If you like theatre of the mind, then you’re in Gluck, er, luck, with the Canadian Opera Company’s run of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, and Verdi’s Rigoletto.
In his staging of Gluck’s 1779 opera, Robert Carsen sought to explore the psychological mindset of Iphigenia, who, as a member of Greek mythology’s most dysfunctional family, learns that her mother Clytemnestra killed her father Agamemnon, and that her brother Orestes avenged his dad’s death by killing his mother. (And you thought Greek fiscal management was crazy.)
To that end, Carsen set the action atop Tobias Hoheisel’s uniset: a black, raked stage hemmed in by three black walls upon which were chalked the names of Iphigénie and her parents, while that of Oreste was scrawled on the stage. Carsen lit the proceedings in semi-darkness, except for the happy ending when the goddess Diana’s voice was heard offstage, a cue for the walls to rise slightly and allow a blinding white light to frame the cast in silhouette.
Blocking aside, that’s not a lot to stare at for two hours--all the more so when Hoheisel dressed the cast in similarly dark garb. But that also provided a challenge for the cast which included a troupe of dancers as the Furies to make something of that barren space, and with next to no props to give a convincing portrayal of their characters.
At last Wednesday’s performance, American soprano Susan Graham was splendid as Iphigénie, a role she’s sung over 50 times in three different productions. At 51, Graham is still in her prime. The voice is still quite attractive, full and lush, though the vibrato with which she coloured most of her notes beat at an unrelentingly constant rate. Russell Braun was announced as having a cold, though he sang the role of Oreste as best he could in the circumstances. Joseph Kaiser, as Oreste’s friend Plyade, was excellent. Mark Doss was a blustery voiced King Thoas. As Diana, Lauren Segal’s voice was amplified from offstage. Sandra Horst’s COC Chorus sang from the pit where Robert Heras-Casado drew a sometimes overly vibrant sound out of the COC Orchestra.
Two nights later, the curtain was drawn back for Verdi’s Rigoletto, the tale of the hunchbacked and acidic tongued court jester whose daughter, Gilda, is seduced then abandoned by the Duke of Mantua, and ultimately self-sacrificed at the hands of the paid assassin, Sparafucile.
Another box uniset greeted the eye, this time by Michael Levine. Unlike Hoheisel’s, it was a feast for the eyes--a large, oak paneled gaming room in a swank men’s club richly adorned with cushy armchairs, sofas, and potted plants. However, Levine outfitted the men in tuxes, a move that essentially negated the tension of the class divide in the original plotline.
In this production, director Christopher Alden had Rigoletto relive the entire story in his mind, as a flashback. So, Rigoletto was on stage all the time. When not involved in the action, he was usually seated on a chair, stage left, writhing in mental anguish. One of Alden’s accretions was a mute Gilda doppelganger, dressed in white, who wandered mysteriously in and out of the proceedings.
The leads have been double cast. On this night, COC Studio Ensemble member Simone Osborne made her role début as Gilda, a part she worked on during the summer with Marilyn Horne in San Francisco. In Act 1, Osborne’s high notes were a tad thin, perhaps due to a mild case of the “madama butterflies.” After intermission, in fuller voice, she interpolated a high E flat at the end of Act 2. Not to be outdone, tenor David Lomelí as the Duke interpolated a high D to end the opening chorus of Act 2. Lester Lynch sang the role of Rigoletto with conviction. Philip Ens’s booming voice rolled like thunder as Sparafucile, but he looked like a camp, circa 1970s Paul Williams with granny glasses and shaggy, shoulder length hair. Count Monterone’s curse dripped with dread from the mouth of Robert Pomakov. As Verdi once said, the other roles hardly mattered. Yet, Kendall Gladen was a chesty voiced Maddalena, Sparafucile’s sister who wooed and ensnared the Duke, while Dundas’s Jacqueline Woodley cut a splashy and sassy Page. Johannes Debus drew out a full bodied sound from the COC Orchestra.
Iphigénie runs until October 15, while the curtain drops on Rigoletto after the October 22 performance at the Four Seasons Centre, 145 Queen St. W. Tickets: $45 - $318, aged 15 or younger $22.50 – $107.50 (all prices incl. HST). Rush tickets: $12 - $80. Call 1-800-250-4653.
