HIP Don Giovanni

Posted on October 28, 2011 by barczablog
original playbill

The original playbill for the premiere of Don Giovanni

Facing the prospect of being saturated Saturday in the Dons Giovanni (what with a Met matinée and an opening night for Opera Atelier, offering the same opera twice in one day) I am surprising myself.  Even though I saw the OA dress rehearsal tonight, I’m planning to see it a second time Saturday, passing up the Met for a second helping of our HIP (historically informed performance) Don.  I can always catch the encore from the Met in a few weeks time.

And HIP hooray, as they delve into the very text that we thought we knew so well.  The previous OA production of Don Giovanni had already explored some of these elements; this time we get something a little more self-assured, without that nerdy pretentiousness one sometimes gets from purists, who would make claims for authenticity.  True, there are choices that might make some balk, such as being condemned to a single tenor aria –the way Mozart intended—rather than the two great tunes to which we’ve become accustomed.  But if one is not a slave to custom one escapes the redundant display in the last act for each of the soprano divas, thereby transforming the opera into an even better score.  The result is fun in ways I never might have expected, generating laughs in places I used to understand as dark or even tragic.

Marshall Pynkoski seems to be going in the opposite direction from the rest of the operatic world.  Where most producers seem to be aiming to modernize opera by super-imposing their own readings, often at the expense of the original, Pynkoski probes the text in a quest for the genuine Don.  His is a fun reading propelled as much by the fast tempi of conductor Stefano Montanari, as by the agility inspired by the OA ballet and their usual attention to an elegant movement vocabulary.

The entire cast is either young or a reasonable facsimile thereof.

Phillip Addis is a believable rake, a Don commanding the stage at all times, with a voice to match.  But this is a Don without apology, whose killing of the Commendatore is surprisingly sympathetic, given that he is ambushed and forced to fight by the old man’s armed retinue.  The tone of the entire opera is changed as a result.  In contrast, Vasil Garvanliev’s Leporello is down to earth and physically very fluid, always seeking a laugh and usually knowing exactly where to find it..

I’ve seen Donna Anna played as the serious lover, while Donna Elvira is a comic foil.  This time both Meghan Lindsay as Donna Anna and Peggy Kriha Dye as Donna Elvira have comic highlights.  Dye and Lindsay are completely deadpan, often leaving Addis to trigger laughs with his exasperated expressions.

Soprano Carla Huhtanen

Soprano Carla Huhtanen, a very likeable Zerlina

Dependable OA stalwart Curtis Sullivan came through as a persuasive Commendatore, powerful in his re-appearance at the end of the opera, yet rejuvenated in his other portrayal, as Masetto.  The most successful singing of the night came from his partner Carla Huhtanen as Zerlina.  Perhaps it’s not fair to address singing in a dress rehearsal, not just because  when singers conserve their vocal resources, mindful of their opening less than two days away; but also because some of these roles are more demanding than others.   Even so Huhtanen displayed her usual flawless intonation, clear diction, and likeable stage presence.

I don’t want to spoil one of the great joys of the production –namely the visit by the Stone Guest– except to say that Gerard Gauci created old-fashioned magic through pure theatricality.  The end of the opera is wonderfully climactic in a wholly traditional way to satisfy any purist.

Montanari held everything together with his wonderfully fluid gestures, his exquisite keyboard play, including several elegant elaborations during numbers, and above all, a sensitivity to the singers.  In the sweet confines of the Elgin Theatre, there was never a moment when a singer was covered or text was  lost to Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.  Saturday they’ll be doing it again full voice.  I’m looking forward to it.

Opera Atelier’s new production of Don Govanni opens Saturday Oct 29th, running to November 5th.

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10 Questions for Gerard Gauci

Posted on October 23, 2011 by barczablog

Gerard Gauci is the set designer for Opera Atelier’s new production of Don Giovanni that opens October 29th in Toronto.  I ask him ten questions: five about himself and five about his work.

Gerard Gauci

Set designer Gerard Gauci

1) Which of your parents do you resemble (what’s your nationality / ethnic background)?

Both my parents’ families came to Canada from Malta in the 1920’s and 30’s. I’m told that I look very much like my father who died almost 30 years ago. I see the resemblance more every day.

