Wolfie on Acid in the Warehouse

Mozart’s Così fan tutte

LoftOpera

101 Varick Ave, Bushwick

September 18, 2016

The sisters turn on, tune in and drop out.
Photo credit: Robert Altman

Lei: By now the schlep to Bushwick to get our indie opera fix is starting to feel routine: we embark on an L train to some abandoned warehouse in the middle of nowhere, to then turn a corner and find the bright “O P E R A” sign, familiar friendly faces, and an eager sense of anticipation for the night’s show. This time around we were particularly intrigued primarily because one of our favorite directors, Louisa Proske, was moonlighting at LoftOpera from her own indie company Heartbeat; but also because Mozart’s Così fan tutte is especially meaningful to us as it is the piece that brought this opera-obsessed couple together a few years ago.

X marks the spot of my heart
Photo credit: Robert Altman

Lui: We have come to know Louisa Proske’s work quite well over time as inventive, edgy, detail-oriented and thought-provoking and had high expectations for her maiden voyage with the company that defines itself as a cross between a loft party and an opera startup. The collaboration turned out to be everything we were hoping for and delivered possibly the subtlest and most bountiful direction we have seen at LoftOpera so far.

The '90s are back!
Photo credit: Robert Altman 

Lei: Proske set the show in the early ’90s: grunge rock and Dr. Martens are in. The two couples are high school-aged teenagers, in love and angsty and rightly so. The youthful take completely fits Da Ponte’s libretto, which is really all about the bitter lessons learned by youngsters living their first romance. But the innovative touches were not limited to costume. Proske elicited some extremely specific acting from all of the cast: Guglielmo and Ferrando are two dudes goofing around (they high five, do push ups, play air guitars in Una bella serenata, drink their beer straight from the can); Fiordiligi and Dorabella are pouty little teenage vixens (they drink bourbon out of a water gun, cross their hearts with lipstick and read Cosmo in a clutter-filled room populated by several stuffed animals); Despina is their sassy cleaning lady (sporting an all-denim outfit and a very flashy fanny pack); and Don Alfonso is the fellas’ extremely square yet cynical school teacher.

Arsenic is taken intravenously.
Photo credit: Robert Altman

Lui: In a very ’90s fashion, drugs played an important role in the production. First, in the fake poison scene (L’arsenico mi liberi / da tanta crudeltà), Guglielmo and Ferrando storm in, their belts tied around their biceps, their hands waving syringes loaded with coma-inducing substances. Far more credible and immediate than the usual little arsenic bottles most commonly used in traditional productions.

At first the girls are militant in their resistance
Photo credit: Robert Altman

Possibly the most important illicit substance use comes into play later. To explain away their sudden change of heart in the opening of Act II, Dorabella and Fiordiligi actually take a hit of acid, and the trippy fun begins. The girls become both more and less flighty at the same time. Everybody suddenly dons an animal mask as the girls literally trip out. The look on their faces as they took in the strangeness around them was priceless. The guy with a faux hawk sitting next to me was on the edge of his seat cracking up. He “got” it, and the hilarity was contagious.

Interestingly, as the sisters cave into the boys’ tricks and saunter away to consummate their lust, they do so wearing animal masks. And so, when pushed (through acid or otherwise), the inner beast that lurks inside each of us comes prancing out. On the level of the already slightly trippy symmetries of Da Ponte’s formulaic plot with its neat logical reversals, Louisa Proske took the story at its psychedelic face value. And I applaud her for that.

It brings the beast out of us all
Photo credit: Robert Altman

Lei: Good trip, bad trip. Dorabella has a euphoric trip that ends in the fulfillment of her “love.” Fiordiligi has a bad trip and ends up hallucinating a series of scary beasts when she gazes at her pursuer. Un’aspide, un idra, un basilisco: the list of euphemisms (traditionally used to refer to Ferrando’s membro virile) are now the horrors she sees under the influence and she flips out. Brilliant! The poor girl just isn’t comfortable either with herself or with the situation and the LSD only heightens that. A very clever twist on the libretto.

