" which suited his voice perfectly, reminding us that no one has ever equalled Schubert in setting poetry for the voice. However we also liked Jonathan Dove's setting of Three Tennyson Songs. The collaborative pianist Miloš Repický--so admirably supportive of the singers throughout--made much of the dissonant intervals of a 2nd in "Dark House" as well as some empty chords which emphasized the feeling of loneliness. In "The Sailor Boy" we wished for more contrast of color between the voice of the narrator, the warning voice of the mermaid, and the response of the reckless sailor boy himself. This dramatic "fine-tuning" will take the performance over the top.

One of the best scenes in Mozart's Cosi fan tutti is the trio in which Don Alfonso, Fiordiligi, and Dorabella watch the young men sail away, or so the young ladies are led to believe.  The harmonies are exquisite and the three young singers completely captured the vocal beauty.

Ms. Bridges captivated us with a couple of songs. Florence Price's "Hold Fast to Dreams" with text from a poem by Langston Hughes, carried a message of hope, much needed in today's political climate.  But it was the spiritual "Whole World", arranged by Margaret Bonds, that touched us deeply--and for a strange reason.  This lovely artist chose to alternate verses with "He/Him" and "She/Her". There are those that might have preferred "They/Them" but not us. We were reminded of our trip to Zimbabwe when we learned about the dual god/goddess of the Zambezi River (Nyami Nyami).

The evening ended on a hopeful note with our four artists joining voices for "You'll Never Walk Alone" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel. It was a splendid evening giving us hope for the future! If we lived in Philadelphia, we would be haunting the halls of Curtis Institute instead of those of Juilliard and Manhattan School of Music.

© meche kroop

LUCIDITY

Eric McKeever, Lucy Shelton, Blythe Gaissert, and Cristina Maria Castro

Music and memory were the topics of Lucidity, the outstanding play with music presented by On Site Opera.  Wait a minute!  Wasn't this billed as a chamber opera? Yes it was. We can only report our own opinion. Lucidity worked as theater and the excellent music was fine to hear, as conducted by Maestro Geoffrey McDonald and performed by five fine instrumentalist, about whom more will be said later. But the vocal lines seemed boring and unmemorable; and what is opera if one cannot leave humming an ear worm?  We admit that David Cotes' libretto made excellent dramatic sense but, except for some fine vocal ensembles during the denouement, Laura Kaminsky's vocal lines added nothing to the text.

We would have enjoyed this more as a play with spoken dialogue, augmented by some musical performances where the scene called for them. The singers had fine voices but didn't have anything interesting to sing, just a lot of meandering recitativi. Surprisingly, their acting was superb and totally convincing.

The story concerns a retired opera singer/professor/composer named Lili, magnificently portrayed by Lucy Shelton who is actually a voice teacher at Manhattan School of Music. Lili suffers from dementia and she is dutifully (and resentfully) cared for by her adult adopted son Dante (well portrayed by Eric McKeever). Dante is talented in his own right but gave up his career as a pianist to care for his mother.

Under the direction of Dr. Klugman (portrayed by the excellent Blythe Gaissert), a neuroscientist suffering from writer's block, the young clarinetist/music therapist has been engaged to try to break through Lili's brain fog. Lili's problem is a neurological one, but the other three characters are psychologically blocked. Sunny, the music therapist (a winning Cristina Maria Castro), suffers from parental indifference to her career choice manifested by lack of support. And poor Dante is suffering from a hostile dependency on his mother and has blamed her physical neediness for his failure to thrive in the musical world.

The drama focuses on the effects the characters have on each other and the effect that music has on Lili's brain. We might add that this effect has been scientifically validated, a fact that lends verisimilitude to the story. Director Sarah Meyers succeeded in the storytelling arena and also in her direction of the characters. Fortunately this is not Hollywood and Dante and Sunny did not have a romance!

There was a moment when the story brought us to tears-- partially because we were moved by Lili's breakthrough and partly because she began to sing Schubert's "Der Hirt auf dem Felsen" the music of which touches us deeply, which contemporary music does not. If only Kaminsky's writing had the same impact!

This musical choice probably dictated the writing and directing which includes the onstage doubling of Sunny by clarinetist Yasmina Speigelberg and of Dante by pianist Kyle Walker.

 

By the end of the work, every character has had a breakthrough and in the final scene, Kaminsky's vocal writing became more lyrical as voices joined together in harmony.  Plays and musical pieces profit by a post climax peaceful resolution.

