Girl of the Golden West

29 October 2009

Hold on to your horses! The WA Opera has brought to life Puccini’s La Fancuilla del West as a spaghetti western by way of John Ford’s searingly stark black and white palette, the opening an astounding vision of forced perspective and cinemascope projection (complete with film spliced static and the requisite smoke); and the titles literally coming towards you as if you were at the movies.

Impressed by the New World, Puccini wrote this rather specific opera to be set in the Californian Gold rush era, seeking to modernise his technique; however the resulting score has such strong orchestrations that it has been debated that singers are almost put to the test in a competition to see whether they can out volume the symphony.

The music is uncompromisingly and unabashedly melodramatic, telling a tale of a rough and ready mining camp, populated by men with gold fever in their veins but the wistful hearts of a clan of Lost Boys far from the comforts of home.

The intrinsically simple tale of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back is made complex by the girl being a gun-toting den mother/ sister/ teacher/ friend to this frontier mining camp; the hero being two faced and with conflicting agendas; and a black hat sheriff whose obsession for the titular heroine turns to menace when she rejects him.

The strikingly innovative set design by Michael Scott-Mitchell was post modern clever, the scored lines of an endless bar accentuated in Act 1 (taking place in the expansive Polka Saloon); then transformed into intimacy in Act 2 as we (and the bandit hero) ventured into the simple cabin of tough but naive Minnie; we are then transported to the unforgiving isolation of the woods in Act 3, about to bear witness to a lynching... All scenes were lit with dazzling chiaroscurophic effect by Philip Lethlean.

The costumes by designer Zoë Atkinson seemed to take their inspiration from John Ford’s films also – black, white and grey were outfitted to the cast; lending a pre-Oz, still-in-Kansas vision to the majority of the male chorus and soloists. It left the audience alert to colour...the bright red feather in minstrel Jack Wallace’s (Sitiveni Talei) hat, was a herald to the Technicolour vision of Minnie (Anke Höppner) when she appeared - aglow in a halo of honeyed curls, her dress like sunlight with bright yellows and oranges - a beacon of femininity in the midst of male gunmetal ambition.

However, the most startling and unexpected aspect of this production was the added insight and gasp-worthy glory brought about by video designer Scott Otto Anderson and video producer Mic Gruchy, whose projected art installations throughout the opera gave the piece such an excitement and contemporary feel that you couldn’t ignore that this production as a whole would have suffered for their lack.

From the family portraits of loved ones left at home, to the almost three-dimensional growing red rose of passion which lovers Minnie and Dick Johnson (Dario Volonté) seem to almost fall into, this is the first time I have seen projections used to such a degree in what is traditionally a theatrical piece – bravo to the WA Opera for taking a chance on presenting this imaginative concept!

Overall, the opera was spectacular, but time heavy, not overblown but possibly a little overdrawn. But for once Puccini gave us a happy ending, and Minnie manages to save her man by appealing to the hearts of the miners that she has loved and cared for in their isolating ambition to cultivate wealth. The lovers literally walk off into the sunset, their silhouettes a cinematic coda.

The Marriage of Figaro

Saturday, 28 March 2009

Light, frothy and as mind twisting as an alcopop, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro is an effervescent treat; it's mainstream familiarity not deterring the serious opera goer, rather it gives them a chance to enjoy the genius composer's prankster wit as we all laugh at the upstairs/ downstairs shenanigans within a country estate outside Seville.

I won't belabour the plot, suffice to say there are mistaken identities galore, boys dressed as girls (though that role is actually played by a girl dressed as a boy...who then has to masquerade as a girl - more Victor/ Victoria confusion!), romantic triangles, quadrangles and possibly even a pentacle; but a happy ending is assured; long lost families are found and true love truimphs.

The pace and performances were brisk and humourous with James Clayton skipping through his title role and Sara Macliver proving a fiesty foil as Susanna, Figaro's true love eager to outwit the Il Conte d'Almaviva (Luke Gabbedy), their philandering aristocratic employer, who is determined to wear down her protestations.

Stuart Liang was a hoot as Don Basilio/ Don Curzio, his round moonface alternatively bulging with bluster or sly with machinations and he, Marcellina (Sarah-Janet Dougiamas) and Bartolo (Conal Coad) provided much laughter and gossip in the opening act.

I loved the way the stage was dressed, the heavy curtains of light rust providing both set and cover in Act 1 and they reminded me of the layers upon layers of female courtly dress - under which just about all the males in the cast were eager to get to! There were touches of anachronistic modernity admist the props - a 50s style hair dryer, an ironing board and iron which were humourously affected, however I found the audience room columns in Act 3 rather squat and ugly and so out of place with the lighter colours employed in the rest of the sets.

The WA Symphony Orchestra ably supported the players on stage, but the WA Opera Chorus were practically a blip on the scene, mainly utilised in the audience room and apparently not even worthy of a bow as only the principals and supporting cast got the chance to receive applause from the audience. Ah well...

