Past Production Reviews
3Mezzo-soprano Corrie Stallings made for a charming, comic Jo, with a delivery as natural as conversation. While her voice wasn’t large, the venue didn’t require it; more important, she used every bit of that bandwidth to achieve a wide dynamic range, steady execution and sensitive phrases. At the end of the opera, Jo’s sisters joined her for a gorgeous quartet. Toward the end of the opera, Beth, lying on her deathbed, offers one of the opera’s key moments of insight, telling Jo to accept her younger sister’s inevitable death. Playing Beth, soprano Adelaide Boedecker captured this shift with a warm bold vibrato that deepened the otherwise simple character. mezzo-soprano Laurel Semerdjian had a fine, coppery voice, but her musical lines lacked connective tissue. Soprano Claudia Rosenthal brought bright vocalism to the role of Amy. The Laurie of tenor Adam Bonanni had an appealing tone, but his character merited more operatic fullness. The production contrasted Susan Memmott Allred’s excellent period costumes with Shengxin Jin’s three-dimensional set, complete with floating furniture and large books twisted into staircases. This creative and striking production, directed by Crystal Manich, revealed much about the characters and story, although some scenes had gratuitous staging.
Pittsburgh Opera's new production of Adamo's work opened Jan. 23 at CAPA and proved a compelling vision of the piece thanks to an excellent cast and chamber ensemble, superb preparation and conducting by Glenn Lewis, and imaginative staging by Crystal Manich. Adamo's musical score is individual and eclectic, employing various musical languages to suit the nature of the situation he's bringing to life. The music expressing the characters' feelings is apt to be mainly tonal. Narrative music, in which most conflicts occur, is well served by the composer's chromaticism and 12-tone harmonies. Best of all, the colors of character and narrative music are wonderfully fluid. Mezzo-soprano Corrie Stallings offered a thoroughly convincing and sympathetic portrayal of Jo, which was especially impressive because of the character's complexity. Stallings' singing easily encompassed not only the wide range of her notes, but also her character's strong will as much as her emerging doubts and personal growth. Baritone Brian Vu gave a strong performance as Brooke, handling high tessitura with assurance and finding the strength to deal with Meg's challenging family. Soprano Adelaide Boedecker's big moment is Beth's death scene, in which she must help Jo accept the unpleasant reality. Her line was finely drawn, and her acting conveyed Meg's generosity and weariness. Kara Cornell and Daniel Teadt were winning as the parents, while Leah de Gruyl was intense as Aunt Cecilia. The staging was mainly quite effective in adapting to the small space of the stage. The costumes were realistic to the time of the novel. Glenn Lewis led a confident performance of a score that is more difficult than it might sound. He was as attentive to indicating cutoffs as entrances, and balanced the singers and instrumentalists very well. His pacing felt apt at every moment. Overall, Pittsburgh Opera has a winner in its cozy yet intense production of “Little Women.”
Soprano Claudia Rosenthal, portraying Isacio’s daughter, Pulcheria, achieved the greatest balance between musical and dramatic interest. Her character, insulted by her fiancé Oronte’s pursuit of Costanza, became more complex over the course of the opera. Ms. Rosenthal achieved this maturation through her delivery — both comic and sympathetic — and her willingness to have fun with ornamentation. Those efforts sometimes compromised her technical output, but she took risks with the role and gave it a memorable portrayal. As Costanza, soprano Shannon Jennings had a bell-like, liquid tone but maintained a rather one-dimensional, anguished affect throughout the performance. Bass Andy Berry, playing Isacio, owned his character’s creepiness with a gravelly, buzzy tone. Two women portrayed Riccardo and Oronte, roles originally written for castratos. In the title role, mezzo-soprano Leah de Gruyl exhibited agility and separation through complicated vocal lines and delivered a fine, trill-filled love duet with Ms. Jennings, but her depiction could have benefited from more king-like charisma. Mezzo-soprano Taylor Raven’s rich, deep timbre suited the role of Oronte, but she, too, could have given a more nuanced portrayal. Brian Vu impressed in the small role of Berardo. The singers’ stamina and technical grounding was on display in the final chorus.