Staging  by Ms. Meyers was original and effective. The audience sat in elevated rows upstage at the Henry Street Theater of the Abrons Arts Center and the acting took place downstage and in the part of the theater where the audience usually sits. Scenic Consultant Cameron Anderson put Lili's home in this downstage space with minimal furniture, bookshelves, and a piano.  The remainder of the theater became Dr. Klugman's office and varying rooms in Lili's apartment. The apt costuming was by Beth Goldenberg.

Let us give props to the fine musicians of the American Modern Ensemble, comprising percussionist Brandon Williams, violinist Nikita Mozorov, cellist Dave Eggar, as well as the aforementioned pianist and clarinetist both of whom moved readily from the orchestra pit to the stage where they doubled the actor/singers.

Once more, On Site Opera has given us a thoughtful and artistic work which we will remember even when the music has been forgotten.

© meche kroop

 

ELENA VILLALÓN

Craig Terry and Elena Villalón

 It hasn't even been two years since we heard a lovely soprano at the George and Nora London Foundation Competition Awards Recital. Her name is Elena Villalón and we were very impressed with her Sophie (from Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier) and longed to hear more of her. Last night our wish was granted at the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall (an intimate theater just right for an intimate vocal recital) when this charmer sang her heart out for a most appreciative audience.

It has been fourteen years since we first heard baritone Will Liverman at an Opera Index Award Recital Concert. We weren't even writing reviews then and we cannot remember what he sang but we were thrilled to our toes to present him with an award. We have reviewed him a dozen times since, both here in New York City and also at the Santa Fe Opera. What we didn't know is that he has been composing (who better to write for the voice than a singer?) and offered a most interesting work to be performed by our lovely Ms. Villalón! 

The first half of the program was just fine, centering on the European tradition of the aubade (early morning love song) as conceived by composers from the second half of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th. Songs were chosen carefully, featuring those with Spanish inflected melodies, giving the program a sunny romantic feel. 

Bizet's "Ouvre ton coeur" from his Vasco de Gama made for a strong opening with its expansive melodic line and rhythmic thrust. We may as well point out right from the start the close and effective partnership between the singer and collaborative pianist Craig Terry who never sacrificed his own personal style but managed to be constantly in tune (so to speak) with Ms. Villalón. There were some lovely contributions from Ravel and Rachmaninoff and we even managed to enjoy Olivier Messiaen's. "Le collier", such were the interpretive gifts of our soprano, undaunted by some high tessitura and Russian consonants. 

She possesses a lovely instrument which we enjoyed even more during the second half of the program which was sung in Spanish. Regular readers will recall how fond we are of the singability of Spanish and of the tendency of Hispanic composers to eschew academic movements and retain the gorgeous melodies that tickle the ear and linger in one's memory.

Represented were the Argentinian composer Carlos Guastavino, two Catalan composers (Fernando Obradors and Xavier Montsalvatge), Mexican composer Maria Grever, and, honoring our soprano's Cuban heritage, Ernesto Lecuona.

Although we loved every selection, a few are dear to our heart. We never let a Latin American singer depart from our salons without singing Grever's "Te quiero, dijiste", a very personal and tender song in which Grever's artistry both incorporates and transcends her grief at losing a child.

Another favorite of ours is Obradors' "Del cabello mas sutil" from his Canciones classicas Españolas. It is here that we must mention that, in agreement with Steven Blier, we draw no lines between the art song, the folk song, and the popular song. There are only good songs and bad ones.  Last night we heard only good ones with each and every one given the same artistic respect. 

Montsalvatge's "Canción de cuña para dormir a un negrito" from Cinco canciones negras manages to be not only a gentle lullaby but a subtle commentary on colonialism.

To ice this Spanish cake, we had two encores: Grever's "Jurame" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg. This hopeful closing went a long way toward relieving the anxiety and despair over the current political climate.

And now, Dear Reader. let us tell you about the impressive creation of Mr. Liverman. Having avoided contemporary music, we have been completely unaware that a beloved singer has been creating some superb vocal music! Last night was a premiere of his recent settings of poetry by Pablo Neruda and a brief but pungent verse by Costa Rican poet Jorge Debravo (misspelled in the program as Debrayo) whose life was tragically cut short before he reached the age of thirty. If this verse "Eternidad" were all he left behind (it wasn't), his brief life mattered. He conveyed so much feeling in five lines; Mr. Liverman evoked it in his vocal line and Ms. Villalón and Mr. Terry brought the page to vivid life.

It appears that Ms. Villalón's star is on the rise with many awards and worldwide engagements. We felt grateful for another opportunity to hear her and also grateful to catch up with Mr. Liverman's multipotentiality.