2) what is the BEST thing / worst thing about what you do (designing sets for opera productions)

The best thing about designing for Opera Atelier is having the opportunity, year after year, to work with Marshall Pynkoski. He has an enthusiasm that is infectious and he continues to be the most creative and inspiring person I’ve ever met. Marshall and I have worked together for twenty five years. Our interests and tastes are very similar and when working together we always know exactly what the other is talking about. That makes for a very smooth and enjoyable creative partnership. We also share a lot of laughter as we work.

The worst thing about my job is not having three hands. This is a very hands-on company and I continue to make many of the props and scenic pieces that appear on stage. A few more hours in the day wouldn’t hurt either.

3) who do you like to listen to or watch?

I don’t have a television and rarely go to the movies. I listen mostly to classical music, particularly the French baroque masterpieces of Rameau, Couperin  and Lully. Lately my partner has developed a real interest in French popular music from the 30’s and 40’s so the apartment is frequently filled with the voices of Josephine Baker, Tino Rossi and Charles Trenet. Mostly I read, and right now I’m enjoying the memoirs of the Duchess of Devonshire and a stack of Barbara Pym novels.

4) what ability or skill do you wish you had, that you don’t have?

I wish I had the ability to type. When I went to high school the only academic choice one had was between Art, Music and Typing, which the administration seemed to feel were all of equal value. This of course, means that answering these questions is taking much longer than it should.

5) when you’re just relaxing (and not working) what is your favourite thing to do?

My hobby is scouting auction houses. I find it has an irresistible pull that combines the thrill I imagine one must get from hunting and gambling (neither of which I’ve ever tried). I have certain things I collect (like 19th c. silhouettes) and finding new additions to the collection is always great fun.

Five more concerning the set design for Don Giovanni.

1) how does the execution of this design challenge you?

For me the most challenging part of designing Don Giovanni has been dealing with the scene where the Don is dragged into hell. The audience must instantly be transported from the dining room of the dissolute nobleman to a burning inferno. As quickly as the scene appears it must also disappear.

Whether or not it’s historically accurate, this is surely the best six minutes in Milos Forman’s Amadeus: adapting this very scene from Don Giovanni.

2) what do you love about Don Giovanni and collaborating on a production?

What I love most about Don Giovanni is the story that embraces all the complexities of human nature and includes elements of the supernatural. The collaboration involved in mounting a theatrical production is my favorite part of the design process. I actually have two careers. As well as designing for the stage I also work as a painter exhibiting my work here in Toronto and in Montréal. That work is necessarily solitary and private and enjoyable in its own way. Work in the opera however, involves the needs and combined efforts of many people. I always learn so much from these people. I meet fascinating personalities, both craftspeople and performers and I get to exercise the other half of my brain.

3) is there a favourite part of the opera: something you’re especially looking forward to seeing on your set design?

My favorite part of the opera is the scene in which the Commendatore’s statue makes his entrance. The scene switches from the comic, with Leporello slavering over the dinner he’s not allowed to touch, to the serious when the tables turn on the Don and he is taken by the hand screaming into hell. I will have the Commendatore enter through immense glittering mirrored doors which, by the end of the scene, will disappear to reveal the gaping maw of the hades.

4) how do you relate to this opera’s world as a modern man?

I find the opera easy to relate to as a modern man. While the characters are broadly drawn, each one embodies a facet of human nature that is recognizable to all of us. These characteristics may not be flattering but we can laugh or cringe or nod at them because they’re familiar. I also find Mozart’s music timeless, both tuneful and incredibly moving. There is nothing anachronistic about the score which always sounds fresh and exciting.

5) is there a design (or production) for Don Giovanni that you particularly admire?

I still have a great affection for the first Don Giovanni I ever saw. It was the 1979 Joseph Losey film starring Ruggero Raimondi and Kiri Te Kanawa. I had never before seen such opulence on the screen…….. the magnificent costumes, the spectacular settings especially those filmed in Palladian villas in and around Vicenza. The fiery scene in the glass factory beautifully presaged the descent into hell and the scene on the stage of the Teatro Olimpico was for me, unforgettable.

Losey’s version of the Commendatore scene.

Gerard Gauci’s new design of Don Giovanni can be seen in the Opera Atelier production opening October 29th at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto.

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Another Don Giovanni

Posted on October 22, 2011 by barczablog

Opera Atelier are about to open a new production of Don Giovanni.

