Tag: Opera San Jose

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PICK ASR! ~~ “Innocence:” The Magic in ‘The Magic Flute’

by Jeff Dunn

If magic is the art of making the impossible possible, the libretto for The Magic Flute opera is the Mission Impossible of believability.

Librettist Emanuel Schikaneder left posterity an impossible scenario: A Japanese prince in a deep forest in Egypt, thinking he’s been saved from a giant serpent by a rustic dressed as a giant bird, finds himself in a war between a screaming queen and a basso pharaoh running a Masonic cult. That artist-magicians strive to overcome this hodgepodge is a testament to one of the greatest of all musicians, Mozart.

” … Many in the cast contributed their … sorcery to the occasion …”

Thanks to Opera San Jose’s fine set of magicians, the hand they received from last Saturday’s audience was not at all slight–a standing ovation. Foremost among the magicians was Ricardo José Rivera as bird-man Papageno, whose rich baritone and superb comic acting thrilled the crowd.

But even more magical was conductor Alma Deutscher, fresh out of the Hogwarts of conservatories, the University of Music and Performing Arts of Vienna. She’s 19 and has already written two lengthy concertos and three operas. Her bare-armed conducting was fluid and passionate and a joy to witness.

Many in the cast contributed their own bits of sorcery to the occasion. Tenor Sergio González was outstanding as the what’s-he-doing-in-Egypt prince Tamino. Emily Misch as the Queen of the Night pulled out high-F rabbits from her hat with aplomb in her famous aria. Her henchwomen Maria Brea, Melissa Bonetti Luna and Mariya Kaganskaya cast a delicious spell in their trios.

Melissa Sondhi paired expressively with Gonzáles as his love interest Pamina. Nicole Koh distributed a lot of delightful fairy dust as Papageno’s squeeze Papagena. The redoubtable Philip Skinner was imposing as the Speaker of the Temple. As Monostatos, tenor Nicolas Vasquez-Gerst was a master of the black arts and flip-flopping loyalties. Was there kryptonite in the large lollypop sun-staff that he had to keep holding that diminished Youngwang Park’s magic and vocal penetration as the pharaoh Sarastro?

Stage magic was most effective at the outset, when an elaborate serpent-dragon was carried about Chinese-style, replete with smoke from its jaws. Ryan McGettigan’s pyramid and palm stage-design motifs provided consistency, but this reviewer felt the neon-looking palms smacked more of 20th-century Las Vegas than 18th-century Vienna. Alyssa Oania’s costumes, however, were fascinating, and David Lee Cuthbert’s lighting interacted very effectively with stage structures.

A special bit of prestidigitation was accomplished by stage director Brad Dalton. The overture began with lots of action on stage as Tamino, dressed as an 18th-century aristocrat, is placed by servants and playful children in front of a proscenium to see a play in his honor. Tamino gets sucked into the action, and eventually the proscenium disappears, realizing the alternative reality of the opera. Strangely, while I admired the concept, I felt all the action interfered with the pleasure of listening to the overture. Is this yet another example of today’s fashion of elevating dramaturgy above music in opera?

Mozart and The Magic Flute represents the best kind of magic, the kind that lasts, so that generation after generation of artists can ride on its dragon’s back, and see if new tricks can woo the human heart.

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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.

ProductionInnocence
Libretto byEmanuel Schikaneder
Stage DirectionBrad Dalton
Conducted byAlma Deutscher
Producing CompanyOpera San Jose
Production DatesThru Sept 29th
Production AddressCalifornia Theater -
345 S First St, San Jose, CA 95113
Websitewww.operasj.org
Telephone(408) 437-4450
Tickets$57.50- $212.50
Reviewer ScoreMax in each category is 5/5
Overall4/5
Performance4/5
Music4/5
Libretto3/5
Stagecraft3.5/5
Aisle Seat Review Pick?YES!
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PICK! ASR Music ~~ “Tosca:” Creative Turns and a Fabulous First

By Jeff Dunn

How can you make your production of Tosca memorable to experienced audience members when it’s performed worldwide more than 500 times every year? Certainly a must: Employ one or more unforgettable singers. After that, you must either (a) try for a big-bucks, blow-them-away, gargantuan scenic design (Robert Dornhelm 2015, here: https://vimeo.com/171417034 ), or, more usually, (b) come up with creative turns here and there that leave a lasting impression.

