The Opera Tattler

A Night At The Overlook Hotel

Opera Parallèle held a fundraiser at The Lodge at The Regency Center yesterday night in San Francisco. The theme has to do with the company's next offering, Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell's The Shining, which opens on June 2 at the YCBA Theater.

Emceed by L. Peter Callender, who kept the proceedings together, we heard soprano Kearstin Piper Brown, who is Wendy Torrance in the production and tenor Nathan Granner (Bill Watson / Lloyd the Bartender). They were accompanied by Kevin Korth on the keyboard and Marcus Shelby on the bass.

The music started with Bernstein's Tonight. Then we heard from General and Artistic Director Nicole Paiement who honored Founder & Executive Artistic Director of SFJazz Randall Kline, who collaborated with Opera Parellèle on Terence Blanchard's Champion back in 2016. Blanchard appeared in a video to express gratitude to Kline, but is in New York as this very opera is at The Met right now.

The high point of the evening was jazz vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater singing "Don't Touch Me Tomato" and Sacha Distel's "La Belle Vie." She's a very warm and funny performer, and I'm sure her upcoming dates at SFJAZZ will be incredible.

There was a live auction with tenor Michael Tate as hotel concierge, keeping with the Overlook Hotel conceit. On offer were a Maui vacation and Seattle Opera's Das Rheingold, which OP Creative Director Brian Staufenbiel is directing in August.

We heard more from our opera singers, some pieces from The Shining, an aria from Champion, and some modified Elvis. It was good to get a sense of the music for the upcoming opera, and the beginning of June looks to be jam-packed, as San Francisco Opera's 2022-2023 also resumes with Madama Butterfly and Die Frau Ohne Schatten that same weekend.

PBO's Amadigi di Gaula

* Notes * 
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Music Director Richard Egarr did a run of Händel's Amadigi di Gaula last weekend at the Taube Atrium Theater in San Francisco. The soloists (pictured) were all really impressive and the small space seemed to focus the attention of the audience.

The piece has a lot of big feelings in it, it is the composer's eleventh opera of over 40 he wrote. I must say it is a bit frustrating that only a handful of Händel's operas are performed regularly, as this one was absolutely lovely and it would be nice to be able to hear more than once. The playing was crisp and together, the woodwinds and trumpet had significant soli.

This co-production between Boston Baroque and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chrorale works well in the tiny theater. There was basically a runway in front of the orchestra with two platforms at each end, plus eight screens for projections behind the musicians. I am not sure I understood what stage director Louisa Muller was trying to say, at one point the sorceress villain takes off her boots and socks, throwing them aside, and then everyone else who came back on stage had no shoes either. It was as if they were just done with footwear, I guess there was too much passion in the music, they needed to expose their feet.

Nor did I find Ian Winters' projection design inspired, the images of the ocean and sky were pretty enough, but there were times when I simply ignored the images and turned my attention to the performers.

The cast was strong. Mezzo-soprano Briana Hunter is basically my favorite sort of Baroque singer, a lady baritone. Singing the hapless Prince of Thrace, Dardano, she sounded very clear and smooth. I loved her Act II aria "Pena tiranna io sento al core" with the interplay of the bassoon. The sopranos were both very good and sounded nothing alike. Soprano Deanna Breiwick was very sweet and pretty as the beloved Oriana, but was able to bring an indignation to her sound when she is unfairly accused of betraying Amadigi.

Soprano Nicole Heaston was delightful as the witch Melissa, her singing is nuanced and filled with colors. Her duet with the title character was a highlight of the evening. It was also a joy to hear countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo sing Amadigi. His voice is clean and powerful. It was great to hear the finale with all four singers, it was unexpected to me as I've never heard the whole opera before and Dardano dies before the end.

Tattling * 
The audience was very quiet, though the person next to me exclaimed "oops" when the trumpet had a slight misstep in playing.

It was helpful that the piece was played straight through, without an intermission. I loved being able to concentrate on beautiful music for 100 minutes.

Opera San José's Tosca

* Notes *
Tosca (Act II pictured, photograph by David Allen) opened at Opera San José in an effective production directed by Tara Branham last weekend. The singing was all very powerful, the action straightforward, and the Sunday matinee was a richly satisfying afternoon of theater.

This is the quintessential opera, the title character is an opera singer after all, and Branham doesn't interfere with much, everything is crystal clear as far as the staging. Perhaps things were a little too spelled out for those who have seen this opera dozens of times, the large knife in the turkey in Act II felt very obvious.

I did like that Branham had Cavaradossi having a tryst with a pretty blonde in the background as the Sacristan sang in the beginning of the opera. It made Tosca's jealous behavior seem less irrational, and I appreciated that Cavaradossi has more than one side to his character.

Puccini's music is flexible enough to sound fine despite some lack of nuance and less than perfect moments in the orchestra. The violins in particular seem to have issues with being in tune with each other, there was one awfully odd moment in Act II after Cavaradossi was brought out, but it was truly only a few seconds. The woodwinds and harp sounded very lovely.

Likewise, the singing, while not ideal at all times, was strong and dramatic. Soprano Maria Natale certainly is striking as Tosca. Her icy and robust voice is distinctive, it just is on the line between pretty and ugly, which is very interesting for this role which isn't quite heroic. Tenor Adrian Kramer is a dashing Cavaradossi, his volume is good, though it's clear he's putting in a ton of effort. This is a contrast to baritone Kidon Choi whose voice is almost too pretty for the slimy Scarpia. Choi was able to be brutish but he was never unctuous.

Baritone Robert Balonek was plaintive as Angelotti, baritone Igor Vieira comic as the Sacristan, and Justin Vives sounded secure as the Shepherd Boy.

The set, designed by Steven C. Kemp, sticks to the libretto, everything looks as one would expect, as the scenes are very specific in place and time. There are no scene changes that occur outside of the intermissions, thus there were no awkward lulls.

The costumes from Elizabeth Poindexter were rather numerous and delightful. Tosca's white and gold performance gown in Act II is very sumptuous, and Christina Martin did an excellent job with Tosca's wigs, she had some very fancy updos.

*Tattling *
Someone in Row C sang along with "E lucevan le stelle" in Act III, but for the most part people didn't talk that much during the singing. We were behind a service dog who was quiet but seemed distressed for the humans in Act II.