CUANDO EL FUEGO ABRASA

Nancy Fabiola Heerrera and Gustavo Feulien in Astor Piazzolla's Oblivion

The post-covid season of opera has been slow getting started, but for a weekend of delights we can thank the newly revived Opera Hispanica,  which has joined forces with Teatro Grattacielo. With Maestro Jorge Parodi at the helm, it seemed quite natural to begin with a work by Argentinian master of tango--Astor Piazzolla.

The first half of the program was his 1982 Oblivion which was used in the film Enrico IV. At this late stage of his life, Piazzolla was already famous for incorporating many musical styles into his tangos, from baroque to jazz. This work can be performed in a variety of instrumentations and we were fortunate to hear members of Metamorphosis Chamber Orchestra conducted by Maestro Parodi himself, comprising a string quartet augmented by flute (doubling on piccolo), oboe, trumpet and French horn. Double bassist Pedro Giraudo did some ear-catching riffs of rhythmic vitality and pianist Rodrigo Ilizaliturri provided support and unification to the individual parts.

The star of the instrumentalists was, of course, bandoneonista Rodolfo Zanetti, whose performance was filled with vitality. The structure of the work is a series of songs, mainly about the suffering of lost love. Baritone Gustavo Feulien, whose Onegin we so admired a couple of years ago, sang with full tone and a depth of anguish in voice, facial expression, and body language. A powerful singer as he is can make you feel the torment in one's own body.  Indeed, who has not loved and lost and suffered!

There were interludes of instrumental music, sometimes a tenderness given to the strings, sometimes a harshness given to the winds. Maestro Parodi kept a firm hand and a gentle touch, as called for by the music. Mezzo-soprano Nancy Fabiola Herrera made only a brief appearance but starred in the second half of the program in which Mr. Feulien only showed up incidentally.

Manuel de Falla's El Amor Brujo began life as a work commissioned by a renowned flamenco dancer and was scored for voice, actors, and chamber orchestra.  Its 1915 premiere in Madrid was not successful; it has gone through a number of changes--getting scored for full orchestra and a suite for piano and has also been performed as a ballet.

Ms. Herrera's electrifying performance gave full attention to both vocalism and dance. Not for a moment did our attention lapse as she created the role of Candela, a gypsy woman haunted by her dead husband. Dressed in black she haunted the stage, or rather the cave in which she sought una bruja to rid her of the ghost. Swirling her mantilla madly she employed a style of singing verging on the jondo flamenco style. Boundaries were transcended on the part of the artist and the audience; we nearly forgot we were in the theater. It was one of those performance one is unlikely to forget.

Troy Ogilvie is credited as choreographer yet Ms. Herrera's performance seemed spontaneous. The set and lighting design was by Jon de Gaetano; it was simple but effective--a few reflective box-like elements scattered about the stage.  At times they were lit so that they appeared as fireplaces, which was particularly effective. Direction was by Malena Dayen. The excellent subtitles were credited to Francisco Miranda

© meche kroop

 

THE DON DONE IN

Suchan Kim, Maestro Teddy Poll, Brace Negron, Sarah Hayashi, Jesus Murillo, Pavel Suliandziga, and Laura León
(Liana Guberman and Paul An not visible)

We have lost count of the number of times we have seen Mozart's meisterwerk Don Giovanni; this year alone we have seen it at least 4-5 times. We never tire of it; the marriage of Mozart's music and Da Ponte's libretto always makes for a great evening--but only if the singing is superb. Bare Opera assembled a stellar group of singers for their current production and we would expect no less of this exemplary company in their fifth season. There was no one onstage who didn't give their all.

Directors always look for something new to say about the reprobate Don--the pussy grabbing predator who uses his position of power to seduce or overcome women, a sociopathic narcissist who has no awareness of other people's feelings, one who will readily betray those who are dumb enough to fall under his spell. If this sounds familiar and relevant to you, dear reader, please know that it does to us as well.