Creative turns are what Stage Director Tara Branham and her team have attempted with Opera San Jose’s Tosca. All are memorable, and many succeed. But, as Nancy Pelosi remarked three years ago, the devil, as well as the angels, are in the details.

…Joseph Marcheso’s conducting and his excellent and substantial orchestra…

Maria Natale, in a fabulous first appearance in the title role, is the unforgettable singer, along with a fine-voiced, ominous Kidon Choi (Scarpia), and Adrian Kramer (Cavaradossi), who really blossomed in Act 3 opening night.

Floria Tosca (Maria Natale) is eyed by the predatory Scarpia (Kidon Choi – left) in Opera San José’s vivid production of Puccini’s thriller “Tosca,” April 15-30 at the California Theatre. Photo Credit: David Allen

Natale fills the auditorium with her voice, never shrieking even in the highest range. It amazed me the way her voice wafted into the onstage action when she sings as part of an offstage cantata–it’s usually unintelligible in other productions. Furthermore, she’s a consummate, expressive actor–you must witness, for example, her masterly shudder as Scarpia barrages her with predatory demands.

The list of creative turns is long; Audience effectiveness may vary. On the positive side:

    • Great direction, with emotional intensity
    • Tosca’s many, enthusiastic knife stabs into Scarpia–and an earlier slap in his face.
    • A large anachronistic head-shot portrait of the girl Cavaradossi was painting—for once, you could see her blue eyes!
    • Christina Martin’s irresistibly passionate wig for Tosca. It went everywhere while staying in place.
Adrian Kramer as Cavaradossi in Opera San José’s “Tosca”. Photo Credit: David Allen

Plusses that are also minuses:

    • Lots of stage action just prior to the Te Deum in Act 1. Probably interesting to some, distracting to other audience members.
    • Cavaradossi making out with another woman in the church at the beginning of Act 1. Indicates he’s a hot-blooded Italian and justifies Tosca’s intuitive jealousy, but decreases his customary heroic stature.
    • Scarpia’s Farnese Palace chamber in Act 2 has an upstage bed in it, an understandable if uncommon furnishing among productions. This emphasizes Scarpia’s goal regarding Tosca, but when Tosca sings her famous “Vissi d’arte” aria on it, which should begin quietly, she still has to reach the audience. From my position in the third row, its beginning seemed too loud.
Kidon Choi as Scarpia in Puccini’s thriller “Tosca”. Photo Credit: David Allen

Some minor minuses:

    • Too often, it seemed characters were having intimate conversations from opposite ends of the stage. Disconcerting.
    • Congregants in the Te Deum marching in front of Scarpia, obscuring him while he’s singing his “Va, Tosca!” aria.
    • Baron Scarpia’s anachronistic horseshoe mustache, rare for the 1800 date, and more suitable for a spaghetti western. Fortunately, Elizabeth Poindexter’s terrific costume gave him appropriate class.
    • Supertitles were out of synch much of the time on opening night.

Finally, some lasting impressions that were not necessarily unusual, but simply top-notch:

    • Joseph Marcheso’s conducting and his excellent and substantial orchestra. I was especially pleased with how the horn section handled the opening to Act 3.
    • Igor Vieira taking on a deformed foot to add to the bumbling character of his well-voiced Sacristan.
    • Robert Balonek’s strong voiced and desperate Angelotti.
    • Choreography by the Napoleon of fight direction, Dave Maier.

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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!