Rigoletto – Boheme Opera Company – April 22, 2007
On Sunday, April 22, 2007 Carolyn and I trotted down to the Trenton War Memorial for the Boheme Opera Company’s performance of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi.
This performance was a bit unusual. The orchestra director (and co-founder of the company) Joseph Pucciatti also served as Artistic Director (as well as Stage Director and Set Concept). He decided that rather than setting the opera in the traditional mid-1800’s, that this production would be translated to 1938 Italy under the Fascist Mussolini. The Duke of Mantua was transformed into a high ranking official in Mussolini’s inner circle.
In my opinion, the transformation didn’t work. Aside from an additional scene after the overture which included newsreel footage of WWII, Mussolini and Hitler, and some shouted salutes to “Il Duce”, the main transformation was limited to military costumes and more modern scenery. By the third act, even the costumes and scenery seemed more appropriate to the original time period. Nice idea, but not worth the effort.
Aside from the strange transformation, the rest of the production was excellent as usual. The sets, while minimalist, were very good and most of the costumes were excellent. The orchestra as always was wonderful – these folks are always solid and deserving of their ovation before the 3rd act.
One thing that I like about this company is that they often bring in a director who has the performers act, rather than just “standing and singing”. Too many operas are produced like showpieces for the singing ability of their performers, with the actors simply standing in place and singing their lines. This company actually expects the players to move around while singing (and even sing from the prone position when appropriate). These opera feel less like concerts than they feel like plays with music. The players actually display emotion while performing. This production was very much in the “act” mode rather than the “stand and sing” mode. This is what keeps me coming back every year to their theater.
The title character hunchback was played by Constantinos Yiannoudes. We’ve seen him before as Figaro in The Barber of Seville and as the title character in Don Giovanni. He was excellent as usual and continues to prove that opera singers should also be able to act (and he can).
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The Duke of Mantua was played by tenor Mark Schowalter. Before the opening curtain, it was announced that he was under the weather but wanted to proceed with the performance. His voice was a bit weak in the first act, but by the end of the performance he was up to nearly full volume. He was EXCELLENT in the role of a powerful man who cares not for the consequences of his actions or their effects on others.
In my opinion, the overlooked star of the production was Cheryl Evans in the role of Gilda, the love interest of the Duke and daughter of Rigoletto. As far as I can tell (and I have enough musical training to be able to hear the difference), she sang the whole opera nearly note perfect. During one aria, she hit several notes without vibrato that were exactly on pitch with the orchestra – to the point where I couldn’t even hear a beat frequency difference. She threw high C’s like confetti. She also acted excellently. I was disappointed to be one of very few who stood during her bow at the end of the opera – I believe that her contribution was overlooked.
One up-and-comer who was also excellent was Khary Laurent in the baritone role of Monterone. He acted and sang his small part with energy and emotion. I hope to see more of him with this company in the future.
I only have one complaint about the whole opera-going experience. The people sitting around us this time were downright rude. A row of senior citizens (apparently part of a bus trip from Brooklyn) loudly complained about the people sitting in front of them. One woman said, “Can you see? I can’t see – the woman’s hair [in front of her] is too big.” loudly enough that three rows of people heard her. I realize that we aren’t going to get a crowd in Trenton that is similar to the audience at the Met in NYC, but some civility is expected. Carolyn and I have been whacked with carelessly placed canes, hit by people’s coats, and been the subject of complaining about being too tall like the complaint quoted above. Neither of us is particular tall (we’re both about 5′ 9″) but apparently that’s a problem for these folks. And people wonder why the seats are going empty.
Next fall, the Boheme Opera Company is doing Verdi’s La Traviata and then in the spring of 2008 they will be experimenting with Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story.
Whoosh! and a question on calls
Whoosh!
That’s the noise that I probably made getting through all that I had to do this weekend.
Saturday, the Youth Sunday rehearsal ran long. I was at church from 10:30am to 2:30pm. I was completely impressed with the youth. The 3 seniors who delivered the sermon hit the message perfectly and needed very little tweaking. The rest of the crew adapted to their jobs quite easily. I’ll write more on this later.
Sunday was Youth Sunday. I was the usher-herder. I also had to get prepared for the Adult Forum afterwards and eat breakfast. Everything was a rush. The service went great, and as I said above I’ll write more later.
After the service I had to run away from the youth and go finish setting up for the adult forum. I was the 1st speaker of 3 – covering the biblical basis for environmental stewardship. I think it went well (nobody came up and said that I did a good job, but they seemed to be paying attention).
After that, I ran home and had exactly 30 minutes to eat lunch, shower and change to go to the opera with Carolyn. We saw Rigoletto in Trenton. I’ll write a whole blog post on that for you. The opera was good – the lead soprano was amazing.
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Last week sometime, in my way over-churched haze, I remember having a dream one night. I don’t remember what the dream was about, but I do remember one snippet.
I was involved in something at church. My current pastor passed me a note (it wasn’t during a service or meeting or anything – he just handed me a note as we met standing up somewhere). The note said something like “Be sure to listen for a Call.”
