Chuck's Choices for the weekend of June 8, 2012

As always, the choices are purely my personal opinion. Take with a grain (or a shaker) of salt.

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New this week:

R-S Theatrics presents a Bill Cain's 9 Circles, based on Dante's Divine Comedy, at 8 PM Friday and Saturday and 7 PM Sunday. Performances take place at the Black Cat Theatre, 2810 Sutton in Maplewood. This is another one I won't get to see, but in her review for 88.1 KDHX, Andrea Braun says that it's "a rare play that dares to challenge us and our assumptions as much as this one does, and the experience of it is profound."  On offshoot of Soundstage Productions, R-S Theatrics has been making a name for itself doing unusual and risky material  For more information, you may email RSTheatrics at yahoo.com or call 314-968-8070.

Opera Theatre of St. Louis presents Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte in rotating repertory with three other operas through June 22. Performances take place at the Loretto-Hilton Center at 135 Edgar Road on the Webster University campus. All performances are sung in English with projected English text. As I noted in my review for 88.1 KDHX, I don't think director Michael Shell has completely solved the problems posed for modern audiences by Da Ponte's casually misogynistic libretto, but at least he tries, and the cast, chorus, and orchestra are just splendid.  For more information, you may visit experienceopera.org or call 314-961-0644

Held over:

Kendall Gladen

Opera Theatre of St. Louis presents Bizet's Carmen in rotating repertory with three other operas through June 23. Performances take place at the Loretto-Hilton Center at 135 Edgar Road on the Webster University campus. The production is set in the 1940s, with the look of classic film noir, all the way down to the black and white costume and set designs and an opening cinematic credit sequence. The concept doesn't always work, but it succeeds often enough to be worth seeing.  Besides, you won't want to miss St. Louis's own Kendall Gladen's smoky performance in the title role and the great work by conductor Carlos Izcaray and the St. Louis Symphony musicians. For more details, check out my review for 88.1 KDHX. All performances are sung in English with projected English text, although the chorus enunciates so clearly it's rarely necessary. For more information, you may visit experienceopera.org or call 314-961-0644.

New Line Theatre presents the rock musical High Fidelity Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM through June 21. Performances take place at the Washington University South Campus Theatre, 6501 Clayton Road. I'm determined to finally catch this reprise of New Line's highly successful production of this show. I've been an admirer of the cast recording for years and Jeff Wright strikes as me as ideal for the lead role of the owner of the "last real record store on earth." In his review for 88.1 KDHX, Robert Mitchell says "if rockin’ music with a good story is your idea of great entertainment, plan on seeing New Line’s High Fidelity." For more information, call 314-534-1111.

Sweeney prepares Judge Turpin
for a close shave

Opera Theatre of St. Louis presents Sondheim's Sweeney Todd in rotating repertory with three other operas through June 24. Performances take place at the Loretto-Hilton Center at 135 Edgar Road on the Webster University campus. I've been waiting for many years for Opera Theatre to take a crack at this most operatic of all Sondheim's musical theatre works. Director Ron Daniels and set designer Riccardo Hernandez have made of couple of missteps (see my review for 88.1 KDHX for details) but on the whole this is the Sweeney Todd many of us have been waiting for. All performances are sung in English with projected English text. For more information, you may visit experienceopera.org or call 314-961-0644.

Nino and Yo-Yo

Circus Flora presents its brand new show, The Wizard: Merlin and the Legends of King Arthur, through June 24 under the air-conditioned, red-and-white, big top tent in Grand Center next to Powell Hall. Sadly, I'm going to miss Circus Flora this year but it past seasons are any indication, there will be fun for all. For more information, visit circusflora.org.

Everybody's doin' it now

Who: Opera Theatre of St. Louis
What: Cosi fan tutte
Where: The Loretto-Hilton Center
When: June 4-22, 2012

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Would we still be doing Cosi fan Tutte if it didn't have music by Mozart? Sure, Da Ponte’s libretto has a cynical modern edge, but its casual sexism is pretty grating to a contemporary audience. Director Michael Shell nevertheless makes a good case for it right up to the final ensemble, when his deliberately revisionist take lost me completely. Still, it’s beautifully sung and played and intelligently acted, and that’s what really matters.

