“Music Man” marches Utah Festival Opera to successful opening
“The Marriage of Figaro”
Wolfgang Mozart made figurative headlines in 1786 with the comic opera “The Marriage of Figaro,” and the Utah Festival Opera Company picked the pointed production to headline its 14th season.
By evening’s end, the selection proved to be wholly adequate, with some easily discerned diamonds sparkling brighter than most and carrying the romp along. “The Marriage of Figaro” often feels like a Shakespearean comedy put to perfect music — full of mistaken identities and midnight meetings in gardens and girls playing boys playing girls, just as that rascal William might have penned it.
But it is mostly about love, as most fine operas are, in this case the love between Susanna and Figaro and the often-tenuous love between the Count Almaviva and his Countess. And speaking of love, patrons will absolutely love Kara Shay Thomson, playing the Countess. Thomson reaches the audience on her first note and never wavers on her grip. Even her softest notes — usually mournful longings for past love — carry easily to every anxious ear in the theater. Directors could have turned off the supertitles and just let the Countess carry the audience away.
The enthusiastic response given to Thomson, making her UFO debut, reinforces that she was the diamond-like find of the night.
Playing Susanna, Suzanne Woods had both the name and the demeanor for the Countess’s maid, but for whatever reason was not able to emotionally charge the audience. Often Woods was too soft and almost muted and her early duet with the Countess found her almost overwhelmed. Woods was totally adequate and technically sound but not rememberable. Kristopher Irmiter as Figaro and Darrell Babidge as the Count are very easy to listen to and both are also able to use inflection and facial expressions to maintain interest.
Two characters join the plot in the second act — the fiery-haired Marcellina and her attorney Bartolo — that lift the somewhat pedestrian comedic moments to a higher level. Marcellina, played by Vanessa Schukis and David Barron as Bartolo, save the second act. Schukis rivals Thomson in power and pleasure, seeming to enjoy her role as meddler, determined to make Figaro either marry her or pay her to go away.
But at the end of the day, it is the Countess that carries the burden. Her soulful pleadings are rich and delightful, heightening the sometimes-simple orchestral underpinnings. And, as Shakespeare and Mozart would both have it, love indeed conquers and all’s well that ends with an embrace.
“The Music Man”
Well, if you’ve got trouble, and even if it still starts with “T,” you won’t find it here.
“The Music Man” gave an enthusiastic opening night audience no trouble at all. While perhaps not as technically correct as “Figaro,” it proved to be more enjoyable. The well-known Meredith Wilson musical was finished off in an uncommonly pleasing fashion. The entire production is so likable, it’s hard to find fault with it.
The opening scene — traveling salesmen setting out for Iowa, gossiping about rival salesman Dr. Harold Hill — set the tone perfectly, with lickety-split lyrics and actions that were bouncy and fun. Throughout the production, choreography was well-done and it was staged to a “T,” and that doesn’t stand for trouble. Backdrops and scenery will intriguingly simple and even a misstep here and there by the children in the cast could not detract from the enjoyment.
Audience members loved the barbershop quartet, city councilmen that can’t seem to pass up a good harmony. They were homespun enough to have fun, without getting corny. They were even visually stimulating. Lee K. Daily, as Hill’s fellow conman Marcellus Washburn, was genial, right on note, and made the perfect sidekick. As Hill, Josh Powell is a delight. His tone and dynamics were perfect for this type of production and his Dick Van Dyke-like pliable expressions and movements will make you giggle out loud.
When Powell joins Lisanne Norman, playing Marian the librarian, for the memorable duet “Til There Was You,” there wasn’t a dry heart in the house. By then, the entire cast had emotionally connected with all in the audience. Powell and Norman had fun together throughout the night and sounded perfect, especially when singing together.
As Mayor Shinn, David Barron is also noteworthy. He was just loud and blustery enough to make the perfect small-town politician, even if he was always getting his “phraseology” all mixed up. His daughter Zanetta, played by Stacy Blau, was far too quiet and her role was almost missed on opening night.
Conductor Barbara Day Turner gets all she can out of the orchestra, just right for the marching numbers and the 100-miles-an-hour lyrics that are liberally sprinkled throughout.
Nope. No trouble in River City this time.
La Boheme
Arturo Chacon-Cruz, according to pre-production notes, returned to the Utah Festival Opera Company this summer especially for the role of Rodolfo in “La Boheme.” Be thankful he did. Described as a a “premier young tenor who is making a splash on the international opera scene,” Chacon-Cruz certainly made a splash in Logan opening night.
He nearly got a standing ovation at the end of his first solo. He certainly did at the opera’s conclusion.
His true tenor never wavered and had an earnest quality that patrons never tired of listening to. So, how would Mimi, Rodolfo’s love and companion, hold up? By the production’s end, the pair of lead players in “La Boheme” proved to be equally yoked. Young Wendy Harmer was a good match and both will be making plenty of splashes in the near future. Harmer had a great ability to use dymanics to infuse interest in her excellent soprano. A duet wherein the pair remembers old times — just before sniffles begin to be heard at this tragedy’s end — is a perfect example of a delightful marriage of strong operatic voices.
This Giacome Puccini opera takes place in Paris in the 1890s. Struggling young artists are doing their best to enjoy a Christmas season, but continually long for love. In the course of three acts, Rodolfo and Marcello, played with rich intensity by Mark Walters and his baritone tones, seem to be the type that could fall in love at the drop of an octave. But in truth, Marcello longs for the flirtatious Musetta and Roldolfo has fallen hard for Mimi, the girl next door in the drafty Parisian apartment building.
Extensive scene changes necessitate three long intermissions in the production, which, in turn, diminish somewhat from the continuity of emotion in the love-tragedy, as well as the audience’s appreciation of the rich talent. But the leads — particularly Chacon-Cruz — are easy to remember and appreciate. Ensemble numbers are full and strong. Karen Keltner could be seen — and heard — coaxing emotion out of Mimi and the orchestra.
When the curtain falls, the music and performances have caused many to evaluate the depth of their love and given the audience a determination to love as purely as Mimi and Roldolfo.