Category: Music

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ASR Opera ~~ Political Incorrection at San Jose’s California Theater

By Jeff Dunn

In 1832, Victor Hugo had a play produced in Paris about a serial rapist and murderer, a brother-sister pair of cutthroats, a gang of kidnappers, and a hunchbacked provocateur who berates everyone and imprisons his daughter. All of these characters escape the law. Is this politically correct? It wasn’t in 1832 when it was banned in France as an insult to the monarchy, nor was it in 1851 when Verdi and his librettist Piave retold the same story.

Hugo’s rapist was the King of France, who hung the Mona Lisa in his bathroom, and the play was called The King Has Fun. Verdi and Piave squeaked by Austrian censors in Venice by making all the characters Mantuan instead of French, and naming their opera Rigoletto. Far from being banned, the opera has spread throughout the world like Covid, its many jaunty tunes inoculating audiences into enjoying themselves while at the same time being reminded of how abuse of power is the chief ill of civilization.

… Conductor Jorge Parodi did a fine job of pacing the proceedings …

Among the range of interpretations for this constantly reproduced staple of the repertoire, San Jose Opera’s take is somberly traditional. Howard Tsvi Kaplan’s dark and musty costumes evoke the 16th century. Steven C. Kemp’s sets are nondescript black and dingy, except Rigoletto’s brilliant white-and-red home or, instead, keep, that is supposed to protect his innocent daughter from the Duke of Mantua and his court. Director Dan Wallace Miller adds two gruesome deviations from the norm: Rigoletto’s congenital hunchback is instead a hideous red scar branding his bald pate, and the Duke has syphilis.

Count Ceprano (Glenn Healy, back center) and courtiers have no pity for the jester Rigoletto (Eugene Brancoveanu, front center) in Opera San José’s production of Verdi’s “Rigoletto”. Photo credit: David Allen

Performances fit well into Wallace’s gloomy vision. Eugene Brancoveanu’s obnoxious grizzly bear of a Rigoletto makes the courtiers and the audience wince, but his notes are spot on. At the conclusion, his grief is a Niagran force of nature. Edward Graves, a newcomer to the role of the Duke, also fits the director’s tone with his accurate voice, despondent more than joyfully playing the field. Melissa Sondhi, as Gilda, conveys innocence as puzzlement while negotiating her complex music.

The Duke of Mantua (Edward Graves, left) and his jester Rigoletto (Eugene Brancoveanu, right) at work. Photo credit: David Allen

Standout performances were contributed by Philip Skinner as the wronged Count Monterone and Ashraf Sewailam as the principled murderer-for-hire Sparafucile. Melisa Bonetti Luna’s expressive acting was a great plus, though, in this reviewer’s opinion, her voice was occasionally overshadowed by others. Conductor Jorge Parodi did a fine job of pacing the proceedings. Most impressive was the Opera Chorus of courtiers and kidnappers, meticulously prepared by Johannes Löhner.

The jester Rigoletto (Eugene Brancoveanu, center) entertains the Duke of Mantua’s courtiers in Opera San José’s production of Verdi’s “Rigoletto” playing thru March 3, 2024 at the California Theatre in downtown San Jose. Photo credit: David Allen

While Miller’s approach is undoubtedly defensible, I wonder if Verdi’s message would be better conveyed by even greater present-day incorrectness. If a director pretended to endorse the duke’s and courtier’s predations with cheery carryings-on and bright colors, if women happily allowed men to have their way, that murder was a trip to the nearest 7-11 in a Death of Stalin milieu, maybe some in the audience might question power structures more strongly.

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ASR’s Classical Music Section Editor, Jeff Dunn, is a retired educator and project manager who’s been writing music and theater reviews for Bay Area and national journals since 1995. He is a San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle member and the National Association of Composers, USA. His musical Castle Happy (co-author John Freed), about Marion Davies and W.R. Hearst, received a festival production at the Altarena Theater in 2017. His opera, Finding Medusa, with librettist Madeline Puccioni, was completed in January 2023. Jeff has won photography prizes and is also a judge for the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs.

ProductionRigoletto
Based on a play byVictor Hugo
Libretto byFrancesco Maria Piave
Stage DirectionDan Wallace Miller
Producing CompanySan Jose Opera
Production DatesThru Mar 3rd
Production AddressCalifornia Theater -
345 S First St, San Jose, CA 95113
Websitewww.operasj.org
Telephone(408) 437-4450
Tickets$50- $195
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall3.5/5
Performance3.5/5
Music4.75/5.0
Libretto4/5
Stagecraft3/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?No
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ASR Music ~~ ‘70s Pop Icon Freda Payne Honors Ella Fitzgerald at Marin Showcase Theatre

By Barry Willis

One-time events can be difficult for reviewers because repeat performances may or may not come again. That’s the case with 1970s pop star Freda Payne and her February 16 A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald at the Marin Showcase Theatre.

Famed primarily for her hit song “Band of Gold,” one that seemed to be in continuous play throughout the years leading up to the disco era, Payne is still youthful and beautiful, with a shimmering alto voice and confident stage presence. Her approximately two-hour performance in the nearly-sold-out Showcase was delightful.

Freda Payne. Photos supplied by Jon Finck

Backed by a superb three-piece band (Larry Dunlap, piano; Leon Joyce, Jr., drums; and Gary Brown, bass), Payne recited Fitzgerald’s history as between-songs patter while plowing through her many iconic recordings, such as “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” “Sweet Georgia Brown,” “It Don’t Mean A Thing,” “How High the Moon,” and the crowd-pleasing “Mack the Knife.” The American Songbook figured prominently during the evening, with compositions by Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Hoagy Carmichael, and many others.

Fitzgerald’s oeuvre included jazz standards covered by many other artists, not merely during her decades as a musical force, but right up to the present day. Payne’s showbiz history includes working with such legends as Duke Ellington, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Sarah Vaughan, Quincy Jones, Omar Sharif, Liza Minelli, Pearl Bailey, Johnny Mathis, Leslie Uggams, the Four Tops, Gregory and Maurice Hines, Della Reese, and actor/pianist Jeff Goldblum.

… Payne is still youthful and beautiful, with a shimmering alto voice and confident stage presence …

While Payne’s timbre doesn’t match Fitzgerald’s seductive contralto, she gets the phrasing and tempo just right, especially while riffing a la Ella. During the first set she shared the stage with New Orleans native and Oakland-based jazz singer Kenny Washington, called by the SF Chronicle “the superman of the Bay Area jazz scene.”

Kenny Washington. Photos supplied by Jon Finck.

