Music by Giuseppe Verdi

Libretto by Antonio Ghidlanzoni

Conductor Renato Palumbo

Director Matthew Lata

Choreographer Kenneth Von Heidecke

At the Lyric Opera Chicago

Dazzling spectacle with exotic dance inhabits Verdi’s  masterpiece

I have only seen Aida once many years ago and I must say that the production now playing at the Lyric Opera of Chicago not only sings great and sounds terrific but it contains fabulous dancing (choreographed by Kenneth Von Heidecke).  Verdi was commissioned by the Egyptian King to write an opera that premiered at the Cairo opera house in 1871.  Contrary to popular belief, the opera was not written to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.

Aida is an amazing spectacle containing a long victorious scene complete with lavish colorful costumes, exotic dances and a haunting march. But as much as Aida is spectacle it also is an intimate four characters  opera focusing on Aida (Sondra Radvanovsky) – an Ethiopian slave and her father Amonasro (Gordon Hawkins) – the King of Ethopia and a prisoner of war; Amneris (Jill Grove) – the daughter of the Egyptian King and Radames (Marcello Giordan) – an Egyptian warrior.  Verdi uses melodious duets to tell the story of forbidden love, heartache and betrayal. The result is a evening of grandeur, eye-popping visuals and grand performances.

Besides Verdi brilliant score,  the voices sing with passionate emotions. Tenor Marcello Giordani commands the stage and soars to the heavens while Sondra Radvanovsky – a Chicago native- raises to the demanding role of Aida. She triumphs in her first time as Aida at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. The audience cheered her performance!  Jill Grove’s mezzo effectively demonstrated Amneris’ heartache and Gordon Hwkins strong baritone rules his scenes.

Add the sensually vivid  dance and the splendid chorus work and the Lyric Opera’s Aida becomes an overwhelming thrilling evening of opera. I’ll have to move up Aida on to my list of all-time favorites. See this stunning production and you’ll agree.

Highly Recommended

Tom Williams

Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast

Date Reviewed: January 25, 2012

For more info checkout the Aida page on theatreinchicago.com

The Magic Flute by Mozart at the Lyric Opera of Chicago

Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder

and Carl Ludwig Giesecke

Conducted by Sir Andrew Davis

Directed by Matthew Lata

“Without music, life would be a mistake.”

Die Zauberflöte is easily one of the most-performed and most-beloved of all operas.  It is instantly recognizable and often serves as a “gateway opera”: the first opera one sees before getting into the more “hardcore” operas, the white ponies and nose-candy operas like Carmen and Tristan; The Magic Flute leaves you with that euphoric, mellow high that leaves you wanting more, wondering what else is out there and why you haven’t tried it yet.

And for such a purpose the Lyric has served up a choice bag.  Charles Castronovo is fantastic as the lead, Tamino, the lovesick, noble Prince who seeks wisdom and his beloved Pamina (Nicole Cabell, also wonderful).  Papageno, played excellently by Stéphane Degout, stands in as Mozart’s playful clown, the commoner who is unable to obtain wisdom and wants only food and drink, but whose charisma is unparalleled.  Rodell Rosel, whom we recently saw playing the three butlers in Tales of Hoffman, here is Monostatos, the slavish overseer of the monolithically just Sarastro (Günther Groissböck), head of the order who worship Isis and Osiris.

Both put in admirable performances.  The three ladies under the Queen’s command, Elisabeth Meister, Cecelia Hall and Katherine Lerner were all spot-on comediennes with impeccable voices, and the three boys, Anna Stephan, Benjamin Hoppe and Nicole Horio were both impressive and adorable.  The Queen of the Night, Audrey Luna, put in a solid performance as well, hitting all the notes of one of opera’s most notoriously difficult arias – though she was not perfect and occasionally felt a bit shrill.

