Without that information, found in the program book, I’m not sure what the audience would make of the production-people in movie-usher uniforms who change into gorilla suits, a brownie flash camera, vaudeville acrobats with animal masks who tumble on and off stage, and at the end, a smaller-than-life model of a perfect little suburban neighborhood symbolizing Ruggiero’s return to sanity.
SANTA FE OPERA 2017 MOVIE
In Adlen’s Alcina, Ruggiero has snuck into an abandoned movie theater in order to imagine Alcina as an ideal woman and seductress.Įlza van den Heever, Jacquelyn Stucker and Anna Christy in Santa Fe’s campy, entertaining Alcina. In Handel’s original, Ruggiero is the latest sexual slave held captive on a magical island by the sorceress Alcina, whose previous lovers have been changed to wild beasts and stones. Director David Alden, known for his politically charged, updated interpretations, has placed Alcina in the 1950s.Ĭlearly the era was a great source of inspiration.
2) is highly entertaining, sometimes distracting, clever, campy, over the top and musically superb. The production of Handel’s Alcina (which I saw Aug. Contradicting the force of the musical performance, none of this added up to drama.īut bel canto opera is first of all about the music, and in that regard this was a Lucia to remember. Doors opened and closed noisily, to the detriment of music and drama. In the final scene, the chorus that reveals Lucia’s death to Edgardo was arrayed in a single curving row far above the stage, looking like judges assembled to condemn the solitary miscreant below. The stairs that Lucia must descend for her mad scene appeared and disappeared for no evident reason. Lucia at the “fountain.” Photo by Ken Howard.Īmong other infelicities, when a fountain is called for in the second act, what appeared to be a large plastic Petrie dish with a few inches of water rose noisily from below stage. The barest minimum of furniture is employed, while lighting projections by Peter Nigrini represented changing locales, from forest to hall. Designer Riccardo Hernandez created a high-walled reflective box that is supposed to represent the increasingly cramped realm in which Lucia is caught as her fate closes in on her. I have less to say about the production, which was minimal to the point of emptiness. Kern, who works and teaches composition in New York, was hired for the summer specifically to play the glass harmonica part in Lucia-an example of the SFO’s uncompromising commitment. One member of the orchestra deserves extra mention: Friedrich Heinrich Kern played the glass harmonica, a welcome and spooky return to the original orchestration of the mad scene, instead of the more usual flute. Sarah Coit was everything that is needed for the standard role of the soprano’s confidante.Ĭorrado Rovaris and the outstanding Santa Fe Opera orchestra provided strong support for the cast. Stephen Martin was effective as the scheming Normanno, as was Carlos Santelli in the small and thankless role of Lucia’s doomed bridegroom. His character is ambivalent, first defending Lucia, then advising her to accept her destiny, and he was equally resolute in these changing declarations. With voice and presence, he was as villainous as the story requires.Īs the chaplain Raimondo, Christian Van Horn’s powerful bass commanded the stage when he announced the discovery of the bridegroom’s lifeless body and Lucia’s madness. The intensity of his increasing demands for Lucia to sacrifice herself for his honor ratcheted the dramatic tension effectively. His arias were deeply expressive and he paired well with Lucia in their duets.Īs Lucia’s brother, Enrico Ashton, Zachary Nelson had a strong, weighty and when, necessary, malevolent baritone. Mario Chang was vocally superb as Edgardo, matching Lucia with a strong, resonant tenor. Rae was well supported by the rest of a remarkably strong cast.
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