Living at the Opera

When Charles Roe, the artistic director of the University of Arizona’s Opera Theater looked around for an opera to produce for the school’s 2007 spring production, he decided on Kirke Mechem’s 1982 work, Tartuffe. The director had heard the opera a number of years ago and was impressed by Mechem’s varied musical score and recognized he had a good singing troupe of graduate and undergraduate students that could give the eclectic score the justice it was due. And as an extra added incentive, Roe wanted a work that would equal if not surpass his successful and moving production of Mark Adamo’s modern adaptation of Little Women which the opera theater presented last year. So Tartuffe it was, and happily for the audiences who attended, the production turned out to be quite an artistic success for the University’s opera department.

Mechem, who also wrote the libretto, pared down Jean Baptiste Moliere’s long, wordy but beautifully elocuted 17th-Century satire of religious pomposity written in verse and came up with a shorter three-act version that better accomodated his bouncy, rythmic and at times plaintive score. This way, Roe and his musical director, Adam Boyles were easily able to channel their resources to effectively meet any of the composer’s vocal challenges in order to give the production a stately professional sheen.

The story of Tartuffe, the bogus religious proselytizer, who has managed to infiltrate the home of Mme. Pernelle and her gullible son, Orgon, and whose ultimate goal is to take over the family’s prosperous estate is one of Moliere’s funniest plays. The opera, like the play, shows how Tartuffe cleverly works out his scheme until, of course, his real intentions are found out and he is banished from the household. The story line is not as important as the way it unfolds, and Roe took full advantage of the opera’s waggish plot by giving each operatic vocal type a slightly zany feeling while keeping the many opera buffa moments from spilling over into caricature.

Without being unfair to the composer’s intention that the best way to play out the opera’s comedy is to present it as an ensemble piece, the reality is that if the singer who takes on the lead role doesn’t give his all in creating a Tartuffe whose hypocritical piety and fleeting lechery is mercilessly exploited, the performance falters. But baritone Ken Ryals did just that and more. From Ryal’s sanctimonious entrance, where he demonstrated Tartuffe’s overbearing influence on the family’s tenuous religious beliefs, to his outrageous and lustful pursuit of Orgon’s wife, Elmire, he showed that his character’s outright funny stance might have been drawn from Ryal’s own DNA. If the baritone’s voice did not always have the resonance to carry the music to its full value, his straight forward delivery and clear enunciation were always in command.

Quite knowingly, Roe brought the other portrayals up to Ryal’s level, buoyed by the cast’s natural ability to pump up the ensemble with an easy zest. Nathan Krueger’s Orgon used his warm bass voice to back up the character’s quirky traits. His Orgon was alternately clumsy, foolishly pious and quite dictatorial in forcing his beleagured daughter, Marianne, to marry the household’s unctuous invader. Angeline Klein’s Elmire, Orgon’s second wife, provided a moving, reflective moment in Act Three singing about the myths of marital bliss; then turned around and hit a comedic high note feigning a delightfully obnoxious cough, a signal to her husband to save her from Tartuffe’s lustful clutches which seemingly took the obtuse Orgon eons to finally realize that his wife was in danger.

Complimenting the opera’s lively pace, but with some minor performance flaws, were Ashleigh Guida’s Marianne, a daughter both perplexed and annoyed because she and her fiance, Valere could possibly be parted. Guida’s substantial soprano sometimes overpowered her music, an unintentional slight to her growing talent, and Adam Shelton made a credible Valere although he couldn’t always negotiate the role’s high tessitura. Robb Harrison as Damis, Orgon’s no-nonsense son, struck the same disapproving attitude too often, but transformed into a very funny rickety baliff bent on Tartuffe’s quick departure during the finale. Kristin Griffeath’s Dorine, Marianne’s maid, thoroughly enjoyed her role as the one who recognized Tartuffe’s sham from the very beginning, but here and there her exuberance led her to go a bit sharp vocally.

Giving the opera a postively polished look was Joseph McGrath’s spaciously handsome living room set that matched so well with Dorothy Dell’s tailored and elegant costumes in what she referred to as “late Sun King.”

Obviously Roe and Boyles knew that the light and airy approach to both the music and the comedy was the way to go in this production making a happy time at the opera their top priority, the proof of which was the audience’s enthusiastic reception for their merry journey into Moliere’s satircal world.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 21st, 2007 at 8:01 pm and is filed under American opera. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.