And the production is very impressive.  The sets are gorgeous, the costumes beautiful (although the animal costumes were apparently reused from the Lyric’s ’86-’87 season – which means they’re about as old as I am and show considerably less wear).  That said, this is at times a very difficult opera, musically, and there were moments when the chorus and the orchestra were not in sync.  I hope, though, that things like this will be corrected in future performances.  I imagine words are had when something like that occurs.

For those of us either unfamiliar or who hold only cursory knowledge of the opera, it’s sort of Mozart’s musical comedy.  Overall it’s quite light and the morality of it is somewhat ham-handed, if classic: typical Sun vs. Moon, Light vs. Dark, Wisdom vs. Ignorance sort of stuff.  Maybe (though not necessarily) some references to Free Masonry in there.

This is Mozart’s opera for das Volk.  It’s meant to have something in it for everybody: spectacle and humor for the commoners, elegance and a strong moral compass for the elite; as such, it truly is a wonderful opera for neophytes.  It has both relatively simple music (much of Papageno’s fare) as well as some truly breathtaking virtuosic moments (the aforementioned aria of the Queen, “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen”).  And as Mozart is truly the master of melody and countermelody, everything is a joy to listen to.  So, if you’re a grizzled opera veteran, it will be fun to go back to the tried-and-true basics; and if you’re trying to get someone hooked on one of the most enjoyable and most expensive drugs du jour, this would be an excellent place to start.

Highly Recommended

Will Fink

Date Reviewed: December 8, 2011

For more info, checkout The Magic Flute page on Theatreinchicago.com

Ariadne auf Naxos

Composed by Richard Strauss

Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal

Conducted by Sir Andrew Davis

Directed by John Cox

At the Lyric Opera, Chicago

O, you boy, you child, you almighty god!

Ariadne auf Naxos is anything but a typical opera.  It is in one act with a prologue and is relatively on the short side.  The prologue is actually set back stage of the opera in a Viennese noble’s house; it is he who is patronizing the opera, putting it on in his house after dinner, to be followed by an Italian opera buffo troupe and then fireworks.

Really what this opera is, is Richard Strauss showing off: he is demonstrating his handle of the history of opera, his handle of the various styles of opera and his ability to imitate them, as well as his general compositional virtuosity – which he always does.  The “opera proper,” so to speak – that is, the Ariadne auf Naxos that is to be performed in the noble’s home – is very serious, filled with moralizing and tragedy and emotion; which is to say, rather Wagnerian.  And the Italian opera troupe is to perform “Zerbinetta and her Four Lovers,” a typical buffo with stock characters; that is, very Italian, but also with a nod to Mozart.  Well, the noble has decided – as the uncultured superrich so often do – to change things at the last minute to suit his whims, and has come up with something wholly unreasonable: both pieces are to be performed simultaneously, and perfectly timed to end coinciding with the beginning of the fireworks (at 9:30, precisely).  This sends the Composer (Alice Coote) into a tizzy, but he is calmed down by the clever Zerbinetta (Anna Christy), who assures him all art goes through trials like this, and whose comic troupe is used to improvising.  The Composer – all too late – has also been inspired and composed a new line, a beautiful, soaring melody: “O du Knabe, du Kind, du allmächtiger Gott!” (which is really just Strauss showing off).  And so, after an intermission, the opera begins.

Ariadne is stranded on an island, wishing only for death.  Three Nymphs try to protect her and cheer her, but they are unable; despair and desolation are sinking in.  It is at this time that Zerbinetta and her four lovers land on the island, determined to cheer Ariadne up – to no avail.  Zerbinetta, in a classic and absolutely magnificent tour de force aria, Großmächtige Prinzessin, attempts to enliven Ariadne by pointing out that all women suffer the same fate under men, and so one must simply allow several to pursue you at once, thereby undermining the game they play.  It is amazing the depths of sorrow she expresses, and how she transforms that into great joy.  She, too, is unsuccessful, however, at moving Ariadne; and so she instead begins her own story of the Four Lovers, a very light piece yet very studied – that is, Strauss composes in the style of the comic opera exactly.  Afterwards, Bacchus arrives, having escaped Circe, and falls in love with Ariadne.  He realizes the extent of his deific powers because of her, and they sail off together, happy.

