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OPERA REVIEW
March 13, 2004
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By Olivia Stapp
It is gratifying indeed to watch the progress of a small artistic organization like the Livermore Valley Opera company. Since its inception twelve years ago, it has continuously raised its quality of production and casting. It has also garnered a long list of supporters as well as a very appreciative audience, and is on the right track toward creating a professional company that will eventually perform in the new arts theater being built in the tri- valley area. The results of this felicitous process of maturation was readily apparent at the opening night of Puccini's Madama Butterfly last Saturday night. Generally speaking, it was an enjoyable evening.
The lyric soprano Lanier McNab sang the role of Butterfly flawlessly and effortlessly, her tone secure, bright and attractive. But having mastered the preliminary vocal steps in sculpting this role, she still needs to explore the full palette of varied colors that are available to her in this passionate score. Because of its intense emotionality, the role of Butterfly presents particular challenges to a young singer, that she should not overdo and let emotion take over and overwhelm technical discipline. But to under-do will not suffice either. McNab certainly has the capacity to evolve into a fine interpretive Butterfly, and all the prerequisites: a pleasing physique, a rock-solid vocal technique, and fine musical intelligence. Her “Un bel di” was lovely.
Her “husband” Pinkerton, the handsome tenor Pedro Rodelas, impressed with his large attractive tone. He needs to do technical study in the high register, which seems to be out of balance and results in a phlegmy tone. But he shows great promise: his voice is basically strong and sound, and his musicianship secure. He conveyed little of the insouciance of the devil- may-care American naval officer, opting instead for seriousness and restraint, and therefore missed the opportunity to create the only personage in the opera who is irreverent and frivolous, the contrasting ingredient needed to set up the tension that propels the drama.
Baritone Michael Strelo-Smith, the US Consul, displayed a pleasing voice. He is affable onstage but could investigate his character's personality traits more thoroughly and choose his gestures from an inner awareness, rather than imposing on the character some external “stage business” that always rings false in verismo opera. Suzuki was sung by the rich-voiced Nina Yoshida. The rest of the supporting roles and choristers were sufficient to the task. Conductor Robert Wood led the orchestra and singing ensemble with authority and crispness. Some of the costumes and wigs by Rebecca Valentino and Rande Harris were ill-fitting and distracting, and the makeup seemed a hodge-podge. The set by Jean Francois Revon conveyed the small Japanese house charmingly. The attractive singers were skillfully arranged on stage but were left to create their characters on their own. Goro (Miguel Evangelista) succeeded in finding an interpretation, but the rest unfortunately lacked any dimensionality. Butterfly seemed more like Yum Yum, and Pinkerton, although he walked the stage to his correct positions, had no color or personality. The Consul, supposedly a genteel well-bred diplomat, had as his main bit of “business” the continuous wiping of perspiration off his brow and neck. The director Barbara Heroux staged the work conventionally, but could not resist the temptation of a novel ending, where Butterfly waits till Pinkerton arrives to kill herself in his plain view. He stands by and watches her slit her throat --- but does not try to stop her! --- and then slinks off, unwilling to get involved. This way of staging Butterfly's suicide changes the intent, and therefore the nobility, of the heroine, who appears to kill herself as an act of revenge, rather than of self-sacrifice, and makes Pinkerton totally villainous. The audience needs to continue to believe in the complete submission of Butterfly, and in Pinkerton's bumbling humanity. In the score, Puccini specifies that Butterfly stabs herself before hearing the off-stage calls from her lover, and musically punctuates the fatal thrust with a heart-wrenching chord, thus creating a powerful climax. Why contradict the maestro's genius at this critical point?
(Olivia Stapp is an opera director, formerly artistic director of Festival Opera (1995-2001), and has had a major international career as a soprano.)
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