THE MEDIUM AND THE MESSAGE

How do we love Romeo and Juliet?  Let us count the ways.  Do you swoon for Shakespeare's iambic pentameter?   Will wrote his masterpiece in the late 16th c.  based upon a story which dated back to antiquity and had been given several incarnations until the bard brought the two young lovers and their warring families to life.

Do you prefer treating the tale operatically?  Countless composers have given it a go.  Gounod's Roméo et Juliette is arguably the best known.  Bellini's I Capuleti ed I Montecchi has some lovely tunes but has been criticized for not following the story.  Berlioz' version is more of an oratorio.  Let us not forget Tchaikovsky's symphonic poem.

The medium of film has made good use of the story as well.  Zeffirelli's 1968 version far surpassed MGM's 1936 version by casting young non-actors in the lead roles, lending the tale the advantage of verisimilitude.  Baz Luhrman made a post-modern MTV version in 1996.  The Bernstein/Sondheim musical of 1957 West Side Story was based on R&J and was filmed in 1961.

But for us, the pinnacle of pleasure is reached in the medium of ballet.  The visuals and the kinesthetics  allows us to turn off our intellect and to directly experience the intensity of adolescent passion, intergenerational conflict, tribal warfare and profound loss.  John Cranko choreographed a superb R&J in 1962 and Sir Kenneth MacMillan a no less wonderful one in 1965.  It is this latter version currently being presented by the American Ballet Theater.  We just witnessed a triumph of role interpretation by Herman Cornejo who wears the role of Romeo like a second skin.  We were quite sure no one could replace Julio Bocca and the memory of his performance remains untarnished in our mind; but Mr. Cornejo owes us no apologies.  What he lacks in height is more than made up for by his artistry; actually his size works to his advantage in this role and  he is completely believable as an impetuous adolescent.  Xiomara Reyes is a winsome Juliet and convinces us that she is but 13 years old.  The production was effectively staged by Julie Lincoln and the handsome sets and costumes, mostly in tones of burnt sienna and ochre, evince Renaissance Italy.

So, readers, what is your pleasure?  The printed word, the spoken word, film, opera, musical, or ballet?  Please leave your opinions and comments!

POVERA BUTTERFLY

Even as New York City Opera is shrinking in its presence in the opera scene, so smaller companies are exhibiting a greater one.  Among the many small companies we have always enjoyed is the Chelsea Opera founded by Lynne Hayden-Finlay and Leonarda Priore. The former served as director of the current production of Madama Butterfly and co-producer along with Ms. Priore.  For the most part we found the direction to be exemplary, making good use of the small "stage" of St. Peter's Church in Chelsea and giving characters stage business that was apt but never fussy or distracting.  We were, however, puzzled by Cio-Cio San's final disembowelment when her initial attempt at ritual suicide was the more culturally correct slashing of the carotid artery.  The simple set achieved by Ms. Priore served well and was much enhanced by Michael Megliola's lighting design.

Maestro Carmine Aufiero can always be counted on; he led the Chelsea Opera Chamber Orchestra in a sensitive reading of Puccini's lavish score, here reduced by Richard Balcombe and played by 15 fine musicians in the pit and one very versatile keyboardist named Cory Battey who was obliged to provide the percussion and harp sounds.

Among the singers, the two whose voices fell the loveliest onto our ears were tenor Aaron Blankfield who portrayed Goro, the marriage broker and the lovely Yajie Chen who exhibited a true mezzo sound throughout her vocal range in the role of Suzuki.  Unlike the leads, we experienced her as living the part and not "acting".  Of course, it helps a great deal that she is Asian.  We are not saying that there haven't been some great Caucasian performers portraying Asian people--just that it was not necessary to suspend disbelief.  It WAS necessary to do just that in the pairing of soprano Christina Rohm as Cio-Cio San and tenor Daniel Rodriguez as Lt. Pinkerton.  Both appeared to be working rather hard at singing and acting but there was a notable absence of chemistry between them.  Ms. Rohm has some lovely squillo at the top, singing the "Un bel di" quite well, but was occasionally hard to hear.  The absence of surtitles made us wish for better diction.

Lynn Abeles sang the role of Kate Pinkerton and baritone Justin Ryan was the much put-upon U.S. Consul.  Cio-Cio San's child was played by a very winsome Kevin Wielczyk.

We understand that next year's season will include two contemporary operas and are pleased to note that the Chelsea Opera has grown to embrace a most enthusiastic audience.  We wish them all the best.

(c) meche kroop

EUGENE ONEGIN TWO WAYS

 
 Running into several of our opera-loving colleagues last night at the ballet pleased us; one can enjoy a good story well told whether it is told by voice or by movement.  And how those ABT dancers can move!  There is no point debating the superiority of opera or ballet.  We love them both.