Guglielmo is worldly wise after seducing his best friend's girl
Photo credit: Robert Altman

Lui: Baritone Alex DeSocio played Guglielmo as a solid “dude.” In Non siate ritrosi / occhietti vezzosi he humorously showed off the many virtues of the “Albanians” with excellent Italian diction. His singing was particularly moving when he wandered into the woods of disappointment and defeat. His Il core vi dono was round and romantic. It’s one of the central seduction moments in the opera and it sounded sufficiently compelling in his mouth and his acting was exceptional. In Donne mie, la fate a tanti, he rode the fast-paced aria with expressivity and clarity in a drunken rage. At the same time, he played a goofy jock of a jerk to perfection with all the quirky high fives such a show of brute masculinity requires. Tenor Spencer Viator as Ferrando delivered a solid Un’aura amorosa and had tremendous stage presence throughout, particularly when teaming up in various shenanigans with DeSocio. Many times Viator had me laughing hard, his acting always specific and super in character.

Fiordiligi pleads for forgiveness
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

Soprano Megan Pachecano as Fiordiligi was also very commanding. Her voice projected out beautifully in front of Don Alfonso and Dorabella’s in Soave sia il vento. Her longing was palpable. She is the one who most wants the boys to stay and so her voice trails after them like a sail in front of the wind hoping to catch up with them. Her Come scoglio was a showstopper both vocally and acting-wise. And she carried much of Act II through her reluctant acceptance of Despina’s lessons in the art of carpe diem. Her Per pietà, ben mio, perdona was a moment of meditative reflection on her desire to be reunited with the one she really loves, not this sorry excuse for a vaguely Borat-looking Eastern European gangster. Mezzo Sarah Nelson Craft as Dorabella was another excellent acting singer. Her Smanie implacabili was delivered with force and pathos and her many duets with Pachecano were a pleasure to hear. Her chesty mezzo so beautifully grounded their Soave sia il vento, that I would have loved to have heard her school us on È amore un ladroncello. But alas, putting these young voices through three consecutive nights of singing amounts to too much strain and something has to go!

Despina holds forth as the notary
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

Lei: The singer that truly stole the show for me was soprano Michelle Trovato as Despina. Her clean, lyric and agile soprano delivered sensational renditions of In uomini, in soldati / sperare fedeltà and Una donna a quindici anni, all while flirting with male members of the audience as if to prove her point. Life’s too short to play it safe. Sassy, saucy and charming, Trovato is an infectious actress, who is equally convincing (and utterly hilarious) as the savvy jaded maid, the quack doctor and the nerdy notary. She savored the sound of much of the Italian every time she opened her mouth and whenever she was on stage she captivated everybody with her serious attitude as well as her humor – a true delight.

Lui: Baritone Gary Ramsey’s Don Alfonso underwent much more of a transformation than most productions allow for. Early in the opera he played the character as something of an effete substitute teacher who is jaded by his past failures in love and is still a bit sfigato. By Act II we see him for what he really is (I guess): a diabolical fellow, almost Mephistophelian, who all too eagerly leads these youngsters on a quest toward wisdom and the loss of innocence such a journey often entails. In Act I he dons a circa 1990s beige and baggy Men’s Warehouse suit. His rebirth in Act II finds him done up with demonic clown-like rouge on his cheeks, slick black trousers and a white blouse emblazoned with flaming satanic-looking verses. His Italian has much improved though it is neither as perfect nor as musical as it needs to be. But his delivery suited this take on the character.

Don Alfonso gets all Mephisto
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

Lei: No detail was small enough for this production, including a great use of lighting, designed by Oliver Wason, to suggest interior states in a few key moments, like Fiordiligi’s showcase aria, Come scoglio. The lighting changes and we enter Fiordiligi’s head space. In the eye of her mind she has super powers that enable her to put these sleeze bag suitors in their place, Darth Vader-style. She throws them around using the “force” of her gestures. Or something like that. A cute and clever take on the prude who is firmest in her convictions. The same occurred in the nuptial brindisi quartet when Ferrando and Fiordiligi are head over heels in love now and Guglielmo is feeling left out and embittered. He wishes they were drinking poison (Ah, bevessero del tossico / queste volpi senza onor). Again with the help of the lighting, we step out of narrative time and simultaneously into the lover’s locking eyes and into the sinister disillusionment of Guglielmo’s perspective on the scene. What the score communicates through the multitrack quartet, Wason literalizes with his lighting choices.

