At face value, singing a certain royal role in a certain fairytale opera is probably one of the best gigs in the business. In almost every production you get the fanciest costume, the beastliest aria, the simplest blocking, and the biggest paycheck. In any given decade there are only about 5 other major singers willing to tackle her, and for about 30 minutes of onstage time, you get the biggest applause. Have a seat, nocturnal Queens.This isn’t about y’all. This is Turandot, and yes for the love of God you do pronounce the final “t”.
Cincinnati Opera’s new million dollar (figuratively and literally) “Turandot”, created by the married Québécois duo of Renard Doucet and André Barbe, was a co-production with the Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Utah Operas, respectively. Much has been written about the stunning set, costumes, and visual elements of their creation, but one key element has been a bit overlooked. Doucet + Barbe succeeded in producing one of the grandest operas for a 21st century audience, without venturing into regieoper or treating it as a museum artifact, but instead by never letting the storytelling get lost in the spectacle. The other 2,821 audience members, apparently including every person in Cincinnati with a pulmonary disorder, roared with approval during ovations. As any girl who has ever dreamed of being a princess and set off to China will tell you, the road ain’t easy. In such a short time, one must convincingly evolve from an icy, sociopathic girl terrified of losing her identity to a man, to a mature young woman who understands and is willing to experience love. Not to mention the getup is heavy, you’re the reason the lovable sidekick commits suicide, and “In this Realm” is a real bitchuva ditty. Tricky poo.
Fortunately, young dramatic soprano Marcy Stonikas was not only up for the challenge, she embraced it head-on and succeeded. More than capable of flinging her big voice up to heaven, Stonikas chose a more nuanced approach; she used all the colors of it to help tell the story – the hallmark of a great singing actress. Some humanizing dramatic choices were made, such as Turandot kissing Calàf first, and a long pause in the music where Puccini “laid down his pen” as Liù’s body was carried offstage and Turandot sobbed audibly. Called “superfluous” by other reviewers, I found this moment breathtaking in its execution.
Stand outs in the cast included hunky bass Andrea Mastroni as Timur, whose noble and affecting voice recalls a glorified age of singing too rarely heard these days. Heads up, Hamburg, Paris, and New York -his Sparafucile is coming your way soon. Soprano Norah Amsellem gave the audience a touching portrayal as Liù. Her warm voice delivered all the goods, alternately spinning spellbinding pianissimi, and bringing out the heft needed to address Turandot in the biting “tu” form.
Ohh Principe…your responsibilities are three, your dimensionality is one: hit the gong at the right times, don’t mix up the riddle answers, park on your mark and bark “None Shall Sleep” well enough the blue-haired donors get verklempt. Unfortunately, this production did little to raise that dramatic bar or convince me that he was the only man capable of melting the ice princess; Calàf was just another furry Prince Charming from ___-istan. Whether the unclear characterization was the fault of stage director Doucet, or tenor Frank Porretta, the role was sung admirably nevertheless. Porretta nailed the aria, but sadly lacked the vocal presence to shine through many of Puccini’s other dense orchestral doublings. In a smaller house, I believe he would have been excellent. I must, however, give mad props to production stage manager Whitney McAnally and all of those in black – a production this large, with this many technical elements, is not the territory of the faint hearted and it was handled seamlessly.
It was encouraging to see so many other Millennials in the audience – Cincinnati Opera’s marketing and PR team has done a great job of having an active community outreach and social media presence. With world-class productions like this, we might stick around… or you know, move to China and become a princess or some shit.
– Violetta Gestapo
(Violetta Gestapo is our resident trailer-trash dilettante, bon vivant, enfant terrible opera stage director living in the greater Cincinnati area)
(Photos Courtesy Cincinnati Opera Facebook Page)
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