Opera Vivente: Orpheus in the Underworld

Jessica Renfro (Diana), Ryan de Ryke (Jupiter), Siobhan Kolker (Venus) in Orpheus in the Underworld, 2008, Opera Vivente, photo by Cory Weaver

The last production of Opera Vivente's 10th season was Jacques Offenbach's screwball operetta Orphée aux Enfers (see my review of this DVD version). This was a banner anniversary year for the little company based in a Baltimore church, with a psychedelic Alcina last fall and the high point of Tobias and the Angel last month. The Jonathan Dove opera, in particular, was a hard act to follow, and this production gasped with frenetic energy but still felt overshadowed. Offenbach and his librettists, Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy, created a madcap send-up of that most serious and operatic of mythological legends, and good satire requires a loving and thorough knowledge of the target. Director John Bowen's staging puts the emphasis on the zany, updating the libretto's criticism of the Second Empire's hypocritical morality to the seedy world of reality television.

Jupiter and Juno are transformed into a philandering televangelist and his mascara-abusing wife, but Jupiter's heavy Texan-twang elocutions are just as often spoofs of President Bush. Eurydice becomes a gold-digging party girl fallen out of love with her husband, the violin-wielding Orpheus, whom she credits with "inventing classical crossover." (Bowen made his own English version of the libretto, changing not only the dialogue but much of the sung text.) Both Orpheus and Jupiter live in fear of Public Opinion, costumed here as a bun-topped, black-suited killjoy (in the libretto, the trouser role of L'Opinion Publique is described only as un jeune homme). A hip-hop Mercury (dreadlocks, sideways cap, and bling-bling) plays on the words of the character's rondo saltarelle ("Eh hop! Eh hop! Place à Mercure!"), while the other gods become a wrecked floozy (Venus), a straight-laced, glasses-wearing good girl (Minerva), a sexually conflicted midshipman (Mars), and a butch dyke (Cupid, also a trouser role).

Other Reviews: Tim Smith, An updated, uneven 'Orpheus' from Opera Vivente (Critical Mass, April 14)

While this sort of manipulation of the story can be grotesque in a more serious opera, Orphée aux Enfers invites parody, being already about as ridiculous as possible. If you like your opera literal or if you cringe at corny jokes (the television screen that frames the back of the stage is branded "Offenbox," and it just gets worse from there), this production is not for you. Put a star next to Ryan de Ryke, whose Jupiter was a smarmy lothario in preacher's clothing, and the promising voices of Christopher Herbert's Pluto, Maria Kate Fleming's Cupid, and Jessica Renfro's Diana. Conductor JoAnn Kulesza had a sure hand at the podium of a generally good chamber orchestra (the reduction of the score was done by Tony Burke), with exceptional sounds from the flute and piccolo of Melinda Wade-English. Although Anton T. Wilson's choreography was at times scattered and overly repetitive, the macarena-style group dance for the famous Can-Can, or Galop Infernal, brought this American version to an appropriately nutty conclusion.

This production repeats today, as well as April 17 and 19.

Opera Bel Cantanti

The modest auditorium of La Maison Française (check out their snazzy new Web site) is one of the most civilized places to hear a concert in Washington, no small thanks to the glass of wine (and occasionally even cheese or other food) that you know awaits you after the music has ceased. So it was nice to be back at the Embassy of France last night for the first concert of their fall season, the latest program from Opera Bel Cantanti. It is a selection of arias and other pieces from your favorite French operas, going under the name Salut à la France. Literally, almost all of your favorite French operas: we could have done with a little less than a three-hour recital.

From the group's roster of budding singers, as one might expect, some performances were stronger than others. Some of the best work came from soprano Emily Ezzie, whom I admired in Bel Cantanti's Iolanta this summer. She was an earnest Micaëla, a role that seems quite suited to her, and she sang with the best French pronunciation, in an evening that featured some awful French at times. Meghan McCall was a very strong Marie in the group's La Fille du Régiment last year, and she had fine turns as Manon, as well as reprising two of the big Marie pieces. Korean coloratura soprano Keesun Kwon mostly excelled with Olympia's aria from Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann and was a petite if not exactly blonde Philine in "Je suis Titania" from Ambroise Thomas's Mignon (her high notes occasionally soured toward flatness). Mezzo-soprano Jessica Renfro, in a slinky red dress (shown above), gave a sexy reading of Carmen's habanera. Her pairing with Kwon on the Delibes duet of Lakmé and Mallika was particularly lovely.

Other Reviews: Joan Reinthaler, Bel Cantanti, Singing Superbly in a Place to Call Its Own (Washington Post, September 11)

Exceptional single performances came in the least familiar -- and therefore most interesting -- selections. Mezzo-soprano Rhea Walker gave a pleasing and full-bodied rendition of Salomé's "Il est doux, il est bon" from Massenet's Hérodiade, an opera that is on my wishlist for one of Opera Bel Cantanti's future seasons (much more welcome than yet another Marriage of Figaro, planned for December -- yawn!). Soprano Abigail Wright was acidicly funny and in impressively good voice as Concepción, in "Oh! la pitoyable aventure" from Ravel's L'Heure Espagnole (add that to my wishlist for Opera Bel Cantanti, perhaps in a double-bill with L'enfant et les sortilèges or Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tirésias). As with many of the comic pieces, I seemed to be the only one that found the funny parts funny (there were no supertitles). The award for singing that was a parody of itself goes to tenor Yoonsoo Shin (Des Grieux's "Ah! Fuyez, Douce Image" and Werther's "Pourquoi me réveiller, ô souffle du printemps?," the latter added spontaneously to the program), who has quite a voice but a stage manner that appears to be based mostly on watching DVDs of Luciano Pavarotti.

My only reservation about this concert was that it could have easily been a half-hour shorter. Eliminating the excerpts from Roméo et Juliette, Les Pecheurs de Perles, Samson et Dalila, Faust, and trimming those from Carmen would have streamlined the program and avoided the least pleasing performances. It would also have allowed music director and hard-working accompanist Katerina Souvorova more time to focus on some of those difficult passages, not all of which came off flawlessly. Sometimes, less is more.

Opera Bel Cantanti, "Iolanta"

Opera Bel Cantanti is doing all the things that a small local opera company should. I was sad to miss their winter production, Rachmaninov's Aleko (reprised from the previous summer), because it is an opera that I may never have another chance to hear live (although OBC may bring it back). That is what local and collegiate opera companies should do, operas that bigger mainstream companies are just too staid and predictable to touch: Maryland Opera Studio's choice of Cimarosa this year and Gluck's Armide and Conrad Susa's Transformations next year, Catholic University's premiere of The Furies, Washington Concert Opera's performance of Rossini's Tancredi, Opera Lafayette's Sacchini and Idomeneo, Ignoti Dei's upcoming La Didone. The 13,000th production of Don Giovanni, Magic Flute or Il Trovatore usually bores me to tears, unless it has truly superlative singing (unlikely for this kind of company) or an unusual directorial concept.

The latest opera OBC has brought to Washington is the charming one-act Iolanta by Tchaikovsky. Imagine characters based on 15th-century French history, set in a fictional story by Danish playwright Henrik Hertz, transformed into a Russian opera by Tchaikovsky on a libretto by his brother Modest. I missed the initial run of performances last month (reviewed by the Washington Post), but I was there at the Lyceum in Alexandria on Wednesday night for the first of two encore performances. The production is simple but elegant enough: bare-bones set pieces and props take back seat in the budget to fairly ornate and colorful costumes. Although Opera Bel Cantanti sometimes uses a string quartet to approximate at least part of the orchestration (as in their production of La Fille du Régiment last fall), here it was only the artistic director, Katerina Souverova (an accompanist with Baltimore Opera and a talented pianist) at the piano. She was joined very briefly by one of the company's trustees -- Kathleen McGhee, who also designed the costumes -- in a minimal part on the harp.

Souvorova finds talented singers, many of whom are currently enrolled in or have recently finished graduate studies in the area or are already singing professionally, in one of the region's opera choruses, for example. Soprano Emily Ezzie was a sweet Iolanta, both vocally and dramatically, convincing as the pretty girl sheltered from the knowledge of her own blindness by her protective father, King René. The chorus of supporting women has some pretty and sometimes complicated music, as well: round-voiced mezzo-soprano Lingling Peng stood out as Iolanta's nurse, Marta, as did the charming Jessica Renfro as her friend Laura.