Ready to tie the knot
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

Lui: Così’s ending always leaves me debating the possible takes on the cynical story and its pat (or not so pat) finale. In Proske’s take, while the original couples are reconstituted, the sexual tension between between Ferrando and Fiordiligi remains. They continue to check each other out, making eyes at each other, over the shoulders of their initial mate. Guglielmo is not as bummed as he had been during the wedding toast, but the overall tone is that they are no longer as innocent as they once were. Especially the girls as they exchange knowing glances, while holding the scissors they just used to cut off heart-shaped helium balloons tied to their wrists. I got the feeling that they weren’t done yet and their men should brace themselves for some further test of their fidelity in the not too distant future. And that is a rare takeaway.

Image credit: LoftOpera

Lei: The orchestra under the baton of Dean Buck was super tight, fast paced yet they let the score breathe. Mozart is not easy and the LoftOpera orchestra did it justice. There’s nothing like hearing the greatest classical music played by a full orchestra in such a cavernous yet intimate space. This was the third of three performances in a row for this poor cast. But I can’t say they showed many signs of fatigue. The public, though, was the quietest and most elderly I’ve ever seen out at LoftOpera. Maybe because it was a Sunday. Still, I prefer the usual twenty-something crowd that brings a whole different energy to the experience. On the upside, the performance felt more intimate than usual, as everybody could sit comfortably close to the stage and the music. The singers sounded great, echoing beautifully into the enormous post-industrial space, with the Manhattan skyline visible through the open garage door beyond the stage. A radical yet faithful take on Wolfie, the skyline, free beers and chocolate – what else can one want on a Sunday night (or any night)?

– Lui & Lei

Dorabella & Fiordiligi having teenage fun
Photo credit: Jamie Lynn Santamour

Opera Gangsters in Bushwick

Puccini’s Tosca

LoftOpera

Bushwick, Brooklyn

March 10, 2015

Cannot miss O P E R A in Bushwick
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

In usual LoftOpera fashion, we got off a subway stop in deep Brooklyn and walked our way through a far west of abandoned warehouses, decrepit storefronts and shady dealings in parked cars. We knew we were close when we saw yellow cabs (definitely Manhattanites) dropping off patrons in front of an unassuming and unmarked entrance. There were groups of people gathering around and buzzing... about a five letter sign that read “O P E R A” in bright lights, under a clutter of graffiti. We were definitely there. Charming and bubbly LoftOpera General Manager Brianna Maury welcomed every single patron at the door with a smile, a one-page program and a paper clip – to trade for a free drink at the bar.

Castel Sant'Angelo
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

The space was a huge white-walled raw loft, a converted former Chinatown bus workshop. A scaffolding structure holding a huge winged statue (Castel Sant’Angelo anyone?) lead the way to the rectangular “stage,” framed by two corner walls and facing rows of benches on the other two sides. We got there 30 minutes before start time and it was almost impossible to find a seat, as the over 100 mostly under-30 crowd had already firmly settled in, swilling their beers and chatting idly. Not to worry, though, one can always plop down on the floor, front row, where all the juicy action is anyway – you may even get hit by a squirt of Scarpia’s blood.

There was an electric party vibe and a sense of anticipation in the air. And then, the lights dimmed, silence fell and the 33-member roaring orchestra lead by Dean Buck erupted into the sweeping, action-packed overture of Puccini’s Tosca. LoftOpera may be unassuming and relaxed but their craft is dead serious and top quality. The Tosca cast had impeccable Italian and was strong across the board, both vocally and acting-wise; the direction was contemporary yet faithful to the story and the libretto.