The story of Ariadne mirrors the theme of the overall play: namely, that when comedy is set side-by-side with tragedy, it will win; if Mozart were to face Wagner, Mozart would triumph simply by default; and Dionysus will prevail.  Strauss surely had the Apollonian and Dionysian dichotomy in mind when he wrote this piece – after all, he is the composer of Also Sprach Zarathustra – and it shows.  There is such interplay between comedy and tragedy – two sides of the same Dionysian coin – and between Apollonian form and structure and Dionysian chaos.  Strauss’ Ariadne is far from a typical opera, and far from typical Strauss: it has a fairly small orchestra, closer to what Mozart would use than Wagner.  It is light and airy and jokey, but it is also an intellectual piece, a satire that makes fun of overserious opera, of the very wealthy, of the self-absorbed composer.  It is a rich and wonderful work, and the Lyric presents it with deft direction, beautiful sets and costumes, and excellent execution.

Highly Recommended

Will Fink

Reviewed on 11.22

For full show information, visit TheatreInChicago.

At the Lyric Opera, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL; call 312-332-2244, www.lyricopera.org; tickets $34-$239, through Dec. 11, 2011.  Running time is 2 1/2 hours.

Boris Godunov

Composed by Modest Mussorgsky

Libretto by the composer, based on Alexander Pushkin’s play

Conducted by Sir Andrew Davis

Directed by Julia Pevzner

It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls (Not an opera about Moose and Squirrel)

Modest Mussorgky’s only completed opera is not for the faint of heart; it is not for those who like the Italians and nothing else, the lyrical, the symphonic, the easy ones.  Boris Godunov is a difficult piece, at once crass and deep, with, on the one hand, somewhat technically amateurish composition, and, on the other, incredible insight into not only how to musically convey the moods of the characters but how to convey the chaos and horror around them.  The music is cacophonous.  And yet brilliant in its cacophony.  And certainly the music was novel and anticipates composers from the Eastern Bloc such as Igor Stravinsky (whose father was one of the conductors of the opera) and Dmitri Shostakovich (who retooled the orchestration of the opera himself).

Boris tells the story, based on Pushkin’s play, of the Russian Czar Boris Fyodorovich Godunov, who ruled from 1598-1605 after the murder of the prince under mysterious circumstances.  Indeed, we ourselves are never sure – really, truly sure – that it was Boris who ordered the child to be killed.  Which is to say, there is some small room for doubt.  And he did want to be a great ruler for his people: his empathy for them is unwavering.  As is his cluelessness: the opera opens with peasants being forced by bardiche-bearing men to cry out, pleading for Boris to take the throne.  He later laments that, though he has treated his people well, they think all of their ills are his fault.  Yet his people are still unutterably poor and starving.  He believes he has treated them better than they have actually been treated – partially because of the police officers and boyars.

And some of the players are outstanding.  First and foremost, everyone is talking about Ferruccio Furlanetto’s performance as Boris; and rightfully so: it seems cliché to say at this point, but he captures the role beautifully.  His descent into madness is saddening, but his retained humanity touching.  And the expressiveness of his voice is simply remarkable.  Also enjoyed Erik Nelson Werner’s portrayal of Grigori, the young monk who decides to usurp Boris’ rule, as well as the only real moment of levity in the piece granted by the fallen monk Varlaam, playfully portrayed by Raymond Aceto.  And Edward Mout’s Holy Fool is haunting.

The production is very good, as well.  The costumes are beautiful, particularly Boris’ (although at one point I didn’t care for a particular shirt), and the set’s highly raked stage extending into the rafters is exactly the kind of ingenuity I like to see.  The Holy Fool’s costume and makeup design are also notable, reminiscent of Death from The Seventh Seal.  Although I admit that I myself did not find Boris as compelling as the previous two operas I had seen at the Lyric, it is also a piece that, it seems to me, would do well with further fermentation and revisitings.  Indeed, I’ve little doubt that I would enjoy it more the second time round.

