SALOME IN BRILLIANT INTERPRETATION BY EGOYAN FROM THE CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY

Hanna Schwarz as Herodias and Erika Sunnegårdh as Salome. Photo: Michael Cooper

Reviewed by James Karas

       

For many of us the Dance of the Seven Veils evokes the image of the gorgeous Rita Hayworth as Salome undulating before Charles Laughton as Herod. That image may be forever removed from your subconscious if you see (and you should) Atom Egoyan’s interpretation of Salome with the Canadian Opera Company.

Egoyan manages to produce an entirely new work while staying faithful to Richard Strauss’s setting of Oscar Wilde’s play. The Biblical story as adapted by Wilde is that Salome is the stepdaughter of Herod. He is married to Herodias, his brother’s wife and Salome’s mother.

John the Baptist, a zealous prophet, is under arrest for fulminating against the sinful life of Herod and Herodias. Herod is attracted to Salome; Salome is attracted to John the Baptist; John the Baptist will have nothing to do with her. Salome performs her famous dance and asks for the Baptist’s head on a platter as her reward.

That is the barebones of the opera’s plot. Enter Egoyan. When Salome is about to start her strip tease of a dance, we see on a projected video a smiling, little girl on a swing. As the dramatic music of Salome’s dance develops, we see images of the little girl as a young woman and men enter the picture. Subtly, beautifully, disturbingly we realize that Salome is an abused child.

Now her attraction to the horrible-looking prophet makes more sense. Her lecherous stepfather and probably others abused her and the Baptist is perhaps the only man who has not. She does not take revenge on John – she makes love to him as she kisses the lips and tastes the blood of the man’s severed head.

In the end, she is executed by Herod himself and not by the soldiers as indicated in the libretto.

The most impressive performance of the evening was given by soprano Erika Sunnegärdh in the title role. She is physically lithe with a big, dramatic and supple voice. This Salome is not a sexual magnate out for revenge but a woman wronged and in love and Sunnegärdh gives a signature performance.

Baritone Martin Gantner was a disappointing Jochanaan (John the Baptist). His voice never achieved the power and intensity required of the passionate moralist, and the orchestra frequently drowned him out.

Tenor Richard Margison made a splendid Herod. This ruler of Judea was a classic dictator: a bit demented, somewhat unstable and thoroughly egotistical. Margison’s big voice stood him in good stead and his Herod was done superbly.

Mezzo-soprano Hannah Schwarz, with orange hair combed in a bun on top of her head, wearing an orange gown, made a good Herodias vocally and in appearance.

The set by designer Derek McLane resembles a walled yard with a swing in the centre. The “cistern” of the libretto where John the Baptist is held is under the stage and he is brought out on a cart. However, there is a hole on the stage through which he can be seen by the other characters. The only other props are a couple of chairs brought out during the performance.

Egoyan relies partly on video projections to set the tone of the opera. Aside from the Dance of the Seven Veils, we get glimpses of the party inside the palace as well as a swimming pool and images of Salome almost naked. She leaves the party and comes out of the pool and on stage wearing a while robe and swimsuit for her scenes before the famous Dance.

Captain Narraboth (well done by Nathaniel Peake) wears a suit while others wear robes. John the Baptist, hair disheveled, looks simply wild. The impression is that of a futuristic sci-fi setting rather than anything recognizable.

Salome is as much an orchestral work as it is an operatic composition and Strauss’s marvelous score makes high demands on the orchestra. The COC Orchestra under Johannes Debus gave us what amounts to a full concert. Listening to them alone is worth the price of admission.

This is an original, thought-provoking and exciting production. A great night at the opera.

____


Salome by Richard Strauss opened on April 21 and will be performed eight times until May 22, 2013 on various dates at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario. Tel:  416-363-6671. www.coc.ca

DIALOGUES DES CARMELITES – REVIEW OF CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY PRODUCTION

Jean-François Lapointe as Marquis de la Force, Isabel Bayrakdarian as Blanche de la

Force and Frédéric Antoun as Chevalier de la Force. Photo: Michael Cooper

Reviewed by James Karas

Can you stage a full-length opera with (almost) as few props as an armchair, a white sheet and a few benches?  Robert Carsen can and did in his minimalist production of Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites for Amsterdam’s De Nederlandse Opera back in 1997. Some sixteen years later, the Canadian Opera Company has, sensibly and astutely, brought that production to Toronto.