 

The loving couple
Photo credit: Charles Kessler

Tenor Dane Suarez as Cavaradossi displayed a handsome, full voice. His is a warm and robust tenore spinto. Suarez’s Recondita armonia in Act I was beautiful, soaring, and moving. He brought down the house (and moved me to tears) with E lucevan le stelle in Act III, rendering the magic of the pure earth-shaking lyricism of a man deeply in love about to die. Soprano Carolina Castells was the heroine of the dark drama. Her interpretation of Tosca was intensely fierce. The Santuzza-like fits of jealousy she threw amidst the love duets that punctuate Act I were charming, but she really knocked it out of the park in Act II. Fearlessly stripping down to her skivvies, she offers herself to the corrupt Scarpia only to then deliver a most gut-wrenching Vissi d’arte (as she convincingly stabs the villain with his own steak knife). Her soprano is earthy and powerful and her acting talents superb. Baritone Kevin Wetzel as the villain Scarpia was appropriately snarly, rendering his character with a threatening viscerality that I think it’s still haunting some of the public in the first rows.

 

Things get Tarantino-esque
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

Bass Joseph Beutel delivered the fugitive Angelotti with a deep sense of urgency that left me wanting to hear more from him, though he exits the scene early in the action. Baritone Stefanos Koroneos was a convincing Sacristan, displaying the right comic touch without mugging or overdoing it. Tenor Jordan Pitts as Scarpia’s sidekick Spoletta had charismatic stage presence and a handsome confident voice. Finally, the 14-member chorus did an amazing job with the Te Deum at the end of Act I, and Eric Schuett was an enchanting shepherd. While playing with toy soldiers in the opening of Act III, the boy soprano delivered the lyrical lullaby Io de’ sospiri with an ethereal otherworldliness.  

 

Yes, the action is that close to the public
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

The sets were simple, really two white walls, and a handful of props: a Mary Magdalene mural and lots of votive candles for Act I, a long sleek white dining table in Act II (doubling as the platform for the attempted rape and subsequent murder), a vintage school desk in Act III. Overall, Raymond Zilberberg’s direction took us to a place somewhere between the neorealism of Rossellini (Tosca reminded me of Anna Magnani in Roma Città Aperta, particularly in the finale) and Tarantino’s splatter-noir (replete with blood, guns and gangsters).

Cavaradossi right before the torture
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

There were nice touches, some more intentional than others. Cavaradosssi swiped through Floria Tosca’s pictures on his iPhone while singing Recondita armonia, a real water faucet was used by both Angelotti and Tosca to wash out blood from their hands. And last but not least, the rumble of trucks or motorcycles passing outside the venue during Act III did not bother, rather, it heightened the intensity of the last scenes of the opera in a way that I can only describe as cinematic.  

A Tosca with a touch of neo-realism
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

LoftOpera treated Tosca as if it was the hottest new thing on the indie scene, never performed before, or, at least, never in front of an audience like this. In fact, the show’s program, instead of the usual detailed account of the whole plot, presents just a broad summary of the setting and the action, without any spoilers. It actually worked: the public may not have known or cared about the nuances of the arias but the sense of discovery was palpable, as they followed the action of the plot like their life depended on it. They giggled at Tosca’s jealous fits, cheered enthusiastically when she sunk her knife into evil Scarpia’s chest, gasped at the tragic finale. And this is what opera is all about. The most emotionally gripping, gut-stirring story-telling through music. LoftOpera gets over a hundred people to a raw warehouse space in the middle of Bushwick and they all sit in rapt religious silence through a three act Puccini opera (well, there’s the occasional beer bottle tipping but that’s part of the local soundscape). Their events are cool, sexy and unassuming to the extreme. Opera is old and stuffy? Throw some free beers at it, let people sit on the floor and have the gorgeous music do the rest. All you need are a few walls, great performers and smart direction.

As we walked out singing raucously Cavaradossi’s climactic aria, E lucevan le stelle (dolci baci e languide carezeeeee…. Muoio disperatoooooo…..non ho amato mai tanto la vitaaaaaa!!!!), behind us other happy patrons were also humming bits and pieces of the Puccini score and talking enthusiastically about the show. Because, yes, opera is grand, emotionally infectious and timeless. In the right setting, today’s generations still get it, love it and will come back for more. Next up in LoftOpera’s 2016 season are Rossini’s Le Comte Ory (June), Mozart’s Così fan tutte (September) and Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny (December). There’s a lot to look forward to!

- Lei & Lui

Logo design: Doug Smith at Penmanships

Orchestra led by Dean Buck
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco 

Scarpia's dining table
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco