October 18, 20(m), 23, 26 & 27, 2024
Winspear Opera House
Dallas, Texas – USA
Giuseppe VERDI: La traviata
Iván López Reynoso, conductor; Louisa Muller, stage director; Giuseppe Verdi, composer; Francesco Maria Piave, librettist. Cast: Yaritza Véliz (Violetta Valéry, Oct. 18-26), Sara Gartland (Violetta Valéry, Oct. 27), Javier Camarena (Alfredo Germont, Oct 18-26), Bekhzod Davronov
(Alfredo Germont. Oct 27), Alfredo Daza (Giorgio Germont), Andrew Turner (Gastone), Erik Earl Larson (Baron Douphol), Malcolm Payne Jr. (Marchese d’Obigny), Ben Brady (Doctor Grenville), Siphokazi Molteno (Flora Bervoix), Jocelyn Hansen (Annina), Emily Cardea (Dancer), Nicholas Sipes (Dancer. ). Creative: Christopher Oram, set & costume designer; Marcus Doshi, lighting designer; Matthew Steffens, choreographer; Paolo Bressan, chorus director; David Zimmerman, wig and make-up designer.
Gregory Sullivan Isaacs | 21 OCT 2024
Few companies can afford to mount a new staging of an opera by themselves. Thus, the production of Verdi’s La traviata, which opened The Dallas Opera’s new season, is co-produced with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, England’s Garsington Opera, and the Santa Fe Opera (where it was premiered last summer). The advanced TDO press featured a quote from the Santa Fe New Mexican that promised: “…sometimes racy in the first act and wildly over the top in the second.” [1]
Actually, this quote is mined from a comment about Christopher Oram’s costumes, not the staging of the entire opera, which is mostly traditional. [2]
The singing in this production is uniformly superb. All the cast members have voices ranging from stentorian power to spinning lovely lyric lines that float above the orchestra. Further, their character creations are believable throughout.
The success of this opera depends on the soprano, and Yaritza Véliz, as the fatally diseased beauty Violetta, dominates the opera even when she is not on stage. Further, she is one of the few sopranos that can successfully pull off Verdi’s demands. He writes for a coloratura in the first act, a more dramatic style singer in the confrontational second act, and a more limpid lyric soprano for the third act and the final act’s death scene.
The production moves the action from Paris of the Belle-Epoque’s Art Nouveau to the more refined artistic switch brought by the Art Deco movement. Oram’s silvery and elegant high-ceilinged set rotates so the action can move through diverse locations—from Violetta’s ballroom to her boudoir.
Oram’s costumes take full advantage of Art Deco’s slim silhouetted ball gowns, but the second act costume party at Flora Bervoix’s home looks backward to the earlier Art Nouveau, even with some men in drag a la the Folies Bergère.
As Violetta’s young and hopelessly naive lover, Alfredo Germont, Javier Camarena shines with his beautifully produced lyric tenor voice. Yet, like Véliz, he can rise to an almost spinto level, delivering a stunning high “C” at the end of the rarely-sung cabaletta that ends his second act aria.
Baritone Alfredo Daza, festooned in military garb, pulls off the portrayal of Giorgio Germont, his errant son’s stern and ridged father. But dramatically, he is in a tough situation. His son is living in obvious luxury with a notorious courtesan, previously kept by a member of the royalty, a Baron no less. To make matters worse, his daughter cannot be married while this scandal hangs over her family.
Speaking of that Baron, baritone Erik Earl Larson ably pulls off his conflict between noblesse oblige and jealousy. Singers in the other roles are also excellent. Siphokazi Molteno makes a dumpling of a Flora Bervoix (Violetta’s BFF). Malcolm Payne Jr. is a notable D’Obigny, and Andrew Turner is an energetic Gastone. Ben Brady is exceptional as the soothing Dr. Grenville. Special mention must be made of the sympathetic portrayal that mezzo Jocelyn Hansen brings to the role of Violetta’s devoted chambermaid, Annina.
Guest conductor Iván López Reynoso mainly sets overly brisk tempi with the singers working to keep up, with varying degrees of success. Rubato was scarce, so the singers had little room to bring some personal expression to Verdi’s highly romantic music. But to his credit, the balance within the orchestra and with the stage was excellent throughout.
Louisa Muller’s direction was generally effective, especially in the second and third acts. But, here and there, are a few missteps. Some semaphore-like use of red hankies at Flora’s party was distracting, as was some freeze-frame dancing elsewhere. The most noticeable error was in the last act. Muller brings the boisterous offstage chorus of revelers onstage actually to invade Violetta’s sick room.
These few quibbles aside, this is a marvelous staging of one of the most beloved operas in the repertoire. Anyone who has always wanted to attend an opera but still hasn’t done so should definitely get a ticket to one of the remaining presentations. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- [1] ‘La Traviata’ launches Santa Fe Opera season with strong performance | Santa Fe New Mexican, 29 JUN 2024
- [2] (Author’s aside: If you want to see real “over the top”, consider the Barcelona production of Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera. It opens in the doorless toilet stalls in a men’s bathroom. Gentlemen are seated, reading newspapers, with their pants and underwear (appropriately) pulled all the way down.) YouTube: VERDI: Un ballo in maschera, Part 1 | Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Spain (2000).
- The Dallas Opera: dallasopera.org
- Yaritza Véliz: owlartistmanagement.co.uk/talents/yaritzaveliz
- Javier Camarena: javiercamarena.com
- Iván López Reynoso: ivanlopezreynoso.com
- Louisa Muller: louisamuller.com
Read more by Gregory Sullivan Isaacs.
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