Cosi fan tutte roughly translates as "all women are like that". The excellent modern English rhyming translation by British composer and director Jeremy Sams tries to take a bit of the anti-woman sting out of it by translating it as “we’re all like that”, but there’s no getting around the fact that the libretto is far more critical of the constancy of women. The guys get a free pass.

For those of you new to it, the plot of Cosi goes like this: two army officers, Ferrando and Guglielmo, are so convinced of the faithfulness of their fiancées—Dorabella and her sister Fiordiligi, respectively—that they accept a bet from their cynical philosopher friend Don Alfonso that the women can't be seduced. Don Alfonso convinces the boys to go away on a mock military expedition and then return in disguise and attempt to woo each other’s fiancées. The usual complications ensue, helped along by the wily and very practical maid Despina. It’s all wrapped up with a not entirely convincing happy ending in which everyone rather improbably agrees to forgive and forget, but only after the disillusioned officers are forced to admit, in the words of Sherlock Holmes, that "women are never to be entirely trusted—not the best of them."

This may sound like the basis for a romantic comedy, and most of the time it is. But Cosi sails deeper waters than that, and in Act II the comedy stops dead for some dramatic arias that point out the very real pain and guilt that come with betrayal—a subject very much on Mozart’s mind at the time. Mr. Shell and his excellent cast make no attempt to sugar-coat any of the drama, which works very well, but faced with the abrupt shift to a happy ending, he has chosen to have them play against the text and make it plain that the women are still justifiably resentful and their fiancées still suspicious. I understand the logic, but to me if felt no more satisfying than playing the finale as written.

Part of the problem, I think, is that this Cosi is beautifully set and costumed (by James Schuette) as a late 18th-century period piece, so having Dorabella and Fiordiligi respond to the abusive behavior of Ferrando and Guglielmo as modern women would seems jarring. It would have made more sense, I think, to do the whole thing in modern dress (which, after all, is how it was done in 1790) and adopt a 21st-century attitude from the start. Jonathan Miller famously (or maybe infamously) did that back in 1995. That production has been revived often (most recently in Washington, D.C, earlier this year) but it has been (to say the least) controversial, others might be reluctant to follow his example.

Still, for the three hours and ten minutes preceding that final ensemble, Opera Theatre’s Cosi fan tutte is firing on all cylinders. The comedy of the first act is hilarious and precise, the dramatic scenes in the second act are played with great feeling, and the voices of this very strong cast are solid. Mr. Shell is a bit overly fond of having his cast stand on furniture and roll around on the floor (although less so than in last season’s Don Giovanni), but on the whole he keeps the action plausible and motivated in ways that more opera directors would do well to emulate.

Tenor David Portillo and baritone Liam Bonner make a great “Mutt and Jeff” comedy duo as Guglielmo and Ferrando. Mr. Portillo has a very impressive head voice, which he uses to great effect in the more dramatic moments in the second act, while Mr. Bonner’s instrument is clear and powerful voice throughout its range. They blend nicely in their ensembles.

Soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen makes an impressive Opera Theatre debut as Fiordiligi. The role is a challenging one, with some heavy dramatic lifting in the second act and florid passages throughout. She handles it all with ease. Mezzo Kathryn Leemhuis, who has done such fine work here in the past, continues her winning streak with an impeccably sung and acted Dorabella.

As the indispensable Despina, Soprano Jennifer Aylmer steals every scene she’s in, especially when Despina is passing herself off as a doctor or lawyer. Ms. Aylmer has terrific comic chops and a voice to match. It’s hard to imagine this role being done better.

Baritone James Maddalena is all manipulative insincerity Don Alfonso, a man in whose mouth butter would not only not melt but probably freeze solid as well. His voice seemed a bit lacking in power compared to the rest of the cast, but his acting was beyond reproach.

Robert Ainsley’s chorus is, once again, a model of precision and clarity. The orchestra sounded great under Jean-Marie Zeitouni, with an especially fleet-footed reading of the overture. I would have preferred it if Mr. Shell had refrained from filling the stage with business while the overture was playing, although I must admit Shaun Sheley’s fight choreography was impressive.

So, yes, I have some reservations about Opera Theatre’s Cosi fan tutte but they’re so minor in comparison to all the things that work in this production that I have no hesitation in recommending it. The comedy is uproarious and the drama is affecting. It is, in short, the crown jewel of the season so far.

Performances continue through June 22nd at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. For more information, you may visit experienceopera.org.