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Gambling Addiction Never Sounded So Sweet
I used to be an avid poker player. I would stay up all night learning and implementing the many nuances of poker. Eventually, I broke into poker’s top one hundred. I was planning to go to Atlantic City to test my skills, but then I saw the late Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s brilliant opera, The Queen Of Spades.
Premiering in the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1890, The Queen Of Spades is a deeply emotional view into the annals of psychosis. The original storyline, written by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin in 1834 was an economical masterpiece, numbering only ten thousand words.
The story follows Ghermann, the insane soldier who falls in love at first sight with the beautiful Lisa. He learns that Lisa’s grandmother, the Countess, was an avid card player in her youth. She knew the winning three-card combination in the game Faro and used it to win her fortune. Ghermann became obsessed over this combination and interrogated the Countess in her bedroom until she died of fright. She told Ghermann a combination, the wrong one, which he used and lost with, before promptly ending his life.
The story was so psychologically gripping that it caught the attention of Tchaikovsky, who composed an opera in a remarkable forty-four days. Sometimes, things just work well together and it was apparent last week in the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center, when the house was brought down.
It wasn’t a single performance that shone through. The entire production incredible, instrumentals, vocals, storylines, and beautiful set design came together to claw their way towards perfection. Opera is founded on vocalists, and The Queen Of Spades had a secure foundation with Ben Heppner taking the reigns as Ghermann, the disturbed gambling soldier who falls in love with Lisa, beautifully rendered by Maria Guleghina.
The person who deserves the most credit is undoubtedly master conductor Seiji Ozawa, the Chinese opera juggernaut. Returning to the MET Opera house after a 16-year hiatus, Mr. Ozawa confidently led the MET orchestra to a triumphant rendition of Mozartian proportions.
Sometimes, our imaginations may not run as wildly as those of the composers, but thanks to amazing set design by Mark Thompson, nothing was left to chance. Every set in every scene looked legitimate and authentically homely. The skeleton of the set never changed and was a wall of columns on the right of the stage, with light shining through to the left. In an outside scene, it resembled a courtyard at sunset. Indoors, the light shone though like it would through curtains on a window. It is beyond this reviewer’s repertoire of knowledge to explain the brilliance of the set design.
Reviewer’s note: The quality of the vocals is subject to the performers’ health.
The Queen Of Spades stays at the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center through December 13, 2008. Tickets ranging from $20 through $400 can be bought at www.metopera.org. This reviewer politely recommends you buy early as your desired section may sell out promptly.
Boris Kalendariov
The Power of a Vow
Sometimes the strength and determination of one person’s vow can save the lives of others. This is especially evident in “Irena’s Vow”, a new play by Dan Gordon at the Baruch Performing Arts Center. “Irena’s Vow”, based on a true story, takes us back to German occupied western Poland in the 1940s. Tovah Feldshuh plays as Irena Gut Opdyke, a Polish woman who took upon herself and managed to hide twelve Jewish men and women in the villa of a Nazi Major.
Irena was born into a Catholic family in Central Poland. During her teenage years she studied nursing, this, however, came to a halt when she joined the resistance as Germany invaded Poland. Captured by the Russians she was beaten and raped. She successfully escaped from the hands of the Russians only to be captured later by the Germans forces, who forced her to work in a munitions plant. Things changed when Irena’s duties were shifted to oversee the laundry and kitchen services due to the arrangements of Major Eduard Regemer. There she supervised eleven Jewish men and women.
One day while working in the kitchen Irena overheard that the Jews she supervises would be eliminated. After witnessing a horrifying event in the Jewish Ghetto, Irena makes a vow; if she ever has the chance to save a life, she will. Catching the attention of Major Regemer, she was assigned to be his housekeeper. With this in mind and the risks that came along with it she brilliantly crafted a plan to hide the Jews in his cellar.
Ms. Feldshuh’s high caliber performance was greatly portrayed in this play as her commanding role captivated the audience and her close calls with the angel of death kept us in suspense. Especially when old man Major Regemer, played by Thomas Ryan, found out that she deceived him and she becomes his mistress to silence him. Michael Parva does his job in beautifully maneuvering Ms. Feldshuh and her nine convincing cast members in delivering a stellar performance.
