An Operatic Play Date with Dinosaurs

Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt

On Site Opera

The American Museum of Natural History

September 29, 2017

A play date with Rhoda and in the hall of dinosaurs
Photo credit: American Museum of Natural History, R. Micken

Composer John Musto and librettist Eric Einhorn have teamed up to bring a delightful little family friendly one-act opera to the American Museum of Natural History. At roughly twenty minutes in length, Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt tells the story of a real life little girl who nurtured a fondness for her grandfather who was a real life pioneer in the field of paleontology.

Rhoda's favorite place in the whole world
Photo credit: R. Micken

When the opera begins in the Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs, we are introduced to the inquisitive eight year-old Rhoda who adores nothing more than spending time at the Museum of Natural History. By the looks of the large crowd of children who hung on her every word, she is not alone in her love of the place. The kids were all thrilled to be there, particularly in the dinosaur wing. The whole spectacle really warmed the heart.

Rhoda then took us to see her grandfather Charles Robert Knight who was about to begin work on a new commission from the museum director, Dr. Henry Osborn. A new fossil has been unearthed and they need Rhoda’s help to bring the creature to life by putting together the pieces of its skeleton and completing an illustration of what it might have looked like. A real challenge for an eight year old!

Over the course of Rhoda’s struggle to help solve the mystery of what the whole skeleton might look like, she goes through a series of emotions, mostly because she really doesn’t want to disappoint her beloved grandfather and the director of the museum who are both counting on her. She gets down on herself momentarily because it seems like too arduous a task for her meager skills and experience.

But alas, she overcomes with the prodding of the scientists who encourage her to look within. She has everything she needs to overcome the obstacle, they assure her. All she needs to do is marry her imagination to her rational faculties of scientific inference and the answer will be in reach. If it’s that easy, then the opera makes it look like it’s something we all can do!

Rhoda gets her assignment
Photo credit: American Museum of Natural History, R. Micken

Never would I have thought that singing things like “scientific inference” might sound good set to music, but Musto’s score overturned any doubts I might have had. He set the whole thing in a pleasant package for a small chamber orchestra, consisting of half a dozen strings, flute and clarinet, that was pleasing to the ear and inventive. It had peaks of emotional drama that drew on a classical musical vocabulary but also made a foray into a rhythm and bluesy harmony in the climactic trio when the three singers exult having accomplished their mission together, with Rhoda’s heroic help.

Rhoda has to overcome self-doubt
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

The whole show was such a feel good outing that it was hard not to come away with a great big smile on your face. And the kids all seemed to react in much the same way. They scurried around behind Rhoda as she led them from one display case to another where she modeled the behavior of an observant young mind alive in the world.

Rhoda's enthusiasm is infectious
Photo credit: American Museum of Natural History, R. Micken

Soprano Jennifer Zetlan charmingly embodied the curious youngster with a bright-eyed freshness that was quite simply infectious. She has a timeless youthfulness that was fun to watch in action and that really spoke to the kids.

Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt is smart and inspiring and puts on display exactly what the world needs more of right now: demonstrations of the pursuits of the humanities fitting into the work of the hard sciences like a hand in a glove.  

– Lui

The Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs provides the backdrop
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

Tartuffe Strikes Again

Darius Milhaud’s La Mère Coupable

On Site Opera

The Garage

June 23, 2017

A mother and her guilt
Photo credit: On Site Opera

I have to hand it to On Site Opera. When it comes to taking risks, they have an incredible penchant for simply putting their heads down and going for it. As the crown jewel in their ambitious three year long Figaro Project, they brought us an unspeakably difficult evening of music. It was both challenging to execute on all levels, for the singers and musicians alike, and challenging, to say the least for the listener.

A product of his late, one would almost say, “over-composed” style, Darius Milhaud’s 1966 outlier, La Mère Coupable (The Guilty Mother), accumulates melody on top of melody and often incorporates a countermelody so that a singer is often moving in musical directions that have little to no grounding in what the orchestral accompaniment is playing. Hats off to music director Geoffrey McDonald and the International Contemporary Ensemble for taking on Milhaud’s complex tapestry of a score with such professionalism and refined musicianship.