Bass Vladimir Ekzarkhov looked the part of King René and had enough heft, although the top notes of the part were not in line on this evening and there was a noticeable wobble. Tenor Kevin Perry brought a strong and sure tenor voice to the role of Vaudémont, the knight who falls in love with Iolanta. Baritones Matt Osifchin (Robert) and Bryan Jackson (Ibn-Khakia) were equally strong although not as subtle. My only complaint about the singing in this performance was that it could have been scaled better to the scope of the venue. We could hear everything quite clearly without some of the shouting, perhaps driven by Souvarova's athletic and molto martellato approach to much of the score. Let's just say that at times I was glad to be in the back row.

The best part of the experience was the discovery of this mostly unknown opera, premiered at St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theater during the December holidays in 1892, where it was paired with his fluffy little ballet about a girl who gets a nutcracker for Christmas. The latter, although charming, is performed far too often, while the former practically vanished. Iolanta is not even in the Mariinsky's current repertory. Tchaikovsky worked on both of these twilight stage works after returning from a happy and successful conducting tour of the United States: he was given the subject for the ballet, which he never liked, but he chose the story of Iolanta. It has some lovely parts, including Iolanta's bittersweet opening aria ("Are eyes only for crying?"), King René's prayer, the sweet duet of Vaudémont and Iolanta as he realizes that she cannot tell which color rose she is handing him (happily a less loud passage for my ears), and the finale as Iolanta sees her enclosed garden for the first time and the principals praise God for his mercy ("Slava," absolutely required in Russian opera).

One of the charms of an evening with Opera Bel Cantanti was revealed when the artistic director herself came down the stairs with a container of salsa that had been forgotten when the modest reception was set up. Katerina Souvorova may have baked the cookies, too, which were excellent. By my count, there is a handful of Tchaikovsky operas I have yet to hear. (Garth Trinkl will never forgive me if I do not mention Szymanowski's Dionysian opera King Roger, too.) I fully hope to get to know them thanks to Opera Bel Cantanti over the next several years.

Tobias and the Angel, Opera Vivente

David Walker as Raphael, Tobias and the Angel, Opera Vivente photo by Cory Weaver

What Opera Vivente does in Baltimore is a minor miracle, seemingly on a wing and a prayer (for example, the stage manager of its latest production is listed in the program as TBA). Every season, this little chamber opera company, based in Charm City's Emmanuel Episcopal Church, produces at least one exciting opera (and usually more). Its daring programming generally shames the wealthier, larger companies in the area, and General Director John Bowen puts together productions that are beautiful and inventive. After a successful updating of Handel's Alcina in the fall, Opera Vivente has mounted the North American premiere of Jonathan Dove's Tobias and the Angel. Dove created the opera in 1999, at Christ Church Highbury Fields in London, occupied by the Young Vic theater company during its renovation. The reduced orchestration (of the original production), made necessary by the limited performance space, also suited the demands of Opera Vivente's situation perfectly.

Bennozzo Gozzoli, Raphael and Tobias (Chapel of Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano, 1464-65) -- courtesy of the extraordinary Web Gallery of Art

David Lan, director of the Young Vic, wrote the libretto, adapting the Biblical book of Tobias (Douay-Rheims translation -- the book is classed as Apocrypha by the Protestant churches). Tobias is an odd story, about a son's journey to adulthood, confronting all those things that are part of growing up -- wrestling a giant fish, freeing his future wife from the clutches of her demon lover, and healing his father's blindness after birds mysteriously poop in his eyes. The story fascinated Renaissance artists, who from the 15th century onward usually represented the story through an image of the voyage of Tobias with Raphael at his side. Similar scenes, painted by Andrea del Verrocchio, Antonio Pollaiuolo, Filippino Lippi, Francesco Botticini, Bennozzo Gozzoli, and Perugino (among others), show the basic identifying elements: Tobias (ranging in age from a small boy to a teenager), with the fish in hand or strung on his belt, Raphael holding his hand (sometimes accompanied by Michael and Gabriel, too), and the boy's faithful dog.