Highly recommended

Will Fink

Reviewed on 11.11.11

At the Lyric Opera, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL; call 312-332-2244, www.lyricopera.org; tickets $33-$194, through November 29, 2011.  Running time is 2 1/2 hours.

Lucia di Lammermoor

Composed by Gaetano Donizetti

Libretto by Salvatore Cammarano

Based on Sir Walter Scott’s The Bride of Lammermoor

Conducted by Massimo Zanetti

Directed by Catherine Malfitano

At the Lyric Opera, Chicago in a New Production

And thou art dead, as young and fair as aught of mortal birth

British Romanticism was contagious in the 19^th Century, infecting the whole of Europe with the bug of Byron.  Italy was no exception, as the interest in the far-off and mystical land of Scotland shows.  Lucia di Lammermoor, based on a novel by Sir Walter Scott, presents a fantastical story of ghostly visions and deception and love and madness.  And Gaetano Donizetti delivers a masterful work of not only beautiful but moving and interesting music as well.  True, much of the music is not exactly cerebral – it is somewhat tried and true; but there are some brilliant developments and the “mad scene” contains some of the most cerebral music I have ever heard.

As mentioned above, the tale of the opera is based, roughly, on The Bride of Lammermoor; with some adjustment: instead of a deceitful mother, Lucy (Italianized Lucia and sung by soprano Susanna Phillips) has the whims and ambitions of her brother Enrico (baritone Brian Mulligan) to contend with; who, in order to save the family name, has betrothed her to Arturo Bucklaw (René Barbera), a nobleman with enough clout to drag the family out of the mire it’s sunken into.  However, Lucia has fallen in love with Edgardo (tenor Giuseppe Filianoti); Edgar’s family was killed and forced out of their home by Lucy’s, and he has sworn to have vengeance on her brother.  As one would imagine, this makes for a difficult familial situation.

The story is a beautiful, romantic tragedy of doomed ardor and society’s restraints on the unbridled nature of love.  The music matches this.  Donizetti’s score is superb; he expresses the emotions of the characters with great dexterity.  The duet between the lovers, Verranno a te sull’aure, in which they promise themselves to each other eternally, is lush and lovely yet veers into the melancholy and vitriolic when Edgardo proposes to bring their love into the open and ask Enrico for Lucia’s hand in marriage. She pleads with him not to.  Her brother still holds intemperate hate for Edgardo’s family, which in turn sets Edgardo into a rage in which he tells Lucia that he has left his vow of vengeance unfulfilled, but that could change at any time.  The famous sextet when Edgardo crashes the wedding between Lucia and Arturo, Chi mi frena in tal momento?, is rich with countermelody and contrappunto, the polyphony not just musical but emotional, with six people expressing themselves deeply and strikingly.  When Lucia loses her mind, Il dolce suono…Ardon gli incensi is an absolutely astounding representation of madness in music.  Pardon the plebeian expression, but it is mind blowing.  And Susanna Phillips absolutely brings it home.  A superlative performance, to any eyes.  The tenor’s closing number, Tu che a Dio spiegasti l’ali is also remarkable, not only musically but in its restraint.  Opera is known for extravagant death scenes where a character is stabbed and then sings for ten minutes; Donizetti uses this expectation to his advantage, making the cabaletta mirror a true death more closely – a solo cello does much of the melodic work as the piece goes on, Edgardo’s breath and life slowly slipping away.  This may seem stilted on paper, but it actually translates to the stage.  It’s remarkable.

The sets are generally simple, but that’s anything but a criticism.  They are beautifully painted, and elegant in their minimalism.  With one exception: Wolf’s Crag, the castle around and in which several scenes take place, is intricate, beautiful, functional, and overall masterfully designed.  The costumes are excellent, with the subtle colors in the designs playing important roles.  My only complaint is the supertitles, which, from time to time, were left wanting.  For example, in the sextet, only two voices were actually translated.  This does not affect the enjoyment of the music itself, but leaves the story slightly less fleshed-out than it could be.  Still, that is a fairly minor caveat.  Generally, this is the Lyric Opera doing a classic at their best.

