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OPERA REVIEW
Marriage Of Figaro Sets A Path In Walnut Creek Too
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By Margot Blum Schevill
Could it be that Mozart and da Ponte, the librettists, were the forerunners
of what we now call music drama--the perfect joining of words and music to
serve the unity of dramatic action? Such a case was made for The Marriage of Figaro in the production that opened the Walnut Creek's Festival Opera 1999 season in the Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts last Saturday. Clearly Figaro set a new path away from traditional Italian opera of its time.
A brilliant and comical performance complete with Daniel Helfgot's good supertitles and creative stage direction, showed just how this opera foreshadowed works like Berg's Wozzeck and Three Penny Opera and The Rise and Fall of Mahagonny by Brecht and Weill. The Marriage of Figaro with its focus on arias created for unique voices, was sung by a young cast which almost without exception, sang convincingly, acted well, and displayed a high level of professionalism.
Most impressive were Brian Leerhuber, the Figaro and Peggy Kriha-Dye (soprano). Leerhuber had full, brilliant baritone sound and was a fine actor. Kriha-Dye's voice soared in the ensembles. She was especially eloquent vocally and dramatically in her fourth act aria as she bathed
her feet in the fountain while Figaro looked on raging with jealousy and
desire. Bojan Knezevic, a deep baritone, brought the right combination of
aristocracy and lechery to the role of the Count. (The opera could be called Le Doit du Seigneur [The Right of the Lord], turning as it does on the feudal privilege that gives the count the the first go in the nuptial bed of his subjects).
Jessica Tivens, a lovely mezzo, played the Cherubino pants-role to the hilt. In the key role of the Countess. Christina Lamberti sang in a fine, dramatic soprano, but sometimes a bit flat in the upper middle range from lack of support. She has great potential and acted with control and humor.
Also notable were Carl King (Dr. Bartolo), Christopher Fernandez
(Don Basilio), Brian Carter (Antonio), Ross Halper (Don Curzio) and Julie
Ness (Barbarina).
Michael Morgan, Music Director/Conductor of Festival Opera,
led a medium size orchestra that played with warmth and brilliance perfect for the 600 seat theater. Set Designer Giulio Cesare Perrone chose a warm rose color for the sets that enhanced the costumes by Malabar Ltd. With lighting by Daniel Gaylord, the
stage glowed as emotions of joy, jealousy, anger, and pardon were hurled from
one singer to the other and in the ensembles. Placing Michael
Touchi on stage at the harpsichord so that the singers could interact with
him from time to time was another welcome innovation.
Special praise goes to Helfgot who regularly serves as Director of Production and Resident Stage Director of Opera San Jose, home company of many of these singers. His innovative staging was marked by two dramatic
moments when the house lights went up, first when Figaro and the other male singers advanced on the audience to denounce the treachery of women (to cheers and boos). Later, during the great last ensemble when the
Count begs for and receives the Countess' forgiveness, Helfgot again brought up the houselights as the cast joined with the audience to celebrate the tangled, joyous nature of love that Mozart and da Ponte had revealed. This "hit" performance, which entertained a capacity audience and will be repeated July 12, 14, 16, and 18 bodes well for the Festival Opera's next production, Lucia di Lammermoor, opening on August 14.
(Margot Blum Schevill is a mezzo-soprano and a former Merolina, now a writer
and museum curator, who sang in the Bay Area and elsewhere during the 1950s
and 1960s.)
©1999 Margot Blum Schevill, all rights reserved
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