In the Bible, Tobias makes the long, perilous journey with his dog at his side, a narrative detail that enriches the story and that Lan's libretto sadly omits. The book's main lessons are about patience in suffering (Tobit, Tobias's father, accepts his blindness with reference to Job and Sara has to endure the death of seven husbands as the demon, Ashmodai, kills each one on his wedding night), faith and miracles, and the blessing of a strong and loving marriage (Tobias is often read at Catholic weddings). Lan opted to meld the story with that of the Prodigal Son, casting Tobias as a spoiled playboy for whom the journey with the angel is also about learning to readjust his priorities, ultimately being reunited with his distraught father. Some later artists expanded on the narrative possibilities of the story in similar ways, especially Raphael (who painted Raphael Presenting Tobias to the Virgin Mary) and Rembrandt (who painted an entire series of scenes from Tobias, especially focusing on the family of Tobit -- for example, Tobit's Wife with the Goat and The Archangel Leaving the Family of Tobit). Rembrandt's father went blind late in life, and the artist may have identified with Tobias's search for a cure.

J. Dove, Flight, Glyndebourne

Jonathan Dove's opera Flight (1998), a comedy of errors based on the true story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, the Iranian man trapped for years in Charles de Gaulle airport because of an immigration SNAFU, has been wildly successful for a modern opera. (Steven Spielberg's movie The Terminal, with Tom Hanks, later used the same story.) A few years back, we reviewed the first two parts of Dove's condensed English version of Wagner's Ring cycle, produced in Pittsburgh. Dove, born in 1959, is drawn to the voice, having based a significant part of his reputation on his operas, songs, and choral compositions (like Seek Him that Maketh the Seven Stars). Tobias again shows his facility for vocal writing, as well as for the elegant use of a small range of instruments in weaving a polychromatic and translucent tapestry behind the singers, in a neo-Romantic, post-minimalist style reminiscent of John Adams. The playing from the pit, situated to the left of the performance space, was assured and clean, with prominent coloration from the flute and piccolo of Melinda Wade-English, the dewy splash of Carmelo Pino's accordion (!), the sparkling harp of Jacqueline Pollauf, and the tinkling percussion of Michelle Humphreys.

The cast was generally fine, consisting mostly of impressive local talent, with Robert Cantrell's resonant Tobit, Kenneth Gayle's stentorian Tobias, Jessica Renfro's reedy Sara, and Lori Hultgren's dark-voiced Edna standing out from the ensemble. Opera Vivente's casting of the countertenor David Walker, who has earned an international reputation for Dove's Refugee in Flight and many Baroque roles (we have reviewed him in Handel's Orlando and Agrippina), was a brilliant coup. He was in splendid voice, covered by the orchestra only at a few points (mostly when he was in his low range and toward the back of the space), and gave a subtly acted performance, angelic by its golden-faced but understated otherworldliness.

Other Articles: Tim Smith, 'Angel' soars on the wings of its score (Baltimore Sun, March 1) ---, Taking on 'Tobias and the Angel' (Baltimore Sun, February 17)

The work of an incredibly complicated but well-organized cast of over 70 performers included strong and well-blended singing from members of the Baltimore Masterworks Chorale, Johns Hopkins Symphony Choral Society, the Emmanuel Episcopal Church Choir, and especially the charming voices of the Handel Choir of Baltimore Children's Choir. The comic scenes with the grave diggers, employed by Sara's father to bury her husbands, were a stitch. The movement of the pooping sparrows, singing trees and mountains, and especially the waves of the Tigris River and the giant fish within it were charmingly represented by young people from the Baltimore School for the Arts Dance Department (choreography from Anton T. Wilson). The sets (designed by Thom Bumblauskas) featured a ramp on either side of the chancel steps, used by director John Bowen to stage the parallel scenes in the households of Sara and Tobit, often telescoped by the libretto to occur simultaneously.

Opera Vivente finishes its 10th and perhaps most adventurous season with Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld (April 11 to 19), a nutty parody of that most operatic of mythological legends.