Washington is a tremendous performer with gifts for both music and comedic self-deprecation. He appears nationally and internationally with The Joe Locke Group, while pursuing a busy solo schedule. Pairing him with Payne was a special treat for the very enthusiastic audience, who enjoyed a post-show meet-and-greet with the headliner and an opportunity to get signed copies of Payne’s autobiography.

With decades of Broadway performances, TV shows, and a collection of 21 albums to her credit, Payne portrayed Ella Fitzgerald in Ella: The First Lady of Song, written by Lee Summers and conceived/directed by Maurice Hines, Jr. in acclaimed performances nationwide. She will reprise that role this summer at Michigan’s Meadow Brook Theatre. Payne’s new single, “Just to Be with You” is scheduled for release this year.

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Aisle Seat Review NorCal Executive Editor Barry Willis is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and president of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. Contact: barry.m.willis@gmail.com

 

 

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PICK! ASR Opera ~~ Unfinished Business at West Bay Opera

By Jeff Dunn

For a long time, I was wondering if Corpus Evita was the correct title for West Bay’s latest offering in Palo Alto. It’s a sequence of scenes—roughly connected, suffused with contradictory elements—that swirl in the past, present, and future about the troubled 1974-76 presidency of Argentina’s Isabel Perón and the legacy of Juan Perón’s previous wife, Eva.

It was Isabel’s mistakes and ouster that began the murderous military dictatorship of 1976-83, El Proceso. In the opera’s strongest scene, Isabel begs for forgiveness, an act the now 93-year-old has never performed publicly. The opera’s librettist claims that were she to do so, it “would be cathartic for a society that’s still divided about what happened back then.” Yet the opera is not named Isabel, not Eva, but Corpus Evita, the embalmed corpse of Eva.  Why?

Scene 5. (L-R): Isabel, Ministro, Ghosts of Eva and Perón. Background, members of WBO chorus. Photo credit Otak Jump.

The answer gradually dawned on me: There are two Eva Peróns. There is the myth of Evita as “patron saint of public spending, labor pampering, and largesse to the underprivileged” (The Atlantic, October 1952). Then there is her literal, trundled-about corpse representing a past that can never be recreated. The opera depicts both with two singers, respectively, lovely soprano Jessica Sandridge and the imposing Laure de Marcellus. But the title betrays the creators’ preference. In the words of the librettist, “People keep returning to the myth and they keep voting for it. And politicians keep handing out benefits that the country’s economy can ill afford, in a never-ending downward spiral.”

… When hope is suffused with nostalgia, as in the Evita myth, the result can be dangerous, unfinished business …

And who are the creators? Lorenz Russo–concept, Carlos Franzetti–music, and Jose Luis Moscovich, West Bay Opera General Director, Music Director, Stage Director–Librettist. All were present at the performance, and there was no question it was a labor of love, resplendently executed by a terrific set of soloists and chorus.

Scene 6. (L-R): Isabel and Ministro’s ghost. Photo credit Otak Jump.

White-suited tenor Patrick Bessenbacher was particularly impressive as sinister “Ministro” Lopez Rega, the Svengali with mystic influence over Isabel. Sara LeMesh was outstanding as Isabel, along with Casey Germain as Perón and Anders Froehlich as the Doctor.

Of all the wonderful aspects of the evening, the most stunning was the set and projection design by Peter Crompton, with gorgeous overlapping projections on three screens. Example: the final scene culminates in an apotheosis of Evita glowing with light with Statue of Liberty rays that suddenly morph to blood red as armed guerillas march out by Sandridge’s side.

Projections showing their magic in “Corpus Evita”. Photo credit Otak Jump.

When hope is suffused with nostalgia, as in the Evita myth, the result can be dangerous, unfinished business. When I heard Fanzetti’s gorgeous orchestrations in a 100-year-old Ravel-like milieu, I was at first confused until I realized they could apply to the Evita and not the Corpus. A bit more modernism in the Corpus music might have been helpful in emphasizing the temporal distinction.

Scene 4. (L-R) Isabel, Ministro, WBO Orchestra, Maestro José Luis Moscovich. Photo credit Otak Jump.

I could not justify in my mind a different, unfinished structural aspect: the abrupt breaks between scene changes, and the intermission break after, not before, a so-called Entr’Acte, a pantomimed scene in a torture chamber.

And finally, I feel a deeper impression would be made on audiences if additional transition music were composed and this compelling opera were performed without a break.

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ASR’s Classical Music Section Editor Jeff Dunn is a retired educator and project manager who’s been writing music and theater reviews for Bay Area and national journals since 1995. He is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and the National Association of Composers, USA. His musical Castle Happy (co-author John Freed), about Marion Davies and W.R. Hearst, received a festival production at the Altarena Theater in 2017. His opera, Finding Medusa, with librettist Madeline Puccioni, was completed in January 2023. Jeff has won prizes for his photography, and is also a judge for the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs.

ProductionCorpus Evita. Based on a concept by Lorenz Russo.
Music byCarlos Franzetti
Libretto & Stage Direction by Jose Luis Moscovich
Producing CompanyWest Bay Opera
Production DatesThru Feb 25th
Production AddressLucie Stern Auditorium
Websitewww.wbopera.org
Telephone(650) 424-9999
Tickets$43- $115
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4/5
Performance4/5
Music3/5/5
Libretto4/5
Stagecraft4.5/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?YES!
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ASR Theater ~~ Sounds of the Whale: “Moby Dick” at Stanford

By Jeff Dunn

In 2009, blogger Eric Lanke reported after his sixth full reading of Moby Dick that “the novel is clearly a White Whale in and of itself, denying in its aloofness our attempts to define and understand it.”

This year, yet another Ahab is trying to figure out the monster: filmmaker Wu Tsang. She and her collective have created a 75-minute film that requires a live-orchestra accompaniment. Released early this year, it has graced many venues from Zurich to Sydney.

Her interpretations of 20 or so chapters of the book’s 136 are beautiful, challenging, and complex. The work has already moved on to L.A. after a single performance at Stanford on November 8th—I will not provide an overall review. (An excellent one by Duncan Stuart is here: https://exitonly.substack.com/p/on-not-reading-herman-melville-or.)

 … beautiful, challenging, and complex …

Instead, the question: Is a movie with live music better than one with a soundtrack? In the case of Wu Tsang’s Moby Dick, or The Whale at Stanford’s Bing Auditorium, both were a part of the production, and can be compared. Live music by the New Century Chamber Orchestra was the winner.

