First-rate farce flags at finale
Cast energetic, voices solid in Argento opera
By Rob Hubbard
Special to the Pioneer Press
Updated: 11/15/2009 09:52:04 PM CST

The adventures of a legendary bed-hopping lothario are the focus of the Minnesota Opera's latest production. Mozart's "Don Giovanni"? No, but it does share some of its source material.

Mozart and his librettist were partially inspired by tales of an Italian contemporary, Casanova. Two centuries later, Minnesota-based composer Dominick Argento helped launch St. Paul's Ordway Music Theatre with "Casanova's Homecoming," a work that the Minnesota Opera has revived in a handsome, strongly sung staging that unfortunately flags in the final act, its pace slowing, its climax muted.

The production hits the bustling, canal-lined streets of Venice with plenty of promise, as Casanova returns from years in exile and hatches plans to raise a dowry for his godchild. But his adversaries intend to play a practical joke on him at the opera house.

If you learned of all this opera's twists, you might think it a more entertaining production than it is. The cast pours plenty of energy into the material, but it's handicapped by a score that seldom develops any melodic momentum and exposition delivered in short bursts of dialogue.

This may look like a Mozart opera in its wigs and tricorn hats, but it sounds decidedly different.

Theatrically, there's much to like in the Minnesota Opera's staging. Paul Steinberg's sets are an imaginative combination of classic and modern, be they transporting audiences to an alchemist's elaborate laboratory or a Venetian canal in the dead of night. And director James Robinson has shaped his ample ensemble into a large collection of distinct characters.

Holding the center is John Fanning's Casanova, his rich tone and air of confidence unwavering throughout. But the opera's best arias are given to Lauren McNeese, her clear mezzo voice taking flight as she laments being a woman imitating a man imitating a woman.

Everything slows down as the opera draws to a close - clever banter is cast aside, conflict unravels in a staid courtroom, a final street scene is considerably more subdued than the first. By the end of three hours, audiences may be more fatigued than exhilarated. But Saturday's opening night crowd still leapt at the opportunity to give Argento a standing ovation.

Minnesota Opera opens season with lush staging of Bizet B-side
By LARRY FUCHSBERG, Special to the Star Tribune

Lesser-known opera "The Pearl Fishers" gets an injection of color in production designed by Zandra Rhodes.

Last update: September 28, 2009 - 11:43 AM

There's no use pretending that "The Pearl Fishers," written in 1863 by the 24-year-old Georges Bizet, is an operatic masterpiece. Saddled with a libretto disparaged by the librettists themselves, hobbled by a creaky final act, the piece sank after an initial run of 18 performances; it would be revived only posthumously, after Bizet's "Carmen" (premiered just before his death at 36) had conquered the world's lyric stages.

A spirited revival shows "Casanova's Homecoming" by Dominick Argento to be a great modern comic opera.
By LARRY FUCHSBERG, Special to the Star Tribune
Last update: November 16, 2009 - 10:46 AM

What: A new production of Dominick Argento's 1985 comic opera by the Minnesota Opera, with John Fanning in the title role.
When: 7:30 p.m. Tue., Thu., Sat.; 2 p.m. Sun. Where: Ordway Center, 345 Washington St., St. Paul. Tickets: $20-$200. 612-333-6669 or www.nopera.org.

Composer Dominick Argento has been so fundamental to the fortunes of the Minnesota Opera that the company's neglect of his remarkable output (14 operas!) for nearly two decades seems almost scandalous. But their estrangement, if that's what it was, has been put aside with Saturday's triumphant revival of "Casanova's Homecoming" -- a meticulous, spirited production that argues powerfully for the work's place among the best modern comic operas. Written for the opening of the Ordway Center a quarter-century ago, "Casanova" makes a fit vehicle for Argento's own homecoming.

The action is set in Venice in 1754, during Carnival. The fiftyish Casanova, just returned after long exile, falls victim to an elaborate hoax but then turns it to his advantage, netting a small fortune that he bestows as a dowry on his penniless goddaughter. (The historical Casanova was a libertine, con man and prolific memoirist, with a dark side; if alive today, he'd be running a Ponzi scheme. The Casanova of the opera is a charming rogue with a heart of gold, a roving eye and a penchant for none-too-subtle innuendo.) Argento, a singularly literary musician, fashioned his own libretto, ensuring that composer and librettist are always on the same page -- a rare and liberating thing.

