San Francisco Classical Voice

If the production had an integrated idea of why the action was being modernized and how the character types map onto contemporary society, then these questions would have clear, observable answers. As it was, the audience was asked to ignore the obvious dissonances of setting the action in modern times. Even really radical priests don't perform secret marriages for minors nowadays. And there were no compensating benefits, a new context to replace the old. This show, in a sense, operated in a void.

Gounod's music for Roméo et Juliette has been called all kinds of names by critics who, while conceding some good tunes, find the music pallid and undramatic. Maybe, but the music and singing saved this production and actually made it emotionally affecting at times. Gounod's brilliant, varied vocal writing makes this opera a singer's paradise. Since the opera focuses on the lovers in three large-scale duets and reduces everything else as much as possible, casting the love-struck pair is the hinge on which success depends.

Festival Opera came up with two good-looking and winning young singers to portray the lovers. Isaac Hurtado (Roméo) and Rebecca Garcia (Juliette) had plenty of chemistry between them. Hurtado has a well-trained, controlled tenor, with even tone throughout his range. He avoided singing loudly all the time and showed pure, youthful top notes. His French diction was quite good, his phrasing conventional and a little stiff. Similarly, Garcia is an accomplished singer for her age and was able to hold stage during Juliette's dramatic solo in Act IV (Dieu! quel frisson court dans mes veines?) She over-prepared for some of the strenuous high notes, taking extra breaths for them and briefly dropping character, but she also flew through the lyrical coloratura of the waltz song (Je veux vivre) with barely a hint of effort. Sometimes, in midrange, her voice loses a little focus and power. Her diction was good, though occasionally an Italianate vowel slipped out.

Hurtado and Garcia did not plumb the emotional depths of these roles, but for that very reason they were convincing as teenagers carried away by first love. Their duets together were highpoints, as they must be, and Condemi contributed a number of fine directorial touches such as some detailed work with hands and glances during the meeting scene. In the balcony scene, Condemi connected the enraptured lovers with body language before they sang a word. Roméo lay on his back dreamily while Juliette looked out (back to the audience) in similar contemplation of the momentous ballroom meeting.

Among the many supporting singers, Bojan Knezevic as Capulet stood out. With his authoritative and powerful bass voice, he made the most of his cliché-ridden part. Brian Leerhuber contributed a finely sung Mercutio, including a varied and well-characterized Queen Mab aria. J. Raymond Meyers had the solid build for Tybalt. His singing was overemphasized, but that may have been the characterization. John Minagro was a pleasant Friar Laurence. Julia Hunt Nielsen, playing the page Stephano, a role that was invented by Gounod and his librettists because the opera needed a trouser role, dispatched her couplets with great theatrical gusto. The chorus sang well and clearly. The orchestra, aside from a percussion entrance that was a tick early, played the score with ease and panache. Michael Morgan again ran a tight ship, following the singers alertly and keeping the orchestra under them. The balances were perfect and the full string section deserved high praise for their precision and warm sound.