Highly Recommended

Will Fink

Reviewed on 10.13.11

For full show information, visit TheatreInChicago.

At the Lyric Opera, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL; call 312-332-2244, www.lyricopera.org; tickets $33-$194, through November 5, 2011.  Running time is 3 hours.

The Tales of Hoffmann

Composed by Jacques Offenbach

Libretto by Jules Barbier

Based on stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann

Directed by Stéphane Roche

Conducted by Emmanuel Villaume

At the Lyric Opera, Chicago

The Eternal-Feminine draws us onward.

Unsurprisingly, the Lyric has done it again.  They have created a truly enjoyable (if wholly traditional) production of a great (and very eccentric) opera.  Les Contes D’Hoffmann is widely considered Jacques Offenbach’s masterpiece; and, like Mozart’s (the Mass in C minor), he left it unfinished at his death.  It is based on a play by Jules Barbier, who also wrote the libretto, and Michel Carré, which is in turn based on short stories written by E. T. A. Hoffmann himself (he of the title).  Offenbach decided this would be the perfect vehicle for his as-yet-unwritten “great opera,” the piece that would ensure the carriage of his name through the ages.  It is unnecessary to say, but it worked.

Hoffmann (tenor Matthew Polenzani) is a lovelorn, hopeless poet inspired by the Muse of Poetry (Emily Fons), losing his loves to Evil, always played by the same man (bass/baritone James Morris).  Really, Hoffmann says, though he relates three tales of love through the opera, it is the story of one girl, the prima donna Stella (Emily Birsan); but it is three different aspects of his love for her: the naïve, early love; the love of her as an artist; and the lust for her beauty.  Each time Hoffmann is thwarted by the same evil force, again presented as different aspects of the same power.  The piece opens at a tavern next to the opera house where Stella is performing.  Hoffmann and his best friend Nicklausse (who is also the Muse of Poetry) enter and entertain the patrons with a song; but Hoffmann wanders into fancy, talking of his love.  Councillor Lindorf (the incarnation of evil in the story frame) convinces Hoffmann to regale the crowd with the stories of his three loves.

The first is an automaton (Anna Christy) created by a scientist, Spalanzani (David Cangelosi), and his companion, the evil Coppélius.  Hoffmann is clueless as to the girl’s reality, and only becomes aware of what a joke his love is when Coppélius destroys her in the end.  The second love is the singer Antonia (Erin Wall), who has been blessed with an exceptional voice, but cursed with an affliction that grows worse when she sings.   Her father has taken her away from Hoffmann, who encourages her musical career, thus unwittingly endangering her.  However, when Dr. Miracle (this story’s incarnation of evil) arrives, he tricks Antonia into singing, thus killing her.  Lastly, we meet the beautiful courtesan Giulietta (Alyson Cambridge), whose love for material wealth causes her to fall under the spell of the magician Dapertutto, who wants Hoffmann’s reflection.  She snatches it from him, and runs off with another man, leaving Hoffmann desolate.  At which point we rejoin Hoffmann and the revelers in the tavern.

That is a facile rundown of the story; there are myriad subtleties, clever jokes, songs which bring laughter and sadness, which plumb the depths of despair and flutter in the heights of love and wonder.  The score is beautiful.  And so well-crafted!  Offenbach is in complete control, making each song affect exactly how he wants it to.  There is the comic chanson about the dwarf Kleinzach, Il était une fois à la cour d’Eisenach, which is a light-hearted, call-and-respond affair until Hoffmann becomes distracted by a daydream of his love Stella, at which point the demeanor of the song is transformed into a beautiful, soaring, romantic thing.  It is because of this that Hoffmann is pressured into telling the tales of his previous loves.  There is also the ridiculous couplets by the servant Frantz (Rodell Rosel), Jour et nuit, in which a man sings to us that he is no good at singing.  Indeed, the second act is something like a comedy masquerading as a tragedy: after all, it is absurd on its face, the idea that, in an opera, one has vowed not to sing.  The story is sad – Antonia is ultimately killed by her desire to be a great artist – but Offenbach always throws in elements of the absurd.