"Casanova" is a love letter to Venice (though Venetian elements are unaccountably scarce in this production's décor) and, even more, a love letter to opera itself. The finest scenes in the piece are the opera-within-an-opera of Act 1 (here brilliantly staged) and the lagoon scene of Act 2 -- a thing of high hilarity, in which a pseudo-occult manifestation, rehearsed as a mini-opera, goes wildly wrong in performance, dumping Casanova and the batty Madame d'Urfé in the drink. And the seduction that closes Act 1, with its muted strings and slowly darkened candelabra, is pure Puccini.

Baritone John Fanning sings charismatically as Casanova; his diction sets the bar high for his colleagues. Other standouts are Lauren McNeese's Teresa (the castrato who isn't), Jennifer Casey Cabot's Giulietta, Jean Stilwell's d'Urfé (who might have acted more flamboyantly), John Michael Moore's Lorenzo and Dan Dressen's Marquis de Lisle.

Stage director James Robinson, a former Argento pupil, sagely balances invention and deference. James Schuette's costumes are handsome, Aaron Black's lighting guileful. Conductor Leonardo Vordoni reliably finds the music in Argento's speech-driven rhythms and irregular phrases; the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is a vital presence in the pit.

"Casanova" declines to take itself too seriously; psychological and moral complexity is not its concern. Yet Argento plainly seeks to tell the story of a "new birth" -- of Casanova's rededication, after crisis and disillusion, to his creed (a kind of aristocratic hedonism). In this, I'm not sure he succeeds. But the problem is one that almost any other composer would be thrilled to have.

Larry Fuchsberg writes regularly about music.

'Pearl Fishers' casts vibrant visuals and vocals
By Rob Hubbard special to the Pioneer Press

Updated: 09/27/2009 09:27:57 PM CDT

Go to the opera and see the world. That was a European trend from the late 18th to early 20th centuries, when composers and producers shrank the earth by transporting audiences to exotic locales, basing their works on ancient myths or lending their own stories an Asian, African or Middle Eastern spin.

Minnesota Opera pleases the music gods with Bizet's "Pearl Fishers"
By Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet

September 27, 2009

With the Minnesota Opera's production of Bizet's The Pearl Fishers, designer Zandra Rhodes makes it official: 80s nostalgia is out, 90s nostalgia is in. When the curtain rose at the Ordway, I realized that I hadn't seen such a shameless collision of pink and turquoise since Target's winter coat section circa the first Clinton inauguration. What's more, the ceremonial garb worn by the "primitive" Ceylonese looks like something you'd see on an alien planet in Star Trek: The Next Generation. When the opera's heroine landed herself in hot water, I was half-expecting Riker and Data to materialize with phasers at the ready.

Almost 25 years after his "Casanova's Homecoming" opened the Ordway Center, composer Dominick Argento reflects on his work and the state of opera.

By GRAYDON ROYCE, Star Tribune
November 8, 2009

Minnesota Opera's 'Barber of Seville' is breezy bit of fun

By Rob Hubbard
Special to the Pioneer Press
Updated: 04/12/2009 11:28:34 PM CDT

If you associate opera with stuffy, self-important haughtiness, then Gioachino Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" is the ideal antidote to that perception. It's a fast-paced slice of silliness, in which any character's inflated ego soon is popped by the pinprick of absurdity.

Review: Retirement party at "Barber of Seville"

Minnesota Opera's soon-to-be-retired production of Rossini's "Barber of Seville" is full of fine singing, smart trims and comic surprises.

By MICHAEL ANTHONY, Special to the Star Tribune

Rich and famous by the time he was 37, Gioachino Rossini never wrote another opera after that. Just as Rossini retired too soon, most people who see the Minnesota Opera's lively (and final) production of Rossini's greatest hit at the Ordway Center in St. Paul will come to a similar conclusion: This production is too good to be retired.

In fact, it's better this time around, thanks to a strong cast and shrewd staging by Kevin Newbury.

Review: Spectacle pulls the strings in opera's "Pinocchio"

By LARRY FUCHSBERG, Special to the Star Tribune

March 2, 2009

The themes of Carlo Collodi's "The Adventures of Pinocchio" are the stuff of opera: love, growth, empathy, betrayal, self-sacrifice, death and rebirth. No wonder, then, that composer Jonathan Dove and librettist (and fellow Brit) Alasdair Middleton have reappropriated the story of the plucky boy-puppet, plundered by Walt Disney for his 1940 animated film. Their three-hour entertainment, which takes Collodi's title as its own, opened Saturday at the Ordway in its original production, imported by Minnesota Opera from England's Opera North (which gave the premiere in 2007). And to borrow Pinocchio's favorite adjective, it is good.

