REVIEW: Utah Festival Opera Thrills in Timeless ‘Turandot’
Somewhere between the Chinese setting, the Italian lyrics, and the English super titles it dawns on you: This is a lot more than music and melodrama.
It’s opera!
Reaching down to its roots, Utah Festival Opera opened its 2005 season with Turandot, Puccini’s famed opera in three acts recalling a tale of death and romance from ancient China.
As the only true opera being performed by UFO this season (they are also performing two musicals and one drama), a lot of clout rested on the companies ability to bring the well-known production to life on the Eccles stage.
With a bare-bone, layered stage set-up, UFO drew attention to the intricate and intensely elaborate costumes and allowed the audience to imagine the stone towers and kingly halls that appear in many other productions of the opera. The thematic cohesion of the production added a lot to the intellectual enjoyment of the evening, while the beautiful Chinese symbols that popped up every now and again heightened the cultural experience.
The story itself takes place in ancient Beijing where Turandot (Othalie Graham), the daughter of Emperor Altoum (J. Raymond Meyers), has sworn an oath that any man who seeks her hand in marriage must be of noble blood, and must answer three riddles. The penalty for failing to answer the three questions is death.
As the curtain rises, we are greeted by Prince Calaf (Simon Kyung Lee) who, after many years of searching, recognizes his long-lost father Timur (Daniel Cole) among the crowd brewing in anticipation of the most recent execution. Timur, disposed of his throne, is followed by Liu, a long-time servant who has remained true because, long ago, Calaf smiled to her. Though Calaf originally condemns the execution as barbarous, he is stunned by the beauty of Turandot and immediately determines to win her for himself.
Over the course of the next two acts, despite attempts by Timur, Liu, the Emperor’s advisors (Ping, Pang and Pong) and pretty much everyone else in the kingdom, Calaf goes on to challenge and (could it be otherwise) successfully answer the riddles and succeed in winning Turandot.
One problem, however: Turandot is the textbook example of a frigid, type-A
man hater. She throws such a tizzy fit at the thought of marrying the only of several dozen men to survive her riddles that Calaf, thinking no one in the city knows his name, says if she can discover his moniker by daybreak, he will forfeit his life.
In the final act, Turandot discovers Timur and Liu and tortures them to discover Calaf’s name. Liu, in a protestation of absolute love and devotion swears she would rather die than reveal her true love’s name. Even though Calaf doesn’t care two-pence for Liu romantically, he is moved by her death and determines that the only way to win Turandot’s heart, along with her hand, is to tell her his name and let her decide his fate.
As the crowd gathers in the first rays of dawn, Turandot reveals that the foreign Prince’s name is Love as the entire company joins in a wedding celebration.
Though the plot does seem a little heavy-handed at times, the cast performs the masterful music with precision. The absolute highlight of the evening was Lee’s performance of one of Opera’s greatest arias, “Nessun Dorma.” His projection and power was stunning and the energy was contagious. The chorus shined in every number and really gave the production a touch of perfection.
Though some of the performers were hard to hear and had more lackluster songs, the overall quality of the evening was very high and was quite worthy of a full house. Overall, the production really showed why UFO was founded in the first place – to bring professional productions of the world’s greatest music to the citizen’s of the Cache Valley.
-mattgo@cc.usu.edu