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

BRITTEN AND THE BARD

 Curtain call at Manhattan School of Music for Benjamin Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

We lost count of the number of times we have seen the Shakespeare play but the production we saw last night of Benjamin Britten's operatic adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream  best captured the spirit of the work. Shakespeare's text in iambic pentameter has its own music and, in our opinion, does not inspire memorable vocal lines. However, Britten's instrumental music creates a soundscape that evokes a world of fantasy and magic. The opening scene gave the chamber orchestra, so well conducted by esteemed Maestro George Manahan, frequent glissandi that tickled the ear.

The success of the production rests firmly on the professional level performances of the Manhattan School of Music Graduate Opera Theater and the Director John de los Santos who has a long list of professional successes but is known to us mainly through his work at MSM and New Camerata Opera. His work on this piece is marked by originality, creativity, and imagination. It is also marked by some ribaldry and naughtiness of which Shakespeare would have surely approved.  (Ask us about the toilet plunger and the ass' ass.)

We did not miss the opening scene of the play which takes place in an Athenian courtroom. The opera begins in the forest, the land where fairies lead their magical lives and play tricks on mortals. The gods in Wagner's Ring Cycle display as many characterological defects as the humans; similarly the fairies in Britten's opera are beset by romantic problems just like the mortals.

Titania, played by the tiny powerhouse soprano Sofia Gotch-Caruana, does not want to relinquish the changeling infant to her demanding husband Oberon, played with appropriate majesty by Haolun Zhang whose ethereal counter-tenor, effectively accompanied by the celeste, fulfilled the role with excellence.

The lovely Hermia (mezzo-soprano Ya Gao) has fled Athens with her beloved Lysander (tenor Isaiah Traylor) because of parental disapproval. The couple are so adorable together that we are cheering for them right from the start.

In contrast, poor Helena (soprano Madison Marie Fitzpatrick, well remembered from last year's Caccini opera) is pursuing Demetrius (baritone Ross Macatangay) who rejects her because he is in love with Hermia and wants nothing more than to take Hermia away from Lysander.

That Shakespeare created this romantic mess five centuries ago gives us pause. His work endures because of his keen insight into human behavior which seems not to have changed in half a millenium!  How do you think this romantic situation can be resolved? By the help of the fairies of course!

Oberon enlists the help of the sprite Puck, a non-singing role that was well spoken and extremely well-danced by Johannes Linneballe who made use of the entire stage as his playground. We saw no choreographer listed in the program; shall we assume that this gifted member of the graduate vocal program self-choreographed?

Shakespeare himself said "The course of true love never did run smooth"; so, of course, Puck's performance of Oberon's instructions is mistaken and the bewildered Helena winds up fighting off two lovers and poor Hermia is abandoned. Of course, things are set aright but the complications, emphasized by the music, keep us involved.

Thinking about Wagner's Ring Cycle and the gods interfering with the lives of mortals, we notice also a setting apart of a less genteel and less educated working class, i.e. the "rustics" who win a competition to provide entertainment for the wedding of Theseus Duke of Athens (the smooth-voiced baritone Donghoon Kang) and Hippolyta Queen of the Amazons (the regal Xiaowei Fang).

The six "rustics" provided comic relief and a welcome break from the romantic struggles of the Athenian upper classes. Outstanding among them is Benjamin R. Sokol as Bottom the Weaver who wants to play every part in the play within the play, another grand insight of the Bard.  Don't we all know someone like that? Mr. Sokol garnered plenty of laughs during the process of casting Pyramus and Thisbe but even more when he is transformed into an ass and becomes the love object of Titania who has been tricked by her manipulative husband. Did we mention how well he sang?

The other rustics were also excellent: William Velasco de Jesús as Flute, reluctantly playing Thisbe in drag, Xingxiang Liu as Snout, Gregory Gropper as Starveling, Jon Carr as Snug, and Liyuan Liu as Quince, trying to direct the project. Each performer evinced a different personality.

In contrast, the fairies comprised a unified chorus and worked more as an ensemble. We heard Suzana Ikeda, Margaux Frohlich, Nadine Nagyeong Li, Abigail Williams, Zixuan Zhang, and Morena Galan.

In the final scene, order is restored and Britten has his fun lampooning the golden age of opera with the performance by the rustics of "Pyramus and Thisbe" including murder and suicide. The bored Athenians gently decline to see the Epilogue. "All's well that ends well", as they say. All are successfully matched and we have been royally entertained by this superlative cast. We are left hoping that they enjoyed themselves as much as we did.

Let us not fail to credit the excellent costume design of Ashley Soliman. The fairies were fantastical with extravagant attire whilst the Athenians were costumed in contemporary streetwear with the rustics in contemporary workmen's attire. The Duke and his bride were appropriately elegant. Abbey Wiker's scenic design was simple but effective with multi-leveled playing areas and vertical sliding elements that altered perspective.

We are also left reflecting upon how often Shakespeare's works have inspired operas. The ones that came to mind first are Verdi's use of Macbeth, Othello, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. We also thought of Thomas' Hamlet. We will think upon this more and invite you Dear Reader to make any additions in the comments below. Obviously Italian opera of the 19th c. had far more interesting vocal lines which we attribute to the musicality of the language, as opposed to Shakespeare's iambic pentameter.

© meche kroop