And why not?  When last seen in these parts, The Don was ambushed by a feminist reading from the Canadian Opera Company almost exactly three years ago, a world-weary lover overcome by his adversaries; it was as if they were all fed up with being on the losing end in every other production and finally had their revenge.  While it was surprisingly enjoyable (I loved it even if the critics didn’t seem to get it), in an opera that often is a site for directorial experimentation, I suspect OA will go in precisely the opposite direction, giving us something closer to what Mozart had in mind.  Even at their most transgressive, this is a company with possibly the most recognizable style of any company in North America, aggressively seeking to get to the heart of the text.

Don Giovanni

Photo Credit:Bruce Zinger 2011; Artists: Phillip Addis, Curtis Sullivan and the Artists of Atelier Ballet

And is there a risk?  We’re always hearing that money’s tight no matter how much the economy is booming.  Now –when the western world’s economy is showing signs of coming apart—you’d think we might see some cautious programming.  The Canadian Opera Company have so far shown no loss of nerve in their programming, possibly because their research –and their loud delirious audiences—tell them that being bold is the way to go.

OA’s audience appear to be just as devoted.   DG isn’t a risk for Opera Atelier, when they have such a well-defined brand, unlike the COC, who undertake opera from any century in just about any style.

Start with a ballet company impersonating an opera company.  It used to bother me until I stopped demanding that they behave like all the opera companies I had experienced before.  Oh my, every performer looks good onstage.  Movement vocabulary is researched and prepared as exquisitely as any part of the text.  For some operas they’ve use paintings as clues to how singers gestured, stood and moved.  They’re nerds for scholarship, and by that i mean that they aren’t afraid to do opera as written.

The musical preparation is every bit as thoughtful and restrained.  An Opera Atelier production falls as delicately upon the ear as if you were sitting in a royal court rather than a public theatre.  It helps that they play in small to medium sized spaces, and that they are accompanied by Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, one of the finest such ensembles in the world, an orchestra that never upstages or covers the singers.

And OA regularly pull operas out of their recent past, restaging and re-thinking operas over and over, gradually making them a little better.  While this is a new Don Giovanni, they’ve staged the opera before.  I am eager to see what they find in this new interpretation.

A Don Giovanni has just opened at the Metropolitan Opera.  While the reviews have been unenthusiastic, they’ve been hampered by the loss of their star Mariusz Kwiecien due to a back injury.  Perhaps when Kwiecien feels up to it, he’ll deliver as promised.  But in the meantime, there’s always a historically informed alternative up the road in Toronto, and then later in Columbus Ohio, where OA will also perform later in November.

Marshall Pynkoski, co-artistic director of Opera Atelier

Marshall Pynkoski, co-artistic director of Opera Atelier

Director and co-artistic director Marshall Pynkoski says “we believe that Mozart wrote Don Giovanni as a true comedy about a young man who is innocent in many ways. This interpretation is in line with Mozart’s own, though it sets us apart from many modern productions.”  I’m eager to see.

Don Giovanni opens October 29th at the Elgin Theatre, running until November 5th

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The Tree of Life

Posted on October 19, 2011 by barczablog

At one point during class this week,we started to discuss The Tree of Life.  I asked if anyone else had seen it.  Yes, one person said, and they were not impressed.

I recall last week reading a comment online from someone who spoke of two hours wasted.  Ha,more than two hours come to think of it.

Tzvetan Todorov

Tzvetan Todorov

I was reminded of a comment made by Tzvetan Todorov.  The quote addresses how some works are received with great enthusiasm during one cultural epoch,when that culture is willing to make a special effort to meet the work on its own terms.  Without the special effort (corresponding to the beliefs etc of that group) the work falls flat on its face.

I found Todorov’s construct very useful to identify the peculiar phenomenon of Maurice Maeterlinck, a Nobel prize winning playwright,poet and author.  After a period of comparative celebrity at the end of the 19th century, Maeterlinck’s star gradually went into eclipse.  Given that symbolist poetry & drama require an imaginative effort from the audience, Maeterlinck’s current obscurity could be due to something as simple as a change in taste. Where the current cultural consensus is insufficient to support the weight of Maeterlinck’s prose, it must –to use Todorov’s colourful phrase—fall on its face.

Maurice Maeterlinck

Nobel prize winner Maurice Maeterlinck: who remembers him today?