Carsen and Set Designer Michael Levine manage to give us a visually stunning production despite and because of their minimalist approach. The opera, for example, opens in the aristocratic home of the Marquis de la Force (Jean-Francois Lapointe) but the first thing we see when the curtain goes up is a number of nun’s habits arranged like crucifixes on the stage floor. It is an arresting sight.

Then a mob enters in a menacing fashion and they leave a small square space in which the Marquis appears sitting in an armchair. Four liveried servants stand at each corner of the square as if guarding the Marquis and the performance proceeds from there. The nuns’ habits and the mob are ideas of the director.

There are a number of extraordinary stage effects like that. In the third act, the Chevalier de la Force (Frederic Antoun) goes to the convent where his sister Blanche (Isabel Bayrakdarian) is a nun to ask her to return to her house. Carsen has the other nuns lined up across the stage like a wall separating the siblings. An ordinary scene is turned into something extraordinary.

Finally, in the closing moments of the opera when the nuns are being guillotined, there is no guillotine on stage and we only see them fall to the ground. They are wearing white gowns this time as compared to the black habits that we saw in the opening scene. Blanche, the heroine of the opera, is supposed to be executed as well but she simply raises her arms in the air, the spotlight shines on her and we have an arresting vision of death and transfiguration.

        

You cannot ask more from a director and a designer than to provide an original interpretation without resorting to gimmicks or outlandish tricks.

The striking visual effects are matched by mostly outstanding vocal performances. Soprano Bayrakdarian is Blanche, the daughter of an aristocrat who joins the Carmelite convent and grows spiritually into a martyr. I saw her perform this role in Chicago in 2007 in the same Carsen production and she was magnificent. Nothing has changed.

Soprano Hélène Guilmette plays Sister Constance like a soubrette at the beginning in nice contrast to Blanche. She exudes optimism and has a lovely voice. However, she too matures and is the one who triggers the martyrdom of Blanche.

Soprano Adrianne Pieczonka as Madame Lidoine and mezzo soprano Judith Forst as the First Prioress gave polished, dramatic and praiseworthy performances.

Poulenc’s score has numerous musical exclamation marks where there is a sudden burst of music. This tended to drown out some of the singers including Lapointe and Antoun. Initially I thought that they simply did not have enough vocal power but that did not seem to be the case. It was probably a case of poor balancing between pit and stage. Not a major problem but noticeable nevertheless.

The COC Orchestra under Johannes Debus played Poulenc’s richly textured score quite marvelously.

 _____

Dialogues des Carmélites by Francis Poulenc opened on May 8 and will be performed eight  times on various dates until May 25, 2013 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario. Tel: 416-363-6671. www.coc.ca

SALOME IN BRILLIANT INTERPRETATION BY EGOYAN FROM THE CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY

Hanna Schwarz as Herodias and Erika Sunnegårdh as Salome. Photo: Michael Cooper

By James Karas         

For many of us the Dance of the Seven Veils evokes the image of the gorgeous Rita Hayworth as Salome undulating before Charles Laughton as Herod. That image may be forever removed from your subconscious if you see (and you should) Atom Egoyan’s interpretation of Salome with the Canadian Opera Company.

Egoyan manages to produce an entirely new work while staying faithful to Richard Strauss’s setting of Oscar Wilde’s play. The Biblical story as adapted by Wilde is that Salome is the stepdaughter of Herod. He is married to Herodias, his brother’s wife and Salome’s mother.

John the Baptist, a zealous prophet, is under arrest for fulminating against the sinful life of Herod and Herodias. Herod is attracted to Salome; Salome is attracted to John the Baptist; John the Baptist will have nothing to do with her. Salome performs her famous dance and asks for the Baptist’s head on a platter as her reward.

