Reviews 2001
Reviews 2001
✭✭✩✩✩
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, directed by Bruce Donnell
Canadian Opera Company, Hummingbird Centre, Toronto
April 7-22, 2001
“Great Singing, Little Drama”
The new Canadian Opera Company production of Mozart's "Idomeneo, Rè di Creta" provides an evening of exceptional music-making but very poor theatre. Unlike in "Billy Budd", with which it is alternating, in "Idomeneo" the elements of the production are not fully integrated and do little to heighten the opera's inherent drama.
"Idomeneo" (1781) is the first of what are often called Mozart's "seven great operas" but, along with "La Clemenza di Tito", is the least performed. Part of the reason for this is that it is a late example of "opera seria" ("serious opera" as opposed to "opera buffa") in which recitative and da capo arias alternate in stately procession and where the singers play static, generic types with little character development. Thus, there is none of the boisterousness of Mozart's two German "Singspiele" and little of the psychological sophistication of his three Da Ponte operas. Still, the invention of Mozart's music, with so many intimations of things to come, raises the work out of the confines of its genre, even if those strictures are still visible in its form, plot and characters. Given these generic aspects, the work needs the imagination of a good director to bring out its drama on stage.
The story of "Idomeneo" is much more coherent than many "opere serie" which often devolve into a series of loosely connected vocal showpieces. It is a Greek variant on the familiar story of Abraham and Issac or of Jephtha and his daughter. When Idomeneo, King of Crete, encounters a storm while sailing back from the Trojan War, he rashly promises to Poseidon (here "Nettuno") to sacrifice the first person he meets if the god brings him safely to shore. This person turns out to be his only son, Idamante. Idomeneo attempts to keep his vow a secret and seeks a way of fulfilling his oath, but Nettuno sends a storm and then a sea monster to punish Crete, until Idomeneo is forced to reveal his vow and realize the consequences it holds for Idamante, and the women in love with his son--Ilia, a captive Trojan princess, and Elettra, sister of the matricide Orestes.
With its Biblical echoes and its foretaste of many of the themes of "Die Zauberflöte", there is much material for a director to work with. Unfortunately, American director Bruce Donnell, long associated with the Metropolitan Opera, seems to be totally devoid of imagination. According to the announcement for the 2000-2001 season, Robin Phillips was to have directed both this and Verdi's "Otello" and to have designed a set to be adapted for use in both operas. But after the mounting of "Otello" last September, Phillips withdrew from "Idomeneo" citing "health reasons". Donnell is thus working with another's set and costumes, but that hardly explains why he seems not actually to have directed at all but merely to have blocked the action and let the singers fend for themselves as to interpretation and interaction. Indeed, even the blocking, especially for the chorus, is decorative not dramatic. Donnell's work may be sufficient for the Met, a proud purveyor of stodginess, but that approach is no longer sufficient in productions of early opera especially in a Toronto familiar with the meticulous preparation of Marshall Pynkowski for Opera Atelier and the wild creativity of Tom Diamond for the COC Ensemble.
Phillips may be famed as a director but he should leave the designing to others. The modern, curved metal staircase that was acceptable in Otello's Cyprus, is completely out of keeping with the squared, pseudo-Minoan entranceway it embraces. John Ferguson's pastel and earth-toned costumes are pleasant enough but unimaginative. Lesley Wilkinson's unsubtle lighting tries to place the action within a 24-hour period, from one dawn to the next, but she has lit so many scenes for mood that the general scheme is all but lost. Even Bengt Jörgen's choreography is afflicted by lack of invention.
The void left by Donnell's non-interpretation of the work is more than filled by Romanian conductor Nicolae Moldoveanu, who in many respects becomes de facto the director. By continually choosing perfect tempi, he is the one who maintains the drama of the piece. He draws crisp playing from the marvellous COC Orchestra making it sound very like a band of authentic instruments.
Despite the fact that the singers are left to their own devices in acting their roles, their singing is a feast for the ears. Michael Schade in title role proves again and again why his has become one of the world's foremost Mozart tenors. Using his agile, powerful voice, he gives us a portrait of a tortured mind whose misery increases the longer he conceals his terrible oath. Though otherwise in excellent vocal form, he did not toss off the difficult showpiece aria of Act 2, "Fuor del mar", with his usual aplomb. English mezzo Emma Selway plays Idamante, a role originally written for castrato. Selway both looks and plays the part of a male youth very well. While her lower range is quite lovely, in her upper range her voice tends to lose focus and lustre under pressure. Polish soprano Elzbieta Szmytka makes a welcome return as Idamante's beloved, Ilia. As in her two previous appearances with COC, her pure tone and vocal control continue to impress, making the Pamina-like "Se il padre perdei" of Act 2 particularly lovely.
The home-grown singers are just as impressive. Tenor Michael Colvin's voice has grown in power over the years, injecting a much-needed sense of urgency into both arias of Arbcace, Idomeneo's confidant. Bass Alain Coulombe give sumptuous voice to the Oracle in Act 3. Indeed, the most exciting singing of the evening comes from two current members of the Canadian Opera Ensemble. Elizabeth McDonald, in her mainstage debut, replaced French soprano Isabelle Vernet as Elettra, the woman who wants to pry Idamante away from Ilia. Singing with power, colour and agility, coupled with persuasive acting, she capped a thrilling performance with a terrific "D'Oreste, d'Aiace", during the course of which her character spirals into madness. In the smaller role of the High Priest of Neptune, tenor and former Stratford actor Roger Honeywell sings with such command and heroic tone, his entrance in Act 3 seems to invigorate the whole opera.
One could not help feeling proud at the curtain call to see that of the eleven talented singers, nine were Canadian--all the more unfortunate, then, that their fine effort should be undermined by such poor stage direction. COC General Director Richard Bradshaw has said that good opera must also be good theatre. It's too bad this production should be an exception.
Photo: Elizabeth McDonald, Michael Schade, Emma Selway and Elzbieta Szmytka. ©2001 Canadian Opera Company.
2001-04-20
Idomeneo