Reasons were many:

Number one was the natural string-section acoustics that no electronic version could match. Talkies were the death knell of pianos, organs and orchestras that used to accompany films in the 1920s. Lip synching and the removal of intertitles increased realism and audience engagement, trumping any concerns about the degradation of acoustic quality. On November 3, 1987 however, musical immediacy was restored when Andre Previn and the L.A. Philharmonic accompanied Eisenstein’s subtitled film Alexander Nevsky with Prokofiev’s original music for it. Since then, particularly in the last 15 years “live to projection” concerts have become an audience hit. Improved technologies have made the process considerably easier to produce.

Number two was the quality of the string music itself, composed by Caroline Shaw and Andrew Yee. Never did it distract from the action on screen, but often its subtleties enhanced the emotionality of the moment. I was particularly impressed by the hymn-like effect of the music for Tsang’s interpretation of the “Cabin-table” chapter, where Ahab presided over dinner with his officers “like a mute, maned sea lion.” Also, in the “Queequeg in his coffin” chapter, glissandi in the basses and cellos struck me with eerie effect. My only disappointment in the music was when it had to accompany nearly 10 minutes of credits at the end. That was the time when the banality of the proceedings on screen demanded something more alluring to the ear.

Number three was the superb conducting by Christopher Rountree and faultless intonation of the 18 members of the chamber ensemble. Number four was the acoustics of the Bing, enhanced by the giant whale shape gracing its ceiling.

Number five was one of the worst defects of the film: the soundtrack itself. Acoustically, like so many tracks in theaters today, it was loud and woofer-heavy. This was okay for some of the mysterious electronica added by Asma Maroof, but it undercut the frequent voice-overs and lips-synchs by collective member Fred Moten, who plays a somewhat audience-confusing, non-Melvillian character called the Sub-Sub-Librarian. According to Tsang, this person magically “tackles the novel’s subterranean currents” while living in a library inside the whale.

From time to time, Moten recites Melville or Moten’s own poetry. Unfortunately, his words are not subtitled; this reviewer found about half of them unintelligible and not favored by the recording. The result is inadequately justified confusion that can distract from the work’s many other strengths — including, of course, the on-stage music.

When Tsang produces a commercial video of her mostly wonderful and stimulating film, some of the lovely live-music qualities will no doubt be lost, but at least, I hope, more sense will be made of the “subterranean” mariner.

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ASR’s Classical Music Section Editor Jeff Dunn is a retired educator and project manager who’s been writing music and theater reviews for Bay Area and national journals since 1995. He is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and the National Association of Composers, USA. His musical Castle Happy (co-author John Freed), about Marion Davies and W.R. Hearst, received a festival production at the Altarena Theater in 2017. His opera, Finding Medusa, with librettist Madeline Puccioni, was completed in January 2023. Jeff has won prizes for his photography, and is also a judge for the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs.

ProductionMoby Dick; or 'The Whale'
Based on the book byHerman Melville
Directed byWu Tsang
Producing CompanySchauspielhaus Zurich
Production DatesThru Nov 8th
Production AddressBing Concert Hall, Stanford CA 94305
Websitewww.live.stanford.edu
Telephone
(650) 724-2464
Tickets$48
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall3.5/5
Performance4.0/5
Screenplay3.5/5
Music3.5/5
Stagecraft4.0/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?-----
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ASR Music ~~ Adversity Brings Close-up Concert Series by Marin Symphony

By Cari Lynn Pace

There’s good reason folks affectionately tagged Marin Symphony “the freeway philharmonic.” Many of its award-winning musicians have travelled to play with the symphonies in San Jose, Oakland, and Santa Rosa. As of now, the entire Marin Symphony can be found scooting up and down 101.

Without a permanent concert hall to call their own, this beloved orchestra has used the Marin Center as their venue for over 50 years. Last year seismic updating caused the facility to shut down. “These challenges have given us the opportunity to build our muscles and flexibility…our resourcefulness in the face of adversity,” explained Executive Director Tod Brody.

And resourceful they are!

Marin Symphony took their talented musicians on the road and landed their instruments right in the audiences’ laps, so to speak. Downsizing the orchestra and creating chamber quartets gave the group new freedom of venues. Their current schedule of nineteen classical performances is spread throughout Marin, in country clubs, churches, and schools from Tiburon to Novato.

“Audiences can be up close and personal to really feel the music vibrating just a few feet from them…”

Audiences can be up close and personal to really feel the music vibrating just a few feet from them. The first performance at the Marin Country Club held the audience spellbound as an intimate chamber quartet of flute, cello, and piano performed Farrenc’s “Trio in E Minor”. The awe continued as a sextet of flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, and piano took their places to reveal a lyrical composition by Poulenc.

To cap off Act II, eight musicians doubled up in pairs to raise the bar with Mozart’s “Serenade for Winds in E flat”. It was fascinating to watch the precision and concentration of each musician just a few feet away. Fingers zipped on the clarinets, the burnished bassoon gave forth deep toots, and an oboe musician puffed out her cheeks, reminding us of the breath control required to play such an instrument. The horn players intermittently turned their instruments to ease out the moisture which always collects. These entrancing details are typically overlooked on a large stage, and the audience loved every minute.

The Marin Symphony alternates these small intimate performances with larger yet close-in gatherings. Their upcoming chamber orchestra performance will be guest-conducted by Edwin Outwater, and will feature flutist MyungJu Yeo. The program of Stravinsky, Mozart, and Beethoven takes place at the College of Marin, James Dunn Theatre, on Nov 11 & 12, 2023.

In December, the Marin Symphony Chamber Chorus and the Marin Girls Chorus join the Symphony’s brass and percussion musicians for their annual Holiday Choral Concert at St. Raphael Church in San Rafael. It’s sure to be a sellout on December 2 and 3, 2023.

For a full schedule of Marin Symphony performances into May of 2024, go to MarinSymphony.org or call 415-479-8100. Single tickets and subscriptions are available.

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ASR Writer & Editor Cari Lynn Pace is a voting member of SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and writes theatre and lifestyle reviews for the Marinscope Community Newspapers throughout Marin County. Contact: pace-koch@comcast.net

 

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PICK! ASR Music/Opera! ~~ San Francisco Opera’s New Wave

By Jeff Dunn

Steve Jobs rode the crests of waves of computer technology that have transformed society.

In The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs we experience his growth, wipeout, and spiritual arrival on a farther shore. The opera is a triumphal result of Mason Bates’ continually engaging, effervescent score; Mark Campbell’s tersely masterful 18-scene libretto; the design teams’ fabulous blending of set, lighting, sound, and projections; and flawless orchestral and vocal performances under the direction of Michael Christie. It is not to be missed.

