Strong Voices Highlight Sacramento Opera’s
La Traviata
By James E. Roberts
 The second show of Sacramento Opera’s 2009-2010
season, Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata, the classic tale of
courtesan Violetta Valéry, her lover Alfredo Germont, Alfredo’s
meddling father Giorgio, and love found and lost and found again
and lost again, opened Friday, February 26, 2010 to an appreciative
audience. First, the singing: Karen Slack as Violetta has a
wondrous voice, and her clear soprano was a pleasure to listen to.
From the famous, exuberant, “Libiamo ne’ lieti” (“Drinking Song”)
at the beginning, sung with Alfredo and the Chorus, to her third
act elegy “Addio del passato” (“So closes my sad story”) and her
closing duet with Alfredo, “Gran Dio! morir si giovane” (“Oh God!
to die so young”) she conveyed the emotional turmoil that is
Violetta’s life. She was particularly effective in that final act,
where, dying of consumption, she still has to sing with enough
power to be heard in the back of the house. Ms. Slack managed this
difficult task by seeming to sing much more softly than in her
earlier scenes, yet with enough support and strength to make the
most intimate moments accessible to the audience.
Alexander Boyer was a believable and sympathetic Alfredo, and his
strong tenor served as an excellent compliment to Ms. Slack’s
soprano. He easily handles the joyous songs such as the second
act’s “De miei bollenti spiriti” (“Wild my dream of ecstasy”) and
the angry “Questa donna conoscete?” (“You know this lady?”), and
his duets with Ms. Slack were a delight.
Baritone Kenneth Overton sang the role of Giorgio Germont, an
unsympathetic, manipulative, meddling, conflicted, and ultimately
contrite father to the smitten Alfredo. Giorgio has a daughter
whose engagement is in peril because of Alfredo’s relationship with
the notorious courtesan Violetta Valéry (“Pura siccome un angelo”
[“I have a daughter as pure as an angel”]), and he convinces
Violetta to abandon Alfredo for the sake of his daughter’s future.
Overton has a commanding voice, which was unfortunately overpowered
by the orchestra on a couple of occasions, but otherwise served
well.
Erin Neff as Violetta’s friend Flora, Alina Ilchuk as the maid
Annina, Jonathan Hansen as Alfredo’s friend Gastone, and Brandon
Anderson as Dr. Grenvil all sang well, as did the rest of the cast
and chorus. The orchestra, led by conductor Timm Rolek, played
beautifully and supported the singing very well, and the dynamics
of the music were well served by all. It would be wonderful to just
sit in the audience, close one’s eyes, and listen to the opera.
Unfortunately, that may be the best way to enjoy this particular
production of La Traviata. Musically, this production is a treat.
Visually, it’s a mess.
The set and costumes appear to be from the Utah Opera Company.
While the costumes, makeup, and wigs all worked adequately, the
sense of lavish lifestyle was not as evident in the big chorus
scenes in the first act or the second scene of the second act as it
should have been. This may be a function of budget, but the result
was less than impressive. The set was essentially the same from one
act to the next. There may have been different walls, doors and
windows, but the angle of each room was identical, and the gigantic
crown molding that hung above the set stayed there for each
location, and dominated them all. There was nothing remotely
creative or interesting about it, and in the chorus scenes the
angles of the walls shoved the large chorus together so tightly
that they looked crammed in.
But the biggest problem was the acting, or more precisely, the lack
of it. I realize that opera is about as realistic as your average
soap opera (the plots are almost always the same) and I know that
the requirements of singing mandate certain concessions to
technical necessity, and, as with any theatrical endeavor,
suspension of disbelief is required by the audience, but I’m
willing to suspend only so much disbelief. When I found myself
asking “What the heck was that all about?”
after one
particularly egregious piece of dubious business, I had long since
decided to lay the blame at the feet of Stage Director James
Marvel.
While the
quality of the acting varied from performer to performer, with
Alexander Boyer being the most believable among the principals,
there were too many instances of blocking and business that simply
didn’t work, looked bad, or made no real sense, to blame the
performers. If a performer strikes a pose or makes a gesture that
looks out of place or is forced or phony, it’s the director’s job
to spot it and correct it. There were way too many problems with
the staging for the performers to overcome. Pity.
If you go to the opera for the musical experience, Sacramento
Opera’s production of La Traviata will please you. If you
expect stellar acting and directing, go anyway, and spend your time
reading the supertitles. You’ll be happier for it. La Traviata,
sung in Italian with English supertitles, music by Giuseppe Verdi,
libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on La dame aux camellias
by Alexandre Dumas, fils continues with performances on Sunday,
February 28 at 2:00 pm and Tuesday, March 2 at 7:30 pm at the
Sacramento Community Center Theater. Single tickets run from $15 to
$130, and can be reserved at (916) 737-1000. Sacramento Opera’s
season continues with Brundibár, a children’s opera that
will be performed at Hiram Johnson High School on April 8-11, with
one matinee on Thursday, April 8, 2010, 10 am.
Composed in the years leading up to WWII and performed by the
children of the Terezín concentration camp, Brundibár is a
timeless musical fable of innocence triumphing over evil. Sung in
English, this production features projected English super titles,
and serves as a perfect introduction to opera. Brundibár is
presented by the Sacramento Children’s Chorus and Sacramento Youth
Symphony, with production support by the Sacramento Opera. In
collaboration with the Central Valley Holocaust Educators’ Network
and the Jewish Community Relations Council. Featuring a special
guest appearance by original Terezín cast member, Ela Stein
Weissberger.
This season closes with A Russian Affair: Highlights from
Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades, Friday,
May 7, 2010 at 8 pm; Sunday, May 9, 2010 at 2 pm. Sung in Russian
with English supertitles, enjoy opera at its grandest in a dazzling
Russian double-bill featuring concert staging's of two of
Tchaikovsky’s greatest works, Eugene Onegin and The Queen
of Spades, both based on the writings of Alexander Pushkin. “A
Russian Affair” presents Tchaikovsky’s glorious music for the lyric
stage performed by an outstanding cast of acclaimed singers, led by
Maestro Rolek, and accompanied by the Sacramento Philharmonic
Orchestra.
Eugene Onegin gives us a glimpse of life among St. Petersburg’s
wealthy in the 1820s, capturing the essence of a unique world in
all its glory and despair. The operatic masterpiece of obsessive
love and greed, The Queen of Spades, follows an army officer who
deviously learns the “secret of the three cards,” which costs him
his possessions, lover, and ultimately his own life. At the
Sacramento Community Center Theater, 1301 L Street, Sacramento.
Single tickets to the Sacramento Opera are $15 to $130 and a 2-show
subscription package starts at $36. Join us for excellence in
performance and value! Gift certificates are also available
throughout the year by calling 916.737.1000.
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