Beaumarchais' "The Other Tartuffe"
Title Page 1794

The opera opens with dissonance which, no matter how unpleasant it is to listen to, is a fitting introduction to current state of affairs in the all too familiar Almaviva household.

Twenty years after we last left them, Figaro, Susanna and company have aged. Cherubino may have long given up the ghost, but a new ramble rouser has lodged himself into the marital bliss between man and wife. His name may be Bégearss, but he owes the essence of his character’s existence to the avariciously malicious Tartuffe from Molière’s famous play. There is something derivative about many of its plot points. With such a pronounced debt to his fellow countryman, Beaumarchais seems to have lost some of his creative originality in this third installment of his otherwise very famous and quite ingenious Figaro trilogy, which this twentieth-century libretto is based.

Rather than the Count’s wife Rosina, the object of Cherubino’s eye in the previous installment, Bégearss has his sights set on the Count’s already grown daughter, Florestine. However, unlike Cherubino, this trouble maker is all fuoco e ghiaccio not so much for her regal flesh as for the money that would come along with it. But Florestine is in love with another. She has already given her heart to her step-brother Léon.

Rosina seeks to cheer the frustrated lovers
Photo credit: On Site Opera

You see, in the years that have transpired since we were last with the Almavivas, both the mister and the missus have engaged in extramarital affairs, which resulted in love children on both accounts. All of this only comes clearly into focus over the course of the opera as the family attempts to liberate themselves from the pesky parasite who is trying to pursue his own agenda at their expense.

It takes a village
Photo credit: On Site Opera

In the end, they manage to come together as a family. But the concluding bars of the piece are almost as cacophonous as the opening and so we are led to believe that this dysfunctional family is too screwed up and incesty for its own good and it will probably have future issues to face on down the road. Nevertheless, after their big septet final number in which, as in the good old days of opera, the whole cast stepped to the front of the stage to address the audience directly and extra-diegetically with the moral of the story, director Eric Einhorn plops them back down at the dinner table where peaceful resolution feels tenuous at best.

No matter how hard to listen to the score is, the cast was on the whole top notch. Unfortunately the excellent young tenor Andrew Owens, whom I was looking forward to hearing, had a cold and lost his voice. As a result of how difficult and rare this opera is, they were unable to replace him at the last minute and so he mimed his part and silently mouthed his lines in a performance that was something like lip syncing without any words at all to sync to, just the music. And so there was a considerable lacuna in this aspect of the score and its narrative.

The fresh-faced Florestine
Photo credit: On Site Opera

Soprano Amy Owens was resplendently fresh-voiced and buoyant as the lovely Florestine, desperately aching for the return of her betrothed.

Bass-baritone Matthew Burns, in the role of the slimy Bégearss, was strong and full-bodied in terms of his deep sound and he also struck a sufficiently creepy stage presence as the self-absorbed, opportunist Tartuffe nouveau.

Rosina has a life after Porgi Amor
Photo credit: On Site Opera

Soprano Jennifer Black delivered a moving, matronly Rosina, the Countess of Almaviva, and mezzo-soprano Marie Lenormand sang Figaro’s wife Susanne as a woman who had grown wary of the world after all the time that has passed. She managed to communicate some of the pain and suffering that the character must have experienced considering her martial and professional situation. The whole first half of the opera is not characterized by its levity of tone or content, whereas the second half found its narrative pace, hitting plot points with a much defter touch.

As their male counterparts baritones Adam Cannedy, as the Count of Almaviva, and Marcus DeLoach, as Figaro, grounded the opera with a bumbling sense of humor as well as with their broad resounding sound.

