SANTA FE, N.M. — Compromise can be such a drag.
It’ll weigh on an opera company’s work and wear out its vision. Way too much opera is ruined at the bargaining table where fears over ticket sales force watered-down programming and money shortages squash set designers’ dreams, where high expectations can make a director so afraid to fail he chokes on his own good taste.
The Santa Fe Opera’s 2012 season is noticeably short on these problems. The company’s customer base is strong and dependable. Supporters appear willing to invest in its quality product. The company has the made the most of its good fortunes, programming a lineup that’s interesting without being outrageous. Its productions are lavish without being indulgent.
And it has, for better and worse, allowed a forceful point of view on stage. Its “Tosca” is particularly blunt about the Catholic Church’s historic darker side. “The Pearl Fishers” is a post-apocalyptic costume party. “Arabella” is an elegant wedding cake of an opera with strong class overtones.
None of it feels compromised. This is what opera could be across the U.S. if audiences were more adventurous and companies had just a little more nerve.
The confidence pays off especially well with “The Pearl Fishers,” which has its heart in the exactly right place if not all of its cast.
Georges Bizet’s tale of a Ceylonese virgin who gets herself in deep trouble with a fisherman is a big story worthy of the old Hollywood sets it gets here. With its temple walls, giant statues and shirtless villagers, it starts out as “Ben-Hur” before a huge storm topples everything and turns it into “Planet of the Apes.”
Those movies were excessive, even camp, and there’s more than a bit of that in this fast-moving mishmash of a production. But director Lee Blakeley’s verve feels knowing, purposeful and fully contemporary. If we do these things in 2012, we must do them large.
Still, the opera offers some beautiful music and it was well-performed, especially by tenor Eric Cutler, whose crisp, versatile singing kept the night grounded. So did Nicole Cabell as the high priestess. Her voice has a touching, natural quality, and she’s as beautiful as the libretto insists she be. Conductor Emmanuel Villaume understands this production’s nuances and excesses.
“Tosca,” too, gets a tilted presentation. The set features a giant church dome, toppled to its side so the audience can see its interior. The portrait of Mary Magdalene at the center of the story is actually used as the floor. It is enlarged and leaned backward to an angle the actors can walk on. Toward the end, giant cathedral roofs pop out from the background and point their domes ominously toward the stage.
Giacomo Puccini’s familiar opera has its villains, most famously the autocratic Baron Scarpia who sentences Tosca’s lover Mario Cavaradossi to death for aiding a prisoner. But the real dark power here is the church. At the end of Act 1, director Stephen Barlow gives us a pageant of priests and altar boys armed with crucifixes and helmeted with miters. Conductor Frederic Chaslin lets the music swell; you don’t want to mess with this gang.
The singing has to work hard to keep up. Amanda Echalaz, as Tosca, puts in the effort, and it pays off. Her Tosca is pointed, determined, and her performance matches the drama. Raymond Aceto sings a muscular Scarpia. He attacks every point, soft and hard, but it comes together with an impressive complexity.
As for “Arabella” the stakes are not so high, at least dramatically. Richard Strauss’ work is a comedic look at a family trying to marry off its daughter and keep from going bankrupt. The laughs are played out, but this is a serious production that allows its characters to fully develop.
The star of this piece — and perhaps the whole summer — is Erin Wall, who brings to Arabella a bright and determined voice. Her character, in sequins and fur cuffs, is over-the-top, but Walls sings into it a lovely humility. As her sister, Zdenka, Heidi Stober sings with a striking clarity and sincerity. These sisters are different, but the performances bring them close.
The opera is a relief in a season that focuses more on the genre’s obsession with death, oppression, doomed love and powerful bad guys. A season needs its balance, but “Arabella” is no compromise.
Santa Fe Opera: 505-986-5900 or santafeopera.org.
Ray Mark Rinaldi: 303-954-1540, rrinaldi@denverpost.com or twitter.com/rayrinaldi