That is the barebones of the opera’s plot. Enter Egoyan. When Salome is about to start her strip tease of a dance, we see on a projected video a smiling, little girl on a swing. As the dramatic music of Salome’s dance develops, we see images of the little girl as a young woman and men enter the picture. Subtly, beautifully, disturbingly we realize that Salome is an abused child.

Now her attraction to the horrible-looking prophet makes more sense. Her lecherous stepfather and probably others abused her and the Baptist is perhaps the only man who has not. She does not take revenge on John – she makes love to him as she kisses the lips and tastes the blood of the man’s severed head.

In the end, she is executed by Herod himself and not by the soldiers as indicated in the libretto.

The most impressive performance of the evening was given by soprano Erika Sunnegärdh in the title role. She is physically lithe with a big, dramatic and supple voice. This Salome is not a sexual magnate out for revenge but a woman wronged and in love and Sunnegärdh gives a signature performance.

Baritone Martin Gantner was a disappointing Jochanaan (John the Baptist). His voice never achieved the power and intensity required of the passionate moralist, and the orchestra frequently drowned him out.

Tenor Richard Margison made a splendid Herod. This ruler of Judea was a classic dictator: a bit demented, somewhat unstable and thoroughly egotistical. Margison’s big voice stood him in good stead and his Herod was done superbly.

Mezzo-soprano Hannah Schwarz, with orange hair combed in a bun on top of her head, wearing an orange gown, made a good Herodias vocally and in appearance.

The set by designer Derek McLane resembles a walled yard with a swing in the centre. The “cistern” of the libretto where John the Baptist is held is under the stage and he is brought out on a cart. However, there is a hole on the stage through which he can be seen by the other characters. The only other props are a couple of chairs brought out during the performance.

Egoyan relies partly on video projections to set the tone of the opera. Aside from the Dance of the Seven Veils, we get glimpses of the party inside the palace as well as a swimming pool and images of Salome almost naked. She leaves the party and comes out of the pool and on stage wearing a while robe and swimsuit for her scenes before the famous Dance.

Captain Narraboth (well done by Nathaniel Peake) wears a suit while others wear robes. John the Baptist, hair disheveled, looks simply wild. The impression is that of a futuristic sci-fi setting rather than anything recognizable.

Salome is as much an orchestral work as it is an operatic composition and Strauss’s marvelous score makes high demands on the orchestra. The COC Orchestra under Johannes Debus gave us what amounts to a full concert. Listening to them alone is worth the price of admission.

This is an original, thought-provoking and exciting production. A great night at the opera.

____

Salome by Richard Strauss opened on April 21 and will be performed eight times until May 22, 2013 on various dates at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario. Tel:  416-363-6671. www.coc.ca

LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR LIKE YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE FROM THE CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY

 Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor. Photo: Michael Cooper

Reviewed by James Karas
        

A disturbed young girl who is molested by her brother; a blustering nobleman on the verge of losing everything and molests his sister; a heroic lord; a buffoonish lord who is willing to marry the disturbed girl. The forced marriage to save a family’s honour and the young lady going mad for not being allowed to marry the man she loves and the enemy of her family, all sound familiar. Lucia di Lammermoor, no?  But the rest – where did that come from?

The Canadian Opera Company has found a production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor that is a brilliant and disturbing interpretation of the work; a psychodrama, a dream sequence, an original and stunning approach to a very familiar work. Take whatever view you wish, this is a Lucia like you have never seen before.

We all know that Lucia opens on the grounds of a castle where Normanno (Adam Luther) and his men are chasing an intruder. They are joined by Enrico (Brian Mulligan) who explains that he is on the verge of losing everything unless his sister Lucia (Anna Christy) marries Arturo (Nathaniel Peake).

When the curtain goes up at the Four Seasons Centre, we see a young girl sleeping in a child’s bed and there is a man seated at a desk nearby. The girl wakes up startled. We see Normanno and the chorus through the windows of the room looking for the intruder.