From beginning to end “Irena’s Vow” masterfully does its job and portrays its message. We are the last generation to witness and hear the atrocities that occurred not so long ago. With people denying the existence of the Holocaust and the last survivors dying it is our duty to implant the truths in our minds and retell the stories for decades to come. Like Irena, we have to make a vow; a vow to promise that we have to let our generation know of what happened and to never let it occur again. Bravo! Irena for this lesson and thank you.
Boris Kalendariov
Madame Butterfly at the MET
From top to bottom the hall at The Metropolitan Opera was so full for Puccini’s Madame Butterfly that people were willing to stand in the back to watch this spectacle. Since its premiere at the MET in 1907, with Puccini in the audience, this opera has been the most-performed in America and still maintains its original stellar elegance. This new production of Madame Butterfly as was envisioned by Anthony Minghella two years ago, a talented filmmaker who recently died, is now carried on through Carolyn Choa, his widow. Nonetheless, Minghella vision remains and is still able to captivate its audience.
Madame Butterfly is the story of B.F. Pinkerton, a traveling American lieutenant who stops by Japan. While visiting he ends up buying a 15-year-old geisha, Cio-Cio-San, for a wife, and they fall in love. He returns to America, while she waits for him. The story revolves around their fondness of each other and her incapability of accepting that he abandoned her.
Although Maria Gavrilova and Marcello Giordani, replacing Patricia Racette and Roberto Aronica who happened to be ill, sang the roles of Cio-Cio-San and Pinkerton, the graceful sets as designed by the late Minghella were able to complement their not-so-great operatic voices. (Mr. Giordani had performed the night before and therefore was not able to project his voice as well as he should have.) Powerful or not, the tenor was still able to portray his American swagger, while the soprano was right alongside complementing him with her naivety. The Yin and Yang of their performances remained as was set in the libretto yet lacked the passion and emotion that Puccini had envisioned. (Again this could be due to the fact that these were replacements and therefore were not able to develop an on-stage connection.)
The concerted effort of the orchestra, conducted by Patrick Summers, offered a continuously engaging performance that was able to harmonize with the libretto. From beginning to end the sounds of the orchestra was able to invoke more emotion than the actual singing with its leitmotifs.
Even more spectacular was the ability of the set designs and costumes to establish an ambiance of 1800s Japan. The appearance of the rice-paper doors, the umbrellas and colorful attire brilliantly set the setting. While, the inclination of the stage was genius in that it added more depth to the stage. It was balanced by the mirrored ceiling, which also allowed for more open space. The use of the Bunraku puppetry also brought more a feeling of Japan to the opera.
Lanterns and spotlights were used to illuminate the characters faces during the opera. This allowed for each character to be more distinguished. Moreover, it added a flavor of dramatic specificity. The final act at its climax presented a monochrome light shinning on the bloodied Cio-Cio-San, complemented by the music of Mr. Summers, it was a powerful way to conclude the opera.
Madame Butterfly is playing at the Metropolitan Opera, located on Broadway between 63rd and 65th street. The show is playing through March 7th.
Madama Butterfly Hundred Years Later
Madama Butterfly’s popularity never seems to die with a full house at the Metropolitan Opera even after over a hundred years since its first performance in 1907. This production of Madama Butterfly by the late Anthony Minghella first showed at the MET two years ago and has received great reviews since then. Minghella had a successful career as a director in the film industry with an Academy Award for Best Director in 1996 for The English Patient. Minghella made his debut in opera with directing Madama Butterfly first performed at the English National Opera in 2005. It soon made its way to the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre in the same year and finally to the Metropolitan Opera in September of 2006.