Bille Bruley as Steve Wozniak and John Moore as Steve Jobs. Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

Most significant to me was Bates’ mastery of orchestration, and deepening range of emotive expression. Rather than use melodic leitmotivs as Wagner did to distinguish characters, he uses groups of instruments: guitar and percussion for Jobs (superb baritone Joseph Lattanzi), strings for his wife (luscious mezzo Sasha Cooke), flutes for his earlier girlfriend (plaintive soprano Olivia Smith), saxophones for his Apple 1 partner (powerful tenor Bille Bruley), and Asian gongs and other flavorings for his Zen mentor (rich bass Wei Wu).

…Most significant to me was Bates’ mastery of orchestration…

In Bates’ earlier orchestral music, I heard an heir to John Adams’ post-minimalist aesthetic leavened by experimentation with added electronica. But in Jobs, Bates has matured beyond Adams with the use of tonal and triadic effects to inject warm-heartedness into the mix via the string section, much as the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara did in his ground-breaking Cantus Arcticus and later symphonies.

Members of the SF Opera Chorus in “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.” Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

Campbell’s dramatic and often ironic instincts are ever present. Jobs is worth its price in gold for Scene 12 alone. In it, Jobs browbeats his Apple 1 co-creator into quitting, denies siring his live-in girlfriend’s child, rejects seven proposals from seven different designers, refuses to support the girlfriend financially, even after DNA proof, and gets kicked to tech “Siberia” by his company’s board. Jobs tries to explain it all in the next scene to his post-mortem spiritual advisor, “I was only seeking perfection.” All of this is peppered with Bates’ most frenetic accompaniments.

The staging by Victoria Tzykun is simplistic, with giant monoliths silently wheeled around by (mostly) unseen “mover” stage staff. On these are projected a dazzling array of computer-board circuits, lighting effects, and contemplative outdoor scenes. This eye candy has many calories, appropriate to the vast fortunes swirling about Silicon Valley.

Sasha Cooke as Laurene Powell Jobs and John Moore as Steve Jobs in Mason Bates and Mark Campbell’s “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.” Photo: Cory Weaver/SF Opera

Finally, near the close of the opera, Campbell has Job’s wife deliver a moral to a communication-obsessed society: “Glance at the smile of the person sitting right there next to you. Look up, look out, look around. Be here now.” I did so and wondered, will technology take us safely to a New World beach, or will we too wipe out, even more permanently? I think Surfer Steve tells us in this opera that we will make it.

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Jeff Dunn is ASR’s Classical Music Section Editor. A retired educator and project manager, he’s been writing music and theater reviews for Bay Area and national journals since 1995. He is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and the National Association of Composers, USA.

His musical Castle Happy (co-author John Freed), about Marion Davies and W.R. Hearst, received a festival production at the Altarena Theater in 2017. His opera Finding Medusa, with librettist Madeline Puccioni, was completed in January 2023. Jeff has won prizes for his photography, and is also a judge for the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs.

ProductionThe (R)evolution of Steve Jobs
Musical DirectionMichael Christie
Stage DirectionKevin Newbury
Producing CompanySan Francisco Opera
Production DatesThru Oct 7th
Production Address301 Van Ness Ave, SF, CA
Websitewww.sfopera.com
Telephone(415) 392-4400
Tickets$33-$426
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4.5/5
Performance4.5/5
Libretto5.0/5
Stagecraft4.5/5
Aisle Seat Review PICK?YES!
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ASR Theater ~~ TTC Enchants at Beltane Ranch

By Barry Willis

Transcendence Theatre Company has another winner on its hands with An Enchanted Evening at the sprawling Beltane Ranch in Glen Ellen. The song-and-dance extravagance runs through September 17.

Directed by TTC co-founder Brad Surosky, the two-hour show features eleven supremely talented singers/dancers/actors and a supremely talented on-stage band—choreography by Michael Callahan, music direction by Matt Smart.

TTC’s “An Enchanted Evening” and Taylor Noll, Whitney Cooper, Alloria Frayser, Alyson Snyder, Emma Grimsley, Michael Callahan

Collectively they take their large outdoor audience on a hike down the memory lane of decades of pop music—some of it from classic stage musicals and some of it, Top 40 radio hits including at least one country song and one from the Motown catalog.

…There’s something for everyone in this diverse, marvelously engaging production—even an aria by Puccini…

Opening with “Pure Imagination” from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the show then kicks into high gear with a mash-up of “I Put a Spell on You” and “Love Potion Number Nine.” An extended “Moon Medley” includes several songs with “moon” in the title or featured prominently in the lyrics. There’s a long, fun moment of audience participation, some bits of goofy comedic improvisation, but mostly two hours of tremendous singing and dancing from a deeply talented cast. Their playbill bios are especially impressive given their apparent youthfulness.

Emma Grimsley, Alloria Frayser, Alyson Snyder, Michael Schimmele, Whitney Cooper, Joey Khoury, Michael Callahan in “An Enchanted Evening.”

 

TTC has managed to correct a couple of minor problems that marred the opener of The Full Monty—the too-low stage and seats that had the audience staring directly into the backs of those sitting in front of them. It’s all good now—clear views for everyone, and now that it’s late summer, no squinting into the sun during the first act.

Colin Campbell Mcadoo, Joey Khoury, Michael Schimmele, Nathan Andrew Riley at work.

The show is a glorious way to spend a late summer evening. Early arrivals can enjoy a variety of vittles from several food trucks parked onsite, and wines from several Sonoma County vintners.

Whitney Cooper and Kyle White in “An Enchanted Evening by TTC.

TTC isn’t exaggerating in describing An Enchanted Evening as “a magical night of Broadway and beyond”—as truthful a tagline as one can imagine. It’s all that and more.

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ASR Executive Editor Barry Willis is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and president of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. Contact: barry.m.willis@gmail.com

 

ProductionAn Enchanted Evening
Written byTranscendence Theater Co.
Directed byBrad Surosky
Producing CompanyTranscendence Theatre Company
Production DatesThru Sept 17th
Production AddressBeltane Ranch
Glen Ellen, CA
Websitewww.transcendencetheatre.org
Telephone(877) 424-1414. Toll free,
Tickets$35-$49
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall3.75/5.0
Performance4.0/5.0
Script3.5/5.0
Stagecraft3.0/5.0
Aisle Seat Review Pick?----
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PICK! ASR Theater ~~ “Soul Train Musical” Roars into San Francisco

By Barry Willis

A party atmosphere greeted the arrival of Hippest Trip – the Soul Train Musical last week at American Conservatory Theater. Brightly-attired fans spilled out into the street in front of the theater and filled it to capacity for the world premiere of Dominique Morisseau’s dazzling retrospective of the long-running television show and its founder Don Cornelius, wonderfully directed by Kamilah Forbes.

The cast of “HIPPEST TRIP – The Soul Train Musical”. Photo credit: Kevin Berne & Alessandra Mello

San Francisco mayor London Breed further amped up the crowd with a high-energy pre-show pep talk delivered from one of the most imaginative sets ever created for a big-production musical: a giant old-school TV set surrounded by extravagant neon in the rich brown and orange of early 1970s psychedelia, running up the walls and onto the ceiling of ACT’s Toni Rembe Theater—a brilliant effort by scenic designer Jason Sherwood.

…one of the most engaging musicals to land in San Francisco this year…

The incredibly confident Quentin Earl Darrington stars as Don Cornelius, a former Chicago journalist who grew tired of producing stories about crime and misery. He envisioned an upbeat dance-and-music show that would uplift his community. Through sheer willpower he made it a reality—first in his home town, then in Los Angeles, and then nationwide. New episodes aired every Saturday, and as Soul Train gained popularity, older episodes were available as re-runs.

Pam Brown (Amber Iman) and Don Cornelius (Quentin Earl Darrington). Photo credit: Kevin Berne & Alessandra Mello

Thanks to Cornelius’ tireless campaigning, the show featured top talents from the Stax and Motown labels—acts such as Gladys Knight and the Pips, the Four Tops—and superstars such as James Brown. Soul Train was hugely popular not only with its target market, but with music fans of all varieties. His tireless efforts yielded tremendous results, at the expense of alienating him from his family and ultimately provoking a divorce from his loyal wife Delores, evocatively portrayed by Angela Birchett.

In a resonant baritone, Darrington recites the Cornelius tale in the first person, directly to the audience, while other essential parts of the story are conveyed through what we can only assume are historically accurate sketches—and by lots of spectacular dancing propelled by an equally spectacular band. Kudos to choreographer Camille A. Brown and music supervisor Kenny Seymour.

The musical context is very much linear. The early days of Soul Train were a showcase for 1960s soul music, the favorite genre of the show’s founder and host.

Kayla Davion (Jody Watley) and the cast of “HIPPEST TRIP – The Soul Train Musical”. Photo credit: Kevin Berne & Alessandra Mello

Like swing era bandleader Glenn Miller, Cornelius imagined that his preferred music would endure forever, and was dismayed—if not blind-sided—by the rise of disco in the mid-to-late 1970s. Disco was a market disrupter for all kinds of pop music, and Cornelius ultimately relented, promoting disco acts such as the trio Shalamar, whose female singer Jody Watley (Kayla Davion) went on to have a solo career. He was further annoyed by the rise of hip-hop, a genre that originated at the same time as disco but proved to have much more staying power. Disco faded—1979 was reportedly the peak year for sales of vinyl records—but hip-hop and its offshoots remain dominant musical forces today.

Cornelius was further irked by the emergence of New Jack Swing, exemplified by Bobby Brown’s hard-rocking 1980s hit “My Prerogative”—in this show, a music-and-dance performance so stunning that it provoked a spontaneous standing ovation in the second act. This reviewer has attended thousands of productions, but until September 6 had never seen such an outpouring of enthusiasm and appreciation. Opening night was truly astounding.

An obsessed, well-intentioned visionary, Cornelius was nonetheless no angel. One of his sons was estranged, but Tony Cornelius (Sidney Dupont) signed on as his overbearing dad’s apprentice, and gradually worked his way into management of the Soul Train empire, a position he holds today. (A very informative interview between Tony and the playwright is included in the playbill. The real Tony Cornelius was at ACT on opening night, as was Morisseau, who delivered a heartfelt speech at closing.)

Perhaps the worst shortcoming of the elder Cornelius was his refusal to pay Soul Train dancers, even after the show was an undeniable big-ticket hit. He found his initial cadre at a Los Angeles recreation center, where they were being mentored by a kind-hearted woman named Pam Brown (Amber Iman), who became Cornelius’ loyal production assistant. Iman is a wonderfully compelling performer with a glorious singing voice. As with “My Prerogative,” she provoked sustained applause in almost every scene.

Roukijah “NutellaK” Rooks and the cast of “HIPPEST TRIP – The Soul Train Musical”. Photo credit: Kevin Berne & Alessandra Mello

There’s a tertiary thread in the show’s narrative where some dancers discuss going on strike until they realize they can’t demand higher wages if they aren’t being paid at all. Spunky dancer Rosie Perez (Mayte Natalio) repeatedly demands a contract, but only with lawyers present, a demand that her boss consistently rebuffs. The tight-fisted Cornelius may have harbored a fear that his eminently seaworthy ship might spring a leak at any moment.

All of this—personal and professional alike—is woven into one of the most engaging musicals to land in San Francisco this year. Both deeply informative and wildly entertaining, Hippest Trip – The Soul Train Musical is a hugely important piece of American cultural history. There aren’t enough stars in our ratings system to shower all the praise it deserves. It is without question the most important show now running in San Francisco.

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ASR Executive Editor Barry Willis is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and president of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. Contact: barry.m.willis@gmail.com

 

ProductionHippest Trip – The Soul Train Musical
Written by Dominique Morisseau
Directed byKamilah Forbes
Producing CompanyAmerican Conservatory Theater
Production DatesThrough Oct 8th
Production AddressToni Rembe Theater
415 Geary Street
San Francisco, CA
Websiteact-sf.org
Telephone(415) 749-2228
Tickets$25 - $130
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4.75/5.0
Performance4.75/5.0
Script4.75/5.0
Stagecraft4.75/5.0
Aisle Seat Review Pick?YES!
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ASR Theater ~~ Meta-American Dreams: “Thanks For Playing: The Game Show Show” in San Jose

By Jeff Dunn

Game shows are the American Dream. “It could be me on that stage; Imagine winning all that money!” you might think. Well imagine attending San Jose Playhouse’s revival of their Thanks for Playing! The Game Show Show—you might think, “I love musicals! This one might be fun!” Not only might it be fun–in this one, you too might be contestant! And win an ironic box of Ramen.

The show is the brainchild of Scott Evan Guggenheim, with book and lyrics by his wife Shannon Guggenheim, and music by Shannon, her brother-in-law Stephen Guggenheim and Thomas Tomasello. It is billed as the “final revision” of the musical that premiered in 2010 and was reexamined by its creators in 2012 and 2020. I did not see the first version, although a few excerpts on YouTube indicate that while some songs have been dropped/replaced, the sets and props remain fairly much the same.

