Catch this rising diva while you can

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This article was published 16/04/2018 (2203 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

La Traviata is regarded as one of the most beloved tragic operas of all time, and its heartbreaking tale of love and loss has kept its enduring appeal as a since its 1853 Venice première.

But in the hands of rising American superstar soprano Angel Blue, who made her Canadian début with Manitoba Opera this past weekend, it also became a lesson in nobility and grace even in the dying of the light, as witnessed through the lens of her ill-fated heroine Violetta.

The 45-year old company is closing its season with Giuseppe Verdi’s three-act masterpiece sung in Italian (with English surtitles). It’s based on a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, which was inspired by Alexandre Dumas’s play, La Dame aux Camélias. Manitoba Opera principal conductor Tyrone Paterson led the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra throughout the 19th-century composer’s score with his usual finesse.

The 170-minute show (including two intermissions) is directed by Montreal’s Alain Gauthier and is the first offering co-produced by a consortium of five Canadian opera companies, including: Manitoba Opera, Edmonton Opera, Pacific Opera Victoria, Vancouver Opera and L’Opéra de Montréal, with the production being performed in in each of the five respective cities next season.

The opera tells the story of Violetta, dying of consumption, a.k.a. tuberculosis — who sacrifices her love for Alfredo after his father, Germont, convinces her to leave him for propriety’s sake. This particular staging sets the story in 1920s bohemian Paris, with the lead character, originally a courtesan and now cabaret performer, inspired by American entertainer Josephine Baker, whose risqué performances fired up the City of Light.

It’s a great premise, but in the end, ultimately a moot point (albeit the decadent, art-deco sets and glorious, fringed flapper costumes created by Christina Poddubiuk are serious eye candy). Any allusion to Baker quickly slips away, with the Los Angeles-born Blue clearly stamping this role as her own.

Her luscious vocals were immediately apparent as she made her first grand entrance down the sweeping wrought-iron staircase, bathing the ear in pure sonic beauty while always perfectly controlled and consistent throughout her expansive range, including her skill for shading even her uppermost notes to a barely-there pianissimo.

But Blue’s vocal gifts are matched equally by her innate acting skills, with her nuanced portrayal growing more luminous with every passing scene. She begins her emotional trajectory as a bon vivant party girl who gaily sings, Pleasure is the best medicine, morphing before our eyes into a woman of honour who sacrifices her own happiness in the name of love.

Her delivery of opera’s quintessential ode to freedom, Sempre Libera, also nearly stopped the show with her character growing more defiant, even punctuating her own vocal line by slamming a champagne bottle at one point. Her high E-flat that caps the aria also enthralled; made even more astounding when executed while lying nearly horizontal on a velvety chaise longue and swilling bubbly.

Another highlight — of many — came during the third act, in which her agitated Violetta grows increasingly desperate as death whispers at her door. Her heart-rending Addio del passato, sung while cradling her former cabaret bustier like a babe in arms, followed by a deeply moving duet Partigi, o cara sung with Newfoundland-born tenor Adam Luther’s Alfredo, elicited sobs from last Saturday’s audience.

Luther, in his Manitoba Opera debut, also possesses magnetic stage power, as dashing as a matinée idol unafraid to dig into his role — a passionate hothead in love with Violetta. He also proved a real-life hero for soldiering on despite being under the weather last Saturday night (as announced after the first intermission), which nonetheless played havoc in his upper range during the second act’s De’ miei bollenti spiriti…O mio rimorso.

Despite these challenges, Luther still displayed buttery-smooth phrasing in the first act’s Un dì, felice, eterea sung with Blue including ringing high notes, and it’s a credit to his artistry he can still sound so good when not at his vocal best. And in a curious, “life-imitates-art way,” his subdued vocals mirrored the dying Violetta’s faltering utterances, viscerally bonding their characters as organically simpatico lovers.

Another standout proved to be Canadian baritone James Westman as Alfredo’s father Germont, with his booming voice immediately establishing his imperious character during the second act’s Di Provenza il mar, il suol, as well as showcasing his resonant, expressive vocals as he sets out to destroy his son’s relationship with Violetta. He then proceeded to peel back the many layers of his character, showing us he is not a villain, but a hapless victim of societal expectations, until finally wracked by remorse at the end when he realizes Violetta’s inner goodness.

The all-Canadian cast — save for Blue — also included Violetta’s faithful dresser Annina, sung by mezzo-soprano Shannon Unger, who made every moment of her relatively brief stage time count, as did tenor Michael Barrett’s Gastone and baritone Andrew Love’s eye-patched Baron Douphol, who squires Violetta to Flora (mezzo-soprano Barbara King), and the Marquis d’Obigny’s (baritone Howard Rempel) party.

It’s a joy to see Winnipeg baritone David Watson back onstage — this time as Doctor Grenvil — always adding gravitas whether performing comedic or tragic fare.

The 40-member Manitoba Opera Chorus proved in its usual fine fettle, prepared by chorus master Tadeusz Biernacki, who is celebrating his 35th year with the Manitoba Opera. Its rousing rendition of the opening number, Libiamo ne’lieti calici, better known as The Drinking Song, was sung with gusto.

Several curious directorial choices, including having the female chorus members morph into flapper-garbed gypsies, who perform peculiar choreography evoking more a country line-dance hootenanny than free-spirited gypsy twirls during Flora’s party jarred the senses. The women’s subsequent donning of bullhorns to their male counterparts’ puffed-up, machismo matadors (still wearing crisp tuxedos) also was bizarre — with presumed parallels attempted to being made between gay Parisian nightlife and life-and-death bull rings lost in translation. Designer Kevin Lamotte’s unusually dim lighting during this scene helped mitigate the oddness of it all, and once we got past this section, it proved highly effective, including several stunning, stylized lighting effects highlighting Blue and her series of white costumes visually underscoring her character’s purity of heart.

There’s inherent risk involved when offering edgy contemporary operas — and this company has been there, done that — but there’s also peril when producing a perennial favourite that can become predictable. This production happily balances both a fresh take and traditional approach, but in the end, it is Blue’s show — surely one of this generation’s great opera artists in the making — with Winnipeggers now able to proudly boast, “I saw her when…”

As expected, the artists received a standing ovation with loud cries of “bravo” and prolonged applause by the clearly moved crowd.

holly.harris@shaw.ca