Begearss (right) thinks he has Almaviva right where he wants him
Photo credit: On Site Opera

The ultimate question that remains is really was it really worth all the fuss? On Site Opera rarely spares any expense and this production was no exception. They staged it at The Garage, a prime Midtown West multiuse warehouse, with the action unfolding on two different sides of the vast space. The first half of the evening found us along the far wall that was dressed to represent a variety of living quarters, albeit in a state of transition. Things were either being boxed up or unpacked for a move. From our seats the acoustics were a mixed bag during most of this portion of the performance.

After the intermission, the scene moved to an impromptu dining alcove in the corner adjacent to the main entrance, where for our money the acoustics were superior and we had a better, more direct view of the subtitles. It was really during this second half of the show that it started to come together for me. The pace of the narrative picked up and the musical integrity of the score helped guide the story along in ways that I found lacking in the first part.

The half siblings find love
Photo credit: On Site Opera

While I was very happy to have caught the show and to have put Milhaud on my map and I have On Site to thank for their extraordinary efforts and erudition, I also can’t help but wonder if there could have been a better use of all those resources: do something more pleasant – whether more mainstream or more rare. In this case, one time through this tangle of an opera was enough. What else can you show me?

– Lei & Lui

In the Garden of Love Triangles

Mozart’s La finta giardiniera (The Secret Gardener)

On Site Opera

West Side Community Garden

May 12, 2017

Love in the garden: On Site makes Mozart bucolic
Photo credit: Michelle V. Agins

On Site Opera’s stated mission of producing site-specific immersive operatic experiences is an exciting and ambitious one that in the past has led to some extremely clever and successful shows (but also some uneven ones). Their latest concept of staging the young Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera in an idyllic Upper West Side garden was beautifully executed and delivered a delightful evening of opera al fresco.

The West Side Community Garden (Click to enlarge)
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

Actually, on our particular night “al fresco” felt more like “al gelo” as temperatures were on the very chilly end of the spectrum. We were fine with a blanket but felt for the poor singers in summery costumes and even more for the musicians who were desperately trying to keep themselves warm with gloves and hats. Seems like the cold affected the orchestra under the baton of Goeffrey McDonald, sounding at times a bit too disjointed for Mozart. Nevertheless, the lovely West Side Community Garden, a gem of a space tucked in between the brownstones and the high-rise housing projects of the West 80s, was in full spring bloom and provided the perfect backdrop for the opera at stake.

Ramiro find himself in a love triangle
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

Artistic director Eric Einhorn and his production team made wonderful use of the space - using the central round lawn as the main stage surrounded by seats for the public and color-changing string lights, but also having singers perform between the public on the outer circles of the garden. The whole experience was intimate and the acoustics also worked surprisingly well, thanks perhaps to the high walls on either side of the space.

Mozart’s La finta giardiniera, performed here in a ninety-minute abbreviated version and in English as The Secret Gardener, presents a series of overlapping love triangles, quadrangles and other geometries that would be enough to fill three old-fashioned Hollywood screwball romantic comedies.

Count Belfiore is a real man’s man with a short-fused temper to match. After Belfiore lashed out at his fiancée Lady Violet in a fit of passion, she has taken refuge as a gardener on the grounds of the Podestà, here known as the mayor. In hiding under the assumed name of Sandrina and working as a gardener, our victim of domestic violence now finds herself the unwilling object of her new employer’s attentions. The plight of women has never been easy.

Belfiore seduces a rake
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

In the meantime, Sandrina’s manservant has taken a liking for Serpetta, another denizen of the garden, but Serpetta fosters nothing but distaste and disdain for him. The testosterone-addled Count Belfiore finds his way into the garden as well and falls impetuously in love with the mayor’s niece, Arminda. Seeing dollar signs, the mayor, who is pursuing Belfiore’s ex – unbeknownst to all involved – looks favorably on the match. The fresh-faced Ramiro, another satellite in the garden’s orbit, also has a crush on the fiery Arminda.

