Cosi by the Book



Malcolm MacKenzie (Don Alfonso), Colin Ramsey (Guglielmo), Cassandra Zoe
Velasco (Dorabella), Amanda Kingston (Fiordiligi) and David Blalock
(Ferrando). All photos by Bob Shomler.

Opera San Jose

Cosi fan tutte

September 9, 2017

Opera San Jose’s Cosi fan tutte is an exceedingly enjoyable production, not spectacular in matters vocal or conceptual, but delivered with a saucy comic energy and some solid acting from singers who seem to know something about developing their characters.

On the male side, the cast is exceptionally solid. Baritone Malcolm MacKenzie is funny and genial as Don Alfonso. This is so important to the audience experience, because Alfonso is our host, and we can relax knowing we’re in such capable hands.

Colin Ramsey (Guglielmo) and David Blalock (Ferrando).

Former OSJ resident Colin Ramsey brings his smoky bass-baritone and a bit of Giovanni dash to Guglielmo. This is patricularly true in “Donne mie la fate a tanti,” in which he scolds womankind for its perpetual infidelities, while simultaneously enjoying the fact that he’s so good at leading them into those exact infidelities. Yeah, he’s a schmuck, but a schmuck with style.

The vocal dessert comes from our Ferrando, David Blalock. His voice was puzzling at first, but I realized this was due to the polarized state of operatic tenors, who seemingly must declare themselves spinto or lyric, Domingo or Pavarotti. Blalock is firmly neither, offering a well-tempered tone with a beautifully even vibrato. The value of this sound came to the fore in the haunting “Un aura amarosa,” highlighted by a particularly divine decrescendo.

The distaff side brought an additional puzzlement. Amanda Kingston and Cassandra Zoe Velasco seemed to have the same voice. It turns out that Kingston’s soprano has a bit of weight to it, whereas Velasco’s mezzo is of the nimble, Rossinian variety, so they sort of meet in the middle. This created some lovely blending in the sisters’ many unison parts.

Amanda Kingston (Fiordiligi) and David Blalock (Ferrando).

Sadly, Kingston’s extra power, though ringing powerfully in the top notes, didn’t quite project the bottom notes of Fiordiligi’s infamous “Come scoglio.” I feel bad even remarking on it, since the piece ranges over two octaves, with ridiculous leaps, but there it is.

Both women do a wonderful job of occupying their characters. Kingston’s fairness and height lend themselves to Fiordiligi’s haughtiness, while Velasco’s darker features and cuteness serve well for Dorabella’s agreeable nature and weaker principles. Velasco’s eyes are madly expressive, able to convey many small shifts in emotion with the tiniest of movements.

Malcolm MacKenzie (Don Alfonso) and Maria Valdes (Despina).

Maria Valdes plays the soubrette Despina with a fine air of mischief and sauciness (her R-rated CPR on the fake-dying boys is priceless). She could, however, use a little more power for the back rows.

Brad Dalton’s stage direction is pretty traditional, but he does well in tweaking cast energies and crafting gags. One shtick features the chorus watching a back-and-forth argument like spectators at a tennis match. Ferrando and Guglielmo perform their Albanian alter egos with a variety of hilarious poses and hand gestures (at one point they even huddle like football players to decide which pose they should try next).

Steven C. Kemp’s set is elegant and firmly classical, featuring faux columns and high windows tinted cerulean. The set stays the same as furnishings and rolling topiary lemon trees change the atmospherics. (At one point, Don Alfonso uses one of the trees as a mobile camouflage unit.) Elizabeth Poindexter’s costumes are lovely, notably the Don’s gorgeous burgundy suit with gold embroidered fringes.

Peter Grunberg conducts with a sublime sense of touch, particularly the rolling waves of strings in the trio “Soave sia il vento,” as the soldier boys depart across the sea. Veronika Agranov-Dafoe’s fortepiano continuo always seems like an extra person in the conversation, another reason I remain such a devotee of recitative. (Its economies in delivering story information are such that I always wonder why no modern composer makes use of it.)

Cassandra Zoe Velasco (Dorabella) and Colin Ramsey (Guglielmo)

The older I get, the more I love Cosi fan tutte. It raises such disconcerting questions about our troubling human behaviors and contradictions, which is such a rare quality for a comedy (but not, thankfully, for a Mozart comedy). I would also like to propose two pop-song titles for a modern film adaptation of the story: “Love the One You’re With” and “My Best Friend’s Girl.”

Through 9/24, California Theater, 345 S. First Street, San Jose. operasj.org, 408/437-4450.

 

Michael J. Vaughn is a thirty-year opera critic, and author of twenty novels, including the recently released Figment, available at Amazon.com. Operaville was recently rated the eighth-best opera blog in the world by Feedspot.com.