It doesn't hurt that the story is by Pushkin who told it as a novella in verse form; it is operatic in its drama and irony.  Tatiana, the shy young country mouse was superbly interpreted by the gorgeous ballerina Diana Vishneva, she of the luminous looks, the lavish legs, the graceful line, the flexible back, the fine feet.  Onegin, the arrogant aristocrat, the city mouse who is oh so terribly bored in the country and oh so disdainful of Tatiana's girlish crush was just as superbly interpreted by Marcelo Gomes with his movie star looks and long lean legs.  Tatiana, we GET it!  We couldn't resist either.

Sister Olga the vivacious one, betrothed to Lensky, was charmingly danced by the adorable Natalia Osipova who manages to capture the hearts of everyone, including the audience.  Lensky was danced by Jared Matthews and before the duel took place one couldn't help hearing "Kuda Kuda" in one's head.  There was a heart-stopping moment in Act I when the corps de ballet crossed the stage in couples with huge leaps; how delighted we were when the action was repeated in the other direction.

The music by Tchaikovsky seems to be a pastiche and mostly does not remind one of the opera; Ormsby Wilkins conducted.  With all due respect to this new production with sets and costumes by Santo Loquasto, we cherish our memories of the original production and give the most credit to the late choreographer John Cranko.  Several decades after his untimely death, we still feel a terrible sense of loss.  Whatever the critics have to say about "story ballets", the public loves them and we consider ourselves among them.  Other than Kenneth MacMillan's  Romeo and Juliet, no one has produced much of lasting value in recent years.  Boris Eifman's works strike us as lurid, with sensationalism substituting for drama.

EVE QUELER & SEVEN EMERGING ARTISTS

We have enjoyed Maestra Eve Queler's conducting of the Opera Orchestra of New York for more years than we can count--perhaps more for the opportunity to hear singers we don't always get to hear than to hear scores belonging to the same category.  Today we happily listened to seven emerging artists that she had cast in smaller roles last season, but we had the pleasure of hearing them perform as the stars they are meant to be, singing arias we know and love, accompanied by Ms. Queler herself on the piano as well as by Douglas Martin.

Each of these fine artists has been making a name for him or herself singing important roles in some fine companies and winning prestigious prizes.  It appears difficult for such gifted singers to get cast in major roles at the Met and we can only hope that someone from that august institution was in the audience today to be as impressed as we were.

What a banner year this is for soprano Megan Hart who makes us feel fortunate for having heard her three times already.  Her sensational coloratura in "Caro Nome" from Verdi's Rigoletto and in "Regnava nel silencio" from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor were well complimented by her duet with baritone Steven LaBrie in the "Silvio/Nedda duet" from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and the "Parigi o cara" from Verdi's La Traviata, sung with tenor Kevin Ray. Not only did she exhibit different vocal colors for the different characters but showed fine dramatic skills.  As Gilda, she totally convinced as a young innocent in the thrall of infatuation.  As Lucia, she managed to foreshadow the heroine's mental fragility.

Mezzo Jennifer Feinstein impressed us with the passionate "Wie du warst!" from Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier.  This is a sizable voice that still manages to sound like young Octavian, as it should.  She sang "Les Larmes" from Massenet's Werther accompanied not only by the piano but by Kevin Ray's saxophone.  "Casta Diva" from Bellini's Norma was performed by soprano Maria D'Amato with long melting phrases.

When tenor Kevin Ray was not playing the saxophone, he gave us a healthy dose of German, first in the moody "Durch die Wälder" from Weber's Die Freischütz and "Winterstürme" from Wagner's Die Walküre.  We heard him pull the sword from the tree just recently at the Gerda Lissner award recital and have decided he will make an excellent Siegmund.

We were likewise delighted to have another hearing of baritone Steven LaBrie whom we suspect of having been hard at work on his Italian which came across just fine in his "Largo al Factotum" from Rossini's  Il Barbiere di Siviglia.  "Ya vas lyublyu" from Tchaikovsky's  Pique Dame showed another side of this versatile artist, as did his lovely French in "Vision Fugitive" from Massenet's Herodiade.  Tenor Samuel Levine presented "Dies Bildnis" from Mozart's  Die Zauberflöte and "Fra poco a me" from Lucia di Lammermoor.

Saving the best for last, powerful baritone Ricardo Rivera projected a profoundly  protective image in "Avant de quitter ces lieux" from Gounod's  Faust and an even more profoundly self-absorbed one as Escamillo in the "Toreador Song" from Bizet's  Carmen.  Having seen some rather weak Escamillos at the Met recently, we totally relished the animal magnetism and role-appropriate arrogance that so enthralled the eponymous heroine. 

This satisfying recital was a gift to New York opera lovers and we wish to thank Ms. Queler from the bottom of our heart.

(c) meche kroop