|
Back
Anna Bolena Reigns in Philadelphia Philadelphia
Academy of Vocal Arts
11/10/2008 - and November 11, 15, 18, 20 and 22
Gaetano Donizetti: Anna Bolena
Angela Meade (Anna Bolena), Olivia Vote (Giovanna Seymour), Cynthia Cook (Smeton), Ben Wager (Enrico VIII), Taylor Stayton (Lord Riccardo Percy), Nicholas Masters (Lord Rochefort), Noah Van Niel (Sir Hervery)
Christofer Macatsoris (conductor)
Michael Scarola (stage director), Peter Harrison (set designer), Val J. Starr (costume designer), Allen G. Doak, Jr. (lighting designer)
Angela Meade (Anna Bolena) (© Paul Sirochman)
The Academy of Vocal Arts is launching a Donizetti retrospective with the first Philadelphia performances of Anna Bolena in more than three decades. A strong cast, led by soprano Angela Meade in the title role, turned the opening night performance into a bel canto triumph. She commanded the music from Anna’s first entrance and capped the evening with a nuanced but thrilling account of the Mad Scene. Meade has a rich-toned, flexible soprano that can spin out the long bel canto lines elegantly and also rip through the roulades and divisions with accuracy and fire. She can refine her sumptuous tone to a fine-grained piano and also thunder out a commanding, long-held high D with effortless ease.
Meade acts with assurance if without the authority she brings to the music. She is supported by a strong cast. To Giovanna Seymour, Olivia Vote brings a sumptuous voice and a vivid stage presence. She leaves a large vocal imprint on Giovanna’s scenes with Enrico and proves a compelling adversary for Meade in their fiery second-act duet. Taylor Stayton sings Percy’s arias with bel canto refinement. His firm, sweet-toned tenor rises effortlessly to a secure high C but also sounds suave and caressing in “Vivi tu.” Ben Wager dominates the stage as a youthful and charismatic Enrico. He sings urgently if without the ideal weight of sound for the English monarch’s dramatic outbursts. As the page Smeton, Cynthia Cook sings impressively.
Conductor Christofer Macatsoris shapes a compelling musical performance that catches the dramatic sweep of Donizetti’s grandly scaled score. Although he cuts the overture and trims a few of the solo and choral scenes, Macatsoris presents a fuller version of the opera than the one Julius Rudel performed with the Opera Company of Philadelphia in 1975. Propelling the music with a firm hand, he exploits the instrumental colors and vital rhythms in Donizetti’s music. Visually, this traditional production catches the opera’s dramatic impact. Val Starr’s rich costumes stand out impressively against Peter Harrison’s severe setting – a central playing space framed by receding dark wall panels and a series of doors. Director Michael Scarola tries to do more than line up the cast and let them sing. He creates some handsome groupings but also indulges in a few directorial distortions. Did Enrico and Giovanna have to sink to the floor in a passionate embrace at the end of their first-act duet? And why, at one point, does Percy deck Enrico with a right hook to the chin? These jarring gestures detract from the impact of Scarola’s staging.
Robert Baxter
|
