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A Fresh production in a Stale Setting Toronto
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
10/02/2007 - - and 5, 10, 13, 16, 18, 21, 24*, 27, 30 October, 2 November
W. A. Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
Robert Gleadow (Figaro), Ying Huang/Isabel Bayrakdarian (Susanna), Sandra Piques Eddy (Cherubino), Russell Braun (Count Almaviva), Jessica Muirhead (Countess Almaviva), Donato DiStefano (Bartolo), Megan Latham (Marcellina), Jonathan Green (Don Basilio/Don Curzio), Andrew Stewart (Antonio), Lisa DiMaria (Barbarina), Teiya Kasahara (First Bridesmaid), Erin Fisher (Second Bridesmaid)
Guillaume Bernardi (Director), Morris Ertman (Set Designer), Ann Curtis (Costume Designer), Kevin Fraser (Lighting Designer), Heidi Strauss (Choreographer)
Julia Jones (Conductor), Sandra Horst (Chorus Master)
Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and Chorus
The COC presents an energetic, animated Le Nozze di Figaro. Guillaume Bernardi’s lively direction of the youthful cast reminds us that the main characters of the story are in their late teens to mid-twenties. Also adding to the vibrancy is Heidi Strauss's stylish and witty choreography. The 50-member orchestra, in a pit that is raised up to a degree, gives an assured account of the score under Julia Jones in her local debut.
Sandra Piques Eddy gives a vibrant performance of Cherubino that is equally strong vocally and visually. Russell Braun, in reliably fine voice, stresses the mercurial and impetuous side to Count Almaviva. There is something a bit tentative - almost self-effacing - about Jessica Muirhead’s Countess. The direction might have something to do with this; for example, when she delivers her key line Almeno io per loro/Perdono otterrò in the final scene (the line that abruptly turns the plot from tumult to reconciliation), she is in the dark and behind the other players. This is either a miscalculation or miscue. As the Countess doesn’t participate in the hijinks as fully as the other characters she ought to be given some compensating directorial attention and/or glamour, but it doesn’t quite happen here.
Robert Gleadow's portrayal of Figaro is full of sparkle and mischief, although vocally he disappears in lower passages and has some strained moments in higher sections. Now in his early twenties, he is most definitely a precocious talent but not quite precocious enough. A challenge like this will no doubt help stretch his voice, although eleven performances is somewhat of a marathon. When his voice matches his visual portrayal he will be a definitive Figaro. Isabel Bayrakdarian gives an accomplished account of Susanna, although hampered somewhat by her advanced pregnancy. (Ying Huang performed the role in the first six performances).
Every once in a while a singer in a smaller role makes a significant impression and in this case it is Lisa DiMaria as Barbarina. An award-winning recent graduate of the University of Toronto’s opera program, she is also understudying the role of Susanna. I predict that she won’t be singing too many more Barbarinas.
Other comprimario roles were also strongly - and amusingly - performed. Standouts were Jonathan Green as a campy Don Basilio and Donato DiStefano as Dr. Bartolo. Following conventional practise, the Act IV arias for Marcellina and Don Basilio are not performed.
The costumes are from different periods and it is hard to tell what the point of this is. Figaro, Cherubino and other servants are in 18th century garb while the Count, whose feudal inclinations make him the retrogressive member of the household, wears late Victorian/Edwardian outfits. Some of the Countess’s costumes border on the dowdy.
The one big drawback is the set. Dating from 1993, it was designed for the smaller stage of the Elgin Theatre. Not only does it not fit the FSC stage, it actually wobbles whenever a cast member has to open or close a door. In addition, its overall sepia tone makes for a fusty look. Le Nozze di Figaro does not require lavish sets, but surely something could be rented or commissioned that is not such a low-budget letdown now that we have a sparkling new (and genuine) opera house. Let’s hope COC management don’t go to the trouble of putting it back in storage. The set does, however, permit the plot's required fluid scenic changes.
All in all, a worthwhile production that could use more visual allure.
Michael Johnson
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