And yet, although the overall effect of The Tales of Hoffmann is comic, Offenbach is a deft manipulator of emotions, and the very end of the piece is profoundly and deeply affecting.  At the very end, Offenbach brings true, devastating weight to the opera, and leaves the audience with exactly the feeling he wishes.

And the production at the Lyric is beautiful.  The sets are properly grandiose for opera, at once simple, expansive, and intricate; in a word, brilliant.  The costumes are impeccable, the lighting design really excellent.  All of the performers are marvelous, the pit is spot-on.  It’s simply a wonderful experience.

Highly recommended

Will Fink

Reviewed on 10.5.11

For full show information, visit TheatreInChicago.

At the Lyric Opera, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL; call 312-332-2244, www.lyricopera.org; tickets $33-$194, through October 29, 2011.  Running time is 3 ½ hours.

Book and Lyrics by Dorothy Donnelly

Book adapted by Hugh Wheeler

Music by Sigmund Romberg

Stage Directed & Choreographed by Rudy Hogenmiller

Conducted by Roger L. Bingaman

Produced by Light Opera Works

At Cahn Auditorium, Evanston

Fun, nostalgic and musically enchanting production of the classic – The Student Prince

Sigmund Romberg (1887 – 1951) was an American composer deeply into the European tradition of  operetta as in the Viennese operettas of Franz Lehár. Among his works that were filmed by MGM with Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald – The Desert Song and The New Moon. His 1924, The Student Prince running for 608 performances, the longest-running Broadway show of the 1920s. Even the classic Show Boat, the most enduring musical of the 1920s, did not play as long – it ran for 572 performances!  This wonderful, endearing, even nostalgic, operetta is in good hands with Rudy Hogenmiller and the creative team at Light Opera Works.

Featuring the golden tenor from William Bennett , as the Prince, and the fine soprano from Danielle M. Knox, as Kathy, Light Opera Work’s production of the classic 20th Century Romberg gem is spirited, glamorous looking and stunningly well- sung affair. The fun begins as Karl Franz, (William Bennett) the prince of the (fictitious) German kingdom of Karlsberg heads to University of Heidelberg for an education and to experience the ‘real world’ filled with male bonding and a few beers. Romberg’s “Drinking Song” was a Prohibition 1924 hit song!

Filled with sentimental ballads, toe-tapping marches, beer-mug swinging pub songs and sweeping waltzes  as well as stirringly nostalgic love songs, The Student Prince is sweetly light fare with terrific comic relief by the venerable Dale Benson as the goofy Lutz, the Prince’s valet.  Victorian Central Europe looks so romantic with all the colorful military uniforms and lush gowns that one yearns back to the those innocent times.

Romberg’s  music ambitiously captures the era as it fills the auditorium with a fine variety of European melodies with hints of Bavarian drinking tunes as well as  heart-wrenching nostalgic harmonies. The voices as strong, the ensemble is first-class and the charm exudes as Karl Franz moves from boy to man. He learns that love must come after responsibility to the state. Along the way, we are  enchanted with his charming world.

Light Opera Work’s entertaining 2 hour, 45  minute production soars with the 26 member orchestra conducted deftly by Roger L. Bingaman. It is so refreshing to witness classic operettas and musicals performed exactly as the originals! Light Opera Works proudly cherishes and respects these works- and it shows! Take your teens to see this wonderful look back into the world of early 20th Century operetta. They’ll experience something they’ll remember. It is important that we continue to expose each generation to the gems of the past. This production is worthy of that honor.

