The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 68, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, October 10, 1980 Page: 19 of 24
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Opera
HGO fails to resolve problems in Verdi's II Trovatore
II Trovatore
Houston Grand Opera
Jones Hall Oct 10, 12, 14 & 17
Houston Grand Opera's twenty-
fifth anniversary season opened
last Friday night with a new
production of Giuseppe Verdi's II
Trovatore, a mainstay of standard
operatic repertoire whose music is
so familiar as to be immortalized in
television commercials as well as
on the stage. Based on Antonio
Garcia Guterrez's El Trovador, the
opera is a tragic romance
intertwining revenge, competition
for a duchess' love between two
brothers (who do know that
they are, in fact, brothers), and a
civil war.
Verdi's treatment of a horribly
complicated plot combines
narrative and flashback with
vignettes of action into four acts
and eight scenes. All this changing
of scenes and characters results in
an opera that is quite hard to
follow for the first three acts;
the audience must rely on a clear
dramatic statement to make the
plot fit together. Houston Grand
Opera's haphazard treatment of
the opera failed to overcome the
difficulty and frequently added
choppiness rather than smooth-
ness.
In the first place, the set and
lighting designs created a drab and
in many instances unbelievable
background. Stationary walls on
either side of the stage and vaults
across the ceiling defined a deep,
narrow alley which tended to pull
the action deeper upstage, away
Performance
from the audience. Ridiculously
minor changes were made in a
Spanish palace to transform it into
a gypsy camp in the mountains.
Few passageways leading offstage
made chorus entrances and exits
clumsy.
All light during the entire opera
came from the stage ceiling. No
frontal or spot lighting was used to
fill in facial shadows or intensfy
centers of attentions on the stage
and what "hot" spots there were
seemed accidental rather than
planned. Costumes lacked interest
and authenticity. (Gypsy prima
donnas don't look good in dull
burgundy.) Strong blue
backlighting throughout
completed an image of faceless
silhouettes rather than of real
characters enacting a real
situation.
Second, the singing was
inconsistant and often expression-
less. Lou Ann Wyckoff's
(Leonora) warm, comfortable lyric
soprano was solid but pliable
through the first three acts, but in
the fourth act her high notes
became rather coarse and
uncovered. Fortissimo top notes in
her fourth act aria "D'Amour
sull'ali rosa" all but destroyed the
aria's subtly plaintive mood.
Stefania Toczyeka modeled her
powerfully intense, almost
trombone-like voice into a mystic,
moody Azucena. Lajos Miller's
Count di Luna was confidently,
but not very expressively sung
Michail Syetlev's (Maurice) first
vocal appearance in a troubadour
Azucena (Stefania Toczyska) and Count di Luna (Lajos Miller)
song delivered from offstage
revealed a rather narrow and cool
tenor which though it sounded
better later in the performance,
never revealed the characteristic
Ehmke directs Symbolism 101
—Geoff Winningham
Sax and Violins
Written by Ronald Ehmke and
Jim Bergeron
Directed by Ronald Emhke.
Sax and Violins is an unreal play
about "real life," a social satire
based very loosely on Candide, by
Voltaire (whose real name we learn
is Francois Marie Arouet de— ah,
why spoil it?) I received my
program, with a blue balloon, and
had my picture taken by the roving
photographer. The program
promises an evening of fun, and
that is just what this play provides.
The whole evening was real Fun
Oriented.
A multimedia event, Sax and
Violins includes a filmed sequence
at the Castle of Baron Thunder-
ten-tronck, videotapes of the cast
and audience, random comments
by the technical crew, and of
course the play itself, which is
really two plays going on at the
same time. One is a theatrical
presentation of Candide, and the
other is a play about putting on the
first play. With all this one gets the
best of all possible worlds.
