The
sixteen-year-old company that exclusively showcases local talent staged British
20th century composer Lennox Berkeley’s one act comic opera A Dinner
Engagement to the delight of an appreciative audience.
The story centres around an English family, Lord and Lady Dunmow, played by
baritone Michael Dunbar and soprano Margot Harding, who have fallen on hard
financial times in the 1920s. They have their sights set on marrying off their
daughter Susan (wonderful young soprano Deanna Smith) to HRH Prince Phillipe
(tenor Michael Au) who is coming to dinner with his mother, the Grand Duchess
of Monteblanco, portrayed by mezzo soprano Elizabeth Rotoff.
We first meet Lord Dunmow in the kitchen, an authentically detailed set with
everything from a cast iron stove to jars of preserved fruit. The bumbling
Dunmow endeavours to follow a recipe in preparation for his dinner guests.
Reminiscing about better times, his full-bodied baritone voice is wistfully
expressive in the bittersweet “In the Summer of my Time.” On a few
occasions, however, his voice seemed to fail him, due to support issues. And
despite his culinary ineptness, one still wishes he would pronounce the herb
‘rosemary,’ instead of ‘Rose Marie,’ like the 60s
comedienne.
Harding, as his wife, has the ability to light up a stage whenever she
appears. Commanding and stylish, she has a reliable and powerful voice, with a
fresh, rich tone. And with her impressive acting ability, Harding is the full
package.
Veteran mezzo Linda de Pauw played Mrs. Kneebone, the kitchen help, with
true comic flair. Her diction was clear and precise, although the Cockney
accent drifted in and out.
The Dunmows and Kneebone were hilarious in “Prenex six Belles
Tomates,” cooking up a storm, chopping vegetables crazily as stems and
bits flew around the room.
Smith was a breath of fresh air as Susan, her pretty, refined voice seeming
to float to the highest notes without a trace of effort. With a pure, crystal
clear tone and delicate lightness to her voice she was the highlight of the
production.
Enter Rotoff, brilliantly haughty and convincingly statuesque as the
Duchess, and Au, as Phillipe, dressed in a dapper suit. Au has a solid,
powerful voice, but he struggled with some of the difficult intervals in
“Mon aimÈe attend la lune,” going out of tune and sounding
constricted in his upper register. He also tended to employ the princely accent
inconsistently. His acting, on the other hand, was well suited to this comic
style, as he gazed dreamily at Susan with puppy dog eyes.
Tenor Darryl Brunger had a small role as the delivery man, appearing twice
demanding money. His first effort was secure, with pleasing tone quality, but
when he returned the second time, his intonation faltered.
Michael McKay did a fine job accompanying the entire show on piano and
creative lighting eliminated the need for scene changes. Flowers projected on
the backdrop while lowering the lighting on the overall set effectively moved
us into the garden. Very smart!
Berkeley’s score doesn’t offer us much in the way of
tunefulness, and all dialogue (lyrics by Paul Dehn) is sung, requiring much
abandonment of disbelief from the audience.
But this was obviously a labour of love for all involved and the result was
a nice little (one-hour) opera confection that brightened a rainy evening.
Gwenda Nemerofsky
image=http://www.operatoday.com/Lennox_Berkeley.gif
image_description= Lennox Berkeley [Photo © Colin Busby courtesy of G. Schirmer]
product=yes
product_title=Lennox Berkeley: A Dinner Engagement, Op. 45 (1954)
product_by=Little Opera Company (Winnipeg), Salle Martial Caron, April 8 & 9,2011
product_id=Above: Lennox Berkeley [Photo © Colin Busby courtesy of G. Schirmer]