Past Production Reviews
12the Foreign Princess (soprano Maida Hundeling, dressed to the nines in satin gown like Grace Kelly and singing most elegantly) Cursed by Jezibaba's prophecy, the mermaid flees to her lake home. Haunted by her, the prince follows. To lift the curse and become one with her underwater sisters again, Jezibaba insinuates, she must kill her lover. Rusalka refuses. He must have happiness, she cries, even if she can't
German soprano Maida Hundeling is a thrilling Foreign Princess, the one who seizes her former lover when Rusalka is doomed to silence. She isn't conquering one desire, she's pursuing the thousand others, clearly.
Absolute in its skill and devastating in its power, Houston Grand Opera's Dead Man Walking more than lives up to the reputation that this uncompromising and thoroughly engrossing work has acquired since its world premiere at San Francisco Opera a decade ago. Inspired by Sister Helen Prejean's memoir of serving as spiritual adviser to Death Row inmates, composer Jake Heggie and librettist Terrence McNally have stared unflinchingly into the dark heart of its difficult subject matter. Despite the fact that much of the action is unbearably painful, they find light and transcendence amid that darkness, thanks largely to the ennobling influence of their protagonist. Dead Man Walking wipes you out, yet its final impact is cathartic, uplifting and humanizing. Coincidentally, Heggie and McNally have written the most deeply and genuinely spiritual new work to inhabit either opera or theater stages in many years. HGO has invested the nightmarish subject matter with a dream production and, especially, a dream cast. That's not surprising, since many key talents are returning to the work; time seems only to have deepened their commitment. The masterful conducting is by HGO musical director Patrick Summers, who conducted the 2000 premiere. Also returning from that production is the beloved Frederica von Stade, heartbreaking as the condemned man's mother, the role she originated. Director Leonard Foglia is re-creating his fluid and potent production seen at New York City Opera in 2002. Most crucially of all, Joyce DiDonato returns to her NYCO role as Sister Helen and her life-changing portrayal proves an absolute revelation. None of this is meant to slight Philip Cutlip's superb work in his role as convicted murderer Joseph De Rocher, a "monster" struggling to find his soul. McNally's libretto is a model of efficient and involving storytelling, with a plainspoken eloquence that grows ever more affecting as the grim tale advances. He captures the struggle of every key figure: Sister Helen, to forgive the killer; De Rocher, to tell the truth and meet his fate; the anguish of the parents of his victims; the torment of his mother, preparing to watch her son die. Heggie's score weaves a musical texture that sustains the tense atmosphere, propels the gripping confrontations and expresses the characters' searching spirituality. Though some critics have complained that Heggie's music falls short of the full depth demanded by the subject, and others may wish for a higher melodic profile, Heggie imbues key arias with a muted lyricism whose troubled yearning sounds apt, especially with the unsettled orchestral underpinning. There certainly are memorable highlights, from Sister Helen's recurring hymn He Will Gather Us Around, to the scene of the grieving parents, to Mrs. De Rocher's aria pleading for her son's life. Any Dead Man Walking depends first and foremost on the effectiveness of its Sister Helen. This production is blessed with DiDonato, who is nothing short of magnificent. Her vocalizing is extraordinary throughout, whether for pitch, power, clarity or miraculously sustaining a note. She acts with flame-like intensity, her doubt and confusion every bit as real as her steely resolve to meet her responsibility at whatever personal cost. DiDonato's Sister Helen is truly a light in a dark place. Cutlip's De Rocher is, as he must be, a major source of the darkness. He sings with tough force and acts the hardened killer with the right scary edge and jeering arrogance. Then as Sister Helen gradually begins to reach him, he lets us see glimmers of humanity, his fear, his shame. Cutlip makes the transition very convincing, from his initial wariness, to the pained confession of his guilt to Sister Helen, and finally to their bond of forgiveness and support as he prepares to die. Von Stade is giving her farewell performances as Mrs. De Rocher and no one could act or sing the part more movingly. Her warm, lovely mezzo expresses the character's pain and fragility with simplicity and grace. She is wrenching and unforgettable pleading with the parole board for her son's life and, later, saying goodbye with a memory of him as an innocent boy. Measha Brueggergosman makes a strong and sympathetic figure of Sister Rose, Helen's confidante. John Packard, Cheryl Parrish, Susanne Mentzer and Jon Kolbet are fine as the grief stricken parents of De Rocher's victims, Packard outstanding in a key scene expressing his conflicts to Sister Helen. The HGO Chorus, prepared by Richard Bado, performs ably. Foglia's taut direction sustains the fretful atmosphere, though leavened at times by little jabs of ironic humor. He creates striking stage pictures, making vivid use of Michael McGarty's imposing prison setting, with its ever-shifting layers of mesh-wire fences, bars and metal staircases. The production is enhanced by Brian Nason's starkly dramatic lighting and Elaine J. McCarthy's evocative projections to create other locales. DiDonato's Sister Helen fervently sings of her journey to God and forgiveness, just as Prejean herself and all the work's creators have described the opera's story as a journey. The real achievement of Dead Man Walking is that everyone witnessing it will feel they have walked that journey with Sister Helen, with De Rocher, with his mother and with the parents of his victims. Rarely has any opera produced such profound empathy for so many on all sides of a complicated and terrible dilemma. However great an operatic and theatrical experience, Dead Man Walking makes its greatest impact as a purely human one.
