Wednesday, February 17, 1999
L.A. Opera offers its version of "La Travita"
OPERA: Production enjoyable in spite of difficulties inherent in
staging Verdi’s famous show
By John Mangum
Daily Bruin Contributor
"La Traviata" ranks as one of opera’s most enduring hits, but it
also may be one of the genre’s most difficult works to perform
successfully.
Giuseppe Verdi’s tale of forbidden love between the courtesan
Violetta and the bourgeois Alfredo boasts several of "opera’s
greatest moments," including its famous "brindisi," or drinking
song, and Violetta’s surging plea for Alfredo’s love. "Traviata"
has a popular and appealing score and an emotionally wrenching
story. The whole thing almost drove Julia Roberts to incontinence
in "Pretty Woman."
"Traviata" also poses several problems for any opera company
that produces it. L.A. Opera’s presentation of the work, which they
unveiled Sunday evening at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, offered
several successful moments without completely solving all of these
problems.
The story itself, aside from the central role of Violetta,
doesn’t present many dramatic possibilities to performers. Alfredo
falls in love with the courtesan, and, after some hesitation on her
part, the two abandon Paris for the country.
At this point, Alfredo’s father, Giorgio Germont, demands that
Violetta leave his son so that attachment to a prostitute will not
disgrace his family and ruin his daughter’s chances of marrying
well. Distressed, she confesses to Germont that she is dying of
consumption and begs him to tell his son why she left once she’s
dead. She returns to Paris, where Alfredo seeks her out and
publicly humiliates her when she refuses to return to him.
Several months pass, and Germont, racked with guilt over the
pain he has caused the lovers, promises that he and Alfredo will
visit Violetta to seek her forgiveness. They arrive just in time
for Violetta to die in Alfredo’s arms.
Alfredo and Germont are fairly one-dimensional, but the
complexities of Violetta’s character and music present the soprano
with a bewildering test of her art. A singer must be vocally
equipped for the intricacies of the first act as well as the
heftier dramatic moments of the second and third. L.A. Opera
favorite Carol Vaness may have lacked the technical brilliance to
deal with these intricacies Sunday evening, but she compensated
with beautiful tone and dramatic weight in the more melodramatic
moments of the later acts.
The strengths and deficiencies in Vaness’ voice were highlighted
in her performance in act one. In the beginning, lyrical section,
her singing was poised and touching; however – towards the more
taxing portion at the end of the first act – forced, breathy high
notes disrupted the line.
But once this moment had passed, Vaness’ voice settled
beautifully into the role. Her second act duet with Germont, "Dite
alla giovine" ("Tell your daughter"), delivered sensitive, quiet
singing, carefully constructed to build up to Germont’s climactic
outbursts of "piangi" ("weep"). Overall, she proved as satisfying a
Violetta as the lyric stage can offer today, but her portrayal, at
least on this occasion, did not eclipse memories of other singers
in the role.
Alfredo can appear merely cruel, since his denunciation of
Violetta leaves a bad taste that can be difficult for the performer
to overcome. Tenor Greg Fedderly proved most convincing in these
moments of anger, settling for generalized ardor the rest of the
time.
Some of his most appealing music – the cabaletta from his big
second-act aria – was cut, making it harder for his character to
take on additional dimension. His voice fit the part nicely enough,
but Fedderly could have characterized the role with more
variety.
As Alfredo’s father, baritone Jorma Hynninen turned in the most
all-around satisfying performance of the evening. His Germont
revealed fatherly concern lying beneath his demands that the young
lovers separate, and this concern carried over into the final scene
when he apologized to Violetta and Alfredo. His second act plea to
Violetta to leave his son, "Di Provenza il mar" ("From the sea of
Provence"), garnered thunderous applause from the audience.
The introductions to the verses of aria also provided some
beautifully shaped playing from the L.A. Opera Orchestra’s
woodwinds, one accomplished moment for the orchestra among many.
But there were also moments of orchestral insecurity and shapeless
phrasing, perhaps more apparent because of "Traviata’s"
familiarity. Conductor Gabriele Ferro, who also marshaled a similar
group of vocalists and instrumentalists for last season’s "Il
Trovatore," provided volatile leadership from the podium.
The production, conceived and directed by Marta Domingo
(Placido’s wife), was mostly conventional – and all the better for
it. Only in the third act, when a sort of Baron Samedi character
entered Violetta’s boudoir to carry her to her sickbed while a
disembodied scythe floated by outside, did things go slightly awry
into the realm of awkward symbolism.
The designs, by Giovanni Agostinucci, set the drama in sumptuous
surroundings. The ostentatious set for the second scene of Act Two,
a party being given by one of Violetta’s acquaintances, elicited
applause and even some yelps of excitement from the crowd. Vaness’
costumes were everything one would expect, glittering and
luxuriant.
OPERA: L.A. Opera presents Verdi’s "La Traviata" with Carol
Vaness at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for six more performances,
Feb. 18-March 6. Student and senior rush tickets ($20) available
one hour prior to performances, subject to availability. For more
information, call (213) 972-8001.
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