| Hansel and Gretel |
ReviewsAIDA On either side of the Harrison Opera House steps, a glowing ice sculpture of a sphinx greeted first-nighters at Virginia Opera’s season opener, Verdi’s masterful Aida. It was grand opera with a capital G — beautifully sung, dramatically riveting and sumptuously arrayed. The story is basically a love triangle set in ancient Egypt and complicated by political loyalties and personal betrayal. The Ethiopian princess Aida is a slave to Pharaoh’s daughter Amneris. Amneris loves the warrior Radames, who secretly loves Aida. However, Amneris has the power to fulfil Radames’ ambition to lead Egypt into battle against the invading Ethiopians. In his subsequent victory, the captives include the Ethiopian king Amonasro, father of Aida. Triumphant in battle, Radames’ reward is to marry Amneris. Amonasro uses Aida’s love for her homeland to have her trick Radames into revealing the Egyptian army’s plans. Arrested and court-martialed for treason, Radames enrages Amneris by refusing to give up Aida; the lovers await death in a tomb while Anmeris grieves her loss and prays for peace. As Amneris, Jeniece Golbourne displayed tremendous vocal power; her richly burnished mezzo-soprano ranged from penetrating lows to dazzling highs. She was every inch the splendid princess — aware of her personal and political power, and adept at using both for her own ends. Mary Elizabeth Williams, who previously sang a touching Tosca for Virginia Opera, was a pleading Aida, alone in a strange land and torn by conflicting loyalties. Her beautiful singing infused the role with pathos, passion and homesickness but, hampered by an unflattering costume, she never quite managed Aida’s other dimension: the proud princess resenting her captivity. Taller than both Amneris and Radames, this Aida might have used that difference to her advantage; instead, she appeared stooped and suppliant throughout. As the warrior Radames, Argentinean tenor Gustavo Lopez Manzitti had a big, flexible voice that was completely captivating in “Celeste Aida.” Unfortunately, his long, snood-like wig and unattractive makeup detracted from the image of the powerful warrior loved by two princesses. His calf-length tunic in the final act resembled a shapeless nightshirt that did not favor his physique. Bass-baritone Ashraf Sewailam stood out as Ramphis, the high priest, whom he portrayed with a dancer’s purposefully dramatic movement, a riveting presence of commanding authority and a voice to match. As Aida’s manipulative father, bass Fikile Mvinjelwa displayed a distinctive voice and intelligent characterization. Nathan Stark, a menacing Sparafucile in VO’s Rigoletto, had little to do as the King of Egypt except stand or sit in stiff poses. Verdi’s memorable music was superbly interpreted by conductor John Demain with an orchestra of Virginia Symphony players. One expects the fanfare trumpets in the triumphal march to grab all the attention, but Barbara Chapman’s harp was notably lovely and subtly evocative. Stage director Lillian Groag deftly combined awesome spectacle with intimate interaction, even including some light, comic touches, as when Amneris snatches her scepter back from Aida’s hand. Malcolm Burn’s inventive choreography for dancers of the Richmond Ballet greatly enhanced the magnificence of the court scenes and the iconic victory parade (there’s no room for elephants on the Harrison stage), as well as providing light, airy, sexy entertainment for Amneris’ palace chamber. One outstanding image was the goddess Isis, resplendent in her gold-feathered cloak, being carried on high in a perfect split. Scenic designer Erhard Rom’s sets were simple and stunning — catwalks and great slanted, moving panels whose angles suggested pyramids and the tomb for the doomed lovers. The brick back wall that limits the size of the Harrison’s stage was integrated into the design to give a sense of massive stability — a perfect example of making a virtue out of necessity. Kendall Smith’s lighting design highlighted the scenic elements and shone brilliantly in the victory parade. Martha Hally’s costumes were superb, for the most part — not copying the familiar ancient wall paintings, but selecting elements for éclat: the black-and-white robes of the priests, the ornate robes of the court, the masks and glittering array of the gods. Using muted grays and teal for the Ethiopians and rich jewel colors for the Egyptians helped to distinguish one group from another. But Radames’ tunic was dreadful, and Aida’s stiff, crinkly gown looked bulky and uncomfortable, though her death scene robe was somewhat easier on the eye. James McGough’s wigs for Aida, Amneris and Radames were distracting; only Golbourne’s Amneris could carry hers convincingly. The slim program was poorly edited and riddled with errors and typos (including listing Manzitti as a baritone); one might have thought the attractive cover photograph would be VO’s Aida, but no. But in the end, the star was Verdi’s soaring, bravura, passionate music set in stunning spectacle and sung with blazing beauty. It’s what grand opera is all about.