But the show itself was delightful, and an enjoyable evening of champagne fun.

A Flowering Tree

Saturday, 7 March 2009

I had amazing seats to this production courtesy of a friend who sings with the WA Symphony Chorus, and it was quite a change to see the orchestra dominating the stage at the Perth Concert Hall while the pared back and rather muted (costume wise anyway) WA Opera Chorus were regaled to standing behind the musicians.

This was to be a semi-staged production of John Adams' contemporary opera based on a folktale from Southern India. The story focuses on a girl who can miraculously transform into a beautiful tree thus providing a way for her poor family to gain a modest income from the flowers that blossom upon her branches. The symbolism of a girl transforming into a woman is at the heart of this story, as Kumudha's simple life is ultimately taken over with more adult concerns, such as a prince who demands her as his bride and then only seems to want her when she metamorphosizes into the tree(!); and a jealous sister-in-law who talks the lovely Kumudha into showing her courtly friends her magical transmutation, only to grow bored and careless and subjecting her sister-in-law to pain and deformity as Kumudha is left in the rain. Unable to complete her tree-to-human transformation, Kumudha becomes a misshapen stump of flesh and wood. She crawls away and hides herself in the gutter, ashamed of how she looks.

The Prince, unable to find her, thinks she has run away from him and is overcome with grief and remorse. He gives up his royalty to wander aimlessly in the wilderness.

After many years almost by accident, he enters a distant kingdom that his sister now reigns and to cheer him, she finds a band a minstrels who unbeknownst to either of them have taken in Kumudha. As Kumudha sings to him, The Prince recognizes her and tenderly bathes her malformed figure; a miracle of pure transformation occurs and Kumudha become wholly human again for the lovers to be reunited.

Rachelle Durkin as the lovely Kumudha was beauteous in form and voice, her face as expressive in person as on the large screen which projected selected views of the leads, chorus and musicians, interspersed with images of ancient Indian art and montages of water with falling flowers.

I found Russell Thomas was reasonable enough in his initially unsympathetic role of The Prince, however he seemed a little stiff and to have hardly any chemistry with his leading lady.

Sanford Sylvan as the Storyteller was our anchor into this fantastical world, and his voice, stance and acting was impressive, expertly weaving a spell over the audience with his resonant and controlled baritone, dominating the orchestra even through some very loud arrangements in the opera.

The WA Opera Chorus were charged along with the WA Symphony Orchestra with bringing forth all the remaining characters in the piece; from Kumudha's disciplinary mother to the cacophony of The Princess' careless and spiteful friends. For some reason, the chorus sections were sung in Spanish (the majority of the libretto is in English) which made you have to seek out the surtitles set on relatively small screens either side of the stage (I pity those who would have had to squint to see them if they were much further back than the middle of the audience), but maybe vowel-heavy Spanish is more suited to what Adams wanted to skim over his almost film scoric production.

Enjoyable, but maybe more so for fans of classical music.

Trinity Hall Music Concert

Wednesday, 21 January 2009

I'd heard from some friendly sources that a small private concert was being held tonight at this residential college in Nedlands...

Being a classical musicophile AND finding out that there was the added bonus that it was no charge to attend, I eagerly sought out a seat in the reasonably sized auditorium the college boasted.

There was almost an embarrassment of riches with the amount of musical talent at the event - all the winsome performers were attached to the WA Opera; and while the evening was quite casual with an easy back and forth flow of conversation between the singers and the audience, the works presented was worthy of anything you would find on the professional stage.

The concert opened strongly with a flirtatious aria from The Barber of Seville sung by Courtney Pitman-Kerr, the rich clarity of her jewel-like tones matching the peacock-emerald hue of her gown. During the concert she maintained a lovely rapport with the audience, introducing her various pieces with humour and insight, and switching easily between opera and jazz.

Daniel McMillian, who also took over as the pianist at one point to allow composer and accompanist Daniel Masmanian to display his additional skills as a violinist; was a lovelorn tenor, sighing ah me! and endearing to gain but a glimpse of the pretty girls who would fall in love with his respective characters later, in pieces from The Barber of Seville and The Elixir of Love.

Annette Gebauer's breathy renditions of familiar jazz standards gave the audience a chance to enjoy a cabaret style feel to her songs, and she provided harmonious support to various other numbers throughout the concert.

Sitiveni Talei, winner of the Mathy Scholarship for 2008, was a deft and intuitive actor, complimenting his exceptional baritone with a swooning presence. His pieces were rich and strong, and filled the auditorium with warmth and benign power.

An unexpected treat for the evening was a world premiere composition by Daniel Masmanian inspired by the poetry of Sir Philip Sydney. Talei and Masmanian gave subtle and yearning performances with their respective instruments of voice and piano to the quietly attuned audience.

As with the whole evening, I was simply enraptured by the music.