And as a result I thought there’s a parallel between Maeterlinck and Tree of Life.  In fact there are humongous similarities when I stop to think about it.  There’s a moment in Act IV of Debussy’s opera Pelléas et Mélisande that always makes me cringe.  Maeterlinck gives Arkel the following lines (which Debussy uses in his libretto): “If I were God, I would have pity on men’s hearts.” In French, that’s “Si j’étais Dieu, j’aurais pitié du cœur des hommes…”  For much of the opera we are attempting to decode what’s inside, ergo the effort Todorov speaks of.  Every now and then Maeterlinck forgets how brilliantly subtle he has been, and hits us over the head with the obvious.  For those unwilling to make that effort, it’s simply an oddball of an opera, not worth the effort. For those of us who do drink the kool-aid, it’s entirely worth it.  The last scene of this opera is the most perfect illustration of death –meaning the moment when a spirit leaves Earth– I have ever encountered.  While I recommend that you listen to it, i will not post it because i think it loses some of its magic if one listens to it too frequently.

The Tree of Life strikes me as the same kind of deal.  It must inevitably fall on its face if you’re unable or unwilling to make the various leaps that are required:

  • To look at human life encompassing both spirituality and religion on the one hand, as well as planets, atoms, dinosaurs, and various other scientific phenomena.  Are the unproven truths about the human heart incompatible with a belief in the theory of evolution?
  • To see family life not just as a microcosm but the paradigm of life,redemption and value
  • To read metaphors in their most connotative suggestive light: as omens and typology
Terrence Malick

Film-maker Terrence Malick

At one moment in the film we’re somewhere in the deep dark past.  This film, an epic of the human soul, spans eternity, so long as we’re willing to allow for such peculiarities. Troubled? chances are you tune out or give up.  If you’re willing to make the leap, you stay with the film, and more importantly, you follow along with the film-maker, Terrence Malick.

We see a primeval creature lying on a river bed, and then moments later,a larger beast approaches,possibly contemplating that smaller beast as lunch or at the very least,as a creature it could easily kill. The bigger one looms above the smaller one,holding it down for a few moments.  And then –hope this won’t spoil the movie for you—it lets the smaller one up.  Whether this is compassion or serendipity,the smaller one is saved.

And throughout the film we arrive at that same point on the river (speaking of suggestive imagery).  The same configuration of trees,light,landscape,recalls that earlier time. And have we really escaped that predicament,or aren’t we still looking back wondering what might be coming,possibly to kill us,or spare us?

As with Maeterlinck –particularly Pelléas et Mélisande—The Tree of Life can use language that is predictable.  When you think of liturgy, there’s a great deal that’s said where we know exactly what will follow. The redundancy and lack of surprise in ritual leads to a kind of calmness, a communication where the person hearing the words knows what’s to come, and the meaning communicated is rarely new.

I am reminded of some of the other works with a spiritual or religious dimension.  If one is not open to that kind of meaning,or in other words,if one has objections to that discursive pathway,then the desired outcome –of something sublime and beautiful—simply won’t happen.

I won’t talk about performances, whether Brad Pitt or Sean Penn (hm… i wonder if it’s an omen that both of their names have four letters? hm….) have done better work elsewhere. That’s not really my concern.  If there is one thing i have been repeating over and over in my writing the past year –if anyone’s bothering to notice– it’s a fascination with the mechanics of stardom and the virtuosi who fascinate us.  I am amazed at how skillfully actors conceal their tracks, how hard it is to see anyone acting in a good performance.  But that’s not what this film is about.

The Tree of Life is a celebration, in the same way that a liturgy is a celebration.  It commemorates life and invites you to breathe and feel and connect, both during its 149 minutes, and in the inevitable resonances it sets up for you after.  The past few days I have been listening to the Berlioz Requiem while enjoying the feelings brought up by association.

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Rigoletto, second cast

Posted on October 18, 2011 by barczablog

I had another look/listen to the Canadian Opera Company’s Rigoletto Oct 17th in a performance that was substantially different from the cast that opened earlier this autumn:

  • a different tenor
  • a different soprano
  • a different baritone
  • a different conductor
Christopher Alden

Director Christopher Alden

Christopher Alden’s production is the star—not the singers—along with the flamboyant set & costumes by Michael Levine, re-framing the opera in a 19th century gaming room.  I am not sure one needs to go so far as to call this Regietheater or “director’s theatre” but the concept is so powerful that it trumps vocal display.