Highly Recommended

Tom Williams

Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast

For more info, checkout The Student Prince page on www.theatreinchicago.com

At Cahn Auditorium, 600 Emerson Street, Evanston, IL, call 847-869-6300, www.lightoperaworks.com,  tickets $32 – $92, Wednesday, august 24 at 2 pm, Friday, August 26 at 8 pm, Saturday, August 27 at 8 pm, Sunday, August 28 at 2 pm, running time is 2 hours, 45 minutes with 2 intermissions, through August 28, 2011

The original 1899 Toca banner

Music by Giacomo Puccini

Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa &  Luigi Illica

Jame Conlon conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

July 30, 2011 at Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, IL

Fabulous sound of Puccini’s most popular opera works nicely with the terrific vocals by the cast

Chicago opera audiences continue their love affair with Giacomo Puccini’s operas -especially his 1900,  Tosca.  This melodramatic opera is a fine vehicle for top opera singers to exude emotional range as it depicts torture, murder, suicide as well as romantic love, melancholy and hatred.  Tosca contains Puccini’s  best known lyrical arias that were in good hands with the golden,  richly toned vocals from fabulous opera stars such as Patricia Racette as the celebrated singer, Floria Tosca. Salvatore Licitra, as the Tosca lover Mario Cavaradossi made his smooth tenor sour to new heights while the  venomous Bryn Terfel’s baritone deliciously sang his treachery as he yearns for Tosca.

Puccini’s innovative score was in marvelous hands with James Conlon and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Tosca is structured as a through-composed work, with arias, recitative, choruses and other elements musically woven into a seamless whole. Puccini used Wagnerian leitmotifs (short musical statements) to identify characters, objects and ideas. Bells, chimes, brass and two choruses including the Chicago  Children’s choir added depth to the piece.  The power of the score together with the emotionally expert turn from the cast made for a most effective and engrossing 2 hour and 40 minutes concert opera. We feel Tosca’s mood swings and her exuberant expectations only to see them thwarted by the devious Scarpia. The dramatic power of the characters continues to fascinate opera patrons. Racette, Terfel and Licitra performed magnificently making the concert sour over a ‘mere’ concert to an imaginative, emotionally driven event. Both the large audience and me enjoyed this moving piece. This was my first concert opera at Ravinia but not my last. Kudos to Ravinia for mounting such a fine piece of performing art.

Highly Recommended

Tom Williams

Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast

Date Reviewed: July 30, 2011

For more information on upcoming events, see the Ravinis Festival website

He/She

Frauenliebe und Leben

Composed by Robert Schumann

The Diary of One Who Disappeared

Composed by Leo Janáček

Produced by Chicago Opera Theater

At the Harris Theater

With her in my arms I defy the morning

Chicago Opera Theater offers us, with this concert, a chance to see two stunning chamber pieces, one composed by Romantic Robert Schumann, the other composed by the more modern, Czech composer Leo Janáček.  The only accompaniment is a piano, and the only set is a screen with projections.  And they are intimate and beautiful – even when the overall production asks the audience to draw comparisons between the pieces that seem a stretch.

The first piece performed is Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben, a song cycle based on the poems of Adelbert von Camisso.  Craig Terry on the piano and the Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano create sorrowful, sentimental, and joyous music, with the lyrics and images projected sparingly, helping to set the mood.  It is music to fall in love to – and it embraces all the happiness and deep, lasting pain that love brings.  The passion with which Ms. Cano sang, and the deft care with which Mr. Terry played, convey all the emotions to their head; lyrics like “help me, sister, with my wedding dress” brought the audience to their knees.

If Schumann’s piece makes you want to fall in love, Janáček’s piece makes you want to consummate it.  The story of a young man who falls in love with a gypsy, meets her clandestinely, and eventually leaves his family to be with her and his child, The Diary of One Who Disappeared is refreshing, modern, and vivacious.  Love for the young man in this opera is difficult, full of sin and remorse, yet thrilling, life-affirming, and ultimately fulfilling.  Tenor Joseph Kaiser gives a wonderful performance, and the Gypsy, Brandy Lynn Hawkins, seduces purely through her voice.

