Reviews 2013
Reviews 2013
✭✭✭✭✩
by Franz Lehár, directed by Guillermo Silva-Marin
Toronto Operetta Theatre, Jane Mallett Theatre, Toronto
December 27, 28, 29, 31, 2013, January 2, 3, 4, & 5, 2014
“You are my heart’s delight”
Toronto Operetta Theatre’s current production of The Land of Smiles is likely the strongest the company has yet presented of Franz Lehár’s East-meets-West operetta of 1929. The principals are excellent across the board, the TOT Orchestra under conductor Derek Bate plays with elegance and precision and Guillermo Silva-Marin’s staging is a model of clear and efficient storytelling.
The Land of Smiles (Das Land des Lächelns in the original) is one of operettas that Lehár wrote with his friend tenor Richard Tauber (1891-1948) in mind. The famous Tauberlied of the piece is “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz” (“You are my heart’s delight”) of Act 2, which became Tauber’s signature tune after the operetta’s success. To sing this demanding role, TOT has engaged Ernesto Ramírez. In its lower register his voice is lush and liquid and it retains warmth even in its upper register when it acquires an heroic Italianate tone. Ramírez makes a very sympathetic Prince Sou-Chong and even his outburst of anger against his beloved Lisa we understand as an expression of his frustration with the strictures of Chinese society in 1912. While “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz” may be the operetta’s best-known song, Ramírez renders such songs as “Von Apfelblüten einen Kranz” and “Immer nur lächeln” with great sensitivity and beauty.
Adam Fisher, who lent such energy to Raoul in TOT’s La Vie parisienne earlier this year, makes an excellent Captain Gustl. His Gustl is playful and charming but we see that his personality can never meet the depth of feeling that Lisa finds in Sou-Chong. He and Ciekiewicz make this touchingly clear in their duet “Friends” ( “Es ist nicht das erste Mal”). Fisher has an unfailingly attractive light tenor. Anyone who saw him in as Pedrillo in Opera Atelier’s The Abduction from the Seraglio this year will know what an accomplished physical performer he is. It’s too bad he’s not given more movement in this production.
Vania Chan and Cindy Zhang alternate in the role of Sou-Chong’s sister Mi. I saw Ms. Chan and she was thoroughly delightful. She has a lovely light soprano and is a very fine actor. Often directors suggest that Gustl transfers his affection for Lisa to Mi once he meets her in China. Silva-Marin does not do this. As a result this gives Mi greater depth. When Chan’s Mi realizes that Gustl is not in love with her but is still in love with Lisa, she makes us keenly feel Mi’s utter embarrassment and sorrow. The song “On the Pai-Ho” (“Willst du nicht das Märchen sehen”) is meant to lighten the mood after this revelation, but here Chan sings the cheery song not as a change of mood, but as if Mi is trying to cover up the sadness while in Gustl’s presence. I’ve never seen this interpretation before but Chan makes it work brilliantly and it suits the overall theme of “Immer nur lächeln”.
The stumbling block in most productions of Smiles is the role of the chief eunuch Chi-Fu. While the dialogue is updated to have Chi-Fu speak of himself as “testicularly challenged”, Silva-Marin has also integrated the character more fully into the action. Although he can’t do much with some of the lame jokes he’s given, Keenan Viau manages to avoid the temptation to overplay the role. If there is a flaw it is that he seems too benign in his first scenes to explain his malevolence towards Lisa and Gustl at the end.
As designer Silva-Marin admirably manages to conjure up the contrasting worlds of Vienna and China with a minimum of well chosen furniture and props. This elegant approach puts the emphasis, as always in TOT productions, firmly on the music and the story. The last production of Smiles that I saw was at the Komische Oper in Berlin in 2007. It featured appearances by Hitler, Stalin and Mao, an interpolated spoken scene about women’s oppression and a conclusion where Sou-Chong executes Lisa and Gustl. How refreshing to see the TOT production where the director allows the music and text to speak for themselves. Ramírez and Ciekiewicz makes this production a joy and Fisher and Chan’s contributions, not to mention the insightful account of the score from Derek Bate, only add to it. It is a bittersweet tale but one that makes you feel compassion for all those whose love is thwarted by politics or social conventions. What better way to see out the old year or see in the new but in a state of compassion – especially one brought about by such gorgeous music.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review will appear early next year in Opera News.
Photo: (from top) Keenan Viau as Chi-Fu with women of the court; Ernesto Ramírez and Lara Ciekiewicz. ©2013 Gary Beechey.
For tickets, visit www.torontooperetta.com.
2013-12-30
The Land of Smiles