Taking for granted that the performances were uniformly excellent from both dramatic and vocal standpoints, let us take a look at what Stage Director Malena Dayen added to our understanding of the story. Her Don was almost completely lacking in charm; baritone Suchan Kim (a very nice man--trust us on this point) was obliged to search for an inner demon to come up with such a nasty portrayal. Our only opportunity to hear the gentle colors of his beautiful instrument was in the serenade "Deh, vieni alla finestra".

Donna Anna (the splendid soprano Laura León) was the Don's victim-- excuse me, she was a "survivor" in today's parlance--and there was not a whiff of disdain for the loyal Don Ottavio (tenorrific Pavel Suliandziga) who evinced strength of character in place of the usual wimpiness. We have no doubt he will stand by his beloved until her grief abates and they will wed.

Zerlina (portrayed by the winsome Sarah Hayashi) is rather narcissistic herself, wanting to have her cake and eat it too, manipulating the poor Masetto (the excellent Jesus Murillo) who is understandably angry but just as enthralled by her as Donna Elvira is by Don Giovanni, and just as ready to forgive--an interesting parallel.

In this production, Donna Elvira is not a source of amusement but one of those women who just cannot give up on her desire to reform a "bad boy". Soprano Liana Guberman in the role showed a wide range of emotions from rage to forgiveness. We get it. She is complicit in her own misery which we see a lot in women who are taken in by sociopathic men. The vocalism was as fine as the acting.

Bass Brace Negron did a swell job creating the role of Leporello and demonstrated how flunkies can be bought by an artful and deceitful leader. So much of this story resonates with the current political climate.

Paul An made a brief appearance as the Commendatore trying to protect his daughter's honor and later as the statue who invites the Don to dinner in Hell.

There were directorial touches that we liked a lot. Our favorite one found Don Giovanni seducing Zerlina in a partner changing dance that was choreographed by Troy Ogilvie with Emily Morrison's assist.

There were a few minor lapses as well. Changing the duel between Don Giovanni and the Commendatore into the Don stabbing the Commendatore in the back emphasized his evil nature but gave the lie to Donna Anna's anguish about the wound in her father's breast.

Also, if the text involves calling someone over, it seems strange if they are already there. And to say someone has fallen when they are still standing is likewise a minor flaw. But we notice the little things; just can't help it.

There were several omissions or cuts that kept the story moving along without comic relief. We rarely see the scene between Zerlina and Leporello and did not miss it but we must admit that we missed the final scene in which the Don is dining and teasing Leporello who is sneaking food behind his back. We also missed the epilogue in which the moral of the story is reiterated.

In terms of musical values, it seemed criminal to omit "Il mio tesoro" with such a terrific tenor as Mr. Suliandziga on board. Yes, we know that Mozart himself revised his own work to suit the artists available and that only strengthens our case.

Under the direction of Maestro Teddy Poll, the chamber orchestra (string quartet plus bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn with Laetitia Ruccolo performing the piano part) sounded just right except for the ballroom scene in which there are three types of dance music played simultaneously. There just wasn't enough "manpower" to pull that off.

The major innovation brought by Ms. Dayen was the use of video projections designed by Sangmin Chae. This is an interesting idea to replace sets with video but the results were mixed. The offstage rape scene is always difficult to accept; what woman pursues her would be rapist???? But the video projections during the overture did not do much to illuminate the event. We saw a distorted face and maybe some hands choking a neck.

At one point something was projected that looked vaguely like an apple. We found much of this distracting and puzzling. Our companion kept looking at us and shrugging and peppered us during the intermission with questions we couldn't answer.

The projection of the Commendatore's face in the final scene was projected as an old fashioned "negative" with white and black reversed.  It just looked like an ugly mask. And there was a delay between the sound and the visuals that just looked like bad lip-syncing. The presence of the videographers on set and next to the orchestra was distracting and audience members kept twisting around in their chairs.