Minnesota Opera's polished 'Pinocchio' struggles to find its heart

By Dominic P. Papatola
dpapatola@pioneerpress.com

Updated: 03/01/2009 09:12:34 PM CST

"The Adventures of Pinocchio" includes moments that are both humorous and harrowing. It offers images of beauty and poignancy. There are sprinkles of magic and dabs of social commentary. What it lacks is a sense of momentum and - perhaps ironically in the story of a wooden boy who yearns to be real - the ineffable touch of humanity.

Review: MN Opera's "Adventures of Pinocchio" an enchanting experience for all ages

March 1, 1:19 PM
by Brad Richason, Twin Cities Performance Art Examiner

Of all the theater based performance art forms, few can feel as intimidating to the uninitiated as opera. Preconceptions ranging from heavily stylized singing (often in foreign languages) to a grandiosity of presentation (often viewed as pomposity) are enough to dissuade many from even contemplating an evening at the opera - a shame considering the uniquely emphatic beauty of the form.

The devil's in the detail

Minnesota Opera's new "Faust" wins ovations.
By Mary Abbe, Star Tribune

What: By Charles Gounod. Directed by Doug Varone for Minnesota Opera. Conducted by Jean-Yves Ossonce.
When: 7:30 p.m. today, Thu. and Sat.; 2 p.m. Sun.
Where: Ordway Center, 5th and Washington Sts., St. Paul.
Tickets: $20-$150. 612-333-6669 or www. mnopera.org.

When it comes to "Faust," Charles-François Gounod's 1859 romantic masterpiece, the Germans have it right. Their opera houses dub this French classic "Margarete," after the lovely heroine whose fate is its crux, reserving the title "Faust" for Goethe's earlier treatment of the tragic bargain between the doctor and the devil.

Minnesota Opera's Faust a devilish dyad of art

By Rob Hubbard
Special to the Pioneer Press

Opera has been described as the ultimate art form, combining magnificent music with gripping theater.

But the Minnesota Opera's new production of Charles Gounod's "Faust" takes those two artistic disciplines and doubles them. Thanks to director and choreographer Doug Varone, it's a production that moves like a modern dance performance.

MUSIC | Mozart's Orient Express arrives at the Ordway

By Jay Gabler , TC Daily Planet
November 7, 2008

The Minnesota Opera is billing their upcoming production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville as “the perfect opera for first-timers,” but for the uninitiated, an even better bet might be the company’s current production of Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio. The score is pure ear candy, the passages of spoken dialogue help ground the arias (Abduction was written as a “singspiel,” a form akin to a Broadway musical), the elaborate set is a thing of beauty, and the cast members have a great deal of fun with the opera’s broad humor and farcical plot.

Clemency on the Orient Express
Marvelous music and a scintillating staging make Mozart's "Abduction" a winner.

By LARRY FUCHSBERG, Special to the Star Tribune
November 3, 2008
MINNESOTA OPERA

Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio (1782) is 18th-century fluff, hardly comparable to "Figaro" or "The Magic Flute." But fluffiness, in this case, precludes neither marvelous music nor a last-act reversal still worth pondering. (Seraglio is simply the Italian for harem; the plain English translation sounded too risqué to Victorian ears, and the bowdlerization has stuck.)

Tonight's hottest ticket in town? The election
By Richard Chin
11/04/2008 07:14:48 AM CST

Can a night of song and dance match the drama of a historic presidential election?
Maybe not.
     When the Minnesota Opera saw ticket sales slump for tonight's performance of "The Abduction from the Seraglio," it decided to offer an Election Night special: tickets that cost up to $110 discounted to $20.
Overall sales for the Mozart opera that runs through Sunday at the Ordway Center have been strong, said opera marketing and communications director Lani Willis. Tonight is the exception.
"Obviously, this election is really a heated one for a lot of people," Willis said.

Minnesota Opera's "Abduction" puts joy in the journey

By Rob Hubbard
Special to the Pioneer Press

Good comedy moves. Sure, some laughs come from things that are slow and measured, but, if you have a story that depends upon tricks and twists, it's best to have it hurtle forward like an express train.