REVIEW: Salome & Ghosts @ OTSL

With the ending of Spring and advent of Summer, I have partaken of a couple Opera Theatre of St. Louis productions during their festival season. I was most interested in seeing Salome and The Ghosts of Versailles. The former is, in a word, Straussgasmic and the latter would be an opportunity to experience something new. Here are some thoughts on each production.

Salome

(seen June 3rd)

When I discovered that Richard Strauss's Salome was on the OTSL 2009 lineup, I squeeeeeed like a common Jonas Brothers fan--an embarrassing moment for sure. This excitement was suddenly tempered with concern of whether or not this smaller festival company was up to the task...but those concerns proved to be unfounded.

Director (and choreographer) Seán Curran used the small stage of the Virginia Jackson Browning Theatre to great effect, and showed that Salome doesn't have to "look" big in order to convey the opera's mammoth themes of lust, vengeance, dysfunction and death. Set/Costume Designer Bruno Schwengl depicts the grounds of Herod's Palace as a bleak void, wherein the moon (projected onto the stage floor) and the cistern (at the upstage wall) create a world where the viewer's perspective is skewed, capturing the overall warped nature of the dramatic content. His costumes capture the gaudy decadence of Herod and his wife Herodias, but I must agree with a certain local critic that Salome's wig was kind of "off" so to speak (NOTE: I promise not to fall into this "wig trap" in further reviews.)

Soprano Kelly Kaduce, making her role debut, gave a thrilling portrayal of an emotionally and sexually abused young woman. Kaduce's most chilling and effective moment comes after Jokanaan's rebuke, when she sees another man's blood and thus contemplates murder. Baritone Gregory Dahl was a vocally-strong Jokanaan, despite a few odd diction choices. As the prophet, he made Salome's desire believable. Tenor Michael Hayes gave quite a nuanced reading of Herod's excess, lewdness and paranoia. Mezzo-soprano Maria Zifchak's purple-haired Herodias was a perfect foil for Herod. Tenor Eric Margiore sang beautifully as Narraboth, but his stage movement was quite stiff throughout.

Of course, no Salome is complete without the Dance of the Seven Veils. Seán Curran's choreography utilizes the many dancing talents of his leading lady. Kaduce moves quite beautifully and naturally onstage, and these talents translated quite well into her dancing, which began with a Sari dance followed by several veil-tricks. The most innovative veil was made of a rubbery material which, held in place by attendants, allowed Salome to seduce Herod further.

OTSL should be especially proud of this production...which I found to be one of the best I've seen there in a long time.

The Ghosts of Versailles

(seen at final dress rehearsal)

As much as it may be sacrilege to say, I am not a superfan of Barber of Seville and Marriage of Figaro, both operatic adaptations of the first two in "Figaro Trilogy" of plays by Pierre-Auguste Caron de Beaumarchais. However, I do have a great respect for the operas and their place in the repertory. They've more than withstood the test of time. Suffice it to say that I walked away from John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles with a very similar sentiment.

Ghosts seems, more or less, to be a companion piece to the Rossini and Mozart forerunners, though when compared to them, Corigliano's "installment" is told through a very unconventional conceit:

As Marie Antoinette and her phantom court haunt the palace [of Versailles] after the Revolution, the author of The Marriage of Figaro tries to cheer the Queen with a new opera – and change the course of history.

Librettist William M. Hoffman partially draws upon Beaumarchais's La mère coupable, the final third of the "Figaro trilogy"--in which 20 years have passed since Marriage, the Almavivas live now in Paris, Figaro & Susanna are still servanting. The guilty mother is Rosina, the Countess, whose fling with Cherubino produced a son, Léon...but the Count has also produced a daughter, Florestine, with an unknown woman. Throw in Marie Antoinette, the playwright Beaumarchais himself (a contemporary of the french queen), an Irish villain, and a host of other characters, and you have the recipe for a very convoluted evening...perhaps more convoluted than the preceding operas. And that's the rub.

I do find the whole Marie-Antoinette-seeks-to-redeem-her-image-and-evade-the-guillotine motive to be quite sexy. I just don't think this conceit was the clearest mode of execution (pardon the pun). The singing ranged from decent to outstanding. Nothing much else to complain about. This was a production worth seeing at least once...maybe I'll view it differently in the future.

Next Season...

I must admit that OTSL has outdone itself for next year...so much so that I'd pay to see all but one of them!

The Marriage of Figaro: ZZZZZZZZ (yes, I understand it's beloved...so shoot me)

Eugene Onegin: They've been wanting to do this one for a few years, I believe. Such a great piece and they've got a heavyweight Tatiana (Dina Kuznetsova) onboard.

A Little Night Music: Well spank my ass and call me Susie! They're doing a musical!! Not only that, they've hired designer Isaac Mizrahi to direct and design the production. The only way this could be even sweeter is if Sondheim came to town for a symposium...and it's possible as Mizrahi is good friends with the composer.

The Golden Ticket: An opera based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?!? ZOIKS! This Peter Ash piece will be a world-premiere at OTSL. They certainly are working the family-angle with this one...and I cannot wait to see how it will all play out.