Die Fledermaus

 

 

  First off, let me apologize for my partially unexcused absence from posting my blog. I planned on composing my review of the Chicago Lyric Opera production of Die Fledermaus right after Christmas, but I became lazy as a result of the polar vortex that froze my mind and fed my procrastination. I will endeavor not to disappoint the throngs of readers that encompass my fan base.
With that, I attended the opening night production of Die Fledermaus and had listened to a few different productions of it in order to reacquaint myself with the goings on. I was especially fond of the 1990 Covent Garden production with Nancy Gustafson in the role of Rosalinde.

  The operetta, Die Fledermaus, composed by Johann Strauss II, had its premiere in the spring of 1874 at the Theater an der Wien. Although the plot of Die Fledermaus is a bit convoluted, it surrounds the personal intrigues of a handful of individuals looking to have a good time at a Russian aristocrat's costume ball, consisting of a husband with a 7 year itch, his devoted wife, their scheming maid, a friend with a grudge, the local prison governor, the wife's ex-lover, a bored Russian Prince, a drunken jailer, and load of party guests, all arranged for the sole purpose of exacting revenge. Gabriel von Eisenstein has been ordered to jail for 8 days as a result of being held in contempt of court over  a misdemeanor and his friend, Dr. Falke, sees an opportunity to get back at him for a prank that Eisenstein had pulled a few years earlier. Falke enlists the aid of Prince Orlovsky, who demands amusement, to strike at Eisenstein before his jail sentence. Adele, the Eisenstein's maid. is invited through her sister to the costume ball and claims that she needs leave to visit her dying aunt in order to attend the party. As one could imagine, the well spun lies of the attending party guests become interwoven and in spite of the plot holes that resemble I-94 after a long winter, the seemingly lost cause of all is resolved at the night's end, where it should have started. The Jail. In addition to the light hearted fun of Die Fledermaus, the operetta has a flexibility in the specific aspects of the action that help to keep the work fresh and new, which is vital for any production to remain in the standard repertoire.

  The part of Gabriel von Eisenstein was sung by internationally renowned lyric baritone, Bo Skovhus. From his first entrance to the final curtain, Mr. Skovhus looked and sounded as if he was having a great time. No stranger to operetta, Mr. Skovhus' voice was ideally suited for the high tessitura of Eisenstein, a part that is sometimes sung by a tenor. He had little trouble singing in the upper part of his register and was one of the few singers who could be heard with little exception. Mr. Skovhus has a unique sounding lyric baritone voice that is tenorial in color with a slight silvery edge to it. He was full of energy and seemed to take delight in the giddy nature of the production. A critique of his performance would be that it was a bit one sided in that he was constantly shuffling around like a Heidelberg university student with his mates in a bierstube.

  The part of Rosalinde in her American opera debut was German soprano, Juliane Banse. Ms.Banse's round and dusky soprano projected in to the large space of the Civic Opera House, but sounded strained and held in the top of her range which, in addition to being unpleasant, stripped the color from the sound. Ms. Banse's rich and rounded voice was nicely suited for her aria, "Klange der Heimat", in which her character is disguised as a Hungarian Countess. Her acting was a bit stiff, but in her defense, Die Fledermaus is not a character study or a psychological drama. There's not much to develop for the singers and are relegated to playing archetypes ornamented with shtick.

  Also making her American debut in the part of the Eisenstein's house maid, Adele was sung by Austrian soprano, Daniela Fally. Ms. Fally has had plenty of experience in this role, evident not only in how natural she was in mugging for the audience, but how comfortable she was singing while moving around the stage. It was as if the role was written for her with the obvious highlight being that of "Adele's laughing song" in the 2nd act, which was a triumph. My overall disappointment with her, was not in any way her performance, but the size of her voice in so large a theater. It was hard to pick out while singing with the ensemble or having to project over the entire orchestra. Like her acting, I missed the color and dynamics of her voice because, once again, the Civic Opera House is so large and forces singers like Ms. Fally to abandon their musicality just to be heard.

  The part of the foil, Dr. Falke was sung by Austrian Baritone, Adrian Eröd making his Lyric Opera debut. I was quite disappointed by his performance, both in singing and acting. I found the innate sound of his voice to be bland and he didn't sing with much musicality. He seemed to be of little energy throughout the production, especially in the 2nd act canon, " Brüderlein und Schwesterlein", which features the part of Dr. Falke. The staging of it did not help, as Mr. Eröd stood center stage with Adele's sister at his side. Each time he asked her for a kiss, I felt as though I had been given a glass of flat champagne.

