JJ and the City
"Soprano Lauren Flanigan turned her vaunted acting skills to the task of portraying the sophisticated allure of Vanessa, hampered more than a little by a stiff auburn wig and dowdy costumes that left her looking like Nellie Oleson's mother. Happily, on November 8, Flanigan was in superb voice, sailing fearlessly up to fiery high B's and C's and plunging into a well-projected chest register." Our Own JJ reviews NYCO's Vanessa and Cendrillion for Gay City News. Please do try to forgive the weird é characters that somehow crept into the text; the editors at GCN are working on transforming them back into their original e aigu (é) state.
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7:26 PM
23 Comments:
hunny, you would not have that problem if you'd just stop being such a pedant and write those funny french words, and start acting like the poor country girl that you are... ;-)
Pardonnez à mon bavardage, j'en suis à mon premier badinage!
I agree Flanigan really does have the goods vocally....too bad she's not singing at the met. Speaking of the MET, I just got back from renee's traviata and boy....e STRANO!
No vocal line was left unadultered, no utterance done without that horrid bleating she thinks is pathos. Her acting was just as bad, especially in the last act where she rolled around the floor dragging out those final "tuttos" of addio del passato shamelessly. Her characterization was beyond schizophrenic, sometimes coquettish, sometimes quasi-marschallin, sometimes angry, but mostly ridiculous. They really should have used her in nozze and peter grimes, both of which could really use a "star" to sell tickets. The best part though was when we all got to find out she was singing half voice for the entire opera up until "Ah! Gran dio!" The audience ate it up of course....
This is perhaps a better place to insert my perceptions of the "Vanessa" and last night's "Traviata".
Unlike, La Cieca, I really liked the production a lot. The use of transparent scrim walls with a bare winter forest behind gave a dreamlike, surreal quality to the piece. It helped you past the somewhat hothouse, artificial libretto with its deliberately abstruse motivations and plot contrivances. In fact the look and atmosphere was very like the production that Menotti himself did for Spoleto, USA in the early eighties with Johanna Meier that was shown on PBS. The color and scenic layout was the same but Kahn and Yeargan added the hint of abstraction and stylization which worked better for the piece.
As for playing it too straight, I dunno. I also don't hear a lot of irony in Barber's score which tells a more convincing emotional story than Menotti's libretto. There is a lot of dissonance there in the scoring though the vocal line is tonal. I think once you add a note of camp or irony that whole delicate house of cards will collapse and the whole thing will turn into a Charles Busch parody of a Carl Dreyer film.
Of course the real problem with the opera is that Erika is smarter than she behaves. A friend asked me afterwards "What is she waiting for and why??". Really Erika ought to go to Law School in Helsinki or something at the end of the piece. But of course she also could wake up the next morning after the final curtain and just say "You know what? Fuck this shit - Major Domo take down those veils off the mirrors and the portraits - I'm having a shindig tonight!"
I thought the cast was uniformly excellent though of course, some voices were better than others. The diction throughout was impressive. I liked the fact that Ryan MacPherson added a note of ambiguity to Anatol not playing the cad or opportunist too flat out. I think they should have done Lauren up as a blonde with a more upswept coiffure - then she would have had a little more chic and allure.
As for last night's "Traviata" - vocally it was a very mixed bag but I found it rather sensitive dramatically. I was more bothered by Renee's horrible dipthonged vowels throughout. Not a pure Italian vowel anywhere. The silvery spin on the top is very much there but the cream in the middle was in short supply. Her vocal power and size seemed to be equal to the Hei-Kyung Hong of about four years ago... Delicacy is a good thing in this role but she seemed to have trouble spinning long vocal lines or expanding the musical phrase. Of course she overmanipulates the pianos which sometimes develop a little tug or crack. I thought her last act was really moving though and there the frailer, more delicate tone worked very well as did the sudden surprising outburst in "Gran Dio, morir si giovane". Even the shouted "E tardi" sounded a little hollow and frail which made it very sad and not ridiculous.
The voice is still very pretty and the notes are there but it seemed more "managed" than in the past. I wouldn't consign her to the vocal graveyard but I don't see a Norma or "Trovatore" Leonora in her future either. Thais might be dicey. However, Renee is full of surprises as La Cieca knows which is one of the reasons Cieca is both obsessively attracted and repulsed by her!
On the other hand, I liked a lot of her acting and business which was distinctive and imaginative. There were moments with all three principals where they added gorgeous personal moments in looks and gesture. The way that Matthew Polenzani's eyes followed Renee adoringly around the room in Act I or the nervous way he fiddled with his coat when introduced to her. The sudden nervous revulsion Dwayne Croft displayed in the Act II duet when Violetta tried to embrace him - he was attracted to her and had to pull back to maintain his dignity and control. The way that Renee sadly cradled a rosebud during "Dite alla giovane". In Act I Renee was hitting the champagne pretty hard and on the line where Alfredo says "you're killing yourself with this lifestyle" he pulled the bottle out of her hand.
Matthew Polenzani also was a vocally delicate Alfredo who sometimes sounded a little dry in the middle and tentative on top. But the voice was sweet and true and so was his acting. Matthew has a wonderful open ingenuousness and sweetness that is natural to him and perfect for this character. He was the perfect bourgeois young man in too deep emotionally. Seeing him in something more romantic as opposed to Mozart or Rossini parts was a revelation as to his acting. Only Villazon has made a more touching protagonist of Alfredo. Last night the tragic love story wasn't just the heroine's but her lover's as well.
I found Dwayne Croft's by now familiar Germont vocally refreshed. There was more sap in the middle and upper middle tones and the velvet wasn't compromised by huskiness or dry wear in the tone. The top isn't as pingy as of yore but he sounded healthy and solid.
So in toto, Renee sounded smaller and a little more fragile than in the past but it worked towards a more sensitive theatrical portrayal. Is she at 48 over the hill? Well the first bloom may be off this Lady of the Camellias but I wouldn't dismissed her as a faded wilted blossom either.
It's funny to me that Renee has been doing "Barbra Streisand" for years and getting knocked for it like crazy but no one knocks the original. No singer -- and I'm not talking about great jazz singers but pop singers -- has ever twisted a vocal line and milked it in such a melodramatic way as La Streisand. Fleming's an amateur by comparison.
Ow. Scathing. I got so caught up in my adoration of Vanessa it almost didn't occur to me anyone would dislike it so.
Thank you for your review, Gualtier. I saw the second performance and, while her voice did sound small in the first act, it opened up quite a bit after that. From my balcony seat, I had no problem hearing her in the ensembles. I was also quite taken with her dramatic portrayal. It's vastly improved from past performances.
I also agree that Polenzani is a wonderful Alfredo. However, I didn't like Croft at all. His voice is dull and monochromatic to me.
It was announced on Sirius that it was Renee's last performance of Traviata at the Met. I think she's gone out on a very positive note.
Maury: Please don't think I really dislike Vanessa. I do think, however, that it has to be done with enormous style and at least a slightly ironic attitude or else it's just so soapy it becomes laughable. Or maybe what I am saying is that the production should be attuned to the very sophisticated score instead of (as I think they did at NYCO) the very pedestrian libretto.
If you've seen Anja Silja in that video production of Makropulos Case, that's an idea of the level of style I would be looking for in a good Vanessa -- not just a lot of scrim trees left over from a B&T Little Night Music.
I was somewhat dissapointed by the NYCO Vanessa only because it did not affect me the way it did on my first viewing 12 0r 13 seasons back, in I think the same production at the Washington Opera. I and everyone else in the section where I was sitting were in tears. Only the top of the third act of Die Frau has affected me that way.
Ms. Flanigan was in supreme voice. The wobble that was starting to develop about 5 years ago has been completely eradicated. My only complaint was that she sharped throughout the final quintet which totally ruined the moment for me. Her acting was superb only to be bettered by Ms. Goeldner. While not as young and naive as Charlotte Hellekant whom I originally saw in the role of Erika, having a more seasoned mezzo brings a whole other demension to that role. With Ms. Hellekant you could just see the utter destruction of her young spirit and understand that Eirka had no choice, but to take on the mantle of her aunt. With Ms. Goeldner you did ask those questions that Gualtier Malde posed. Overall I was quite pleased particularly after seeing that HIDEOUS Cendrillon the week before.
Perhaps ms. Flanigan could have done the lady m.'s at the MET or even Norma? I don't know how her voice carries at the MET, but at the state theater (which we all know is horrid for voices) it sounded quite powerful.
The lady looks a lot like Mrs. Olsen from Little House on the Praire. Are you sure it ain't her?
She definitely would have done a better job than Gulag-ghina. She rocked the HELL out of The Lady at NYCO about a decade ago. And now that she seems to have worked on vocal problems that were leading some rather erratic moments vocally a few seasons back. As far as the Normas...ummmm in a word NO. She is waaaay past her bel canto period. Must we mention the horror that was Roberto Devereux? This comes from a die-hard fan of Ms. Flanigan she is still one of THE singing-actresses that we have on the opera stage today.
Maybe the Met should consider the Malibran version of Norma. Lord knows Dolora could sing it and there are waaaay more mezzos out there with the bel canto/dramatic mettle to handle the role.
I was at the first performance on November 4th and one of the things that really surprised me was what happened -- or didn't happen -- at the curtain calls.
Katharine Goeldner, who sang Erika, came out second-to-last for her curtain call. By this time, Rosalind Elias was already standing on stage. I would have expected Ms. Goeldner to acknowledge the creator of the role she just sang who was standing right there. Sort of like that moment in the MET Centennial Gala in 1983 when Marilyn Horne, after singing her aria from Samson, walked to the back of the stage to acknowledge Rise Stevens -- her famous predecessor in the role.
But it didn't happen. A wasted opportunity for what would have been a nice, and appropriate, moment.
Though operatically unrelated, Katherine Macgregor - Mrs. Oleson - is an absolute spitfire at, like, eighty-three years old. I wish that a lot of singers would perform with her gusto...
"not just a lot of scrim trees left over from a B&T Little Night Music."
You kill me, chere doyenne.
Your point is well taken, only my shameful confession is I like the libretto as well. It's melodrama, yeah, but I can't help but think of it as a deeply enjoyable realization of a somewhat tiresome genre. I actually don't think it would stand up at all well to an ironic presentation. Go-for-broke sincerity can elevate a soap opera, too: look at recent Almodovar!
But as always, de gustibus a son gout...
Re an ironic Vanessa: be careful what you wish for, la Cieca; you might get it.
The first time I saw the work was in St. Louis in 1989. The production team obviously thought the opera was the most ridiculous thing they'd ever staged. They set it in the fifties. Vanessa's house looked like it was set about halfway between Tara and Transylvania. Her ball gown was a green-and-white bouffant number that the costume shop referred to as "the Studebaker." Anatol (John David DeHaan)apparently arrived on a motorcycle and lurched around the stage in leather. The villagers who came to entertain at the ball wore Lederhosen and did a sort of clog dance.
On the other hand, the Erika was Susan Graham, in her first lead role. Elaine Bonazzi, as the old countess, dominated the stage, and we also had Mr. Stilwell as the Doctor. (I can never remember who sang Vanessa.)
I managed to like the opera while being very annoyed at the "ironic" production.
Mark - do not be surprised.
I learned, yea memorized, Vanessa from the Steber RCA recording as a teenager, and it has played a large role in my imagination. I can't tell you how often I recall lines from it, with their melodies -- most often Erika's "He made me drink too much wine"!
In the big New York Times article it was stated that part of the reason the work didn't go over in the late 1950s because of homophobia. It said that "everyone who went to the opera knew Barber and Menotti were gay and living with each other."
Is this true? Did operagoers in the 1950s really know this kind of stuff? I seriously doubt it. A few, perhaps, but I doubt that the more than 25 of the 3,800 people who filled the Old Met each night knew who was gay and sleeping with each other.
Mark: on the other hand, Sir Rudolf Bing in his memoir says that Vanessa had only what he called a "cocktail party success" at the Met, i.e., all of Menotti and Barber's friends had to see the opera so they could talk about it at cocktail parties.
It does seem that if indeed there were some homophobic backlash to Barber after Vanessa the Met would have been unlikely to commission him to write the opera to open the new Lincoln Center theater.
"
Katharine Goeldner, who sang Erika, came out second-to-last for her curtain call. By this time, Rosalind Elias was already standing on stage. I would have expected Ms. Goeldner to acknowledge the creator of the role she just sang who was standing right there. Sort of like that moment in the MET Centennial Gala in 1983 when Marilyn Horne, after singing her aria from Samson, walked to the back of the stage to acknowledge Rise Stevens -- her famous predecessor in the role.
But it didn't happen. A wasted opportunity for what would have been a nice, and appropriate, moment."
Ms. Goeldner did just this after today's final performance. She took her bow, reached out to Ms. Elias and tried to coax her up front. Ms. Elias demurred, wanting to give Goeldner her moment, and in the end, they warmly embraced and were greeted with applause and bravas.
As for the production, it was probably the best three hours of opera I've experienced at either house so far this season, with the possible exception of Racette's Butterfly.
Maybe Katharine Goeldner reads parterre????
Ms. Goeldner must read Parterre. That's the only explanation for her gesture since she didn't do it at the opening.
Nice to know this site is so popular!
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