This excellent concert was part of Carnegie Hall's celebration of the influence of Latin Music and poetry in the USA--Nuestros sonidos.

© meche kroop

PAJAMA PARTY AT MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC

    Cast of Pajama Game at Manhattan School of Music

We had a grand time at Manhattan School of Music last night, absolutely thrilled by the wealth of talent in their Music Theater Department. We never read the program until after the show, in order to allow the work to speak for itself and to avoid expecting too much or too little from the artists vis a vis their level of education and experience. To our surprise, the superb actors/ singers/dancers were undergraduates, some at the very beginning of their education.

Although there was a wealth of talent onstage, we will focus our comments on the artists that impressed us the most. Likely due to some rather odd casting decisions, a few of the artists, while talented, did not quite make the same impression on us. We will discuss this further on.

As the romantic leads, we found Sid. E. Willoughby and Lucas Rayborn absolutely enchanting and also believable as a couple who are attracted to each other but on opposite sides of a conflict. In the manner of mid 20th century filmed romantic comedies, they fight, break up, and make up. The reason they are at loggerheads is that she (Babe Williams) is the head of the Union Grievance Committee at a factory that makes pajamas. He (Sid Sorokin) is a newly employed superintendent, arriving at a time when the workers are demanding seven and a half cents hourly wage increase.

They were absolutely adorable together in the duet "There Once Was a Man" which seemed to have a country music feel and allowed the two of them to exchange verses in a competition to see who loved the most.

Mr. Rayborn had a clever duet with himself as well. In "Hey There"; he records himself singing the song and then plays it back, vocally commenting on it. In the second act, Ms. Willoughby gets to reprise the song, but without the recording.

Another outstanding performance was that of Oliver Finke as Hines, the Efficiency Expert, who had us in stitches in "Think of the Time I Save". He also served to introduce the show, breaking the "Fourth Wall". There was a knife throwing scene at a company picnic that seemed uncomfortably realistic to us. Sitting on the front row, we were still unable to figure out the stagecraft!

He was joined by Kennedy Percival as Mabel (Sid's secretary) for the delightful duet "I'll Never Be Jealous Again" in which she instructs him in overcoming his jealousy by creating scenes of ever-increasing provocations for him to imagine. The object of his jealousy is Gladys, the big boss' secretary played by Yoyo Zhou, a tiny powerhouse of a performer who brought the house down with her performance of "Steam Heat".

And now we present our opinion of some radical casting choices. Just as we are trying to master our confusion over racial-blind casting ("Wait, why are the parents Caucasian and their son is not?") we are asked to accept gender-blind casting! Seeing a big controlling Boss Man played by a slender delicately boned woman sporting a mustache did not work for us. Nor did seeing the married philanderer Prez played by a buxom woman, also sporting a mustache.  Sorry but mustaches do not make the man!

Now we are sure that others in the audience may not agree with us. In spite of good acting and singing, we found the gender bending just  confusing and the voice quality all wrong. We know that it was a convention in Baroque Opera and also in the 19th and early 20th c. to have women in travesti playing young men, probably due to vocal timbre and range.  But this was different--as if Director Chloe Treat thought she could bring this delightfully dated work into the 21st century. It might have worked if the costumes were contemporary and if the book (by George Abbott and Richard Bissell) had been updated. but this production seemed to have one foot in the 50's (as far removed as the 19th century) and the other in the present day.

We didn't mind burly men dressed as female factory workers; casting principals however is an entirely different thing.

In a bending backward move to signify political correctness, the first page of the program apologized for "any language  about the treatment of women and people of color... acknowledging its harmful impact". This seems to pander to the audience which, one would hope, knows that times were different 75 years ago. 

Aside from that misguided decision, we liked Ms. Treat's (we don't mean to be snarky but we hope that the director doesn't mind being given the feminine pronoun) direction which kept things moving at a rapid pace. We confess to being puzzled by the sequence at Hernando's Hideaway, a well choreographed (by Sebastiani Romagnola) ballet that needed a more impactful shift of lighting to convey that this was supposed to be the imagining of the jealous Hines. There were beds that looked like operating tables and lots of people jumping under sheets. Should we blame Lighting Designer Emma Deane or Scenic  Designer Jimmy Rotondo? How could we when the rest of the production was so well set and well lit?

We enjoyed the apt costuming by Debbi Hobson. Bobbie Zlotnik was responsible for the period wigs, hair, and makeup.

