Soundings: B-Team effort on 'Il Trovatore'

The Washington National Opera continues its 49th season with one of the best-known operas in the literature--"Il Trovatore." Filled with memorable arias and melodies of the sort that appear in "opera's most favorite moments" CDs, "Trovatore" offers an abundance of musical pleasures.

It's no small wonder, then, that it always seems to rank on many opera goers top ten listing. However, the company's current production may cause some shifting of positions on many a person's list.

Of course, the demands behind a production that allows "Trovatore" to remain on anyone's list are substantial. As has been popularly suggested, "Trovatore" requires four superb singers for supreme success. Maybe three will cut it. But anything less is a key to disaster. The primary roles are demanding, difficult and should be emotionally draining, at least theatrically.

The theatrical piece is pretty important since the plot is one of opera's most implausible--a gypsy woman's daughter seeking revenge for the murder of her mother (who gets burned at the stake) kidnaps one of the count's two sons. Somehow, in the midst of the stake burning business, the daughter mistakenly tosses her own son into the flames instead of the count's kid, whom she ends up rearing as her own. Go figure. Of course the two brothers, who don't know they're brothers, end up in life or death and romantic conflicts that propel the story to its culminating and tragic ending.

Consequently, it's imperative you've got the best A-team possible to stage a credible "Trovatore." Sadly, the National Opera's team, despite a few standout players, is a B-team effort. The "Trovatore" offered on opening night was a flat production that never caught fire and seldom thrilled.

Vocally, things were in fine shape with the stunning American mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves singing the role of the gypsy daughter Azucena. Graves is, hands down, one of the international opera world's most acclaimed performers. Much of her game has been made portraying rather sexy characters such as Carmen and Dalila. Stepping into the craggy-ish role of a gypsy was a decided switch, but one that Graves handled in expectedly brilliant fashion. Her portrayal was effective and menacing and her vocal delivery dark and rich. It just doesn't get any better.

Similarly did Bulgarian soprano Krassimira Stoyanova please with her vocally appealing Leonora. Stoyanova displayed exceptional control over the upper register, which, occasionally, seemed to float on wings of delicate song. Subbing for an ailing baritone Wolfgang Brendel, as the Count, was his cover, Carlos Archuleta. Anything lacking in his performance, aside from projection problems, could be attributed to step-into-the-spotlight role...or not. Russian tenor Mikhail Davidoff delivered a Manrico that was punctuated by moments of respectable singing. Russian bass Mikhail Kazakov was a convincing Ferrando. The opera chorus performed admirably, although at times, the off-stage singing was barely audible.

The singing could have been more evenly balanced. But probably the bigger grievance was the lackluster direction of Stephen Lawless. It was a listless production, made more so by lighting so dark that it kept many in the audience in the dark concerning who was who. In general, there was lacking vigor and intensity in the overall product. As for the fight scenes, which should be big events, execution of sword fighting choreography was disjointed, messy, and amateurish.

The set design consisted of sliding panels that were constantly positioned and repositioned to represent different locales and scenes. For a while, the panels' usage was interesting. But eventually it ended up being a direction-less novelty that became annoying. While the basic concept was good, the execution wasn't. As the panels moved back and forth, sight lines were not evenly conceptualized. Consequently, action viewed from the side taking place on stage left or even toward the middle of the stage was frequently out of clear viewing range. Respect of sight lines is a key directorial responsibility. To not attend to every visual vantage point is inexcusable.

Heinz Fricke attended to the conducting and coordination of things between the pit and the stage. On opening night, there were noticeable moments of shakiness between the two. Even the orchestra's contribution, while certainly not off target, seemed burdened by the production's overall low wattage.

While it's possible a few folk did leave the opera house humming one or two familiar melodies, more likely the melodies being hummed were of the discordant and not satisfied variety. Maybe and hopefully things will coalesce during the remainder of the run and allow "Il Trovatore" to sing.

Performances continue 30 October and 2, 5, 8, 11, 13 November in the Kennedy Center Opera House. For details go towww.dc-opera.org.