Taken individually, these pieces are little marvels, mirabile visu.  Taken as a set, as the designer presumably wishes us to do, they don’t quite work.  The production, as a whole, seems to say things about gender roles it may not necessarily want to: the woman is passive, purely memory, this distant thing with no sex drive; while the man is all present, all action, all bright colors and primal urges.  The woman in the man’s piece is seen through this lens alone.  Granted, this is how woman was idealized in Schumann’s time, and the passion of the young man was rustic and new in the time of Janáček; but can’t we take these pieces, as they are, at face value?  Do we have to call the program He/She (with He going first, even though She first sings), instead of simply taking them piece by piece?  That said, that is a quibble with the direction of the production, not the music, performers, or backdrops themselves.  These are wonderful pieces of music that make for a somewhat brief and immensely enjoyable evening.

Highly Recommended

Will Fink

Reviewed on 5.7.11

For full show information, visit Chicago Opera Theater’s website.

Médée

Composed by Marc-Antoine Charpentier

Libretto by Thomas Corneille

Based on Euripides’ Medea

Conducted by Christian Curnyn

Directed by James Darrah

Produced by Chicago Opera Theater

At the Harris Theater

Unhappy man, thou knowest not the full extent of thy misery.
-  Euripides’ Medea

Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s final opera, his only tragedy, and arguably his masterpiece, Médée is a magnificent opera, blending Italian and French operatic styles with a deathless Greek masterpiece.  It tells the story of Jason and Medea years after his travels with the Argonauts and their capture of the Golden Fleece.  With two children, they show up at the gates of Creon’s Corinth, pursued by the armies of Thessaly; Medea, using her sorcery, tricked the daughters of Thessaly’s king into killing him.  Medea fears that Jason will become ensorcelled by Creon’s daughter, Creusa, the beautiful princess.  Indeed, her fears are founded, as Creon wants Jason for a son-in-law, even though he’s promised his daughter to Orontes, prince of Thebes, and Jason is very receptive.  Medea is determined not to lose Jason, but once she discovers his deceit, she decides the last recourse left to her is to make sure he is left with nothing.  And so she goes about taking away everything he strives for: Creon she drives mad, and in his madness, he kills Orontes and himself; Creusa she kills before Jason’s eyes, with a poisoned robe; and, finally, she stabs her own children, so that they would not have to bear the humiliation of being Jason’s children.

It is a familiar story, though Corneille did take some liberties with the libretto, and it is told well here.  But the music is what is remarkable about this piece.  Charpentier’s music is complex, deep and soaring, typically Baroque and yet transcending the genre to an extent.  Conductor Christian Curnyn and James Darrah have sought out the passion and emotion in this piece, with the performers on stage and in the pit giving wrought and powerful performances.  This presents an interesting dichotomy with the music: the Baroque orchestration is so refined and meticulously structured, following strict guidelines; yet the action on stage is immense, tragic, emotional.  There is an incredible marriage here between the Apollonian music and the Dionysian story.

And the performers carry it off spectacularly.  Colin Ainsworth’s Jason is wonderful, torn between his duty to his wife and his lust for Creusa.  Paul LaRosa’s Orontes is powerful, as is Evan Boyer’s Creon.  And Anna Stephany’s Medea is a force of nature.  The only person whose voice was a little weak was Micaëla Oeste’s Creusa, but her acting was as strong as anyone else’s, and it’s entirely possible (perhaps even probable) that she was under the weather, or simply having an off night.  Either way, when I say she was weaker, that is because she is compared with paragon voices, and hers was not unimpressive.

The production is also excellent.  The costumes are beautiful, the color-scheme exceptionally well-visualized, the set creatively crafted, heightening and reflecting the growing tensions within the piece.  This is a fantastic opera, wonderfully put on by Chicago Opera Theater.

Highly recommended

Will Fink

Reviewed on 4.23.11

For full show information, visit TheatreinChicago.