  The daunting part of Alfred, the tenor who longs to romance his ex-lover, Rosalinde, was sung by Michael Spyres, who sounded as if he had no trouble jumping from interpolated high note to high note. Again, the character of Alfred does not require much acting skill, but Mr. Spyres was quite funny and didn't pile it on too much. Listening to him got me to thinking why those in charge of casting did not have him sing the role of the Duke in Rigoletto last season, instead of the tenor who cracked 2 times in his first aria alone.

  Frank, the prison governor was sung by British baritone, Andrew Shore who was well suited for the part of the jovial middle aged man, searching for a little extra fun. Mr. Shore had no problem being heard and while many singers in this role tend to bark their way through the piece, he sang with line when it was called for and switched to a Rossinian patter in the faster sprech-stimme parts. Mr Shore was the best at inhabiting the rotund character of Frank and much like his singing, employing varying dynamics and colors without overdoing it.

  The trouser part of Prince Orlofsky was sung by Mezzo Soprano, Emily Fons. After hearing a recording of this role being sung by a countertenor, I much more prefer it to be sung by a mezzo soprano, especially one with the dark color and warmth of Ms. Fons. She was faithful to the staid character of Prince Orlofsky which helped to create a nice counterbalance to the energetic Eisenstein. Ms. Fons' voice was perfect in the aria, "Chacun a son gout".

  The remaining comprmario roles were sung admirably, given the little content that had been written for them. Ryan Center alumni, tenor David Cangelosi, sang the Basilio like role of Dr. Blind nicely. My one wish which has yet to be fulfilled is to hear Soprano and current Ryan Center member, Julie Anne Miller sing a substantial role and unfortunately, her only singing was in ensemble moments.

  The orchestra and chorus sounded wonderful and although it was difficult to hear some of the main singers, I don't think that there was much that conductor, Ward Stare could have done given the type of production this was. The sets were very nice for the setting as well as the choice of having dancers during the 2nd Act party scene rather than the common option of having A-list guest singers come in to sing arias and duets. If I had my druthers, it would have been to switch the dialogue from German to English. I know that most all of the main singers are native German speakers, but the recurring problem throughout the performance was that the punch lines were projected for the audience to read before the performers spoke them which took away from the action on stage. For that reason, I think it would be better to have the dialogue spoken in the language of the audience who is listening.
All in all, the performance was quite enjoyable and a nice change of tune from the heavy productions that had come before this season.

Otello

  The Lyric Opera's production of Otello had already seen it's share of drama with an opening night substitution for Baritone, Falk Struckmann who was replaced as Iago after the first act due to a severe allergy attack, which was to be followed by a back injury to  renowned tenor, Johan Botha which required immediate attention. Although Mr. Struckmann recovered, it was announced on Monday that Botha would not be able to sing in the last two performances. In both cases, the singers chosen were more than substitutes in their own right. By the time Tuesday's performance was about to begin, I was quite interested to hear how things would progress given that the roles of Otello and Iago are some of the most difficult in the standard operatic repertoire. I must admit that I had some preconceived notions with regard to Mr. Struckmann as I had heard excerpts of his singing, but only on recording. I prepared myself for the possibility of a bumpy ride as the curtain raised on the opening scene of Otello's boat fighting storms to make it in to port.

  Verdi's penultimate opera, Otello is based on the Shakespearean play of the same name with the libretto being adapted by composer and once outspoken critic of Verdi himself, Arrigo Boito. The story of Otello to me, is a character study in to the facets of personality and how one's perception of others and themselves can greatly effect their actions, no matter how rooted in truth or insecurity they may be.
The drama starts off on the island of Cyprus as the locals await the return of their governor, Otello, after having defeated the Turks in battle. It looks as if the ship may go under due to the storm, but to everyone's relief with the exception of Iago, makes it in to port.  The main action deals with Iago's plan to convince Otello that his bride, Desdemona, is unfaithful and really love with the young Captain, Cassio, which of course, is not true.

  Clifton Forbis sang the role of Otello in the place of Johan Botha, as mentioned earlier. From the moment he stepped on to the stage, it was obvious that Mr. Forbis was committed to the part of Otello, evident by the energy he gave, not only when singing, but in reaction to everyone and everything around him. His voice in the beginning seemed a bit timid, but one can only speculate as to his state of mind having to step in to this difficult situation with short notice. Mr. Forbis' upper register was very strong and his high notes sounded like metallic lightning bolts that cut through Verdi's thick textures and thunderous fortes. His middle and lower ranges left much to be desired for my ears as he sounded a bit warbly and tired through the first 2 acts. Those parts of his voice warmed up a bit in the 3rd act which was impressive given that the top of his voice didn't seem to tire the whole way through.

