Reviews 2009
Reviews 2009
✭✭✭✩✩
by Omar Daniel, directed by Tom Diamond
Tapestry New Opera Works,
Berkeley Street Theatre Downstairs, Toronto
May 21-30, 2009
The Shadow, a 90-minute opera by composer Omar Daniel to a libretto by Alex Poch-Goldin, was one of the most successful of Tapestry New Opera Works’ recent commissions. Daniel showed real talent as a opera composer while Poch-Goldin created a story that combined humor with an ever-increasing tension. The full house at the opera’s final performance (seen May 30, 2009) and the work’s enthusiastic reception suggested that this new opera definitely has a future.
The story take place in Barcelona amidst the weird colonnades of Gaudì’s Park Güell, looking in Camellia’s Koo’s attractive set like dinosaur legs with the Barcelona skyline along its back. In Gaudì’s day a strange practise of debt-collection was in force. If a client did not repay money borrowed from the Mafia, he would be followed everywhere by a “Shadow” in top hat and tails who would publicly announce the client’s indebtedness wherever he appeared. Poch-Goldin imagines Raoul, an introverted postman, who falls in love with Allegra, the daughter of a wealthy man on his route. To realize his dreams Raoul borrows money from the local Don and lavishly woos Allegra as the extroverted “Hernando”. Soon enough the Shadow appears, a character who may also be a figment of Raoul’s guilty imagination.
Daniel’s complex, highly imaginative score combined the spiky rhythms of the Neoclassical Stravinsky with the dense harmonics of Alban Berg. Each person in the opera was characterized by a collection of instruments within the seven-member band--Raoul by the strings, the Shadow by a jazz ensemble. Further, Raoul and Allegra had themes particular to their inner and outer natures, the latter employing Spanish dance rhythms. The baritone Raoul frequently sang falsetto to express his dreams while his Shadow, a counter-tenor, often used his chest voice to menace Raoul. Chimes sounded throughout, a reminder of life’s brevity.
Peter McGillivray used his rich, resonant baritone to create an immediately engaging portrait of the tragicomic Raoul. Daniel gave Carla Huhtanen numerous opportunities to display her pure soprano and effortless coloratura as Allegra, a character one wished Poch-Goldin had given more substance. Counter-tenor Scott Belluz commanded a full, rounded tone and clearly relished the role of the elegant, eerie Shadow. Theodore Baerg lent his mature baritone to the money-loving Don, while Daniel gave tenor Keith Klassen a humorous showpiece aria, performed with gusto, in his small role as a waiter. Under conductor Wayne Strongman the Tapestry Ensemble played with precision and great feeling for both the opera’s humor and its underlying sadness.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in Opera News 2009-09.
Photo: Scott Belluz. ©Michael Cooper.
2009-09-01
The Shadow