The work was performed in a large empty space with the audience seated on two opposing sides in two rows, an arrangement providing a sense of intimacy with the story. One minor improvement of such an arrangement might be to angle the chairs a bit toward the center. This is the same problem we observe at the New York Philharmonic in the levels above the orchestra, as well as the side boxes at the Metropolitan Opera House.  Just sayin'.

Costumes by Theresa Miles were completely off base and Donna Elvira's was completely unflattering. The only distinguishing feature of the aristocratic women was the headdress--you know, the comb with a mantilla. It seems important to us to mark the difference between the aristocrats and the peasants. A sense of time and place was lacking.

Before we close we would like to acknowledge the contributions of the ensemble: Estelina Syla, Folei Browne, Sarah Blau, Pedro Sequera, Zachary Sebek, and Sanford Leff.

There is only one more performance today and, as of last night, only two seats remaining. Will you be the lucky one?

© meche kroop

NOPERA

Malena Dayen, Daniel Irizarry, Eugenia Forteza, Suchan Kim, Mouna R'miki, and Marcelo Guzzo

Defying our concept of opera at every turn, Astor Piazzolla's 1968 tango operita was nonetheless a compelling piece of music theater which captivated the audience with some fine performances and musical values. The main characters, Maria and El Payador, were portrayed by mezzo-soprano Malena Dayen and baritone Marcelo Guzzo who introduced us to the work six years ago, performing excerpts as part of the Opera Hispanica Festival.

The work itself was performed at Le Poisson Rouge in Greenwich Village. Beth Greenberg's inventive direction was accompanied by program notes, providing an exegesis of Horacio Ferrrer's libretto, comprising surreal poetry which we found to be abstruse. We are quite sure that those who love poetry were better able to plumb the depths of the very symbolism which baffled us. If one hadn't seen the work before or read about it, one would have no clue as to the story.

The work has been produced recently by the New York City Opera and by Arizona Opera, among other companies.  But for this sold-out run by Bare Opera, Ms. Dayen, herself a Porteño, got her chance to direct the piece; she staged it in the spacious rear gallery of the Bellewether with plenty of "meta" input from a videographer whose images were projected in real time on the rear wall of the space, behind the musicians. It is a powerful but puzzling production.

We enjoyed the boutique orchestra, especially the piano of Music Director/Conductor David Rosenmeyer and the bandoneón of Rodolfo Zanetti. The rest of the orchestra comprised guitar, flute, a string quartet, a double bass, and two percussionists. There was even some recorded music. The persistence of a descending scale of five notes recurred throughout the piece, lending unity.

The pleasures of enjoying the unamplified operatic voice went missing, although we admit that the amplification was not excessive. Much of the text was recited rather than sung.

Ms. Dayen and Mr. Guzzo are both powerful and intense; they performed with commitment. Also onstage were two women who often mirrored Ms. Dayen's movements--Eugenia Forteza and Mouna R'miki. 

The male roles were performed by Suchan Kim and Daniel Irizarry.  Ms. R'miki and Mr. Irizarry were listed as "Duende", the role of the trickster spirit, although that was not conveyed dramatically.

We thought highly of the choreography of Troy Ogilvie who made singers look like dancers, creating effective movement that was minimally challenging. Maximally challenging were the movements of Mr. Irizarry who may find a new career as a break dancer; he climbed the steel beams overhead with the agility of a simian.

Anthony Tornambene's lighting design was effective; at a couple points, the women held small lights in the palms of their hands and moved them around their bodies providing eerie illumination.

Taylor Mills' Costume Design was simple and executed in neutral unobtrusive colors.

This female led company is noted for five years of unconventional productions, never failing to reinvent the opera-going experience. Entering "Bare Opera" in the search bar above will give you the opportunity to read about some of their other revolutionary additions to the operatic landscape.

(c) meche kroop