Will Serpetta give in to Nardo’s advances? Will the mayor get what he wants from Sandrina, his pert new gardener? Who will Arminda choose between the manly Count and the more effete young Ramiro? Or will Sandrina forgive the Count and return to the embraces she claims to miss and secretly can’t resist?

Confusion propels these bucolic lovers
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

The first turning point in this vortex of frustrated loves comes when Nardo abandons all hope and says goodbye to Serpetta once and for all. Or rather, switching from English to Italian, he throws in the towel and, bidding her goodbye forever, says “Addio!” and then “Ciao!” That’s when everything clicks. As it turns out, Italian was the way to melt the ice around Serpetta’s heart all along. And Nardo aptly sings, “I-talian is the language of love.”  

"I-talian is the language of love"
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

This is where I must elaborate on the travesty of On Site’s decision to present the opera in English, especially since they even ended up adding an aria in which the romantic potential of the original language is so fundamental. While I generally cringe whenever an opera is performed in translation, I have to admit that overall this one was not as terrible as feared. Not only did it sound tolerable musically, so often opera in English loses its poetry, but it also made it immediately easy to follow for an audience composed of young and old alike who had gathered together in a casual environment on such a brisk, if not downright chilly, evening (with really no infrastructure for supertitles).

Also, in La finta giardiniera the libretto is definitely not of Da Ponte quality, so there is little about the essence of the original that was so precious that it was worth saving at all costs. The playfulness of this juvenile opera, which Mozart composed at the age of eighteen, came across with clarity and an economy of purpose. On Site’s decision to cut many of the flabby bits in the story, like the sequence in which Sandrina and Belfiore lose their minds and confuse themselves for Greek gods, served to speed the tensions along more pleasantly, with greater levity.

The Mayor fusses around, holds forth, bumbles some more
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

Soprano Alisa Jordheim sang Serpetta, the stony hearted maiden, with all the vibrancy and spunk one would expect from a young Daphne-like woman dead set on playing hard to get. Attired on the Punky Brewster end of the spectrum, only with flower prints, she was as adorable as she was fiery. Her soprano sounded clean and clear in the night air. Baritone Jorell Williams, in the role of Nardo, intoned with warmth and humor throughout the evening but especially during his playful aria of seduction about I-talian being the language love. Tenor Jonathan Blalock as the bumbling Podestà, here translated as the mayor, sang in high, slightly nasal tenor and played his character up as a bit of a cad. His acting verged on mugging most of the time, though he does have something of a knack for caricature.

Arminda unleashes a kaleidoscope emotions
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

Mezzo Kristin Gornstein’s Ramiro elevated pining over an unrequited love to an art form. She was compelling in the trouser role and poured out her poetical, youthful heart in an elegant and mellifluous mezzo-soprano. I don’t think I have ever seen anyone’s face light up with so much joy when Ramiro finally earns the love of the woman he desires. It was a spine-tingling moment of wish fulfillment. Soprano Maeve Höglund as Arminda the mayor’s niece was one heck of a bombshell of a strong-willed woman. She perhaps had the most dynamic moments of the evening. Often in a single aria she took us on a rollercoaster ride from flirtation to death threat, to fawning lover and ferocious maneater. She was a wild animal on the loose, that is, until she is tamed by a certain fresh-faced young suitor.

The secret gardener searches for solace
Photo credit: Allegri con Fuoco

Soprano Ashley Kerr sang the title role of Sandrina, the Secret Gardener herself. She really hit her stride by the end of the evening. Her final plea to her short fused lover registered clear and firm at the end of a brisk evening of singing. Tenor Spencer Viator delivered the abusive Count Belfiore with warmth and agility.

Beth Goldenberg’s costume designs were elegant and intelligent, embodying all the attention to detail we have come to expect from her work in other shows around New York City.

The scene is set for sylvan amore
Photo credit: On Site Opera

All in all, the evening was a successful experiment that attracted and charmed a diverse non-traditional public (including many families with young children). Still, I-talian is not only the language of love but also the language of opera...

– Lei & Lui