What is director David Alden up to? He re-imagines Lucia as a psychological drama; he recreates some of the characters into people most of us never thought belonged to this opera and in the end gives us a production that many people may find disturbing but in the end is simply stunning and thrilling opera.

 Lucia and Enrico - Photo: Chris Hutcheson

Christy as Lucia is a frightened young girl and the entire action may well be a dream or a nightmare that she is having. She is or imagines being in love with Edgardo (Stephen Costello), her brother’s archenemy. The two meet but their expression of love is awkward and child-like. It smacks of puppy love imagined by the emotionally disturbed Lucia. Far more realistic and terrifying is her relationship with her brother Enrico. He clearly lusts for her and molests her. This is more realistic because Lucia has experienced it as opposed to her love for Enrico which may be an escapist figment of her immature imagination.

She is forced to marry Arturo, an egotistical dandy and an ass, whom she murders on their first night. What follows is the famous Mad Scene and again we see the mind of a brilliant director at work. Forget the grand staircase or other dramatic entrances seen in other productions. Only Enrico and Lucia’s companion Alisa (Sasha Djihanian) are on the stage when she enters. She is soon left alone; she does not need the guests until the choral part makes them essential. Lucia goes through the scene and the curtain in the castle’s stage behind her opens and we see Arturo’s blood-soaked body. That is a coup de théâtre, if there ever was one!

Alden has created countless details to present a convincing account of his interpretation. From Lucia playing with dolls, to her brother playing with toys, to her remaining seated after she is supposed to have died (hence the suggestion of a nightmare), to the positioning of characters on the stage, this is a production that is meticulously planned and executed.

The singing is splendid. Christy’s voice sounded childlike in the opening scene and there were moments when I thought it would crack. I quickly realized that it was intentional – she sang like a disturbed child that on occasion walked on her knees. That voice is dropped and by the time she gets to the Mad Scene she unleashes powerful and dramatic singing.

Costello has a wonderful tenor voice and he leaps across octaves as Edgardo. He is heroic vocally and physically and in the end when he is about to die, very moving. A true heroic tenor.

Oren Gradus, at the other end of the vocal range made an impressive Raimondo. He sang with affecting resonance as the Chaplain who represents duty and obedience.

Baritone Brian Mulligan made a truly loathsome Enrico, the selfish and self-righteous nobleman who is prepared to force his sister into a marriage to a disgusting person. He had a rocky start but eventually settled into a fine vocal rendering.

This production was originally created for the English National Opera in 2008. I saw it on what may be considered a bad night. Christy was recovering from bronchitis, bass  Clive Bayley lost his voice in mid-performance and had to be replaced by a singer who sang from the side of the stage while Bayley mouthed the words and took care of the physical action. The production was sung in English which make me pay attention to the unsingable translation instead of the interpretation. I found that performance bold and innovative but did not enjoy it. 

None of the above applied to the COC production and the opera was sung in its original Italian.

Lucia came back to life, so to speak, in the 1950’s when Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland showed what can be done with bel canto operas. Alden now shows that there is more to Lucia than great opportunities for sopranos, together with its outstanding arias and ensemble pieces and of course a Mad Scene and an unforgettable sextet. They are all there but there is also a psychodrama that will simply take your breath away.

____

Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti opened on April 17 and will be performed nine times until May 24, 2013 on various dates at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario. Tel:  416-363-6671. www.coc.ca

POPERA PLUS! OR A FILLING EVENING OF FAVOURITES FROM OPERA HAMILTON

Allyson McHardy at Popera Plus, 2011

by James Karas

Listening to operatic favourites for an evening is like going to a restaurant and ordering only hors d’ouvres. If you are at a Greek restaurant and order more mezedes than you can count on one hand, the only direction you should take at the end of the evening will be towards a severe diet or the treadmill. In other words you can have a very good time with an evening of highlights from opera and you won’t have to go on a diet.

The advantage of concert versions of arias, duets and short scenes is that you skip the part of the opera that you are not crazy about and go right to the familiar piece. No buildup, no recitatives, just the aria that you love. The disadvantage is that there is no buildup, no development and all you get is the aria that you love.

Opera Hamilton presents an evening of favourite pieces every year and it calls it Popera Plus!, Those with a mild or serious case of operaphobia, can taste a few bites of the art and overcome their psychosis. Next thing you know, they may become full-fledged opera fanatics.

This year’s programme headlined four singers, the McMaster University Choir, the Opera Hamilton Chorus and the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by David Speers.

Soprano Lynne Fortin, mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy, tenor Gordon Gietz and bass baritone Daniel Okulitch gave a good accounting of themselves in the varied programme.

Fortin opened the vocal part of the programme with the “Ave Maria”, the dramatic aria from Verdi’s Otello. It is a prayer and a farewell to life sung by Desdemona who knows that she is about to be murdered by her jealous husband. Fortin brought out the intense emotional strength of the aria but one would clearly have wished for the lead up in a full production.

Fortin also sang “Pleurez, pleurez mes yeux” from Massenet’s Le Cid. Another dramatic piece sung by a woman whose father has been killed by her lover! She is not exactly a petite Cio-cio San but she made an affecting Madam Butterfly in “Bimba dagl’occhi”, the duet from Madama Butterfly that she sang with Gietz.

McHardy made a superb impression. She sang the marvelous “Non piu mesta” from Rossini’s La Cenerentola beautifully and with plenty of verve and was a superb Carmen in the habanera from that opera. She was at her best as Zerlina in the “La ci darem” duet from Don Giovanni sung with Okulitch. Give her the role in the next production.

Gietz has a fine tenor voice and did well in “Chanson de Kleinzach” from Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffman. He did not sound very good in the lower register in the opening bars of “E lucevan le stele” from Puccini’s Tosca but he handled the higher notes with ease and produced some fine singing as he did as Pinkerton in the duet from Madama Butterfly.

Okulitch has a strong and wonderful bass baritone voice but he was a bit stiff at times and needs to loosen up on stage even in a concert performance. At one point he sang with his hand in his pocket. He quickly corrected that and found the use of his hands.

He was given the fun aria “Non piu andrai” from The Marriage of Figaro and the tough-going “O du mein holder Abendstern,” the ode to the evening star from Wagner’s Tannhauser. He also sang one of the most unfamiliar pieces of the evening, Aleko’s Cavatina from Sergei Rachmaninoff’s one-act opera Aleko. He produced some heavy-duty emotional depth and vocal sonority in an aria where a husband sings about his wife who has found another lover.

The large combined chorus's vocal quality was not always commensurate with its size but they did provide the necessary singing for the Cigarette Girls Chorus for Carmen and and “Kermesse Waltz Chorus” from Gounod’s Faust. They finished the evening with “Va pensiero” the rousing Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco, and that is one piece that no one can go wrong with.

Opera Hamilton’s next production will by Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci, the classic double bill by Pietro Mascagni and Ruggero Leoncavallo, on April 22 and 23, 2011. And that will be a full meal without any fat.
_____

Popera Plus! was performed on January 27 and 29, 2011 at The Great Hall, Hamilton Place, Hamilton, Ontario. www.operahamilton.ca Tel. 905 527-7627

DELIGHTFUL MARRIAGE OF FIGARO FROM OPERA HAMILTON

                             Ariana Chris as Cherubino, Nathalie Paulin as Susanna and Brett Polegato as Count Almaviva. 

Photo: Peter Oleskevich

By James Karas

Looking for opera in Southern Ontario is not exactly like looking for oases in the Kalahari Desert but neither are productions so plentiful that you feel you cannot see everything. The Canadian Opera Company offers seven productions, Opera Atelier provides only two and if you want to see more you will have to settle for some concert versions or see opera on the movie screen Live from the Met.

But there is another oasis, a scrapper known as Opera Hamilton that refuses to be deterred by budget deficits and offers two full productions and a concert version of opera favourites each year.

For 2010-2011, the operas are The Marriage of Figaro (October 21 and 23 2010) and a double bill of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci (April 21 and 23, 2011). In between, they offer POPERA Plus! which they subtitle a “gala super concert” (January 27 and 29, 2011) of familiar and less frequently heard arias and ensembles.