Romance is irrelevant in this dark and cynical world (which I called “a man’s world” in my earlier review).  At one point the audience guffaws during a love duet while the male chorus throw rose petals about the stage.  Later, that chorus ostentatiously hide behind their newspapers –in that stuffy gaming room—while the Duke sings of love.  The message is clear: that there’s no space for any genuine hope or despair, even as we admire the integrity of those such as Monterone who challenge this tyrannical world.  Robert Pomakov makes more of the role than usual.  One can’t take one’s eyes from him in either of his appearances.  Lester Lynch won the audiences’ collective hearts with his passionate Rigoletto, a portrayal that was long on heart, and wonderfully over the top in its display of emotion.

Osborne and Lomeli

Soprano Simone Osborne and tenor David Lomeli; Photo Credit: Chris Hutcheson © 2011

I have to believe that the COC chose to put young soprano Simone Osborne in their second cast as Gilda because they did not want to pressure her unduly by giving her the responsibility of being in the lead cast.  That strategy appears to be wise, as they carefully nurture the development of this young talent.  While it’s too soon to make any predictions, Osborne belongs on this stage not because she’s Canadian, but because she’s so good.  She brought a playfulness to her coloratura, power throughout, conviction to her portrayal and several impressive high notes.  I can’t wait to see what roles she will assume in the years to come.

The Duke was portrayed by David Lomeli, a tenor with the vocal power to match Osborne, who attacked his high notes as fearlessly as he propositioned the many women he seduced throughout the evening.  I couldn’t help liking him in spite of myself.

Rigoletto continues until Oct 22nd at the Four Seasons Centre.

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10 Questions for Robert Pomakov

Posted on October 15, 2011 by barczablog

Robert Pomakov is singing the role of Monterone in the Canadian Opera Company’s new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto.  I ask him ten questions: five about himself and five about the role.

1) Which of your parents do you resemble (what’s your nationality / ethnic background)?

Bass Robert Pomakov

Bass Robert Pomakov

My father (came to Canada from Bulgaria). No doubt that is where my musical gene came from (Bulgaria has a great tradition of music, and opera singers). However that being said, especially since my father’s death (5 years ago), my mother’s influence; especially her calm, thoughtful, pragmatic approach to life (from her upbringing in post-war Rochester, NY) have been an invaluable guidance towards my mindset and general contentment.

2) what is the BEST thing / worst thing about being an opera singer?

Best: Embracing my vocation. Worst: Thinking there is something better; there is not.

3) who do you like to listen to? (a favourite singer or performer…can be anyone or anything)

Classic Rock: Neil Young, CCR, The Band, to name but a few. New Orleans Jazz: Preservation Hall Band

4) what ability or skill do you wish you had, that you don’t have?

The ability to write music; I am a re-creative artist, I would love to be a creative artist.

5) when you’re just relaxing (and not working) what is your favourite thing to do?

Ride my motorcycle. Go to a baseball game (hopefully the Jays are on the field) and drink beer. Enjoying far too many pints with my friends at my bar and many other watering holes.

Five more concerning Monterone in Rigoletto.

1)how does this role challenge you?

Extremely difficult vocal writing; high tessatura, yet requiring grand, weighty, full throat sound.

2) what do you love about the part? Here’s a demonstration from a 2009 production in Croatia.

I command the entire stage, all the performers, the orchestra, and of course, the audience.

3) is there a favourite passage: something you’re looking forward to staging/singing?

The curse “Si maledetto” Is it said in complete, utter rage, or does he find joy in bringing someone else down knowing his own time is done?

4) how do you relate to the character as a modern man?

I do not have a daughter, yet I imagine “the modern man” would react if a man (the duke) treated his daughter in such a manner.

5) is there a recorded Monterone you particularly admire?

Monterone is usually cast as a baritone, though it really sings with a much darker voice. Kurt Moll, the schwartzest of all Schwartz basses actually recorded the role. That indicated to me it is a role I should not be afraid of.  Here’s an example of Kurt Moll’s singing from Mozart’s The Magic Flute.

Robert Pomakov continues as Monterone in Rigoletto until October 22nd, Four Seasons Centre.

And this week you can catch Pomakov as part of a free noontime concert Thursday Oct. 20th at Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.  Titled “Love, Loss and Longing” the concert includes a new arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death by Canadian composer Gary Kulesha with the Gryphon Trio, and Beethoven’s seminal song-cycle An die ferne Geliebte.

