David Allen

The crowd-pleasing spectacle rounded out a strong season that began with Alma Deutscher-led The Magic Flute and also included last February’s glorious Bluebeard’s Castle.

As a character, Zorro probably does not need an introduction. He has been a part of American popular culture ever since John McCulley created the pulp fiction character in 1919 in his novel The Curse of Capistrano. Since then, Zorro – with his signature black cape, black Cordovan hat, and black mask covering half his face – has been the subject of countless TV shows, comic books, movies, a musical, a play, and now an opera.

Zorro added another important milestone in OSJ’s history. Following the success of its first Spanish-language opera—last year’s gorgeous production of Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas—OSJ was looking to expand its outreach to the Latinx community in the Bay Area, and the story of the charming masked crusader certainly fit the bill. For this presentation, OSJ is also partnering with Ópera Cultura, a San Jose-based organization founded by Armienta to give voice to the Latino/x/a/é community through opera by providing opportunities to participate as creators, learners, and performers.

David Allen

Zorro was co-commissioned by Fort Worth Opera, Opera Southwest, and Ópera Cultura. It premiered (in a version without chorus and accompanied by piano and guitar) at Fort Worth Opera on January 26, 2022, and the full score (with chorus and chamber orchestra) premiered at Opera Southwest on October 23 that year, before traveling to Opera Santa Barbara in May last year. This co-production among OSJ, Kentucky Opera, and Arizona Opera marked the second mounting of the opera, and it is scheduled to travel to Phoenix/Tucson and Louisville in future seasons.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Armienta, who also wrote the libretto for Zorro, considers himself “neither Mexican nor American, but Mexican-American,” and he aims to incorporate musical forms from both sides of the border in his music. In his “Letter from the Composer” notes, he explained that for Zorro, he even went further and tapped into Spanish musical idioms, like corridos, boleros, and flamenco, in his score, in addition to referencing the history of Spanish California and Mexico in the bilingual Spanish-English libretto. In the video below, Zorro’s conductor Jorge Parodi and director David Radamés Toro detailed the importance of the opera being’s bilingual.

In a nutshell, Zorro – set in the early 1800s in el pueblo de Los Ángeles, at that time still a colony of Spain – tells the story of Diego de la Vega, a Spanish landowner’s son who returns home after being schooled at Spanish secret Order of Zazueta (hence the importance of “Z” symbol), only to find injustice everywhere and to get involved in a love triangle with Carlota de Obregón, the Governor’s daughter and his ex, and Ana María Soza, his nanny Toypurina’s granddaughter and an activist for the oppressed. Meanwhile, his ex-best friend and now arch-enemy, Octavia Rivera y Moncada, has taken control of the city as its tyrannical general and wishes to uphold Spanish supremacy. In the end, Moncada kills Carlota (who rejects his advances) and blames it on Ana María. Diego (as Zorro) frees Ana María and kills Moncada, and the legend of Zorro is born.

There was a lot to admire in both Armienta’s music and libretto. A self-professed neo-romantic composer and a great admirer of Giacomo Puccini, Armienta brought the various influences together and created a grand, sweeping score worthy of the swashbuckling vigilante. Soaring melodies, heartbreakingly tender moments, and—essential in any adaptations of Zorro—occasional comic relief alternately permeate the score, sometimes even in quick succession.

The music was unquestionably tonal and tuneful, reminiscent of the film scores of the Hollywood Golden Age, and, at times, also the late James Horner’s mesmerizing and well-known score for 1998’s The Mask of Zorrowhich lately enjoyed a second life in concert halls. Puccini remained the most obvious influence on the score, starting with the structure (the division between recitatives and arias), the use of leitmotifs, and the vocal writing for both the principals and the chorus. Diego/Zorro’s arias in particular, with their alternating heroism and passion, almost felt like a homage to Tosca’s Cavaradossi!

Similarly, the libretto for Zorro was effective not only in pushing the story forward but also as a social commentary on upholding justice for the people in need. Armienta created a nice storyline arc for the title role, from a young carefree spirit wanting to prove his worth, to a man so smitten with a mestiza and ready to give up everything for her, to finally taking up the mantle as the people’s defender. His characterizations of the two women were particularly robust, with Carlota having a heartbreaking (if somewhat unrealistic) change of heart and Ana María being steadfast in her activism and becoming the catalyst for Diego’s change. Armienta also assigned the comic relief parts to a pair of lovers, Sergeant Gomez and Luisa, à la Die Zauberflöte (down to the baritone/soprano pairing); it helped to lighten the mood to the heavy drama. Lastly, in a world where Luigi Mangione has become an unintended “hero,” Toypurina’s stern warning that Zorro “must be a symbol of hope, not revenge” had a chilling resonance.

David Allen

While the motivation behind having the opera bilingual was plausible and even commendable, Armienta continuously blended the two languages throughout, sometimes even mid-sentence, which created a somewhat jarring effect, at least to this listener. Having supertitles in English and Spanish side by side exacerbated the issue even further for this non-Spanish speaker; when the ears detected the change in the language, the eyes went to check the Spanish supertitles for the words and right away shifted back to the English for translation, generating a kind of cognitive dissonance. Several times, I would have preferred that only one language were used to further denote the class differentiation (for example, only Spanish for Moncada’s scenes).

The success of Zorro on the California Theatre stage was due in no small part to Toro’s keen and sensitive direction. A professor of opera and musical theater direction at Arizona State University, Toro integrated his background in physical theater and effortlessly brought a sense of realism to everyone’s movement on stage, no doubt as the result of considerable thought over the whole opera. He also beautifully emphasized Diego’s story arc, making each change clearly visible. In an interview, Toro admitted to being inspired by Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins in charting Diego’s progression into Zorro.

Toro received tremendous support from the creative team, many of whom are Latino/a and had previously worked on Florencia en el Amazonas. Liliana Duque-Piñeiro recreated adobe buildings in her two large, static sets, with the set on stage left rotating halfway to reveal Moncada’s office. The actions happened primarily on the tiered platforms in front of the intersection of those two large sets, resembling a city’s plaza. Wooden frames appeared in and out of the ceiling to give a nice touch for specific scenes like the Masquerade Ball, and props (designed by Lori Scheper-Kesel) were brought in by the chorus to ensure a smooth transition between scenes.

Like his work on Florencia, Tláloc López-Watermann brilliantly illuminated the stage with warm lighting in kaleidoscopic colors to resemble the warm Southern California days and nights. Ulises Alcala brought up the caste system concept front and center with his bold and colorful costumes for the cast. Special kudos had to be given to Dave Maier, who was responsible for the most essential aspect of the production: the sword-fighting! He choreographed the many fight scenes with gusto that almost looked real and terribly exciting!

On the musical front, Parodi led the Orchestra in a reading full of vigor and splendor. He brought out the many Spanish flairs of Armienta’s score, particularly on the guitar and percussion. The excitement was definitely palpable across the Orchestra, so much so that there were times during the climaxes when the Orchestra overpowered the singers on stage, particularly in Act I. Nevertheless, Parodi was essential in moving the story forward without a dull moment.

Tenor Xavier Prado was simply glorious as Diego/Zorro. A veteran of the role (he sang it at Opera Santa Barbara before), not only did Prado sing the role with a ringing conviction, but he was also believable as both the lover and masked vigilante. He performed the very physical role (lots of jumping and sword fighting) with aplomb, which was truly exciting to watch. Even better was baritone Eugene Brancoveanu as the villain Moncada. An OSJ darling, Brancoveanu, with his deep booming voice, commanded the stage and performed the evil role with glee, clearly enjoying being the bad guy. He, too, looked dashing in navy blue general attire and wholeheartedly performed the sword fights without reservation.

David Allen

Two OSJ’s current Artists in Residence assumed the roles of the two female principals: soprano Maria Brea as Diego’s love interest Ana María and mezzo-soprano Melisa Bonetti Luna as the complex character Carlota, replacing the previously announced Guadalupe Paz. As the prototype of good virtue, Brea imbued the role with a strong determination while sounding pure and angelic. There was a steely core in her tone that matched the temperament of Ana María. On the other hand, Luna’s voice sounded lyrical and hauntingly ethereal, which she used to great effect in her big scene in Act 2. Her duet with Brea, where Carlota realized that she would never be with the man she loved, was exceptionally heart-wrenching and superbly acted by both of them. Unfortunately, Luna tended to get drowned by the Orchestra in Act I on Friday, especially in ensemble scenes.

Jesús Vicente Murillo and Arianna Rodriguez excelled in the supporting roles of Sergeant Gomez and Luisa, the love-seeking pair. They performed the scenes with perfect comedic timing and produced much laughter from the audience. Rodriguez, in particular, demonstrated effortless coloratura in her aria in Act I. Mezzo-soprano Deborah Martínez Rosengaus completed the list of principals as Toypurina, Diego’s conscience, and brought dignity and gravitas to her delivery in her two short scenes. Last but certainly not least, the small chorus of 16, led by Rodrigo Gonzalez Jacob, sang coherently and harmoniously as the townspeople/laborers, proving to be a great asset.

On Friday, the audience animatedly greeted the whole cast and creative team (including booing Brancoveanu) and showered them with extended rounds of applause. This was a significant undertaking by OSJ, and it was heartening to see that it was executed at such a high level and so warmly received. Two more shows remain, and you will be sorry to miss such a fun, yet important, show. It’s a pity that next season OSJ is retreating to presenting four Italian workhorse operas. Hopefully, more Spanish-language operas may appear in future seasons; may I suggest Cruzar la Cara de la Luna or Ainadamar next? Or even better, a journey into the wonderful world of Zarzuela? The California Theatre is the perfect size for it!