Opera Theatre of Saint Louis is celebrating fifty fabulous years with this festival, and by returning to the first opera it ever presented, Don Pasquale, it has mined anniversary gold.
Perhaps “brassy” is a better word to describe this dynamic whirlwind of a production since it is full of sass, class, and is as fresh as a cooling spring breeze. I was reminded of a New York Shakespeare Festival riff on this classic Donizetti opus, irreverently entitled Non Pasquale.
Not because OTSL doesn’t represent the master’s musical score with awesome execution and refinement, but because director Christopher Alden has put tongue firmly in cheek and almost turned it on its head.
Mr. Alden has chosen to examine patriarchy and male privilege and take the living mickey out of it. (Or is it Michele?) Act I begins in a café presided over by a female owner who turns out later to be the town notary. The place is packed with male customers, with prosthetic masks to make them look like caricatured old Italian men. At the end of Act II, they appear again, loosely holding the masks over their faces, but finally rejecting male dominance by hurling the masks at the back wall. Some of the business-suited, fedora wearing “men” were thereby revealed to be women. Then in the final act, the chorus appears as guests at a gender fluid party, further pulverizing the male order, and fueling Pasquale’s resignation to the power of a woman stronger than he. This was powerful imagery and perfectly elevated the mission of Norina (abetted by Malatesta and Ernesto) to prove her mettle and rid herself of male domination.
An incredibly gifted design team conspired with Mr. Alden to realize some clever and hugely entertaining effects. Set designer Marsha Ginsberg has filled the stage with a floor to ceiling and wall to wall old Italian fresco that grounded the visuals as background to many wink-wink effects. Pasquale’s oversized easy chair and ottoman were the only furniture on the stage but they were all that was required to convey his sense of dominion, plopped on the seat cushion like Lily Tomlin’s petulant Edith Ann on Laugh-In.
When Norina arrives disguised as Malatesta’s “sister,” the nun Sofronia, she is wheeled on by the doctor, with a whole body veil, kneeling on a sort of tea cart. When she later stands up, an imbedded turntable spins her around for Pasquale’s ogling approval like a doll on a demented Glockenspiel. Modular, pastel colored furniture pieces are strewn in Pasquale’s “’re-modeled” abode, then get reconfigured, first in a row for a memorable choral number reminiscent of “Favorite Son” in The Will Rogers Follies; and subsequently, as a last ditch makeshift fort to defend masculinity during the great patter duet.
In the final act, fantasy takes over even further as Norina and Ernesto perform their love duet as a Karaoke number, while Malatesta, aided by the Servant, set up a screen and show a home black and white movie of the lovers walking hand in hand through a wooded glen, implying the whole plot had been foretold. Ginsberg’s cheeky scenic delights were complemented by this same designer’s apt costumes, contemporary but role-defining, and in the case of the eventual androgynous choral apparel, audaciously appealing.
Eric Southern has lit the proceedings to a fare-thee-well, with some especially fine uses of side- and down-lighting. The indefatigable hair and make-up team of Krystal Balleza and Will Vicari have contributed outstanding, richly detailed work all festival long, and they must be commanding a village of colleagues to have produced all this unfailingly exceptional work.
Seán Curran’s inventive choreography has also graced every single production with so much varied and well-considered movement, on this occasion well performed by the laudable chorus of Gerdine Young Artists, one of the country’s premiere training programs, under the stellar leadership of Andrew Whitfield.
It is the envy of many a company and festival that OTSL is privileged to have members of the Saint Louis Symphony in the pit, and conductor Kensho Watanabe led these polished musicians with aplomb, polish, and stylistic precision. Don Pasquale has rarely sounded so vibrant. Maestro Watanabe was also fortunate with his quartet of soloists, who are some of the best singers in the business.
Patrick Carfizzi is a much lauded bass-baritone, who is deservedly a fixture at the nation’s most prestigious houses. His seasoned, substantial, and pliant delivery of the title role is more in the mold of a thinking man’s buffo, like Donald Graham. He has all the patter fire power, and all the swings of the character that are required but he deploys them with honesty and knowing wit, and not just unadulterated bombast.
Susanne Burgess was the revelation of the evening. There seemed to be nothing this glamorous, accomplished soprano can not do. Having previously admired her work elsewhere, nothing from that outing prepared me for her total success as Norina. Her evenly produced, warmly appealing timbre, is wedded to a triphammer technique that allows for utter ease in essaying even the trickiest fioratura, trills, roulades, leaps and runs. That she can equally dazzle in vocal fireworks and plangent, heartfelt expression is further testament to her gifts. Moreover, she is a highly gifted comedienne, and embraces her character’s very modern day feminism with assured good humor and wily insight. Nothing more to say except watch her star continue to rise.
Tenor Charles Sy has a burgeoning international career, and based on his enchanting work as Ernesto, it is easy to see why. His shimmering, easily produced tone seems to the Donizettian manner born, and his awesome flights of fancy above the staff are a model of truly sublime bel canto vocalizing. His unaffected stage presence ably complemented his fellow actors. Although announced as indisposed, our Dr. Malatesta, Kyle Miller, had nothing to apologize for since his shining baritone rang out convincingly and with confident grace. His handsome presence and unerring musicality as he cajoled his co-conspirators to take down Pasquale made it easy to believe he could sing his way into anyone’s favor.
Director Alden and team have fabricated the role of a Waiter/Servant supernumerary that has as much stage time as anyone else, and he was magnificently impersonated by Gerdine Young Artist Patrick Wilhelm. Whether schlepping café furniture, puffing on an unfiltered cigarette, casting wry glances, rolling eyes in disbelief, or even extemporizing a phrase of Deh vieni alla finestra in a honeyed baritone, Mr. Wilhelm was a treasured asset to this production.
Finally, in a master stroke of inspired casting, Shari Greenawald, Norina in the first OTSL production fifty years ago, returned as the Café Owner/Notary, and resoundingly completed the circle. The willing Ms. Greenawald was a comically sardonic presence, making her every appearance a jewel. When in the final bars, Ms. Burgess yielded sixteen bars to Ms. Greenawald, Sheri responded by belting out what are likely her final phrases in Norina’s shoes. It was a “moment” that can never be repeated, and the lump in my throat has returned as I write this. Brava diva assoluta!
When the history of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis is written, it will likely note that this Fiftieth Anniversary season will rank as perhaps the very finest to date and will prove to be have been a springboard to continued glory and prosperity. Congratulations on this winning traversal of Don Pasquale. Let’s do it again in fifty years.
James Sohre
Don Pasquale
Music by Gaetano Donizetti
Libretto by Giovanni Ruffini and the composer
Don Pasquale: Patrick Carfizzi; Dr. Malatesta: Kyle Miller; Ernesto: Charles Sy; Norina: Susanne Burgess; Notary: Sheri Greenawald; Waiter/Servant: Patrick Wilhelm; Conductor: Kensho Watanabe; Stage Director: Christopher Alden; Set and Costume Designer: Marsha Ginsberg; Lighting Designer: Eric Southern; Wig and Make-up Designers: Krystal Balleza and Will Vicari; Choreographer: Seán Curran: Chorus Master: Andrew Whitfield
Top image: (L to R) Susanne Burgess as Norina with a member of the chorus, as Patrick Wilhelm (the Waiter) and Sheri Greenawald (the Notary) look on
All photos © Eric Woolsey