The production of The Marriage of Figaro was a delight. Not that there were no shortcomings and much of the credit belongs to Mozart. But director Brent Krysa invested the production with many nice comic touches (like Marcellina holding Figaro on her lap like a baby after she discovers he is her son) and maintained a good pace that in the end left you patting yourself on the back for being wise enough to see it.

Let’s start with the strengths of the production. Canadian bass-baritone Stephen Hegedus made a fine Figaro. He sang and acted well and handled the comic business with panache. His counterpart is Count Almaviva, sung by Canadian baritone Brett Polegato. Where Figaro is the clever and funny servant, Almaviva is the serious and dramatic aristocrat. Polegato was just that, thundering his notes with musical authority.

Susanna (soprano Nathalie Paulin) is the other quick-witted servant who can match and even surpass Figaro in cleverness. Paulin has a lovely voice but it took her a while to warm up. Initially I thought her voice may be too small for a large auditorium. But she settled in and did a fine job.

Canadian soprano Katherine Whyte’s Countess presented several problems. The Countess, in contrast with her servant Susanna, should be regal, even majestic. Her marriage to the count has gone stale and she is pensive and perhaps depressed because she feels that he no longer loves her. In fact the Count wants to seduce Susanna. In her beautiful first aria, “Porgi amor,” the Countess laments the loss of her beloved husband’s love and expresses her deep sorrow. The long phrases of the aria should be delivered with a majestic beauty that Whyte does not quite achieve. The same can be said of her singing of “Dove sono” where she asks where the lovely moments of sweetness and pleasure have gone.

The other issue with Whyte was simply sloppy directing on the part of Krysa. The Countess’s movements and manner should be in sharp contrast to that of her maid. Begowned and bejeweled, she should move with the gait of a princess not the quick steps of a servant. She does not.

Mezzo soprano Ariana Chris did a superb job in the pants role of Cherubino. He is hormonally overcharged and can usually be found where he shouldn’t be. Aside from some wonderful comic business he/she gets two marvelous arias, “Non so piu cosa son, cosa faccio” (I don't know any more what I am, what I'm doing) and “Voi, che sapete che cosa è amor” (You ladies, who know what love is) where poor Cherubino simply quivers with sexual excitement. Chris acted convincingly boyish and, as they say, delivered the vocal goods.

Canadian bass-baritone Daniel Lichti delivered Bartolo’s “La vendetta” aria with sonority and he and mezzo-soprano Lynne McMurtry’s Marcellina made a nice comic team of the would-be spoilers of Figaro’s wedding plans. Gerald Isaac sang the roles of Basilio and Don Curzio with a comic twang that was quite appropriate.

The set, designed by Susan Benson was functional. It was not big enough to fill the stage and when Cherubino jumped out the window we saw him scamper off to the wings. Once you get used to it you forget the stage and listen to the music and the singing.

The Opera Hamilton Chorus sounded thin at times and the Hamilton Philharmonic under the baton of Gordon Gerrard went through some uneven patches but gave an overall god accounting of the score.

In the end, it was a very enjoyable evening at the opera.
_____

The Marriage of Figaro by W.A. Mozart was performed on October 21 and 23, 2010 at The Great Hall, Hamilton Place, Hamilton, Ontario. www.operahamilton.ca Tel. 905 527-7627

GRAND PRODUCTION OF DON CARLO LIVE IN HD WITH REALLY BAD SETS

Last Saturday’s (December 11, 2010) broadcast of Verdi’s Don Carlo on large screens started at 12:30 in the afternoon and did not finish until after five. There were two intermissions but make no mistake this is grand opera in conception, execution and chronological demands. Verdi makes it all worthwhile even if New York’s Metropolitan Opera has made some serious faux pas in the assembling of an otherwise grand production.

For his 25th opera Verdi tackled some large themes and subjects that were close to his heart: political oppression, national unity, foreign domination and a few well-placed kicks in the groin of the Catholic Church. A love story is de rigueur and two ardent lovers are provided who fall in love at first sight but she is forced to marry his father!