 The part of Iago was sung by dramatic Baritone, Falk Struckmann who was heard opposite Johan Botha in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Otello, featured in HD broadcast the previous season. Mr. Struckmann, like Mr. Forbis, was committed to the characterization of the scheming Iago. The quality of his voice, although not beautiful in my humble opinion, illustrated the cut throat mentality as heard in the baritone's 2nd act aria, "Credo in un Dio crudel".
Mr. Struckmann had no problem being heard above the orchestra regardless of their volume, but once again, was not as pleasing as I would hope for. His voice is a bit brutish and at times disconnected, not only in line, but with regard to dynamics. When singing piano, Mr. Struckmann's voice lost its color and tone quality. He resorted to falsetto when singing quiet phrases sitting in the passagio. An additional difficulty was the blend of Mr. Struckmann's voice with Mr. Forbis. The dramatic action of the second act deals mostly with the execution of Iago's plan to exploit Otello's insecurities. At the end of the act, Otello and Iago sing a powerful duet, "Sì, pel ciel marmoreo guiro".
Mr. Forbis' silvery tenor and Mr. Struckmann's rough air splitting baritone did not compliment each other, instead sounding like 2 soloists standing next to each other. I can't put fault on the singers themselves given that Mr. Forbis was a late substitution, but I'd be curious if the Lyric Opera management had given much thought to this.

  The part of Desdemona was beautifully sung by soprano, Ana Maria Martinez. Ms. Martinez brought out the delicate nature of Desdemona through her wonderfully connected line and sensitivity to dynamics especially in the middle and upper registers of her voice. She did come across as a bid tepid with regard to her acting in the first two acts, but the part of Desdemona doesn't really heat up that much until Act 3 & 4. Ms. Martinez successfully brought out the anguish and fear that Desdemona feels towards Otello after her public humiliation at his hands. This despondency resolves itself in to acceptance of her death as she awaits for Otello to enter. She sings, the aria known as "The Willow song", which Ms. Martinez sang beautifully with an effortless sounding spin that didn't sound pushed or overly dramatic.

  Making his Lyric Opera debut in the role of Cassio was Italian tenor, Antonio Poli. He has a beautiful lyric tenor voice that is even and bright sounding. I was disappointed that the role of Cassio didn't showcase him more and I hope that his association with the Lyric continues given that he has a Chicago connection with Maestro Riccardo Muti.

  The comprimario parts were sung by Ryan Center Artists. Baritone, Evan Boyer stood out as Lodovico, the Doge's representative. He has a dark and resonant voice, but lacked a bit of depth which in his defense, may not be a fair assessment without hearing him in a larger role. Julie Ann Miller sang the part of Emilia, Desdemona's servant (and wife to Iago). The role is quite small, but Ms. Miller's voice had a beautiful ring, that once again I wish I get to hear more of.

The orchestra sounded wonderful as it normally does, but I felt that the conductor, Bertrand De Billy allowed the thick textures of Verdi's score to overwhelm the singers, similar to that of the performance of Madama Butterfly a few weeks before. There were moments in the opening chorus when I wished for more singers on stage as it sounded like Maestro De Billy allowed the orchestra free reign in the forte sections upon Otello's arrival. The same was evident in the 3rd Act after Otello slap Desdemona to the disgust of onlookers. Whether or not the volume is exactly what Verdi called for doesn't matter if the chorus and comprimario parts are being drowned out and potentially forced to push themselves over the brink.

  The staging and sets of the opera seemed to be historically schizophrenic. By the appearance of the costume design, the dramatic action was set in mid 19th century Europe, as the ladies were dressed as if they had jumped out of a Jane Austen novel and the men clad in Napoleonic military garb. This would've been a perfectly acceptable perspective if the set didn't look like a matchstick version of a back alley tenement apartment building. At one point there was a ceiling fan hanging which I assume was supposed to give the audience a sense of the heat and tension taking place in the scene. Unfortunately, the ceiling fan was not in widespread use until the turn of the century and even then, only in the United States.

  This production of Otello at the Lyric Opera was a bit fractured and lacking in cohesive vision, not entirely the fault of the singers, musicians, or behind the scenes team. I left happy with specific performances and pieces, but unsatisfied with the production on the whole.