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by Jean-Baptiste Lully, directed by Marshall Pynkoski

Opera Atelier, Elgin Theatre, Toronto

April 23-May 2, 2004

Opera Atelier first unveiled its spectacular production of Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Persée in 2000.  It was the first fully staged production of the 1682 work since Louis XV revived it in 1770 to open the new Opéra Royal at Versailles.  Opera Atelier’s production still counts as one of the company’s most lavish, but musically it was even more impressive this time around than in 2000.

The opera presents Perseus’ most famous deeds--the killing of the snake-haired Medusa, the rescue of Andromeda from a sea monster, and Perseus’ petrifaction of his enemies at court.  The seamless integration of ballet and spectacle with opera that the work demands is precisely the forte of director Marshall Pynkoski and choreographer Jeannette Zingg.  Pynkoski stages the scenes of spectacle with a wry wit that emphasizes the theatricality of 17th-century stage machinery.  Even within the strictures of stylized period gestures, Pynkoski brings out the detail of the human side of the story of thwarted love that dominates Philippe Quinault’s libretto.  The designs for the 1682 production inspired Gerard Gauci’s handsome forced-perspective backdrops and Dora Rust-D’Eye’s opulent costumes.

OA fielded an exceptionally strong cast.  Soprano Monica Whicher was superb as Mérope, whose hopeless love for Persée makes her the emotional center of the piece.  She sang with a lustrous tone and true poignancy that humanized the entire opera. As Phinée, engaged to Andromède and jealous of her love for Persée, Alain Coulombe used his velvety bass to lend nuance to his character’s perpetual rage.  The bronze timbre of French haute-contre Cyril Auvity tended to make his fine singing blend with the orchestra more than cut through it.  The voice of French mezzo soprano Marie Lenormand grew in nobility as Andromède.  American Stephanie Novacek sang Cassiope, whose pride has brought on the scourge of the Medusa, with a bright mezzo soprano but never forsook her proud demeanor even when supposedly chastened.  Agile bass baritone Olivier Laquerre sang the roles both of the swaggering king Céphée and of Méduse, here played with ripe comedy as a bearded drag queen cursed with especially bad hair.  Pure-toned tenor Colin Ainsworth gave a puckish air to the god Mercure.

Conductor Hervé Niquet chose generally brisk tempi that gave an overarching sweep to each act.  The 32-member Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra played as one producing tones of lush, sinewy beauty.  If Persée dazzled audiences in 2000, this revival confirmed it as one of the company’s greatest triumphs.         

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Opera News 2004-07.

Photo: Olivier Laquerre as Méduse. ©2004 Bruce Zinger.