The U of A’s Opera Theater–Potent Vocals and Incisive Dramatics Bring Veracity to G. Menotti’s Consul

More than half a century has passed since Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Consul* premiered at the Shubert Theater in Philadelpia in 1950. The opera, called his finest lyrical composition, ran in New York for eight months on Broadway picking up both the Pulitzer Prize and the Drama Critics Award along the way.

The opera’s theme, the personal suffering and loss of life living under a totalitarian government struck very close to home in 1950. The Second World War had ended in 1945, and many people throughout the world were still coping with the dreadful, emotional turmoil caused by the war. But is the opera’s libretto, which was written by Menotti, relevant to the world’s situation today? Well, Charles Roe, the opera theater’s artistic director, seemed to think so. And the proof came with what transpired on stage at Crowder Hall for four performances in November from the 17th to the 20th.

Before Roe could get the production to its successful conclusion, there were many challenges to consider. It wasn’t because the opera’s musical structure which Menotti allied to a pungent text became problematic in performance; it was because the work is so musically and dramatically rewarding to perform, the artistic choices had to be of a very high standard. Since 2006, Roe has been mounting opera in English and most times he has been able to capture the essence of the works by meeting the vocal and dramatic demands of each opera.

And again this time, Roe was confident that he had the students, both undergraduate and graduate, capable of handling Menotti’s opera — which from the opera’s opening chords to the last, requires a total artistic commitment on the part of the performers, if they are to win over an audience.

Ever since The Consul first premiered, musicologists and opera critics have commented over the years about Menotti’s musical touches reminiscent of the composer Giacomo Puccini, never failing to mention the composers’ supposedly similar musical approaches as exemplified in the Act One trio, “Now lips, say goodbye,” sung by John Sorel, Madga, the opera’s heroine and John’s Mother. Sung at the point in the act when the Mother and Madga say farewell to John who must flee from the secret police, the music shares Puccini’s penchant for lyrical statements of heartbreak, but the musical expression is entirely Menotti’s.

Where the composer does emulate Puccini is in his characterization of Madga Sorel. Menotti constructed a heroine who not only appears in every scene in the opera, but throughout the work continually expresses with searing emotion her journey to save her family from annihilation. As with Puccini’s heroines, Magda dominates the opera which asks for vocal stamina expressed through a multifaceted dramatic interpretation. To find a singer who can handle the role is a tall order for any opera company, but for a university opera program to find two is commendable.

Since Roe has increased the number of performances of the fall production to four, double casting became necessary. For the role of Magda, Menotti imbued it with so many emotions that sopranos Mele Santos and Christy McClarty had enough room to find their own vocal and dramatic interpretation.

Santos’s Magda was intense and straight forward in her quest to save her husband from the evil forces that surrounded them. McClarty’s Madga was more introspective, trying to hide her desperation, recognizing the end for her, John and his mother would be fatal.

Menotti wrote a long climatic aria in Act Two, Scene Two for Magda, expressing her frustration at not being able to obtain a visa to join her husband in a neighboring country. The aria, which takes place at the Consulate, is a dramatic tour de force with dynamics ranging from Adagio to Presto agitato, written in multiple time signatures from two/four to twelve/eight and interspersed with E, G and A flats — notes geared to show Magda’s gradual, psychological breakdown which leads to her suicide at the end of the opera. But Menotti, not one to lose a great operatic opportunity, gave Magda, at the aria’s climax, one last vocal grasp of hope, expressed in one of the most beautiful, soaring melodies in all the operatic canon.

Both Santos and McClarty seized the moment. Santos threw herself into the role with a vocal strength that characterized her entire interpretation, so much so, the soprano seemed to tire at the end of the Act Two aria, but still held on to Magda’s willfulness. McClarty built the aria from slow desperation to emotional exasperation with vocals that held on to the end. Sunday’s matinee performance was conducted by David Dunbar, an assistant. He had Menotti’s score well in check, but lost some of the aria’s orchestral dramatic strength which made McClarty’s interpretation all the more impressive.

But the sopranos had other standout moments. In Act Three, Santos vocals showed how Magda’s determination to survive morphed with notable pathos into her acceptance of her fate. In Act One, McClarty’s scenes with John’s mother exhibited a clear sense of foreboding of what was to become of their lives.

As John Sorel, bass-baritone Seth Kershisnik and as his Mother, mezzo-soprano Mackenzie Romriell showed that experience counts. Both singers having appeared in other Opera Theater performances such as Il matrimonio segreto and Albert Herring, took to their roles with vocal ease and dramatic confidence. Kershisnik’s Sorel was forceful and committed to trying his best to save his family. Romriell was alternately angry with the government’s interference and tender with Magda and John’s baby boy who sadly died from malnutrition. Both singers were outstanding in the Act One trio with Magda and in the Act Three finale as they reappeared as figments of Magda’s delirium in her dying moments.

Stephanie Brink and Jovahnna Anderson in the role of the Consul’s Secretary and Jess Koehn and Jose Coca as Mr. Kofner, a gentleman in search of a visa, sang and acted their roles with portrayals that showed off Menotti’s ability to write secondary parts with feeling and accuracy.

In the double casting of the Magician, Nika Magadoff, who tried to convince the Secretary that his magic tricks alone would earn him a visa, tenors Brandon Dale and Mitchell Sturges handled the vocals comfortably. Dale’s Magadoff relished performing his tricks with delightful humor, but Sturges held back from connecting his magic to the character’s personality. And Kyle Vincent Connor’s Secret Police Agent was alternately pompous and nasty befitting his profession with Alejandro Banuelos as John’s confidant Assan, comporting a congenial stage presence.

Menotti’s facility in writing roles that are small in size, but not in scope, came to the fore in the three ladies patiently waiting at the Consulate for their visas. Ellen Hinkle as the Foreign Woman, Gabriella Carillo as Anna Gomez and Emily Spirk as Vera Boronel came up with distinct characterizations that were exceptional in vocal quality.

Again, the artistic vocal and orchestral success of the production were in the hands of Music Director and Conductor Thomas Cockrell. The maestro got his orchestra members and singers to bring to full throttle the anguish and heartbreak of an abandoned people that Menotti so clearly expressed in his music.

Sally Day’s sets and Christopher Allen’s costumes reflected the drabness and harshness of Magda and John’s daily life. However, Day was able to add to the production’s overall sense of doom with the set in the Consul’s office. She constructed plexiglass floor to ceiling panels that were translucent at the top where images of curled barbed wire shown through representing everyone’s mental imprisonment.

The added performances for both the fall and spring productions shows real advancement in the Opera Theater’s pursuit of performing excellence. However, the number of empty seats for a production of this stature points to a disconnect between the ability to both attract audiences and fill all those seats.

* Synopsis — In order to save his own life and the lives of his freedom-loving friends, John Sorel is forced to leave his wife Magda, his baby and his mother, and escape over the frontier. Magda visits the consul’s office to obtain a visa so they can join John, but she is thwarted by the necessity for countless documents and papers. The baby dies and John’s mother falls ill and also dies. At the Consul’s office Magda receives a message from John saying he is returning. To prevent his arrest, Magda sends a note saying he will not find her alive. She returns home and turns on the gas jets, experiencing hallucinations before she dies. John arrives too late and is arrested by the secret police.

Synopsis by Quaintance Eaton