James Karas
The Glimmerglass Festival is in
full swing and provides a cultural experience of the first order in a bucolic
setting which might make you think of Arcadia. Where else do you find pastoral
harmony and cultural pleasure? For the uninitiated, the Festival takes place on
Lake Otsego a few miles from Cooperstown, N.Y. Yes, that is where the Baseball
Hall of Fame is but you do not need Special Dispensation to go to both. Seeing
the heroes of baseball, operas and a myriad of other cultural activities have
been proven to provide have spiritual, emotional and physical benefits. Try
getting that in front of a picture of Babe Ruth.
The Siege of Calais,
Donizetti’s 48th opera, was a hit in Naples when it premiered in
1836. It did okay until 1840 and then it was mothballed for a nifty 150 years.
It was resuscitated by Opera Rara and was even produced on stage. The uncontrollable
desire, not to say ambition, to produce the opera in the United States took a
few years, until July 2017 to be precise, when the Glimmerglass Festival raised
the siege and produced it.
The Glimmerglass
Festival's 2017 production "The Siege of Calais." Photo: Carrington
Spires/The Glimmerglass Festival
The Siege of Calais is
quite a remarkable work partly for historical reasons (Donizetti trying to
break into the Parisian market with a “French” opera – it did not work) and
partly as an opera that deserves to be produced on its own merits. It needs
some dramaturgy (it has a third act that requires surgery amounting to
excision) but Francesca Zambello, the Artistic and General Director of the
Glimmerglass Festival and Music Director Joseph Colaneri have done the
judicious editing that resulted in a brisk and fine production of the neglected
work.
The siege refers to the blockade
of the French port city by the English army under King Edward III in 1346 that
resulted in its capitulation in about a year. As such it was an ordinary siege
except for the fact that Edward agreed not to slaughter the citizens provided
that six nobles agreed to be executed. That and Rodin’s famous statue of “The
Burghers of Calais” has helped raise the garden-variety siege into something of
mythical proportions.
Librettist Salvadore Cammarano
tells the story through Eustachio, the Mayor of Calais, his son Aurelio and the
burghers. Emotional punch is delivered by the fate of the people but it is
enhanced by the presence of Aurelio’s wife Eleonora and his young son. When Edward
demands six victims Eustachio, Aurelio and four others volunteer. The tragedy
is averted by the entrance of Edward’s wife Queen Isabella. The six may be
saved but the residents know that they have lost everything.
Aleks Romano as
Aurelio, Rock Lasky as Filippo, and Leah Crocetto as Eleonora in "The Siege of Calais." Photo:
Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival
American mezzo-soprano Aleks
Romano leads the cast in the pants role of Aurelio. She sings with assurance
and conviction in one of the best portrayals of a man by a woman. She has the
gait, movements and mannerisms of a man. That is the least of her accomplishments
because she has a firm, commanding and marvelous voice to give a memorable
performance.
She is well-matched by soprano
Leah Crocetto as her wife Eleonora who has a large, indeed powerful, voice such
that when she belted out some phrases in the small Alice Busch Opera Theatre
she sounded as if she could shatter glass.
Adrian Timpau as Eustachio has an
impressive, big voice but unfortunately it displayed strength without color.
Michael Hewitt replaced ably
Harry Greenleaf as King Edward and gave a fine performance as did Helena Brown
as Queen Isabella. Donizetti provides a wealth of choral music and The Glimmerglass
Festival Chorus performed impressively.
Zambello sets the production in a
modern city that has been gutted by bombs. There are numerous examples of such
cities in the news almost daily and the setting could not be more appropriate.
Scenery Designer James Noone set consists of a revolving shattered building for
most of the performance with the exception of a wall representing Calais on the
outside.
The Glimmerglass Festival
Orchestra and Chorus perform under the baton of Joseph Colaneri.
Donizetti as a composer had many
virtues and not a few drawbacks. The Siege of Calais is by no means one of his
best operas but it deserved to be produced.
Only at Glimmerglass, eh!
_____
The
Siege of Calais by
Gaetano Donizetti (music) and Salvadore Cammarano (libretto), is being
performed eight times between July 16 and August 19, 2017 at the Alice Busch
Opera Theater, Cooperstown, New York. Tickets and information (607) 547-0700 or
www.glimmerglass.org
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