On Tuesday evening, American soprano Patricia Racette as Cio-Cio-San and Italian tenor Roberto Aronica as Pinkerton both fell ill and unable to perform that night. For these two main roles, Maria Gavrilova played Cio-Cio-San and Marcello Giordani played Pinkerton. Gavrilova, playing the 15-year old Cio-Cio-San, or Madame Butterfly, went on with the performance in a professional fashion. She had the powerful and yet innocent voice that this role required. The opera is about a young geisha, Cio-Cio-San, who marries a US Naval Officer named Pinkerton, whose performance by Giordani was decent compared to Gavrilova because this low tenor had a small voice in which in time to time was enclosed by the strong orchestra. Cio-Cio-San in result of loving him goes through disownment from her family. However Pinkerton does not have the same feelings of love for Cio-Cio-San, and even leaves her for three long years. The purity of the girl leaves her to believe that he will come back and she waits for him with strong hope. Pinkerton comes back to Cio-Cio-San three years later but with his new American wife. This shocks Cio-Cio-San and it leads to a powerful ending.
The production team shows the importance of the ending in great manner. The use of lighting in the end gave a powerful effect and better understanding of the characters’ feelings. Not only the lighting however, the mirror in the ceiling, the great costumes, and the choreography was in result of the experienced and hard working production team. The music in this opera could not go unnoticed. Written by Giacomo Puccini, the music was wonderfully performed by the orchestra. Conductor Patrick Summers successfully led the orchestra into perfect sync with the singers on stage. This powerful music gave great effect into the opera in a whole which merely reading the libretto could never do.
Performances of Madama Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera for the 2008-2009 season will run through March 7, 2009 with the next performance being held this Wednesday, November 19, 2008.
A Rock Concert at the BAM Opera House
Loud music, water everywhere, people running, and blinding lights. The first thing that pops up into people’s minds when they hear these words is probably a rock concert. However, I am describing Georg Büchner’s 1837 play Woyzeck that was created by the Vesturport Theater of Iceland and the Reykjavik City Theater. This new adaptation of Woyzeck was directed by Gísli Örn Gardarsson, a two-time Edda Award for Best Film and Screenplay of the Year. Woyzeck was presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Art: Howard Gilman Opera House on October 15, 17, and 18. This classic play by Büchner, was his unfinished work due to his early death in 1837 at the young age of 23. No certainty can be made of what kind of ending Büchner led toward and that is the reason why there are so many variations of this play in several different countries.
Gísli Örn Gardarsson translated this play into English and produced it with the help of Ruth Little and Jón Atli Jónasson. Gardarsson, who graduated from the Icelandic Academy of the Arts in 2001, not only is a director but an actor as well. His debut as a director was with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, in the Reykjavik City Theater in Iceland where he played Romeo in 2002. Like Woyzeck, he also directed this play as if it was an acrobatic show. He received great reviews for this production of Romeo and Juliet, said to be one of the most exciting theatrical event for years. Other works of his was co-directing Metamorphosis and directing Lucas Moodyson’s film Together. He is widely known throughout European countries through his new adaptations of different kinds of plays and films. Ingvar E. Sigurdsson, also a big name in the European acting industry, played the main character, Franz Woyzeck. Sigurdsson was honored by the European Film Promotion, naming him one of European film’s Shooting Stars in 1999. Since then, he has worked in many films and plays including Peer Gynt, Romeo and Juliet, Three Sisters, and more.
Although it is understandable that this is Gardarsson’s style and he has been doing this for years, this “circus” performance of this classical play Woyzeck left me confused. All of the actors and actresses seemed to be very athletic and was whether flying around acrobatically in ropes or swimming in the water tank that circled the stage. And especially unseen in a 19th century play, the loud rock music was as if it was the song genre of the times. Even though it seemed to fit the drum major as a sexual attraction to some women, the rock music did not seem necessary to the play as a whole. Gardarsson clearly tried to alter the play into a more modernized version, but in doing that, he also changed the dramatic tragedy into a dramatic comedy. There were scenes that drove the whole audience into laughter, but I didn’t think those parts should have been there, especially since Büchner did not write it that way. This play was not enjoyable for the most part and very confusing at times because of the way it was produced. It did not go back to the original play by Büchner in any way and it was probably not the way he wanted this play to be performed.
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