…Historical Note: 390 backers pledged $51,648  on Kickstarter to help bring this project to life, back in 2012-14…

And the best part of the show does seem to be the same: the high energy and accurate singing of its eight on-stage performers, the feeling they project of having a jolly good time together and wanting to carry the audience happily along with them in a slurry of upbeat tempos. And Julie Engelbrecht’s sets intensify the atmosphere with its palette of colors borrowed the from late 60’s show Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, not to mention her inventive costumes, one collection of which turned the cast into a giant slot machine.

Photo credit to Dave Lepori. — The cast at work as a collective slot machine!

The more problematic part of the show is the first act. Shannon herself plays Frankie Marks, a Game-show-history buff. We are told she’s attending the 70th anniversary of the first TV game show at Studio 84 in NYC (this would be in 2008). Very quickly, she is given the offer to play a mysterious “game” by an unseen godlike Announcer. She accepts, and is magically sent back into the beginning of a game show called “Secret Square” starting in the early 1950s.

As the show evolves, the Announcer periodically offers options to change history or even revise game-show personalities. I don’t know if this Meta-Announcer business is new to this revised version, but this reviewer found it confusing at first, and didn’t feel that changing history or personalities added much to the humor. (Suggestion to the Playwright: a straight-line “How to Succeed…” plot starting in the 1950s might be easier to grasp. Just sayin’.)

By the second act, after the show runs into trouble with revelations of cued contestants a la the $64,000 Question, the story becomes easier to follow and more enjoyable.

Photo credit to Dave Lepori. — Schannon and Scott Guggenheim as Frankie Marks and Bill Todson.

A love interest emerges between Frankie and Secret Square’s producer Bill Todson (Stephen Guggenheim), making me wish a bit more had been done in Act One to generate empathy with the protagonists. Such empathy might have required a ballad which might have the salutary effect of adding additional variety to the musical style. (As it was, only the last song, “Thanks For Playing,” really stuck in my memory.)

Hopefully, future attendees will not experience the sound issues that had the prerecorded orchestral track outbalance the singers, and younger gamer-attendees, used to computer role-playing scenarios, will have less trouble Meta-time-traveling.

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Jeff Dunn is ASR’s Classical Music Section Editor. A retired educator and project manager, he’s been writing music and theater reviews for Bay Area and national journals since 1995. He is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and the National Association of Composers, USA.

His musical Castle Happy (co-author John Freed), about Marion Davies and W.R. Hearst, received a festival production at the Altarena Theater in 2017. His opera Finding Medusa, with librettist Madeline Puccioni, was completed in January 2023. Jeff has won prizes for his photography, and is also a judge for the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs.

ProductionThanks For Playing: The Game Show Show
Stage Direction byScott Evan Guggenheim
Producing CompanyGuggenheim Entertainment, Inc.
Production DatesThru Aug 20th
Production Address3Below Theaters, 288 S Second St, San Jose, CA 95113
Website
www.sanjoseplayhouse.org
Telephone
(408) 404-7711
Tickets$25-$55
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall3/5
Performance4/5
Book/Lyrics2.5/5
Music2.5/5
Stagecraft4/5
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ASR Music ~~ Iolanthe: Fairies and Lords Walk the Boards

By Jeff Dunn

Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta Iolanthe is about two groups hidebound by rules who battle it out on stage. One group has power over the other because they’re magic, but both groups have definitely lost their marbles–just read what they sing!

CHORUS OF FAIRIES

Tripping hither, tripping thither,

Nobody knows why or whither;

We must dance and we must sing

Round about our fairy ring!

 

CHORUS OF PEERS (LORDS)

Bow, bow, ye lower middle classes!

Bow, bow, ye tradesmen, bow, ye masses!

Blow the trumpets, bang the brasses!

Tantantara! Tzing! Boom!

Imagine the silliness of it all–female fairies having power over men, forcing their favored half-fairy male candidate to run parliament houses. Fortunately, all the men and women marry each other at the end, and 19th-century normality is restored. There are other reasons than plot to enjoy Iolanthe, mainly Gilbert’s barb-aplenty text coated by the pill of Sullivan’s inoffensive music.

Lyric Opera has put many of their marbles into their chorus, and the result is a major strength in Music Director Michael Taylor’s department. Kathleen O’Brien’s colorful fairy costumes along with Shirley Benson’s stunted light-saber wands are another plus. Larry Tom’s set designs are spare, but not inappropriate. The single forest projection in Act 1 was so gorgeous, however, it made this reviewer wish there were more of them to follow—a hope unrealized.

…”Iolanthe”, or “The Peer and the Peri”, opened at the Savoy Theatre on November 25, 1882…

I was also hopeful that the soloists’ best efforts would match the consistent delights of the chorus, but no luck. However, voices improved as the operetta progressed opening night.

Bobby Singer was a standout as Private Willis, as was Katie Francis as Queen of the Fairies. Minju Jeong’s light but lovely voice was always on pitch as Phyllis. Tenor Eric Mellum grew well into his role of Lord Tollroller. Jeffrey Lampert’s Lord Chancellor was fun to watch in his famous “headache” patter song (where his jet pace even outpaced the orchestra for a moment!)

For a title character, G&S surprisingly gave Iolanthe only one aria, but Kaelyn Howard carried it off well, with the enthusiasm characteristic of the rest of the cast.

Iolanthe is ranked highly in the Gilbert and Sullivan canon by many commentators. To me, it was a good reminder of why our American Experiment did away with titled nobility. As to the current value of what replaced it, that’s a matter for later discussion.

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Jeff Dunn is ASR’s Classical Music Section Editor. A retired educator and project manager, he’s been writing music and theater reviews for Bay Area and national journals since 1995. He is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and the National Association of Composers, USA.

His musical Castle Happy (co-author John Freed), about Marion Davies and W.R. Hearst, received a festival production at the Altarena Theater in 2017. His opera Finding Medusa, with librettist Madeline Puccioni, was completed in January 2023. Jeff has won prizes for his photography, and is also a judge for the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs.

ProductionIolanthe
Stage Direction byDoreen Finkelstein
Musical Direction byMichael Taylor
Producing CompanyLyric Theatre
Production DatesThru Aug 6th
Production AddressHammer Theatre Center, 101 Paseo De San Antonio, San Jose, C 95113
Website
www.lyrictheatre.org
Telephone(408) 986-1455
Tickets$25-$40
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall3/5
Performance3/5
Libretto4/5
Music2.5/5
Stagecraft3/5
Aisle Seat Review PICK?----
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ASR Music~~ “Tosca” Quartets: A Critic Learns From Four Very Different “Toscas” In Four Months

By Jeff Dunn

As an opera lover, I’m lucky to live in the Bay Area. Already, I’ve seen Tosca produced by four different opera companies this year: Livermore Opera’s in March, San Jose Opera’s in April, Cinnabar Theater’s in June, and Pocket Opera’s in July. What did I learn from the experience?

