Some operas take rather well to being moved from the original time and place as intended by composer and/or librettist. Others don’t. However, Gaetano Donizetti’s famous setting of Sir Walter Scott’s 18th century Scottish romance The Bride of Lammermoor moved with surprising ease to Sicily of the 1930s in last week’s production of Lucia di Lammermoor by Opera Cleveland. Scottish Lairds or Sicilian dons – there’s apparently not much difference between them when it comes to family and supposed honor. And the original words were in Italian, anyway.
Director Tomer Zvulun and conductor Dean Williamson combined to keep the production moving smoothly and inevitably toward the notoriously unhappy ending. The stage set by Erhard Rom also made an easy transition from stone castle to stone villa, ably assisted by the frequently sunny lighting by Robert Wierzel. Carol Bailey’s costumes for the men were pretty much dark suits, but the women were mostly garbed in floating, light colors. Except for the white satin wedding gown, of course. (And slinky white teddy—which we don’t usually see—worn beneath it.)
The voices were mostly excellent throughout, especially the two lead tenors. Scott Piper was the unsuitable lover Edgardo, while local favorite Tim Culver was the older, richer man who ended up as husband to the unstable Lucia of Nili Riemer. One might have wished for a slightly larger voice for Lucia, in order to be heard at the upper reaches of the State Theater, but her acting could hardly be improved upon, nor her sense of pitch on the incredibly high notes, especially in her mad scene.
As Lucia’s brother Enrico who manipulates his sister baritone Jordan Shanahan was all bluster and bravado. In smaller roles, Kristopher Irmiter as the family chaplain Raimondo, Nicole Birkland as Alisa, Lucia’s maid/companion, and Philippe Pierce as Enrico’s underling and spy Normanno, all excelled.
At times the stage really looked like a village, it was so full of people! But the chorus was 36 folks and there were an additional 12 supers, which proved very effective. The orchestra was mostly excellent (a few tonal or rhythmic glitches notwithstanding), with special contributions by flutist Sean Gabriel in the mad scene and harpist Jody Guinn. The English surtitles were by Jonathan Dean from Seattle Opera.
Subscriptions are still available for the balance of Opera Cleveland’s season: September brings Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers. For tickets or other information, call 216-575-0903 or visit the web-site: http://operacleveland.com.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz, who writes: My most recently published book is Ardenwycke Unveiled (e-book and trade paper). Cerridwen has another contemporary romance from me, But Not For Love, currently available only as an se-book, but perhaps will be in print later this year. I hope to soon get around to completing some of the 30+ incomplete books in my computer!
By the way, Cerridwen has also accepted two of my short stories in their Scintillating Samples (complimentary reads) area: Song of the Swan and Unexpected Comfort. I love photography as well, as you can see here. Occasionally I teach writing workshops and sometimes do editing or ghostwriting on a free-lance basis. But over and above everything else, there’s always been the writing. I can’t imagine my life without it.
And now, after more than a few requests, I’ve started a blog about writing. You can find it here.