What a pity that Richard Wagner didn’t live to hear Hansel and Gretel. Every page of Engelbert Humperdinck’s fairy tale reveals how Humperdinck idolized the old master, who in turn thought well enough of his young acolyte to let him patch in some extra bars for a scene change in the sacrosanct Parsifal. Oh, well. Two of the earliest endorsements of Hansel and Gretel came from star maestros headed for immortality as composers in their own right: none other than Richard Strauss presided over the premiere, followed by Gustav Mahler, who led the second production. To this day, Hansel and Gretel’s stock among professionals remains sky-high. Just ask Patrick Summers, artistic and music director of the Houston Grand Opera, who calls the score, “without hyperbole, one of the two or three most ravishingly beautiful in the history of music.” The way he conducts his company’s ebullient new virtual production, he’ll persuade you it’s true.
Soprano, Angel Blue, who created some headlines recently for dropping out of her performance in La Traviata at the Arena di Verona in Italy over a blackface controversy, is hands-down the star of the show. As the jealous but devoted titular character, Blue is a virago of emotions, astutely balancing coquettishness, rage, and even humor with impeccable timing, and of course, that sonorous voice! Tenor, Fabiano as her lover who puts himself in jeopardy by protecting his friend, and Bass-Baritone, McKinny as the diabolical (and in this version, an indisputably sexy) Scarpia, who is out to get him on the scaffold and her into bed, are not far behind. Indeed their voices, as well as that of Bass, Wei Wu (Angelotti) are breathtakingly resonant, a quality enhanced by Lohraseb’s proficient, never overwhelming conducting.
[Angel Blue as] Floria Tosca was nothing less than a triumph and the kind of singing you only dream about.
And in the hands of director Robert Wilson, Turandot seems almost futuristic. Wilson’s production connects the characters of Turandot with his own affinity for vaudeville and the baroque faces of the commedia dell’arte. Visually, this Turandot is minimalistic, drawing our eye to sharp angles, flashes of saturated colours and, most importantly, to the mask-like faces of the singers onstage. Wilson’s design certainly sets up a world. It’s an untouchable environment, clearly separating royalty from everyone else. Turandot is the centre of it all, costumed in a brilliant spot of red to set her apart.
obert Wilson is such a titanic presence in the theatrical world that for Houston Grand Opera’s latest production of “Turandot,” it’s his name above the title on the Wortham Center marquee. It makes sense, because in many ways, the 80-year-old Waco native is the real star of the show, handling the set design and lighting on top of direction. But in this “Turandot,” [...], singing is only part of the story: Several of Wilson’s signature touches — the immersive lighting, hyperstylized movements and otherworldly atmosphere — are here in full flower.
From the set design to the costumes to the incandescent vocals, The Royal Opera House raises the bar yet again with this performance of Don Giovanni.
You couldn’t ask for a more cultured pair of voices than our master and servant pairing of Erwin Schrott and Gerald Finley: both have burnished, smooth bass-baritone voices and effortless Mozartian phrasing which meant that, in purely musical terms, listening to them was a delight. However, Schrott’s comic timing seemed off in recitative – the little delays while he tries to remember the name of the woman he’s talking to held for slightly too long, an occasional hesitancy rather than confident gusto. In terms of comedy, Finley’s Leporello is something of a work in progress: in his role debut, the alternation of cringing and deviousness didn’t come across as natural. But these are two great singers and the chemistry between them improved through the course of this performance. Let’s hope that it keeps doing so during the run.In contrast, Adela Zaharia’s Donna Anna and Frédéric Antoun’s Don Ottavio looked completely comfortable in their roles from the moment they arrived on stage. Zaharia was the pick of the singers, with ardent delivery, clear intelligibility and a voice that made you sit up and listen. Antoun’s tenor has a slightly covered timbre but he injected plenty of emotion and played a full part in moving the action along. Nicole Chevalier (like Zaharia, a frequent star at Komische Oper Berlin) sang Donna Elvira with masses of character and total confidence throughout her range. I could have hoped for sharper comedy and some more chemistry between characters. But this is an intelligent staging, vocal performances were excellent throughout and the orchestral playing that kept us completely engaged from start to finish. Even with a half-full Covent Garden, it was good to be back.
Commendations must also be extended to the wonderful work of the choruses, which play an important role in this opera. This is especially true for the chorus of the priests, which sings in piously reverential tones in the Temple, and then with lusty cries for blood and revenge, following the defeat of the Ethiopian army. (Indeed, a significant aspect of the tragedy of Aida is the insistence of the priests that defense of the nation required revenge, and that the defeated enemy, in the character of its king, Amonasro, likewise lived for revenge. Thus, the love between Radames and Aida was doomed.) The HGO chorus, under the direction of Richard Bado, performed superbly.