Now I realize that I’ve recently become re-involved in the church, and that I’m a likely candidate for over-enthusiasm. If you remember my story, once upon a time I was deciding between Computer Science and Religion as my college major. Due to some unhappy church-related events Computer Science became my major, and Religion my minor. I honestly believed going into college that I might be headed for seminary.
The only word I’ve ever heard encouraging this came more recently. I told my current Youth Director (under whom I work as a Youth Advisor) my personal faith story. He asked if I’d consider seminary now. I told him that I’ve only been back a year or even a few months (depending on how you count) and that besides – I’m a bit too used to my current income level.
I don’t know what this dream means, but it is intriguing. Is this a message? Is it just the product of doing too much church in too short a time period?
So here’s my question to the professionals out there. Would you be willing to tell me (here in the comments, in e-mail, or even on your blog) what your Call was like? When did you know that you were being called to the ministry?
Busy Week
Here’s my crazy schedule for the rest of the week.
Wednesday – 6:30 – 8:30pm – Youth Sunday rehearsal
Thursday – 6pm – 10pm – Trenton Titans playoff game
Friday – 6:30pm – 10:30pm – Trenton Titans playoff game (if they win Thursday)
Saturday – 10:30am – 1pm – Youth Sunday rehearsal
Then Sunday:
8:45am – leave for church
9am – 9:30am – set up for Earth Day adult forum
9:30am – be adult shepherd for ushers for Youth Sunday
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11am-ish – as soon as the service is over, run directly to the lounge
11:15am – be the speaker for the 1st 15 minutes of the Earth Day adult forum
Noon – Adult Forum ends, go home
1:30pm – leave for opera (Boheme Opera – Rigoletto)
1:45pm – pre-curtain talk (always worth the time)
3pm – 6pm – opera
6:30pm – come home, collapse
Unfortunately, I have to miss the post-Youth Sunday service lunch with all participants in order to do the Earth Day presentation.
Turandot, Boheme Opera Company, November 5, 2006
Here are two names to remember – Benjamin Warschawski and Olga Chernisheva. If you follow opera, you WILL be hearing these names again. You just might have to pay a lot more to actually see them.
Carolyn and I made our twice a year trek to the Trenton War Memorial to see Giacomo Puccini‘s Turnadot performed by The Boheme Opera Company. The Franco Alfano ending was used. This was a Sunday afternoon matinee.
The short version of the story: It’s a fairy tale of ancient China. The law states that in order to marry Princess Turandot, a suitor must ring a gong and then answer 3 riddles. If he fails, he is executed. If he succeeds, he wins his bride. Calaf, the exiled Prince of Tartary and his father the exiled King, along with their servant Liu, come to Peking and Calaf is entranced with the Princess. He rings the gong, and then the real fun ensues. He successfully answers the riddles, and Turandot is horrified that she’ll have to marry. She gets the unknown prince to agree that if she can discover his name by dawn, he will die. Then the whole city spends the night trying to get the name under penalty of death. He reveals the name to Turandot, and her heart melts and she marries him anyway.
This opera is interesting in part because Puccini died before he completed it. Just after Liu’s funeral scene, Puccini died of a heart attack while undergoing experimental (in 1924) radiation therapy for throat cancer. The opera was completed by Franco Alfano – a student of Puccini’s and a fully-qualified composer in his own right – under the direction of Toscanini. I am not particularly fond of the duet that Alfano wrote, but the ending is every bit as magical as I’m sure Puccini imagined.
(For those who have read my opera tales before – nothing went wrong with the production. I usually get some disaster, but for this night I only spotted one mistake by a chorus member.)
When sufficient blood is not delivered then the person will have problems achieving erection. viagra 10mg But the researcher observed People who are between 40 to 45 minutes of the intake of it. the original source generic sildenafil from india Mamma Nancy said to me: “I think you have shown your petticoat on this one.” That was her way of saying I had stepped over a social boundary cute-n-tiny.com tadalafil online cheap and revealed some unacceptable part of myself. Taking these two drugs in one time will as a result cause rapid drop in your blood pressure, a sildenafil tablets in india problem that will shake the stability of your body. Olga Chernisheva was fabulous in the soprano role of Liu, the slave girl to the Tartar King Timur. She sang the entire night beautifully, particularly in her death scene (Tu che di gel sei cinta). She can also act, and played a very convincing corpse for the following scene.
By far, the oral fireworks of the night came from Benjamin Warschawski in the tenor role of Calaf. The character gets the most famous aria from this opera – Nessun Dorma – “None shall sleep”. (HERE by Pavarotti) Warschawski performed it note-perfect with as much emotion as I’ve ever seen. It was clear that he both sings well AND understood the emotions behind the words. In fact, he performed it just as well as Pavarotti in the clip that I linked to. Unfortunately, Puccini didn’t leave a gap for a standing ovation at that point in the opera – we had to wait until the curtain call.
One thing about regional opera – you almost always get a standing ovation from some of the audience during the curtain call. I think that people come to the opera in part to be a part of such a celebration. However, this opera got a richly deserved Standing O from the crowd – about 80% of the crowd were on their feet before the minor characters had taken their bows and 100% were on their feet by the company bow. As always, the Boheme orchestra was excellent and the sets and props and lighting and such were wonderful. When Warschawski took his bow, the roar from the crowd was deafening.
