A Treasure Trovatore

Opera San Jose
Verdi's Il Trovatore
February 15, 2020

Eugene Brancoveanu as Count di Luna, Mackenzie Gotcher as Count di
Luna and Kerriann Otano as Leonora. All photos by David Allen

Trovatore is such a Gordian knot of narrative that it can prove both challenging and frustrating. The good news is that, once an operagoer knows the secret contained in the final line, they can watch subsequent performances and see beautiful little clues all over the place. It bears a certain resemblance to Hamlet; its maddening complexity is precisely what brings one back, time and time again.

The complexity also creates a challenge for the stage director. The action of the narrative is always something that happened twenty years ago, or just offstage, or on a faraway battlefield. Thankfully, we have a few swordfights and lots of smack talk between the combatants, but it's often hard to keep the stage from going still as a painting. I can't say that director Brad Dalton did much to combat this tendency, but he did create some fascinating tableaux with his players (and a few heads on pikes to add ferocity).

Daryl Freedman as Azucena

That said, the singing here is masterful. Though his stage movements as Count di Luna are oddly stilted, Eugene Brancoveanu's baritone is always a pleasure. Mezzo Daryl Freedman's performance as the haunted gypsy Azucena is mesmerizingly intense, especially in "Condotta ell'era in ceppi," the account of her mother's fiery execution that supplies the opera's primary riddle.

A similar intensity drives the first telling of this tale, "Abbietta zingara," from Ferrando, leader of the Count's guard, played by baritone Nathan Stark. The lead-singer quality of the secondary roles goes on from there, including tenor Mason Gates as Ruiz and mezzo Stephanie Sanchez as Inez. This vocal depth has become an admirable trademark of OSJ's company.

The grandest singing comes from the lovers Leonora and Manrico (the troubadour of the title). Soprano Kerrian Otano and tenor Mackenzie Gotcher share the quality of crafting their lines with the skill of master sculptors. This is especially true of Otano, whose "D'amor sulli'ali rosee" was a seminar in thoughtful phrasing. Her dynamic range is captivating. Gotcher's instrument is a perfect match for Manrico: forceful enough for the call-to-arms of "Di quella pira" but lyric enough for the tenderness of the love aria "Ah si, ben mio coll'essere."

Eugene Brancoveanu as Count di Luna, Kerriann Otano as Leonora.

Joseph Marcheso inspires a majestic sound from his orchestra, notably the rich brass of the Act I opening and the evocative woodwinds of Leonora's prison-wall vigil. Christopher James Ray leads the various choruses to some memorable moments, from expected highlights like the Anvil Chorus to little surprises like the nun's chorale.

The final killing was, alas, kind of a dud. A throat-slash might best come with the victim faced away from the audience, leaving us to our gory little imaginations.

Through March 1, California Theatre, 345 S. First Street, San Jose. $55-$195, operasj.org, 408/437-4450.

Michael J. Vaughn is the author of 22 novels. His opera novel Gabriella's Voice is available at Amazon.

A Spectacular Chicago

Chicago
Kander, Ebb and Fosse
San Jose Stage Company
February 8, 2020

Allison F. Rich as Velma Kelly. Photos by Dave Lepori.

It's hard to overstate the perfection that is Stage's production of Chicago. Over the past decade, the company has developed an affinity for gritty musicals, and this one, its roots going all the way back to Maurine Dallas Watkins' 1927 play, is one of the grittiest. You won't be just entertained by this show, you'll be mesmerized.

Chicago's peculiar lingua franca - a roaring twenties jazz crime musical performed largely in underwear - is established right away when Allison F. Rich makes her usual stunning entrance and leads the ensemble into "All That Jazz," featuring the tight formation/small gesture dancing that is Bob Fosse's signature. There's plenty more to come; choreographer Tracy Freeman Shaw has drilled her dancers into one captivating image after another. Perhaps the company's greatest asset is a corps of backing performers that you can track from one show to the next, and there is always some fascinating gesture of physical touch going on in the tableau of a scene. I also noticed Rich's singing in this scene, which was smooth and understated, a luxury afforded by the audio and the Stage's 200-seat confines.

Keith Pinto as Billy Fynn, dancers Matthew Kropschot and Monica Moe.

The second-tier performers, too, provide a number of delightful surprises. Non-binary performer Branden Noel Thomas gives Mama Morton a commanding, saucy presence and rich vocals. As the pushover crime reporter Mary Sunshine, Kyle Bielfield takes his countertenor to soprano heights in "A Little Bit of Good," showing a level of vocal control that any female soprano would envy. Playing the schmendrick husband, Amos, Sean Doughty draws "aws" of sympathy, but also displays a fascinating dexterity in "Mister Cellophane," transforming himself into a hobo clown as he sings.

Rich's performance as Velma Kelly brings forth an unexpected vulnerability, especially in "I Can't Do It Alone." Demonstrating the sister act created with her now sadly deceased/killed by her sibling, she seems genuinely desperate. As she should be.