Lesson One: To my surprise, “lotsa Tosca” never wore me out. This was due to each company’s success in generating a Quartet of Joys from Bernard Shaw’s definition of opera: “… the story of a soprano and tenor who want to sleep together, and a baritone who tries to stop them.”

The joys were namely: 1-3, feeling the infusion of life into one or more of the three principal singing roles (Tosca, Cavaradossi, and Scarpia) and 4, relishing inspired stage-direction. Sure, there are other things that could have gone right or wrong in these performances, but:

    • Musical direction was excellent across the board.
    • Costume design was uniformly fine.
    • And the sets, though ranging from magnificent to bare-boned, seemed to matter so much less compared to the force of the Joy Quartet.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if these masters of their art could all be together someday in a future production?

Lesson Two: You can’t beat powerful intimacy when it comes to Tosca. Yes, Act 1’s Te Deum is designed for Grand Opera, and San Jose’s full-sized orchestra was magnificent, but Tosca is about outsized personalities, not crowds or elephants.

The joint productions of Cinnabar and Pocket Opera were a revelation in terms of intimacy, with first-class actors and vocalists almost within spitting distance. Seeing the same casts at Cinnabar’s opening in Petaluma and at Pocket’s first venue in Mountain View after five more performances at Cinnabar was a chance to witness how the principals had perfected their artistry. Michelle Drever had evolved her exceptionally passionate Tosca into a uniquely buttery sound reminding me of Placido Domingo. Spencer Dodd’s well-voiced Scarpia had become more self-assured and less cartoonish. And Alex Boyer, who was also Cavaradossi in the Livermore production, had somehow grown from superb to stupendous.

Alex Boyer.

Oh, and you must read about critic Eddy Reynolds’ goosebumps at https://theatreeddys.com/2023/07/tosca-2.html.

Lesson Three: Creative stage direction is a hit or miss proposition. Cinnabar/Pocket director Elly Lichenstein had three hits with having Tosca accidently find her knife to kill Scarpia inside a cross, having two young sisters sing the shepherd’s role on stage to open Act 3, and having kids on stage to open Act 1.

Elly Lichenstein.

Bruce Donnell for Livermore did a great job of fight direction between Tosca and Scarpia in Act 2.

Tara Branham for San Jose had an interesting idea to put a bed in Scarpia’s Act 2 apartment where the fight with Tosca took place, but in this critic’s opinion it was too far upstage. In perhaps another miscue, she had the churchgoers in Act 1 walk in front of Scarpia during his Te Deum aria.  And her worst idea, in my opinion, was having Cavaradossi have a tryst with a woman (Attavanti?) to open Act 1. While intellectually justifiable, I feel the cost of diminishing Cavaradossi’s stature in the hearts of the audience is not worth the innovation.

Lesson Four: Hearing three world-class singers is unforgettable. Maria Natale’s debut as Tosca in San Jose, with her physical and aural beauty, acting chops and clarity, put all other Toscas aside for me.

Maria Natale.

The same went for Livermore’s Scarpia, Aleksey Bogdanov.

Aleksey Bogdanov.

And Alex Boyer, among all his other excellences, brought forth the rarely conveyed fact in the story that he is a noble, not just a handsome hunk.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if these masters of their art could all be together someday in a future production?

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Jeff Dunn is ASR’s Classical Music Section Editor. A retired educator and project manager, he’s been writing music and theater reviews for Bay Area and national journals since 1995. He is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and the National Association of Composers, USA. His musical Castle Happy (co-author John Freed), about Marion Davies and W.R. Hearst, received a festival production at the Altarena Theater in 2017. His opera Finding Medusa, with librettist Madeline Puccioni, was completed in January 2023. Jeff has won prizes for his photography, and is also a judge for the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs.

ProductionTosca
Stage DirectionTara Branham
Producing CompanyOpera San Jose
Production DatesThru Apr 30th
Production AddressCalifornia Theater -
345 S First St, San Jose, CA 95113
Websitewww.operasj.org
Telephone(408) 437-4450
Tickets$50- $175
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4.5/5
Performance4.5/5
Stagecraft4.5/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?YES!
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ASR Music ~~ Symphony, Set, Singers and Shadow: SF Opera Tackles Weighty Fairy Tale

By Jeff Dunn

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of nurses? The Empress doesn’t know, because she doesn’t have a shadow. But in the course of Richard Strauss’s opera Die Frau ohne Schatten, she develops empathy for other human beings while seeing her nurse shamelessly manipulate one of them, and gets a shadow as a reward.

Start with this basic plot, but then add 20+ more characters, 10 scene changes, nearly 100 musicians, 78 choristers, 7 dancers, and an elusive concoction of spirit world, symbolism, allegory, and late romantic melancholy, and you might be headed for trouble.

…Top honors are richly deserved for Sir Donald Runnicles’ conducting of the Opera Orchestra …

Fortunately, astute casting, terrific orchestral playing, and occasionally gorgeous sets by David Hockney allow Strauss’s nearly 3 hours of often inspired music to shine. Reactions may vary, however, with respect to Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s libretto, with its interpretive challenges for puzzle-solvers and bewilderment for realists.

Linda Watson as the Nurse, Nina Stemme as the Dyer’s Wife, and Camilla Nylund as the Empress in Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s “Die Frau ohne Schatten.”
Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera.

Top honors are richly deserved for Sir Donald Runnicles’ conducting of the Opera Orchestra through thundering climaxes and deftly coordinating his army on and offstage. Nina Stemme as the Dyer’s wife powerfully matched the model proposed by Hofmannstahl himself. That is, Strauss’s wife Pauline: “Earthborn, impetuous yet unselfconfident and beautiful.” Linda Watson’s Nurse, purportedly a servant and aide to the Empress, revealed well her character’s true nature as a Mephistophelean Nurse Semi-Ratched trying to wheedle Stemme out of her shadow.

Linda Watson as the Nurse and Stefan Egerstrom as the Spirit Messenger in Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s “Die Frau ohne Schatten.”
Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera.

The hapless Dyer Barak was resonantly characterized by bass-baritone Johan Reuter. Camilla Nylund as the Empress aptly evolved her character and voice from a transparent gazelle to a caring human being. David Butt Philip as the Emperor, Stefan Egerstrom as the Spirit Messenger, and the rest of the cast did fine work handling the virtuoso lines Strauss gave to large and small parts alike.