The one downside to the production was the performance of Othalie Graham as Turandot. This is a tough opera part for anyone – Puccini wrote more high C’s into this part than I’ve ever seen in a soprano role. However, Graham didn’t seem up to the part in this performance. Her high C’s were loud but she never quite reached the pitch, and her staging was wooden – even at the end when her heart had supposedly melted. I have to wonder whether or not she had a cold for this performance. However, she was creditable in this very difficult role.
Next up for the company – Rigoletto April 20th at 8pm and April 22nd at 3pm. The company gives a pre-curtain talk about the opera 1 hour and 15 minutes before curtain – I strongly recommend arriving in time for it.
Il Barbiere di Seviglia
On Friday night, my wife and I went to see the Barber of Seville presented by the Boheme Opera company at the Trenton War Memorial in Trenton, NJ.
The performance was excellent. Most of the actors (and I call them that intentionally, rather than singers or soloists) were very good. And it was FUNNY!
The opera is a comedy by design. It’s clear to me that Warner Bros. didn’t have to work hard to have the Bugs Bunny version be hilarious. In fact, it was clear to me that some of the gags in this production were stolen from the cartoon (or maybe it’s vice versa).
I won’t go into the story here – this page has a synopsis. You may want to read it before finishing this review.
Constantinos Yiannoudes filled the baritone part of Figaro. He did VERY well in his Boheme Opera mainstage debut. Figaro is a relatively easy part to play comedically in this opera – it’s impossible to be too over the top. The role of the title barber is a tough one to sing – he has to do his most famous and hardest aria (“Largo al Factotum”) as he walks onto stage for the first time in the first act. The audience gave him a well-deserved and long round of applause until he was forced to gesture for a stop. He was also very funny in the little “extra” comedy that this production added to the script. When he encouraged Count Almaviva/Lindoro to sing to his Rosina, he had to find something to sing. He finally walked up to the box centerstage and asks for a piece of music. He sings “Some Enchanted Evening” and then complains rapidly in Italian that he wants a piece “en Italiana”.
Mika Shigematsu sang the soprano part of Rosina. She also did a good job of comedic acting. Unfortunately, her voice was rather weak in the first and second acts. She improved for the third act, and turned in a good performance.
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The show was stolen by John Easterlin singing the tenor part of Count Almaviva pretending to be Lindoro wooing Rosina. His singing was extremely good (possibly the best of the cast), but that was overshadowed by his comedic acting! He could easily get a role as a comedy actor – preferably in a sitcom with lots of slapstick. He received the loudest applause at the end – and it was totally deserved.
The singing was powerful. No amplification was used in a full-sized theatre. I was seated in the 6th row of the right hand side of the house. When the singers faced us directly, I could actually feel the pressure of their voices.
Those who have read my story of a previous trip to the opera (A Night at the Opera) are probably wondering if any unplanned hilarity occured. I have to disappoint you on that score – as far as I can tell the production was staged perfectly. There were only two problems that marred the whole experience. For some reason, the printer failed to deliver enough programs, and only those patrons who arrived for the pre-show lecture were given them. I have had to use an article printed on Friday in the Trenton Times to keep my details correct. The other problem was a begging speech made by a woman from the opera company for 10 minutes before the overture began – begging for money to support the company and make sure that it will be able to continue next year. This was inappropriate at a performance from a company that calls itself “professional” on its website. I did enjoy the opera and would have been willing to make a donation – unfortunately, I was unable to find out HOW to make a donation by reading the program!
I did hear two Bugs Bunny references. My wife and I arrived early enough to have to sit in the lobby before seating began. Two men entered, and I heard one of them clearly saying “welcome to my shop … let me fix your mop.” During the overture, a woman seated in the row ahead of us had trouble not laughing, since the Bugs Bunny Rabbit of Seville cartoon used the overture as the main body of music.
All in all, a god time was had by my wife and me. I will be checking out the Boheme Opera Company’s schedule next year, and might be willing to see TWO operas as a balance to all of the hockey games that I drag her to.
A Night at the Opera
As some of you know, I have season tickets to the Trenton Titans minor league hockey team. My wife often accompanies me to the 30+ games per season. As compensation, I am expected to take her to an opera at least once a year.
This Friday, I will be going with her to the Trenton War Memorial to see the Boheme Opera Company‘s production of The Barber of Seville.
Now to be totally honest, this isn’t that much of a burden to me. Back in my youth, I was a somewhat accomplished musician. As a percussionist, I auditioned for and made the New Jersey All-State Band three years and the All-State Orchestra once. I love all sorts of music, including Classical. I also have some experience with the theatre, having been my high school’s Lighting Director for 2 years and therefore doing stage crew work all 4 years.
Besides, opera music is Cartoon music! (see also Rabbit of Seville)
This trip is not my first experience with opera. We went to see a production last year of Tosca at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ on January 23rd, 2003. This was more like a cartoon than opera. Click to continue reading.
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