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Inside Job

Posted on October 11, 2011 by barczablog

I may sound a bit like Noam Chomsky with this one.

Here it is in the simplest terms from Democrat Alan Grayson.

WHY is this not being reported in the media?  i suppose the same reasons Grayson speaks of, such as the complicity of the GOP as well as that other party.  I mean it’s so strange to think that bank robbers go to jail, when the banker robbers –who more or less plundered us all –walk away without any kind of sanction or consequence.

I watched Charles H Ferguson’s documentary Inside Job again on the weekend.  When I saw it at the Toronto International Film Festival in the autumn of 2010 I was impressed.  And I was shocked at how little had happened as of September 2010.  As the film reports: the persons responsible for the various actions that collectively left the world economy in a shambles have so far paid no consequences nor even been called to account.

Inside Job

Inside Job: Charles Ferguson’s academy award-winning documentary

Now, over a year later, there are still no prosecutions underway, unless you count the charges laid against the Wall Street Protesters: individuals who probably feel as I do.

In 1929 the bankers were at least partly responsible for bringing down the economy.  Many people had purchased stocks on margin: that is, by putting down only a fraction of the cost, and then paying using their earnings.  When the stock prices dived in the autumn of 1929, bankers did the worst thing possible.  They called in the debts.  Given that nobody could pay, suddenly the banks themselves were vulnerable.

In 1929 it’s worth noticing how honourable people were, compared to their successors in 2008.  Bankers paid the consequences for their bad judgment.  Where defeated Roman soldiers fell on their swords, and dishonoured samurai committed seppuku, bankers jumped out of windows on Wall St: at least in 1929.

Nowadays? The game has changed.  As Inside Job documents, bankers not only sold risky debt as if it were safe, not only did the bankers profit from bad debt, not only did they play both sides (selling the debt products, as well as insuring them against failure), but in the end, some executives walked away with massive compensation even as the most vulnerable in society, such as pensioners, lost everything, on debt products with triple-a ratings.

It remains to be seen whether the protests on Wall St and elsewhere change the nature of the game.  In a free market society, banks would have taken the consequences for bad choices (even if that would have hurt everyone else as well); alternatively, if banks are rescued by government intervention, one might expect conditions to be attached.  In exchange for the new lease on life ( the mega-billions in bailout funding), one might have expected  regulations.   Wall St financiers are watching the protests outside, hoping that the motley assortment on the street blink first.

With every passing year Ferguson’s achievement via Inside Job looms larger and braver.  And one waits to see what consequence if any may follow.

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Another Africa

Posted on October 4, 2011 by barczablog
Dienye Waboso as Beka

Shine Your Eye: Dienye Waboso as Beka (Photo by John Lauener)

The new Canadian Stage season begins with Another Africa, a program of two contrasting plays presented by Volcano Theatre that were part of The Africa Trilogy at Luminato Festival in 2010.  This is the first time I’ve seen them.

While the two plays are in some respects like yin and yang, so completely unlike one another, they have Africa in common.

Shine Your Eye is the shorter of the two, written by Binyavanga Wainaina, and directed by Ross Manson, Volcano Theatre’s Artistic Director.  Shine Your Eye revolves around Beka, the daughter of a famous martyred Nigerian activist.  Everyone seems to want something from Beka, whether it’s the woman she meets online, her boss, or the voice in her head.  Unexpectedly, the play explores virtual life through projections of webcam.  The all black cast bring authenticity, physical energy and remarkable vocal skills to this work.  Dienye Waboso was true to the company’s name, erupting with unquenchable energy, particularly in the final ten minutes of her magnificent portrayal.

Roland Schimmelpfennig

Playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig

And then, for something completely different, the second play after intermission is a manners comedy for two white couples.  Roland Schimmelpfennig’s Peggy Pickit Sees the Face of God (or “PPSFG “) takes awhile to get going.  In the first half hour, while I had laughed several times, I wondered if this was a light-weight piece, after the smoking hot intensity of the first work.

But I clearly underestimated what Schimmelpfennig was up to.  PPSFG concerns two couples –all four medical practitioners—who have been separated for six years.  One couple stayed in North America, had a child and gained a bit of weight as they became ever more prosperous.  The other went to Africa: and what happened there is a big part of why you should see the play.