Plot? Well, Don Carlo, the heir to the Spanish throne is madly in love with Elizabeth, the daughter of the King of France. For state reasons, Elizabeth marries King Philip of Spain, Don Carlo’s father. They still love each other despite the marital arrangements. Princess Eboli is also in love with Don Carlo and we have the perfect trio for an opera.

On the international scene, we have the oppressed Flemish people who want some elbow room. They have a champion in Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa. The Catholic Church enters in the hideous guise of the Inquisition and a few Flemish people are burned at the stake. It is all very dramatic and the perfect if somewhat overlarge subject for an opera.

The current production is by Nicholas Hytner, the Artistic Director of Britain’s National Theatre and it is designed by Bob Crowley.

For Don Carlo you need half a dozen singers some of whom need to have the stamina of vocal Marathoners with an orchestra that can deliver the richly textured music. The Met does exceptionally well in this department. Our hero Don Carlo who is rarely off stage is sung by tenor Roberto Alagna. He does an exceptional job despite the heavy demands of the role. He is still young enough to look acceptable as a hero and deserves full marks for his performance.
Our heroine is the hapless Elizabeth who finds the love of her life only to be told that she has to marry his old father for political reasons. She is the prize or price for the peace treaty between France and Spain.

Soprano Marina Poplavskaya has a fine voice and sang with exceptional beauty and vocal control. The problem with her is that she has a charmless face with disproportionately large jaws and taut skin that seems impervious to the expression of emotion. She can hardly smile and knitting her eyebrows was the height of her emotiveness.

Baritone Simon Keenlyside sang an outstanding Rodrigo, Don Carlo’s friend, who tries to be a good subject as well. Bass Ferruccio Furlanetto sings the despotic King Philip who does have one major aria of introspection, “Ella giammai m' amò!” (She never loved me!). He realizes that Elizabeth never loved him and that he will only find peace when he dies. He sings with assured sonority throughout and looks and acts his part.

If the king has at least a moment of introspection and humanity, the Grand Inquisitor has none. Dressed in the flowing red robes of a Cardinal, bass Eric Halfvarson exudes raw power and unrelenting evil. When he first appears, his hands shake as if he is suffering from Parkinson’s but Halfvarson soon forgets the Inquisitor’s illness. He should either kept it up on never started it. His shaky voice is sufficient indication of his dotage.

Mezzo soprano Anna Smirnova is a generously proportioned and powerful Princess Eboli who at one point sings about the curse of being beautiful. The Princess who is in love with Don Carlos is a nasty piece of work and Smirnova does a good job at bringing this character out.
Don Carlo opens in the forest of Fontainebleau in the winter where Don Carlo and Elizabeth are separately lost. A few trees and some snow on the ground will do and let’s get on with Don Carlo’s opening aria “Fontainebleau! Foresta immense e solitaria” where he tells us that he saw his beloved’s smile. We never see her smile but let’s not quibble. They do treat us to a great duet and we are on our way.

The rest of the sets were inept, inappropriate, invisible and downright annoying. Take the scene outside the monastery of St. Just. The chorus of ladies-in-waiting sings about a shady pine grove where a fountain cools the heat of summer. There is a reddish panel in the background and some barely visible cypress tress on the side. It is dark and dreary and one wonders what the hell were Hytner and Crowley thinking of. You can have light and colour without taking away from the seriousness of the opera.

Gary Halvorson does not help things. He is the man responsible what we see on the big screen. He has not figured out yet that the broadcast of an opera is not like playing a video game. If you keep changing shots and angles with appalling frequency you are guaranteed to get some stupid shots not that frequent changes is not sufficiently stupid in itself.

You need to get used to this idiocy and I have made some strides but am not quite there. Bad sets and bad camera angles can affect but cannot ruin a grand production and this one is decidedly worth seeing.
_____

Don Carlo by Giuseppe Verdi was shown live in theatres on December 11, 2010 and will be shown again in various theatres on January 22 and February 14, 2011.