Engelbert Humperdinck —the 19th-century composer, not the pop singer of the 70’s and 80s— was kind of a family guy. When his sister, Adelheid Wette, asked him to write some songs for a puppet show about Hansel and Gretel that her daughters were putting on, Humperdinck was happy to oblige. He expanded the puppet show’s four songs into a Singspiel with 16 songs and a libretto written by his sister. (That version was a present for his fiancée.) Then he made it into a full opera, which was premiered in Weimar under the baton of Richard Strauss and in Hamburg by Gustav Mahler. Hansel and Gretel has remained in the repertoire ever since, full of lovely short arias and jaunty tunes. Ably conducted by Gerald Steichen, Virginia Opera’s new production is an updated version of Grimm’s rather grim fairy tale about two children lost in the forest and captured by a witch who wants to fatten them up and eat them! Hansel is sung by mezzo-soprano Karin Mushegain. Clad in jeans, sneakers and a green hoodie, she does a knockout portrayal of the young boy’s bravado, foolishness— and courage. Mushagain has every physical movement down so believably that a boy during intermission asked, “Is the boy a girl? Really?” Soprano Julia Ebner, who’s a Spectrum Resident Artist, sings Gretel with passion and clarity. Her outfit catches the eye but isn’t particularly flattering, and her very curly silver-gilt wig looks like she’s auditioning for Sieglinde. A major highlight of the evening is the tender duet of the Evening Prayer, in which Mushegain and Ebner call on the 14 angels who, two by two, will protect their sleep. The roles of both the witch and the mother — read into that what you will — are sung by Margaret Gawrysiak with gusto, neatly separating the mother’s frustrated exasperation from the witch’s cackling glee. Baritone Eric Greene brings the father to robust life with his salesman’s confidence and his true concern for his lost children. Every other voice is a treble, so when Greene returns in the last scene, the ear is both relieved and delighted to hear such a rich, booming voice. Tossing more glitter than Tinker Bell, countertenor Jason Abrams, in a glittery red tailcoat, gently sings the frightened children to sleep and tenderly covers them with a blanket. Spectrum Resident Artist Elizabeth Baldwin as the Dew Fairy carries off her tough-girl hairdo, weird little hat, fluffy tutu, spangly green platform heels and lurid tattoo — possibly the most non-fey fairy ever — acquitting herself well in her brief but telling aria waking the children from their induced slumber. The chorus from the Governor’s School for the Arts has an admirably lovely tone as the children previously captured by the witch. (The guys in the back row aren’t singing, but they provide balance in several scenes.) More coherent choreography that actually took advantage of the music might have lifted their dancing —and that of Hansel and Gretel — out of the mundane. Kevin Newbury, whose expert direction of Rappahannock County for the Virginia Arts Festival earlier this year almost overcame its score, has a little more difficulty with this production. The Supertitles are a big help, as the singing switches back and forth from German to English seemingly at random. German is not one of my languages, but the English translation seems very uneven and often, well, dippy. The translation was apparently going for rhymed couplets in English similar to those in the German; but what sounds cute and snappy in one tongue can come off as lame and pointless in another. Scenic designer Mimi Lien scores some major points: the family’s real, live Buick Roadmaster woodie station wagon in the opening scene is a hoot. The vaguely menacing trailer of the witch, the Sandman’s airy striped tent that rises behind him, the strings of bright carnival lights and the bright pink carnival food cart, resplendent with cookies and cotton candy, provide visual magic. The Ferris Wheel high against the sky is gorgeous — and unlit, looked like a spider’s web. Someone should have done something with such a rich physical symbol — but it never got integrated into the action. The production is also hampered by illogical disconnects between the update’s setting and the lyrics of the libretto. The Dew Fairy sings about a tree — to a telephone pole. Hansel and Gretel are lost in a forest — without a tree in sight. There’s no real sense of place, magical or not; the dry reeds signal Tidewater wetlands more than a mysterious forest. However, when Hansel and Gretel realize it’s dark and they’re lost and alone, there’s a palpable sense of terrified desolation that reminded me of a similar scene in Driving Miss Daisy. The lighting design of D.M. Wood has some terrific moments. When the father sings of his fear for his lost children, his giant shadow is reflected in the sky behind him. Hansel and Gretel’s discovery in the dark of the spellbound children is eerily lit by flashlights under their chins. Costume designer Paul Carey pulls all the stops out for a wonderful mix of contemporary kid garb, outré carny getups, vaguely contemporary mom ‘n’ pop outfits and the witch’s bizarrely blowsy outfit. One problem has to do not with the update but with the lack of movement during the long orchestral interludes. The production needed good choreography, mime and/ physical movement to move the action along during these interludes; instead, the players seemed to be marking time until they could sing again. Perhaps some judicious cuts could have been made in the score. In the original tale, the witch’s gingerbread house tempts the hungry children and makes them vulnerable to her spells. To make the carnival food cart the source of their temptation separates it from the witch’s abode and dilutes the focus of terror. As a result, the trailer seems, well, cozy; the food cart remains inviting; and all the whirling deep-fat fryers in the world can’t re-focus the menace. That’s the problem with updates. Unless thoroughly thought out — and this had holes you could drive a Buick Roadmaster through — they can lose focus, make people laugh at the wrong lines and worse, take the emphasis off the beloved original story and, not least, Humperdinck’s enchanting music. Printer Friendly Format
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