PPSFG consists of two or three very distinctive types of conversation:

  • Superficial chit-chat, always striving to be friendly and positive, particularly when there’s something bad or painful to conceal
  • Soliloquy, where the action freezes while that person explains what they really feel
  • The frequent repetition of lines  we’ve heard before, (both the superficial ones and the serious ones) as the meaning gradually shifts over the course of the play
Ross Manson

Volcano Theatre Artistic Director Ross Manson

As I said, I underestimated the piece.  I was not alone in laughing at the lightness of the play in its first half-hour, but as PPSFG went on, as the repetitions acquired the additional depth of our anticipation of the by-now familiar lines, the audience was often silenced, only to erupt when a laugh-line released the pent-up tension.  I was reminded of a canon (such as Pachelbel) , stunning in the crystalline perfection of its construction.

Another Africa continues at the Bluma Appel Theatre until Oct 22nd.

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A Man’s World

Posted on September 30, 2011 by barczablog
Director Christopher Alden

Director Christopher Alden

I saw the new Canadian Opera Company production of Rigoletto directed by Christopher Alden tonight.  It makes a nice companion to the Robert Carsen Iphigenia in Tauris that premiered last week to such acclaim.  Both productions are like close analyses of each opera, taking us into worlds full of nastiness, while illuminating the characters and their predicament in startling new ways.

When a director modernizes an opera there are usually tradeoffs.  On the one hand, those who show up expecting to see the work done a particular way—often the most conservative members of the audience—will likely be upset given that the changes in the work will deny them their usual experience.  On the other hand the changes may remedy some of the objections people have concerning the work in question.

I’d never really noticed just how ugly Iphigenia’s Tauris actually was until Carsen held up a mirror to that ancient world.  While Carsen brought great clarity to that production, and coaxed fabulous performances from his two stars, I came away disturbed by the horrific violence I saw onstage.

Composer Giuseppe Verdi

Composer Giuseppe Verdi

In contrast, Alden’s Rigoletto left me feeling much better than usual.  Perhaps it’s because I know this work so well, having accompanied a sibling in the work literally for decades, wishing I could somehow manage to sing the Duke’s famous music even as I detest and loathe his character (grrrr boo hiss).  When I used to go see Rigoletto in the era of Louis Quilico (one of the greatest Canadian singers of all time) I cried gallons even though there were parts of his portrayal that were silly in the extreme, moments that would make me roll my eyes.  In spite of my resistance to his old-school approach, somewhere before the end of the first act I’d surrender, falling back in love with his version of the grotesque hunchback.   Mesmerized, I’d still quibble with melodramatic touches throughout, rarely satisfied with the entire whole, bothered by leaden moments in several places, the implausibility of the Act II abduction, and other weak moments in the story.  And somehow, I swear that every time, a little part of me would secretly hope that the giddy joy of “Si vendetta”, when Rigoletto vows to avenge his daughter, would bear fruit, that the detestable Duke would finally bite the dust.  And just like Rigoletto himself, when I’d hear the Duke’s last act offstage reprise of the familiar tune of “La donna è mobile”, I’d know the despair that somehow the monster had escaped justice, again (!).

Aha, you’re probably thinking I am one of those conservative viewers, who arrives demanding a particular approach…!

But no.  While  I did have a few pangs watching Christopher Alden’s Rigoletto –which diverges in several ways from the usual scenario- I bought it, even before I read the director’s notes, which totally helped everything fall into place.

The stylized portrayal is helpful this time, mitigating rather than emphasizing the nastiness.  As a result we are not really witnessing a tragedy, not watching Rigoletto struggle and almost escape his fate.  The magical space where the action takes place is redemptive in the sense that no one is held responsible.  This world is a colossal trap, and both Rigoletto & his daughter Gilda are caught by it.  There’s no pathos, no sympathy when the hunchback sings his great third act aria; but watching the aria sung in front of an implacable group of courtiers (even Marullo is a jerk in this one, a stretch for Adrian Kramer by the way), our hearts are moved in a different way.  And it works.

I found I wasn’t quibbling about performances because the characters were in this strange place where I was riveted by their surroundings, the fascinating reverberations of Alden’s reframing of the story, sometimes making actions more pathetic, sometimes bringing an odd sort of humour to the proceedings.  Everything transpires in The Club: the place where the men go to carouse, where the Duke has his secret assignations, where Rigoletto goes to work, denying his humanity, and where ultimately the Duke is unassailable.  His infernal good luck that saves him is somehow less objectionable when placed inside this charmed circle. I don’t feel quite so cheated, not so thwarted, as when the Duke escapes in a more naturalistic production.

