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OPERA REVIEW
Dido Among the Ruins October 20, 2001
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By Anna Carol Dudley
Oakland Lyric Opera's semi-staged production of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, performed Sunday at the First Congregational Church of Oakland, was hardly ready for prime time. Indeed, this seemed not more than a trial run or open rehearsal with just a handful of people in attendance. Director Zachary Gordin had brought together a cast possessed of attractive voices and that was the best of it.
The soloists also made up the chorus — a perfectly viable option, but most sang their solo bits with more assurance than their choral parts. Purcell's orchestra/continuo score, with its lively dance movements and its tricky transitions between orchestra solo and accompaniment, was given a less-than-masterful rendition on piano.
Especially worthy of mention was the Dido, Christine Antenbring, whose voice, phrasing and carriage were excellent. Though not always perfectly understandable, her words were deeply felt. Gordin, the director, sang the role of the Sorcerer in its original Sorceress range. His mezzo- soprano is strong and expressive, his diction good, but the Sorceress' movement and gesture need a lot more malevolence. Tenor Mark Lew won highest honors in the diction department with his sailor song, and was a great asset to the chorus. Karen Jones sang an animated witch, and Shawnette Sulker a sympathetic Belinda.
On the whole, the staging was appropriately blocked, and worked best when the singers held a pose — for instance, in the final affecting tableau of Dido's death and Belinda's grief.
(Anna Carol Dudley is a singer, teacher, member of the faculties of the University of California, Berkeley, and San Francisco State University [lecturer emerita] and director of the San Francisco Early Music Society's Baroque Music Workshop.)
©2001 Anna Carol Dudley, all rights reserved
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