West Edge Opera has mounted a distinctly engaging staging of Handel’s Rinaldo that is not only musically thrilling, but also visually as much fun and as rambunctious as a box of puppies.
Rinaldo was Handel’s first opera in Italian style produced in London in 1711, and it was not a critical success. However, the public took to it immediately, and its appeal to audiences led to its becoming admired as one of the master’s most acclaimed stage works.
While the original was set in the time of the Crusades, director Keturah Stickann was charged to, above all, “make it funny.” Since the Crusades were not exactly a laff riot. Ms. Stickann and her creative team have winningly reimagined the piece as a Marvel Comics style hero, working in tandem with a police chief (Goffredo) to fight villainous forces for truth, justice and the American way. Good versus evil is the overriding theme, a shining sentiment that breaks through the clouds of clownish antics by opera’s end.
Set designer Liliana Duque-Piñero has created a delightful playing space, with a large bright yellow frame suggesting two enormous comic book panels. Within those squares she has provided two angular screens of scrim panels, criss crossed by vibrant geometric slats, upon which Yuki Izumihara’s endlessly inventive cartoon images were constantly morphing in a marvel (pun intended) of a projection design. There were frequent comic book goofs that tickled the funny bone, especially during the fight sequences, which were punctuated by “Bam! Pow! Whoosh!” and the like.
Lighting designer Michael Oesch complemented the projections beautifully, never upstaging them, and he most often filled the stage with bright and joyful illumination. But both he and Ms. Izumihara were not just brash and playful. When the more sober, contemplative arias slowed the manic action, the pair brought a hushed beauty to bear. Bethany Deal’s fantasy costumes, at their most fanciful, would not be out of place on the Met Gala red carpet. They are an incredible combination of riotous color and richly textured fabrics. Even the simpler uniforms are impressively tailored. Putting the finishing touches on the physical production, Roxie Johnson has provided a lalapalooza of a hair and makeup design. Armida’s towering “do” made her seem literally a pinnacle of malevolence.
Given this highly charged coloring book as her milieu, director Stickann has crafted a wondrously controlled performance, giddily fluid, and comically uninhibited. She uses every area of the stage with excellent variety, and she knows when to slow things down and let the moments of stillness have breathing room. Ms. Stickann’s limber limbed, slithery, acrobatic dancers (as Keystone Kops and Armida’s Furies) executed her clever choreography with distinguished enthusiasm.
Conductor Emily Senturia led a superbly smooth, idiomatic reading in the pit. The eighteen piece orchestra performed this piece stylishly as if to the manner born, and Maestra Senturia displayed a keen partnership with her accomplished vocal soloists. While the band was exemplary to a person, special kudos should be reserved for the magical flute solos by Leslie Chin, the characterful theorbo licks from Matthew Cie, and the absolutely virtuosic harpsichord flourishes by the incredible Julian Garvue. The latter provided one of the best laughs of the show when he played one of Rinaldo’s re-entries on stage with the theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark. The cuts were reasonably well-considered and made for a much more compact audience experience that reflected the concept.
Kyle Tingzon made an overwhelming impression in the title role, his sizable, warmly engaging countertenor handily carrying the day. He is appealingly boyish and handsome and cuts a fine masked figure as the virtuous hero, clad in a blue unitard and matching cape. Back the Blue, anyone? He gamely and nimbly executes all the stereotyped fight moves with aplomb, and he can mug with the best of them, frequently, and with relish. But, oh, the singing! Mr. Tingzon has the considerable range, trip hammer technique, and vocal firepower to thrillingly execute the challenging melismas and coloratura that Handel has included in this fiendish part. When the pace and sassy writing settled down, as in the aria Caro sposa, he ravished us with a delivery of such impassioned, plangent, melting beauty that we scarcely breathed, lest we intrude on such musical perfection. The audience rewarded this feat with a growing, rising roar of approval that stopped the show for nearly a minute. Kyle Tingzon. Watch his star rise.
As his nemesis, the evil Armida, the statuesque and glam Nikki Einfeld regaled us with tour de force singing, her poised, gleaming soprano encompassing the role’s roulades, fioritura, and trills with consummate ease and joyful glee. Ms. Einfeld’s assured artistry was well matched by her partner in crime, Argante, well-taken by Efraín Solis, whose exciting, buzzy baritone was a warm and welcome counterpart to all of the other treble singing from the cast. Mr. Solis poured out well-shaped, eloquent phrases of great beauty, all the while also favoring us with some skillfully excitable coloratura passages.
Lyric soprano Shawnette Sulker was a charming love interest, Almirena, her attractive limpid sound gaining in accomplishment as the performance progressed, resulting in an eventual luminous presentation of the other well-known set piece, Lascia ch’io pianga which was fetchingly rendered. Ms. Sulker’s duet with Mr. Tzingon proved a moment of haunting beauty.
Gabi Esquenazi did enchanting double duty as a pert Siren and chirpy Magician, each well delineated by her silvery, well-modulated soprano. In the pants role of the police chief Goffredo, Sara Couden showed off a powerhouse contralto, with potent high notes, accurate runs, and a baritonal chest register so ear-pinningly powerful it might have given Mr. Solis a run for his money.
A thoroughly appreciative public roared approval at opera’s end, confirming that West End Opera’s cheeky and musically superior Rinaldo had definitely landed its punch. Kapow!
James Sohre
Rinaldo
Music by George Frideric Handel
Libretto by Giacomo Rossi
Cast and Production Staff:
Goffredo: Sara Couden; Rinaldo: Kyle Tingzon; Almirena: Shawnette Sulker; Argante: Efraín Solis; Armida: Nikki Einfeld; Siren/Magician: Gabi Esquenazi; Policemen: Christopher B. Nacthrab, Max van der Sterre, Devon Martirez E. McFarland; Fates: Eden Magana, Elena Martins, Ellis Broderick.
Conductor: Emily Senturia; Director and Choreographer: Keturah Stickann; Set Designer: Liliana Duque-Piñero; Projection Designer: Yuki Izumihara; Lighting Designer: Michael Oesch; Costume Designer: Bethany Deal; Hair and Makeup Design: Roxie Johnson.
Top image: Kyle Tingzon (Rinaldo) and Nikki Einfeld (Siren)
All photos by Cory Weaver