Hockney’s backdrops ranged from an exquisitely beautiful color-changing evocation of hills, rivers and flowers of the opening scene on the Emperor’s roof to Barak’s home and dye shop with a wide range of vertical paint-can-like streaks of earth tones. Another striking set was the door to Keikobad’s temple in Act 3. At the end of Act 2, a Götterdämmerung-like event in the score was weakly characterized on stage. An earthquake is supposed to break the walls and a flood roar through them while Barak and his wife sink into the earth. No flood, just some hangings lifted.

Johan Reuter as Barak and Nina Stemme as the Dyer’s Wife in Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s “Die Frau ohne Schatten.” Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera.

The beginning of Act 3 had the couple separated in large tear-drop holes in a backdrop rather than the “subterranean vault divided by a thick wall” called for in the libretto. Some dramatic orchestral interludes where characters hang about on stage with little or nothing to do would have benefitted by projections, but Hockney’s design dates from 1992, when projection technologies were primitive by today’s standards.

Google the symbolism of shadows, and you’ll get a number of meanings as large as the forces bringing Die Frau back to life here. Hofmannstahl meant it to mean the ability to bear children, which prompted one recent critic to declare that Die Frau “is an opera that ultimately condemns its womenfolk to lives of obeisant child-bearing.” While the conclusion of this massive undertaking must be taken in historical context of a Europe depopulated by World War One and the flu in a strongly patriarchal society, who knows for sure what will lurk in the hearts of viewers who experience this opera today?

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Jeff Dunn is ASR’s Classical Music Section Editor. A retired educator and project manager, he’s been writing music and theater reviews for Bay Area and national journals since 1995. He is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and the National Association of Composers, USA. His musical Castle Happy (co-author John Freed), about Marion Davies and W.R. Hearst, received a festival production at the Altarena Theater in 2017. His opera Finding Medusa, with librettist Madeline Puccioni, was completed in January 2023. Jeff has won prizes for his photography, and is also a judge for the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs.

ProductionDie Frau ohne Schatten
Directed byRoy Rallo
Producing CompanySan Francisco Opera
Production DatesThru June 28th
Production Address301 Van Ness Ave, SF, CA
Websitewww.sfopera.com
Telephone(415) 392-4400
Tickets$26-$422
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4/5
Performance4.5/5
Libretto2.5/5
Stagecraft3.5/5
Aisle Seat Review PICK?----
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Pick! ASR Music ~~ Living Room “Tosca” – Cinnabar Theater Brings Opera Home

By Jeff Dunn

The Cinnabar Theater in Petaluma is small enough to be somebody’s living room, a lucky thing. Author Alexandra Adornetto reminds us that for kids, imagination and invention go hand in hand there. “Shift a few pieces or furniture around,” she says, “and you have yourself a fort.”

Or an opera.

Intimacy was a laudable goal for Cinnabar’s production of Puccini’s Tosca. Vocal artists could maximize beauty by not having to strain to reach distant back walls. The audience could be moved by facial-expression details without a need for TV monitors. Surtitles would not distract from the action since the opera was sung in English. But to capitalize on intimacy, voices had to be great, singers had to act, and pronunciation had to be clear. Furthermore, the small chamber orchestra had to consist of musicians of soloistic quality.

Fortunately the Elly Lichenstein’s and Mary Chun’s respective stage and music direction helped to bring the advantages of intimacy home in almost all respects.

Michelle Drever as Tosca in Puccini’s “Tosca,” (Courtesy of Cinnabar Theater/Pocket Opera).

Michelle Allie Drever was an exceptionally passionate, fiery, and expressive Tosca, with a gorgeous and accurate voice to boot. Alex Boyer’s Cavaradossi was superb in all respects. I was particularly impressed how he included an often neglected aspect to his character–the slight aloofness of his aristocratic origins combined with a yet heated passion for Tosca and republicanism.

…Elly Lichenstein’s and Mary Chun’s respective stage and music direction helped to bring the advantages of intimacy home..

Spencer Dodd’s Scarpia was on the money vocally. His strikingly evil expressions were melodramatically boo-worthy, but detracted from subtlety of character that could have been mined from his backstory as a man under pressure in a complex political environment.

Michelle Dever (right) as Tosca and Spencer Dodd (left) as Scarpia in Cinnabar’s “Tosca.” (Courtesy of Cinnabar Theater)

Jordan Eldredge as Angelotti and Gene Wright as the Sacristan fulfilled their roles admirably, as did the rest of the cast.

The Cinnabar theatre program neglected to credit the Italian librettists Illica and Giacosa and the English translation by co-producer Pocket Opera’s Donald Pippin. In English, the beauty of the Italian is largely lost, but the immediacy of the story is enhanced, for the most part (though I quibble with “muori, muori” being said as “damn you, damn you” instead of “die, die” as Tosca faces the writhing Scarpia). Boyer was a champion in that all his English was utterly understandable. (He confessed that it was hard to unlearn the Italian, which he has sung five times previously.) Occasionally, however, this reviewer found the other vocalists were difficult to understand in their higher ranges at dramatic moments.

Lichenstein’s non-verbal additions to the stage directions were some of the joys of this production. The opera opened with children in the church before Angelotti’s usual arrival. Act 2 added two women amusing Scarpia at his meal, and a secret hiding place for the killer knife Tosca surprisingly discovers. Act 3 begins with two girls instead of a shepherd boy.

Another joy opening the act, BTW, was Susanne Chasalow’s perfect horn solo (full productions use 4 horns, one or more of which always see to make a boo-boo).

Michelle Dever (right) as Tosca in Cinnabar’s “Tosca.” (Courtesy of Cinnabar Theater)

A final advantage of Tosca in Cinnabar’s living room is you can chat with the artists afterward. Pretend that their characters were relatives who had misbehaved at a family dinner, and suggest a name of a good therapist they could see, and bring a smile to their lips!

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Jeff Dunn is ASR’s Classical Music Section Editor. A retired educator and project manager, he’s been writing music and theater reviews for Bay Area and national journals since 1995. He is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and the National Association of Composers, USA. His musical Castle Happy (co-author John Freed), about Marion Davies and W.R. Hearst, received a festival production at the Altarena Theater in 2017. His opera Finding Medusa, with librettist Madeline Puccioni, was completed in January 2023. Jeff has won prizes for his photography, and is also a judge for the Northern California Council of Camera Clubs.

ProductionTosca
Based on the play byVictorien Sardu
Directed byElly Lichenstein
Producing CompanyCinnabar Theater
Production DatesThrough June 25th
Production Address3333 Petaluma Blvd North
Petaluma, CA 94952
Websitewww.cinnabartheater.org
Telephone (707) 763-8920
Tickets$30 – $50
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4.5/5
Performance4.5/5
Script3.5/5
Stagecraft4/5
Aisle Seat Review PICK?YES!