When it comes to chronological age, "The Ghosts of Versailles" is just a punk kid, an opera that has not yet reached its 20th birthday. When it comes to historical and theatrical lineage, it goes back throughout recorded time, paying tribute to practically everything that came before. And when it comes to entertainment, it has something for everyone — a picaresque hero, a tragic heroine, a little lechery, a lot of heartbreak, song and dance and revolt, and certainly the funniest line of the 2009 season, "This isn’t opera. Wagner wrote opera."
"Ghosts" opened Wednesday night as a slow-starting, fast-finishing production by Opera Theatre of St. Louis at the Loretto-Hilton Center, and will be staged five more times through June 27. It is scheduled for later productions at the Wexford (Ireland) Festival Opera and the Vancouver Opera.
John Corigliano’s opera, with libretto by William Hoffman, was first produced at the Met in 1991, and the OTSL’s long-time artistic director, the late Colin Graham, helped bring it to fruition. The current version, smaller and with reduced orchestration that still sounded wonderful, is an OTSL commission, with credit to Charles MacKay, successor to Graham, for his involvement.
A story line that involves the French Revolution, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, not to mention most of the crowned heads of Europe, needs exposition, and it takes a while before we’re ready to proceed. Once that happens, however, James Robinson, the OTSL artistic director, moves everything at a breakneck pace, including a first-act finale so over the top that I thought there was too much intermission before we could begin again. Actually, Robinson had performers doing ballet exercises on the stage and wandering the aisles to visit with audience members during the 15 minutes. A welcoming gesture before the overture was in having a half-dozen or so performers, in jump suits, fiddling around on the stage as if they were doing repairs and maintenance, and a few people giggled when one of them walked off with a boom box that had been sitting downstage, minding its own business.
There are many triumphs to note, and opening-night mistakes were minimal. Allen Moyer’s set, which filled the stage not only from front to back, but also from floor to tip-top ceiling, was fascinating, and James Schuette’s costumes and Paul Palazzo’s lights combined to make the three men’s work into a brilliant and uniform creation. Michael Christie, making his OTSL debut as a conductor, did it stylishly. And since this is the final production of the current season, let’s point out and praise a few other vital contributors, chorus master Sandra Horst, video designer Wendall K. Hamilton, choreographer Sean Curran and especially wig and makeup designer Tom Watson, whose non-St. Louis work this season includes the Broadway hit, "Waiting for Godot."
Maria Kanyova gives a strong performance as Marie Antoinette, battered physically and emotionally by her years in power, but not willing to relinquish any. Figaro, as much of a hero as we have, is a delightful, strenuously physical performance by Christopheer Feigum, and Dorothy Byrne is strong and opinionated as his long-suffering wife. Matthew DiBattista is completely dislikable as Begearss, an ultimate villain, with Lee Gregory solid as his boot-licking toady. Elizabeth Batton added a great deal of sexual interest and comic relief as Samira, and Kevin J. Glavin and James Westman looked like Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee as the King and Beaumarchais, respectively. I also was impressed with Sean Panikkar as Count Almaviva and Jeanette Vecchione as Florestine. Vocals were under good control.
And little Adrian Proleiko, as the Shah, wore a lovely turban and seemed to be having the time of his life, properly solemn in character and reveling in the attention during the curtain calls. Unfortunately, the turban stays with the costumes and moves on to Wexford.
With the presence of Figaro and Almaviva, we pay tribute to Mozart, the music noted the Revolution and the dancers carrying doors honored the bedroom-door tradition of French farce. Robinson’s direction was imaginative and exciting, and it appears that great pleasure is in store for all of us as he moves into the role of artistic director.
"The Ghosts of Versailles," an OTSL production at the Loretto-Hilton Center June 19, 21, 23 (matinee), 25, 27.
-Joe
Comments
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Just a small note. Wexford Opera Festival is actually in Ireland, not England. I agreed that the show was over-the-top wonderful.
Blush…this is what we get for writing in the wee hours. It certainly is in Ireland and we’ve corrected it.