Reviewed by James Karas
As the curtain goes up on Un Ballo
in Maschera in Ljubljana, we see a huge staircase with three landings
occupying almost the entire stage. We are listening to the overture as eight
men dressed in white military uniforms emerge furtively from trapdoors in
various areas of the stairs. They have their pistols out and are looking for
someone. They reach the bottom of the stairs, find a chair and as they point
their guns, notice that it is empty. They disperse as the overture ends.
This is the dramatic
curtain-raiser that Director Vinko Möderndorfer and Set Designer Branko Hojnik
have devised for Ballo. They want to
emphasize the conspiratorial aspect of the opera where a few men can collude in
the murder a ruler. More about this later.
Möderndorfer and dramaturge Blaž
Lukan have brought the plot to a modern setting with a powerful civic leader,
Riccardo, rather than an Earl or a King as in the original and revised versions.
In the original version, the main character was a Swedish king but a
hypersensitive censor forced Verdi to make him the Earl of Warwick, Governor of
Boston, where it was presumably more acceptable to murder a high-ranking official.
The production has several
alternate casts but I saw the opening night performers on March 13, 2014. Two
singers stood out: tenor Branko Robinšak as Riccardo and soprano Natalia
Ushakova as Amelia.
Robinšak has a marvelous lyric
voice and he handled the role of Riccardo with ease. He has to be generous,
passionate and remorseful as he pursues illicitly but ardently his friend’s
wife (wearing the mask of a friend, of course) and gives her up with her virtue
intact. Robinšak shows vocal flair and gives us a fine Riccardo.
Ushakova makes a moving and very
effective Amelia. She was fine throughout but rose to the heights in “Morró, ma
prima in grazia,” her emotional aria where she begs her furious husband Renato
to let her see her son before he kills her for her suspected infidelity.
Baritone Jože Vidic seemed to be
doing a workmanlike job as Renato until Act III where in “Eri bu che macchiavi”
he bursts out with such passion and marvelous singing that his performance
becomes anything but workmanlike. The joy of his life loathsomely poisoned
everything and Renato expresses the ultimate loss of his life through the
treachery of those he loved most: his wife and his dearest friend.
The sorceress Ulrica emerges from
the crevice between the divided stairs and looks as if she is materializes from
the underworld. The stage is darkened and the conspirators lurk ominously around
the stage. Slovenian mezzo soprano Mirjam Kalin looks very dramatic and acts as
such but her singing was not as convincing.
The conspiratorial appearance of
the officers led by Samuel (Saša Čano) and Tom (Peter Martinčič) during the
overture gives way to the brilliant scene in the court or residence of
Riccardo. Almost everyone is wearing white and it is a brilliant scene. For the
second scene, the stairs are pulled apart in the centre, as I said, creating a
dark path through which Ulrica enters. It is a dark, mysterious and dramatic
scene.
The same stairs are moved to the
side to create the grisly execution area where Amelia goes looking for the
magic herb to kill her illicit love for Riccardo. About a dozen or so decaying
corpses are lowered on the stage making the place indeed gruesome. The final scene
is the masked ball where the colour red is emphasized, including the uniforms
of the conspirators. Again, a brilliant tableau.
Against the usual advice about
not putting children or animals on stage, Möderndorfer puts a child on stage (Amelia’s
son) who is cute and steals the scene. When the men must choose who will kill
Riccardo, they put their names in a toy truck. The little is asked to draw a
name and he picks his father as the killer. A terrific and imaginative touch.
Conductor Marko Gašperšič took a
very deliberate approach to the score and the small orchestra performed well.
Möderndorfer took possession of Ballo and gave us a fresh, imaginative, effective
and exceptional production.
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