We have saved the best for last and that is the music which compensated for any casting, directorial, or lighting missteps. Long after those issues are forgotten we will still be humming the many musical masterpieces created by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, a team that knew how to set the English language. Maestro David Loud brought this memorably melodic music to vivid life. Reading the program we were happy to note that the young musicians of the orchestra come to MSM from all over the world. A big bravo to each and every one, as well as to all the performers we did not mention.

Our usual quibble is with the amplification. We choose to sit on the front row so we can see who is singing. We wonder whether students in the Music Theater Department are trained in projection, similarly to students in the Opera Department. American musical theater seems to us to occupy a position in contemporary life that opera occupied in Europe in the 19th century. People came for the stories and the melodies. What passes for opera these days is polemic and boring. Just as not all operas became classics and many were trash and easily discarded, so it is with American musicals. There are classics that are worth reviving and others that are trashy and never revived. We see Pajama Game as a worthy classic! We would love to hear it without amplification.

© meche kroop

CLASSIC LYRIC ARTS SUPER-SALON

 Pianists Patrick Gallagher and Marianna Vartikian with singers Enes Pektas, Sophia Durante, 

Sara Stevens and David Freides

It was far more than a private salon that we attended yesterday in a gorgeous Manhattan penthouse. It was a celebration of the first year of Classic Lyric Arts Vocal Academy ( hereafter known as CLAVA) giving a chance to first year attendees to show off the impressive results of their intense post-graduate training. Young opera singers are not always getting the training they need at the conservatories in order to survive in the highly competitive and demanding world of opera. Through CLAVA they will get the rigorous training they need, at a more comprehensive level than the students at CLA summer programs get.

One has only to listen to the results to know that CLAVA is on the right track. Students are learning the repertoire that will get them jobs, not roles in obscure modern works that will never become part of the canon. That they are profiting mightily from this training is obvious. There were moments in the recital when we heard such a fresh connection between the music, the text, and the inner feelings of the character that we had chills, and, at one point, tears. This is what opera really should be!

We cannot describe the entire generous program but we would like to share a few highlights. If we have little to say about technique, it is because we were captivated by the way in which the technique dissolved into the emotions of the character.  No sets! No costumes! Just "acting" coming from such a deep place that the singer dissolved into the character.

Take, for example, the performance of soprano Sara Stevens in "Marietta's Lied" from Korngold's Die Tote Stadt.  We felt all the melancholy, the sehnsucht, the sense of the transitory nature of happiness.  Of course the German was perfekt and the dynamics contributed but our attention was taken by the emotions.

Similarly, soprano Sophia Durante completely inhabited the character of Rosina from Rossini's Il Baribiere di Siviglia, making her adorably spunky by means of lavish, daring, and accurate fioritura, thus illustrating Rosina's willful determination. We just wanted to see her get her way (forgetting, for the moment, the unhappy Countess she becomes in Mozart's Nozze di Figaro).

We haven't heard soprano Yvette Keong in a number of years and we were delighted to witness how she has grown as an artist. The clarity of her diction made every word clear in "My Ship Has Sails" from Kurt Weill's Lady in the Dark. The beautiful text was lent a hint of an unbalanced character that inspired us to look up the plot of this 20th century American opera (unfortunately called a "musical"--but that's just an opinion of ours that regular readers will understand). Indeed, the character is troubled and undergoing psychoanalysis. Could it be just an accident that Ms. Keong conveyed that? We think not.

There were two male artists performing as well, both new to us. Turkish baritone Enes Pektas enacted the clueless Count from Mozart's Nozze di Figaro, wringing from the text every ounce of male piggishness. By what magic can dynamics and phrasing create a character? We wanted to laugh at his pomposity but also felt sorry for him! We found Mr. Pektas to be quite the storyteller.

Tenor David Freides impressed us greatly. with "E lucevan le Stelle" from Puccini's Tosca. We have heard this aria sung by all the great singers of the world and admired their technique and tone but we don't think we have ever felt so invited into a man's heart at the point of his imminent death--the flood of happy memories tinged with the feeling of loss. It was at this point that we became a bit tearful, feeling Mario's depth of character, rather than admiring the overtones.

Not only was the singing first-rate but the piano accompaniment was right on point. Accompanying duties were shared by Glenn Morton, Patrick Gallagher and (new to us) Marianna Vartikian.

What an incredibly special afternoon it was! We not only enjoyed the superlative singing but we feel we learned something about the artistry that is too often neglected, overlooked, or overwhelmed by excessively showy "grandstanding".

© meche kroop