Monthly Archives: May 2016

Hawaii Opera Theatre’s ‘Il Trovatore’ is a melodramatic shocker

Hawaii Opera Theatre’s production of Verdi’s “Il trovatore” (The Troubadour) is the first Honolulu has seen in over two decades. It’s a melodramatic shocker that took the world by storm, simultaneously delivering tradition while transforming opera into something new.

In its early centuries, opera was focused on delivering satisfying endings, natural conclusions to human dilemmas, endings that reinforced the natural order and goodness of the universe. All that changed in the Romanticism of the 1800s, which began to explore the darker sides of human nature and the many ways that fate can go wrong.

In the 1850s, Verdi produced three back-to-back blockbuster hits (“Rigoletto,” “Il trovatore,” “La traviata) that ushered in his mature style, catapulted him to world renown, and established shocking as a titillating norm.

Shocker plots are harder to devise than one might think, and the plot of “Il trovatore” is about as convoluted as they come.

At its heart, “Il trovatore” is about the destructive power of revenge: The elder Count burned at the stake an old gypsy woman he believed had cursed one of his two sons. In revenge – and while her mother was burning – Azucena, the younger gypsy woman, kidnapped the Count’s younger son, intending to throw him onto the burning pyre. In her frenzied delirium, she instead threw her own son onto the pyre.

You would think that would be lesson enough, but all that happens before the opera has even begun.

Fifteen years on, with the elder generation dead, Azucena has raised the Count’s younger son as her own and renamed him Manrico, the titular troubadour. Now in his early twenties, Manrico has fallen in love with Leonora, a lady of the court who represents all that is innocent and pure, and she loves him in return. The conflict is that the elder Count’s eldest son, who has inherited everything, including his father’s title of Count di Luna, is also in love with Leonora and not about to give her up to some riff-raff of a gypsy.

From there ensues a tale involving not only infanticide and murder but also war, duels, suicide, fratricide, class warfare – and more. In the end, of course, everyone good dies. Classic opera.

Perhaps most fascinating of all is the transition mid-opera from the old-style “number opera” into a then-brand-new integrated style.

The first half feels old-school, with its staged storytelling (the action happens off stage) and standard cavatina-cabaletta arias for each of the major characters. In the second half, suddenly verses from different arias – the monks’ chorus, Manrico’s off-stage lament, Leonora’s anguish aria – are all interwoven in the same scene, at the same time. It was revolutionary and psychologically powerful.

“Il trovatore” has some of opera’s most famous and vocally demanding roles, so it is almost impossible to find vocally mature singers who can convey the hormonal passions of youth. Kisses may have been more chaste than passionate, but the voices HOT chose were excellent.

Victoria Livengood was absolute dynamite as the gypsy Azucena, with her powerful, exceptionally expressive mezzo soprano voice, from ringing head notes to growling chest voice. A strong actress, Livengood held focus in each scene, so that the opera seemed more her story than the troubadour’s.

Both male leads were impressive, as well: Count di Luna (the younger Count) may not be very nice character, but baritone Michael Chioldi made him the most powerful – he has a beautiful voice! – and although tenor Carl Tanner is not close to Manrico’s age, he delivered a well-crafted performance born of experience. Both men displayed impeccable vocal technique well worth making an effort to hear.

Michelle Johnson (Leonora), the youngest of the leads, is just hitting her vocal maturity, and her lovely tone and bel canto lyric soprano promise a great career. Her voice was the lightest of the four in the first half, but perhaps she was saving for her powerhouse scene in the second half, when her voice was stronger.

Brandon Coleman was memorable as Ferrando, the Count’s Captain of the Guard who explains the backstory in the first scene, his smoky-dark, weighty bass lending gravity to the role. Also notable were Maya Hoover, as Leonora’s confidante Inez, and Ryan Souza as Ruiz, one of Manrico’s soldiers.

The singers were supported well by Conductor Emmanuel Plasson, who set singable pacing and ensured that every note by every singer was clearly audible. The orchestra’s performance was good but lacked the nuance that delivers dramatic impact.

HOT delivered its usual high standard in visual artistry, from richly-hued costumes to an impressive set.

Peter Dean Beck’s rectilinear set in foreshortened perspective presented castle walls around a central pathway, which transformed into various scenes via drops and rotating towers on either side of the stage. For the gypsy camp, a particularly lovely and effective drop suggested a forest camp with overlapping open-weave cloths hanging from an angled beam that cut across the rectangles, much as both gypsies and Verdi’s opera cut across traditions.

Beck’s lighting may have overplayed the symbolism of red conjuring fire, revenge, passion, and blood, but was otherwise effective, from the rectangles of light shining on the floor to the cross of light mirroring the church’s hanging cross.

Every opera has its challenges, and for “Il trovatore,” it is trying to stage scenes in which almost all of the action takes place elsewhere. A war is fought between scenes; swords are drawn, but the duel is offstage; a pyre is built, but then the scene shifts away; and the soldiers sing the happiest tune imaginable for “soon our swords will be dripping with blood.”

Director Paul Peers elicited every bit of action possible and used the chorus and extras to enhance the storytelling.

For Star-Advertiser by Ruth Bingham

Star-Advertiser TGIF – ‘Il Trovatore’ has vocal demands & Plot Twists

The best revenge, the saying goes, is living well. But if you follow “Il Trovatore,” the Verdi masterpiece opening today at Blaisdell Concert Hall, it’s pretty difficult to pull off.

Set during the internecine 15th-century Iberian wars, the opera has so many twists and turns, it makes the most convoluted K-drama look like kid stuff.

There’s an obligatory love triangle involving the troubadour (“Il Trovatore”) Manrico, a wandering lute player, Count di Luna, his romantic and political rival, and the maiden Leonora.

There are also bizarre instances of mistaken identity, infanticide and confused family dynamics, not to mention a long-held grudge or two.

“It’s a great revenge story and quite dark,” said Paul Peers, guest director for Hawaii Opera Theatre. “Even I was surprised when I was going through the libretto. I thought, ‘Wow.’ But it’s also quite human. It’s extreme, but that’s opera.”

“Il Trovatore” also features great music, from singularly difficult solo arias and powerful ensembles to one of the great chorus numbers. It is one of the most popular works in the opera repertoire, and has been since its debut in 1853.

During the opera’s first three years alone, it was staged in six theaters in Naples and nearly 300 times worldwide.

“It was really, really popular,” said Peers, who is directing “Il Trovatore” for the first time. “It had that level of Broadway in its time.”

The plot is so complex that it might behoove opera goers to read the synopsis closely ahead of time.

Peers and company are working hard to make the story easy to follow so that you can enjoy Verdi’s beautiful, challenging music.

Verdi himself, asked what it would take to present “Il Trovatore,” replied, “The four greatest singers in the world.”

“I’ve really been thinking about how can I stage this so a non-Italian-speaking audience can understand it,” Peers said. “We’re really focusing on the storytelling, really focusing on the relationships between the main characters, and sculpting the characters in these three-dimensional human roles.”

Musically, “Il Trovatore” is best known for the famous “Anvil Chorus,” which has surfaced in everything from TV commercials to Bugs Bunny cartoons and a Marx Brothers film — “A Night at the Opera,” of course. The tune appears in the second act as an anthem of sorts for an oppressed gypsy community.

Here in Honolulu it will provide a chance for the HOT chorus to show how well it syncs up singing with sledge-hammering.

Peers, a native of Australia now based in New York, has been impressed by what he’s seen in rehearsal.

“There was no problem with the anvil-banging,” he said with a laugh. “They just nailed it, first go.”

For the artists, the opera presents challenges both musical and dramatic.

Portraying Manrico in his HOT debut is tenor Carl Tanner, who confesses that despite playing the role many times, he’s still somewhat perplexed by the character’s motivations.

Tanner actually took a hiatus from “Il Trovatore” several years ago, but said he was happy to revive it for Hawaii audiences.

“He’s kind of a lost character,” Tanner observed. Nonetheless, he’s warming to the performance.

Verdi presented the male lead with demanding vocal requirements. Two of Manrico’s major arias, in the third act, require singing in contrasting tones, from light romantic to heroic bravado, one after the other.

“I think the way Verdi wrote is difficult for a lot of tenors,” Tanner said. “You either have a lighter tenor trying to sing the heavier role, or you have a heavier tenor trying to sing the lighter parts. … I think I’ve found a happy medium.”

Tanner might have some real-life experience to draw on to help deal with the complexities of the role: Though schooled as a singer, he worked as a truck driver and a bounty hunter for years before returning to singing opera — after getting shot at.

He’s since become one of the world’s top tenors. There’s even a movie about Tanner’s life in the works.

“They were talking about Philip Seymour Hoffman, and obviously that didn’t happen, but now they’re interested in Jack Black,” Tanner said.

Baritone Michael Chioldi, who last appeared with HOT as the menacing Scarpa in “Tosca” three seasons ago, portrays Count di Luna, a man with conflicting interests — trying to win a war, win a woman’s heart and seek revenge for a crime perpetrated on his family.

“He’s stereotyped as the evil guy, but he’s not really an evil character in my opinion,” Chioldi said. “He’s just looking out for his best interests, but he’s in love. He’s looking for Azucena, who he thinks has burned his brother.”

Victoria Livengood portrays Azucena, a gypsy woman who not only committed infanticide but has other secrets as well.

“It took me about four productions for me to figure out what the heck I’m doing, myself,” said Livengood, who recently sang for HOT in “The Mikado” and “Dialogues of the Carmelites.” “This is gypsy-crazy, which is about as crazy as it gets.”

In contrast to Azucena is Leonora, the love interest of both di Luna and Manrico, who will be portrayed by Michelle Johnson in her HOT debut.

“I’m the normal one,” Johnson said with a laugh. “I’m the one who falls in love. …

“(Leonora) is young and she is a risk-taker, but she doesn’t come from craziness. She just comes from her pure heart.”

Johnson has won several competitions for young opera singers in the last five years. Although this is only her second production playing Leonora, she knows the story well.

“My first opera CD was ‘Il Trovatore,’” she said. “The story is ridiculous, but the music makes up for the plot.”

The soloists uniformly praised the production, expecting to deliver on Verdi’s “greatest singers in the world” requirement. That would fulfill the demands of his score, which is considered the ultimate test in “bel canto” operatic singing.

“‘Bel canto’ literally means beautiful singing,” Chioldi said. “And so you have this exposed, gorgeous line, and you have to be able to sing your most vulnerable and also be able to give your most powerful interpretation.”

“The four singers in this opera have to be at the absolute top of their game,” said Livengood, whose second-act aria “Stride la vampa” is one of the most tortured in all opera. “For all four of us, it’s the most challenging vocally of anything in the repertoire. It requires everything you have.”

By STEVEN MARK for TGIF (MAY 20)

Opera’s Most Memorable Melodies: The Anvil Chorus from Verdi’s Best-Loved Il Trovatore

Over the years, opera has given birth to beautiful melodies, which have gone on to be duplicated in popular culture in television, film, music!

Fact: Many people today first hear opera in cartoons!

The Anvil Chorus from Verdi’s Il Trovatore, one of the legendary composer’s most famous works, embodies opera’s ability to transcend borders and displays why opera has become the soundtrack of our lives!

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Free Opera Preview at HMoA – Il Trovatore

On May 11, 2016, starting at 10:00am, join HOT for an Opera Preview at the Honolulu Museum of Art’s Doris Duke Theatre. Featuring a lecture by Dr. Lynne Johnson about the opera, this event is highlighted by an opportunity to hear from the Stars of HOT’s new production of Verdi’s Il Trovatore.

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This event is free to HOT and HMoA members!

For more information about the Opera Preview, contact HOT at (808) 596-7372.