Unintentional Humor in Händel’s “Rinaldo” at Chicago Lyric

From Seen and Heard International
By:James L. Zychowicz; Photo credit: Dan Rest

United StatesUnited States Händel, Rinaldo: Soloists, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Harry Bicket (conductor), Civic Opera House, Chicago. 16.3.2012 (JLZ)

Three centuries after its premiere in 1711, Händel’s opera Rinaldo continues to fascinate listeners. Intriguing for various reasons, Rinaldo has a libretto derived from Torquato Tasso’s epic poem Gerusalemme Liberata, a work in which the poet combines historic events from the First Crusade with elements of popular culture, including fantasy. Here the crusaders attempting to conquer Jerusalem encounter not only human armies, but forces requiring them to deal with magic and sorcery. This multi-dimensional work (by a twenty-six-year-old Händel) is daunting to stage, which of course is part of its attraction. The revivals in the composer’s lifetime reflect such challenges; revisions (notably in 1717 and 1731) resulted in altered voice types, characters deleted or restored, and other changes. The fact that Händel returned to the score at various times in his career attests to the value he found in the work as he presented it to new audiences.

Of the various stagings of Rinaldo in recent years, Lyric Opera of Chicago’s new production offers a unique presentation. Conceived in a post-modern milieu, the focal point is a monolith composed of stacked block letters that make up the word “Gerusalemme” to represent the city, set against a backdrop of luminescent panels, which change in color as the opera proceeds. Two boxes are prominent: one shaped like a grand piano and sometimes suspended above the stage, and the other used to imprison Rinaldo when he is enchanted by Armida. In addition to swords, pikes, banners, and other kinds of martial accessories, the props include bottles of liquor (given that Armida occasionally resorts to drink). The motif continues in the final scene through the use of a large ewer to dispense a healing liquid to symbolize reconciliation. Yet the staging challenges the libretto’s otherwise satisfactory conclusion, with Armida smashing the ewer – instead of partaking of it – as the curtain descends.
(more…)

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

View the Gallery

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.
(more…)

UA School of Dance Salutes Martha Graham

Panorama Rehearsal © UA Dance

It was a typical, balmy March evening outside the Stevie Eller Dance Theatre on the University of Arizona’s campus in Tucson, but inside, serious work was going on. Principal dancer Miki Orihara, who has been with the Martha Graham Dance Company since 1987, was quietly and efficiently rebuilding Graham’s 1935 work, Panorama, using three groups of students (one, all female; the other two, mixed.) At the time Panorama was first produced at Bennington College in Vermont, the work comprised all women.

The groups had been chosen by Douglas Nielsen, resident choreographer and dance professor at the school, but only one, with 34 dancers (including seven men), appeared with the Martha Graham Company on April 16, 2011, as part of the U A PRESENTS series at Centennial Hall. The other two would alternate performances at the dance school’s annual Spring Collection to be presented from April 21 to May 1 at the Eller Theatre. The school, known from its inception as the Committee on Dance in the School of Music way back in the 1980s, has grown into a sturdy and very respected dance conservatory, and today the school enjoys a well-deserved national reputation.
(more…)