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Opéra Noir: On T'Accuse, or Death & Sex in Don Giovanni's Trial or Nightmare |
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| by Bruce-Michael Gelbert | |
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A FRIEND |
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photo by Carol Rosegg
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| Clockwise- Kelly Markgraf as Masetto, Gregory Turay as Don Ottavio, Keri Alkema as Donna Elvira, Stefania Dovhan as Donna Anna, Daniel Okulitch as Don Giovanni (center), Jason Hardy as Leporello and Joélle Harvey as Zerlina |
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I remember when you could go to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte's "Don Giovanni" and not worry about what the director thought the opera meant, but just listen to the singers that you loved singing it.
In the new, sometimes infuriating, sometimes intriguing New York City Opera production of "Don Giovanni," directed by Christopher Alden, abetted by designers Paul Steinberg (sets), Terese Wadden (costumes), and Jane Cox (lighting), which opened on November 8 and which I heard on November 10, at the second of its six performances, the concept takes center stage and wrestles with the music. Sometimes, as in Don Ottavio's "Dalla sua pace" and "Il mio tesoro," Donna Elvira's "Mi tradì," and Donna Anna's "Non mi dir," treated to virtuoso realizations by Gregory Turay, Keri Alkema and Stefania Dovhan respectively, the music wins. Here's what happens:
In a bleak room-the waiting room of a hospital, St. Vincent's say; a courtroom, Perry Mason's perhaps; or the railway station out of an Alfred Hitchcock film-with harsh institutional lighting, including a neon cross, a grim, poker-faced ensemble, which also disgorges the principals, and dresses the way my uncles, aunts and parents did for special occasion photos, between 1929 and the early 1950s, faces and accuses, perhaps, a masked man, Don Giovanni (Daniel Okulitch), in his trial or maybe his dream/nightmare. There is no duel. Don Giovanni slams Commendatore Brian Kontes' head into a wall, leaving him-and it-bloodied and, soon, slumping, lifeless. The blood remains there throughout the opera, a convenient symbol, to be pointed out whenever this "sangue" is mentioned. When Donna Anna commands Don Ottavio, "Vendicar quel sangue" (avenge this blood), she smears some of it on his pajamas. The wall comes into play again, as well, but sans lethal results. When Donna Elvira suspects that Leporello (Jason Hardy) is toying with her, before "Madamina," she flings him against it. And Don Giovanni pushes Zerlina (Joélle Harvey) up against the wall to molest her during his masked ball.
Images of death and funerals abound, ostensibly concerning the Commendatore, but not boding well for Don Giovanni. In the third scene, when Anna and Ottavio enter for the quartet with Elvira and Giovanni, the Commendatore, laid out on his bier, accompanies them. Add a few more mourners and we're practically on the way to the funeral. There's no "statua gentilissima" in the graveyard scene-the Commendatore responds directly from his coffin. "Flores para los muertos," in the form of wreaths, bouquets and a cross, are for the Commendatore, but threaten to engulf the Don during the Act Two, Scene Two sextet, in which he ordinarily plays no part. Don Giovanni's final scene banquet table is set, and the Don seated at it, as early as Act Two, Scene Three-it's the table on which the Commendatore's coffin rests, so he doesn't have far to go to accept the flippantly tendered dinner invitation. When Don Giovanni bids his servant read the slain man's epitaph, it's not on a stone, but on a ribbon on a wreath and the final words, "la vendetta," are usurped by Donna Elvira, who doesn't usually appear in the graveyard, in undergarments or otherwise.
Don't expect to see anyone in traditional "Don Giovanni" gear, except when fancy costume is called for, like that of Zerlina and Masetto (Kelly Markgraf) at their wedding, and of Elvira, Anna and Ottavio, proper Spanish doñas and don for the masquerade, at which Leporello is a commedia dell'arte clown. Hardy continues this assignment when entertaining his master at the banquet, juggling and then balancing a chair on his nose, which he does very well. Wherever Act One, Scene Four is supposed to take place, Zerlina and Masetto have no problem stripping down to their underwear there, during her lovely "Batti, batti," and going at it on the floor. Don Giovanni and Donna Elvira take swigs from flasks or glasses to get them through it all.
A word about the sexy start of Act Two. Don Giovanni and Leporello seem to share but a single black suit, the master the jacket and naught else but black underpants, and the servant, the pants, and black underpants, which they exchange when they go a-courting Donna Elvira, in her slip, and her maid (Alexandra Hastings), smoking a cigarette and vigorously polishing the floor. Okulitch serenades his new quarry with a most delicate "Deh, vieni alla finestra." Angry and anxious when she realizes Masetto is hurt, Harvey permits herself an unmusical bit of recitative, and legitimately so, before proceeding to a most delicious "Vedrai carino." Markgraf, earlier, gets deserved applause for his "Ho capito, signor, sì," an aria which often passes without acknowledgment.
This seems like a good time to note that the cast, mostly new, young, and handsome, under Gary Thor Wedow's baton, delivers an exceptional musical performance-which includes Elvira's recitative after "Madamina" and Ottavio's after "Non mi dir," both often omitted-and all singers are adept at ornamenting the vocal line. Hardy, for example, citing Giovanni's conquests "in Ispagna," embellishes the line with not only a vocal flourish, but also a flamenco step. It's too bad, though, that the concept so often distracts from these fine singers' musical efforts.
Additional performances of "Don Giovanni" take place on November 12, 14, and 20 at 8 p.m. and 22 at 1:30 p.m. Tickets, from $12, are available at www.nycopera.com, or call 212/721-6500, or visit the David H. Koch Theater box office at Lincoln Center.
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