Baritone Quinn Kelsey

Baritone Quinn Kelsey

If I do have a quibble –and I express it as a technicality because this did not hamper my enjoyment—it was in the overall level of the voices.  Only Quinn Kelsey in the title role brought the appropriate Verdian voice to the production.  As I’ve never seen a Rigoletto so capably impersonate a hunchback, a man whose acting overcame his obvious youth, I wonder if I was distracted  by the stunning vocalism.  Rationally he couldn’t have been Gilda’s father (he looks like her younger brother come to think of it): but who cares? He sang and acted superbly.  The other performance of note was Philip Ens’ Sparafucile, the hired killer, channelling a weird mix of Johnny Winter and Paul Williams, except that this aging rockstar still has lots of voice.

The COC chorus and orchestra led by Johannes Debus were spectacular throughout, Debus taking some wonderfully lively tempi throughout.

Rigoletto continues at the Four Seasons Centre –with an alternate cast debuting Friday Sept 30th—until October 22nd.

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Reinhardt’s first and last film

Posted on September 25, 2011 by barczablog
Max Reinhardt

Director Max Reinhardt

The 1935 Warner Brothers A Midsummernight’s Dream (AMSD) directed by Max Reinhardt, is one of my favourite films.  This week I will once again get the pleasure of including it in my film music course.

If wishes were horses beggars would ride.  Ambition is another kind of wish, particularly when encapsulated in PR.  AMSD never seems to live up to the hype of the eight minute promotional film short (see immediately below: click on it to see it on youtube), because its chief ambition was not about box office success but prestige for Warner Brothers, who believed they had an image problem as purveyors of gangster pictures.


Talk about a strange and eclectic mix.  Reinhardt aims high, with his powerfully symbolic style, including two long and contrasting set-pieces.  Each one features long extended musical passages from Felix Mendelssohn’s incidental music for the play, arranged by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (his first Hollywood film job), choreographed by Nijinska.  Where the first is sweetness & light centring on Titania, the second, much darker, centres on Oberon.

But just when you thought you were seeing high art, there are casting choices so blatantly commercial as to mock the artistic pretentions of the project.  Joe E Brown never seems very Shakespearean, nor does Dick Powell.

Yet knowing about this conflict between Reinhardt’s lofty goals and a conservative industry, one can’t help but be exhilarated when it works.  For example, James Cagney & Mickey Rooney manage to transcend their famous personas, each bringing something extraordinary to the film.  Victor Jory, whom you may remember for his skulking carpet-bagger villainy in Gone With the Wind stands tall as Oberon for Reinhardt, a dark contrast to Anita Louise’s sweet Titania.

I’ve read several analyses that find strengths and weaknesses in the film, but am especially fascinated by the historical subtexts.  AMSD would not be seen in Germany until long after the war, because the Nazis banned it.  Was that due to the Jewish content (Mendelssohn, Reinhardt and Korngold oh my… )?  Or maybe it’s the subtle allusions to the Nazis right in the film (they can’t have liked that).

In that second set-piece, notice the following iconography (NB since I posted this, I had to find a different video example):

  • the spectre-like figures in black enter to music sounding more like Wagner than Mendelssohn (just before the video begins)
  • Oberon stands before a crowd resembling the Nuremburg rally captured in Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will, filmed over a year earlier. (as the video begins)
  • The black figures force everyone else (fairies and elves) into a mass migration resembling refugees fleeing an invasion. (just before this video) While this last image is perhaps premature given that the Nazis’ handiwork largely lay in the future, yet at the very least the image is prescient, given that both composer Korngold & director Reinhardt would have to flee the Nazis.

Of course the allusions are very subtle.

Miraculously, three of the key figures from this 1935 feature are still alive as of September 2011 :

  • Mickey Rooney (born 1920) who played Puck
  • Olivia Dehavilland (born 1916) who played Hermia
  • Nini Theilade (born 1915) the lead dancer in the two set pieces.

While the film is something of a cul-de-sac, the first and only film by Reinhardt, it’s a great pleasure for me to look at the film, so full of contradictions.   I don’t know that it can be thought of as influential, but it’s still a personal favourite and an interesting site for study.

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Essays | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments