CYRANO DE BERGERAC: OPERA

Placido Domingo (foreground) with lovers

CYRANO DE BERGERAC. Opera composed by Franco Alfano.

NOTE: Great Old Movies will occasionally post a live or taped opera review if the story has also been adapted for film or has cinematic potential.

The famous story of homely lover and swordsman Cyrano De Bergerac has been told many times in films and on the stage, and this is an operatic version composed by Franco Alfano. Alfano is best remembered as the man who finished "Turandot" after the death of Giacomo Puccini, but he also composed several operas of his own, including the notable "Risurrezione" -- probably his masterpiece -- and the more than credible "Cyrano." This outstanding-on-every-level production from Valencia stars Placido Domingo, one of the premiere artistes of the 20th and 21st centuries, as Cyrano, who is unrequitedly in love with his cousin Roxanne (Sondra Radvanovsky), who only has eyes for the handsome young soldier Christian (Arturo Chacon Cruz). The story could be described as intensely, and even masochistically, romantic, in its tale of love denied and staggering self-sacrifice, but even today there are people who mistake mere sexual attraction for true l'amour. Roxanne realizes too late that true love has to be about much more than a handsome face. Alfano's score is more lyrical than melodious for the most part, but it does have passages of great emotion and beauty. This was produced at the striking opera house and arts center in Valencia, Spain in 2007.

Verdict: This opera -- and story -- deserves a first-class mounting and it gets it here. ***1/2. 

LUISA FERNANDA

LUISA FERNANDA Music by Federico Moreno Torroba. 2006. Opus Arte. Directed and designed by Emilio Sagi. Conducted by Jesus Lopez Cobos. Luisa Fernanda (Nancy Herrera); Duchess Carolina (Mariola Cantarero); Javier Moreno (Jose Bros); Vidal Hernando (Placido Domingo); Anibal (Javier Ferrer); Rosita (Sabina Puertolas).

Staged at the Teatro Real in Madrid, this is a production of the early 20th century zarzuela by Spanish composer Federico Moreno Torroba. [A Spanish zarzuela is a combination of opera and musical theater with spoken dialogue sections.] Luisa is supposedly engaged to the man-about-town Javier, but she has another suitor in the middle-aged Vidal, who hopes to acquire her for himself. Meanwhile the Duchess Carolina uses her wiles to try to win both men to her cause, but they wind up on opposite sides of a struggle between patriots and revolutionaries -- or something along those lines. Cut from three acts to two with cuts in dialogue, this stream-lined production with its stylized sets is sometimes hard to follow. Luisa Fernanda is very popular and famous in Spain, although it's never made major inroads in the U.S. While Herrera and Cantarero are fine in the major female roles, the two tenors Bros and Domingo [Domingo actually singing a baritone role] are simply superb. Torroba's music is lilting and pleasant including such highlights as Javier's act one aria, the duet between Luisa and Vidal, and Vidal's aria of love to Luisa in the final act. Fans of this work may find much to quibble about in the stark modern approach which eschews colorful sets and literal interpretations in favor of admittedly sometimes striking black and white light shows. Still the music and singing put this over.

Verdict: Domingo still has the spark! ***.

FRANCESCA DA RIMINI

FRANCESCA DA RIMINI. Opera by Riccardo Zandonai. The Metropolitan Opera 1985. Presented on Live from the Met. Stage Director: Piero Faggioni. TV director: Brian Large. Conducted by James Levine.

Francesca's (Renata Scotto) brother knows that she'll never marry Giancetto Malatesta (Cornell MacNeil) if she sees what he looks like, so he arranges a cruel trick. He has Giancetto's handsomer and younger brother Paolo (Placido Domingo) show up on the da Rimini estate, where it becomes love at first sight for the two [in a very passionate moment in which the two principals never sing, only the chorus in the background, and Francesca presents Paolo with a rose). Unfortunately, the scene in which Francesca discovers the truth is not depicted in this version of Gabrielle D'annunzio's play, but there's plenty of fireworks to come in spite of it. Try as they might, Francesca and Paolo can't quell their rising passion for one another, leading to sex and disaster, and a deeply moving, beautifully staged finale. With superior production design by Ezio Frigerio and beautiful costumes by Franca Squarciapino, this presentation by the famed Metropolitan opera is first-class virtually all the way through. Scott is perhaps not in the best voice, although no fault can be found with her acting. Domingo sings the pants off his third-act aria in which he explains how tormented he is by his separation from Francesca, and the two singers vividly display the proper amount of sexual and romantic excitation. Despite a tendency toward shrillness at times, Domingo is excellent, as is Cornell MacNeil as his frightening brother and William Lewis as the nasty Malatestina, a third brother who loses an eye in combat. Among the supporting cast, pretty Isola Jones makes a strong vocal impression as Francesca's devoted servant, Smaragdi.
Zandonai's music is attractive and powerful, intense with passion throughout, and full of forecasting of the terrible events that will transpire. A masterpiece.

Verdict: Perhaps the only time you'll see a severed head batted around the stage of the Met. ****.

THE FIRST EMPEROR

THE FIRST EMPEROR. Composed by Tan Dun. Shown on Great Performances at the Met. TV Director: Brian Large.


The three main characters in this epic story are Qin, the first Emperor of China, his crippled daughter Yueyang, and his old friend, the composer Gao Jianli. Qin wants Jianli to compose an anthem for his empire, and takes extreme measures to try to bring this about. Jianli's village is enslaved, and while Qin greets him as a brother, Jianli is enraged by his actions. Jianli's mother was killed in Qin's attempt to "unify the land." Although Yueyang has been promised to the General who took Jianli's village, she falls instead for Jianli -- and vice versa. This leads to some arresting and dramatic developments.


Composer Tan Dun responds to this very interesting libretto by Dun and Ha Yin with music that is lyrical but never that melodious in the true sense, although at times it has a mild Puccini-esque quality. There is an occasional arioso such as "Like a stream rushing to the sea" (the opera is sung in English). Startlingly, members of the orchestra serve as the chorus. In this handsome production, Placido Domingo was Qin, Paul Groves was Jianli, and Elizabeth Futral was Yueyang; all did fine work. Dun conducted his own score, which has many interesting moments.

Verdict: Not for all tastes but not without merit. **1/2.

GREAT OLD OPERA -- ROMEO AND JULIET Gounod

NOTE: From time to time, Great Old Movies will run reviews of works in the other performing arts, especially if at some time they've been adapted into films. Romeo and Juliet was made into a movie several times. This is French composer Charles Gounod's operatic version and was shown as part of Great Performances (a live peformance, not a film).

ROMEO AND JULIET. Charles Gounod. Metropolitan Opera. 2008. Shown on PBS April 2008.

This first-rate production of Gounod’s masterpiece at the Metropolitan Opera in New York was shown on PBS as part of Great Performances – which it is. Although for years I was never carried away by tenor Roberto Alagna (pictured), I have to say that with Romeo he has found the role that has finally revealed him as an Artist of the First Rank: his singing and acting are superb. Soprano Anna Netrebko is one of the most attractive Juliet’s to ever grace the opera hall, and sings the role quite well, although there seems to be an occasional tendency to go flat. While not to everyone’s taste, she is undeniably talented. Placido Domingo conducts the Met Orchestra with vigor and sensitivity. Nathan Gunn, (Mercutio), Marc Heller (Tybalt), Luis Otey (Paris) and others also make fine contributions. The production design is romantic in the best sense of the word, although some might feel the floating bed (suspended from wires) upon which Romeo and Juliet sing their rhapsodic duet is a bit much, although it makes an attractive image with its background of stars. Probably Gounod’s most beautiful score. Directed by Gary Halvorson.

Verdict: Beautiful! ***1/2.