The cast includes Mark Smith as
Candide, Donald Buckholt as his
sidekick Cacambo, Randy
Furlong as Dr. Pangloss,
Georgiana Young as Cunegonde,
and Susan Stone as the old woman
with one buttock. Ranging in
mood from Monty Python
absurdity to Saturday Night Live
slapstick to sheer melodrama, the
performance had its ups and
downs. Some of the high points:
the panegyrics of Dr. Pangloss, the
misadventures of the mannequin
'Marlena lends a hand), the
sacking of the sheep, and the silly
singing of Susan Stone. Despite its
unevenness, the whole event was
quite cleverly presented. At
intermission the audience were
surprised to see the photographs of
themselves taken before the show,
projected on the wall.
The end of the play degenerated
into a long stretch of random
confusion, with liberal amounts of
ad-libbing from the cast and vocal
participation from the audience,
and it wasn't too clear exactly
when the play ended (I guess when
everyone got up and left). As I left
with my long blue balloon
(symbolizing, I suppose,
excrutiatingly painful phallic
death), I couldn't help recalling
one of Donald Buckhoit's lines: "I
like tTiis avant-garde shit... it's
fun!"
—Andy Hathcock
warmth of the Italian style.
Coarse, almost glottal attacks and
frequent use of the straight tone
detracted from his overall
performance.
Eric Halfvarson portrayed
Ferrando with a strong and
resonant but clear bass voice (one
of the best bass voices this reviewer
has ever heard). Conoley Ballard's
well-prepared chorus sang
precisely but lacked the
exuberance, especially in the
famous "Anvil Chorus." The use of
amplification for the soloists but
not for the chorus resulted in
peculiar variations in the timbre of
the sound. Conductor Miguel
Gomez-Martinez and the
orchestra provided a firm and
properly balanced instrument that
complemented and interacted well
with the singers.
Third, the dramatic commu-
nication of the story was poor. The
blocking showed little imagination
and often resulted .in contrived
triangular juxtaposition of
characters.
In the beginning of the fourth
act, del Monaco blocked Leonara
behind bars during part of her aria
where she disappears amidst
scenery and shadow. Each singer
frequently delivered his entire aria
from the spot on stage where he
was when he started singing;
Wyckoff also tended to sing
toward the orchestra rather than
toward the audience.
Interactions between the chorus
and the principals were stilted or
nonexistent. The chorus was
herded on and offstage and spent
much of its time on stage with
backs to the audience. Motivation
seemed absent to many of the
chorus' reactions. Even
interactions among the principals
was stiff and subdued.
The final responsibility for all
these problems must necessarily
rest with stage director Giancarto
del Monaco. He failed to inspire or
to coordinate and successfully
drove away super diva Renata
Scotto from the role of Leonora.
His direction is a throwback to the
"stand and sing" concept of opera
which may have been appropriate
in his father's day. (His father was
tenor Mano del Monaco), but
which no longer applies.
II Trovatore continues for one
more performance Friday,
October 17 at 8 p.m. in Jones Hall.
Later in the 1980-81 season, HGG
continues with a train of classic
operas in its Grand Opera Series:
Mozart's The Magic Flute
(November 14-21); Bizet's Carmen
(January 23-30); Cilea's Adriana
Lecouvreur (February 19-27); and
Verdi's A Masked Ball (March 26-
April 3). The Grand Opera Series
ends in late April with the world
premiere of Carlisle Floyd's opera
Willie Stark (April 24-May 1). In
addition, HGO this year
inaugurates its Light Opera Series,
which consists of The Magic Flute,
Carmen, Johann Strauss, Jr.'s Die
Fledermaus (February 21-25),
Humperdinck's Hansel and
GretaI (March 28-April 1), and
Romberg's The Student Prince
(May 23-24). Tickets for any of
these may be obtained from the
Houston Ticket Center, 615
Louisiana, or by calling
227-ARTS.
— Tim Dovle
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The Rice Thresher, October 16, 1980, section 2, page 3
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Dees, Richard. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 68, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, October 10, 1980, newspaper, October 10, 1980; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245450/m1/19/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.