Monique Hafen Adams as Roxie Hart.

Conversely, Roxie Hart is unexpectedly strong, largely because Monique Hafen Adams is just a package of onstage dynamite. It's hard to even pinpoint a particularly top moment, it's just the feeling that when she's on the stage, there will be dazzlement. The number "Me and My Baby" - in which Roxie celebrates her fictional fetus - is a particular joy.

Keith Pinto's Billy Flynn is the James Bond of the Illinois Bar. He absolutely takes over the show, and all that smooth swagger is great fun to watch. The ventriloquist act of "We Both Reached for the Gun" is its usual treat (Roxie acting the dummy as Billy supplies her testimony), and in "Razzle Dazzle" he unlooses some captivating dance moves.

Branden Noel Thomas as Mama.

Benjamin Belew's band is swingin', and it's fun to see the yard sale of instruments in front of the reed players. Costume designer Ashley Garlick provided the women with a nice variety of see-through garments, helping to give each of them a different visual personality. The ensemble strength also showed itself in a fiery performance of "The Cell Block Tango." Playing the hapless Fred Casely, Matthew Kropschot continued to provide physical humor that goes beyond the muscles. A similar case is Zoey Lytle, whose balletic, willowy physique actually adds to the sympathy for her character, Hunyak. The lighting design by Michael Palumbo is spot-on (or, in the case of "Mister Cellophane," spot-off).

Director Randall King and his troupe have crafted a phenomenal show. It wouldn't kill ya to see it.

Through March 15, The Stage, 490 S. First Street, San Jose. thestage.org, 408/283-7142.

Michael J. Vaughn is the author of 22 novels, including the opera novel Operaville, available at Amazon.

Zoey Lytle, Jacqueline Neeley and Monica Moe.

Sean Doughty as Amos Hart.

 

Sixty Years of Fantasticks

Stephen Guggenheim as El Gallo, Rick Haffner as The Man Who Dies, Stewart
Slater as The Old Actor and Isai Centeno as The Mute. By C Noto Photography.

The Fantasticks
Guggenheim Entertainment
Feb. 1, 2020

The theatrical wonder that is The Fantasticks (book by Tom Jones, music by Harvey Schmidt) is celebrating sixty years, and the folks at 3Below Theatres have jumped on the party wagon with an enchanting, well-voiced production under director Scott Evan Guggenheim.

It takes a little while to fully get on board with the show, which attaches to a certain mid-century world view where mainstream America was rediscovering fabular, elemental storymaking and folk traditions. Once you get to the second act, however, the depth of the allegory (based on Edmond Rostand's Les Romanesques) pulls you in.



Annie Hunt as Luisa

The Guggenheim cast couldn't be a better fit. Playing the idealized lovers Luisa and Matt are Annie Hunt and Jackson Glenn, both of them bright and beautiful people on their own. Hunt has a particular knack for capturing that self-fascination of the Blossoming Girl. Glenn is quite good at portraying those moments when the maturing male realizes that love is not enough.

Stephen Guggenheim lends a masterful presence to El Gallo, who is a combination of the devil, God, and an out-of-work actor. He is also the grand puppeteer, orchestrating the presentation of the story (an interesting resemblance to his Fellini character in "9"). Where the young couple both offer bright musical-theater tonalities, Guggenheim presents a voice that's been lived in, the resonance of experience. He is at his best in "I Can See It," pulling Matt's puppet strings as he prepares him for the big, bad world.

As the girl's father, Bellomy, and the boy's mother, Hucklebee, Jackson Davis and Krista Wigle are so natural it seems like they just wandered in off the street. The two of them present the closest the play has to a normal plot device, pretending a neighborly feud in order to trick their progeny into marrying each other. Their parental lament, "Plant a Radish," is a continual delight.

At the fringes of the story are a couple of goofball extras, The Old Actor (Henry) and The Man Who Dies (Mortimer). It's a pleasure to see Stewart Slater playing the former. Slater means a lot to the South Bay arts scene, having headed up American Musical Theater of San Jose, and it's fun to see him on the other side of the lights. Playing Mortimer is Rick Haffner, who worked at Sunnyvale's California Theater Center for 25 years. Haffner inspires laughter with each entrance, and displays an absolute commitment to his slapstick. (He also dies superbly.) Ironically, it's these comedians who represent the "slings and arrows" that torture poor Matt, yelling for help as the real world chews him up. On his return to Luisa, he sings the show's most touching piece, "They Were You," a realization that he really was in love with her.

The accompaniment comes from Tom Tomasello on piano and Ruthanne Martinez on harp. The combination gives the performance an intimate, enchanted feel that matches its fable-like construct.

It could be that The Fantasticks' incredible longevity comes not from its plot or its hit song, "Try to Remember," but from its riddle-like nature. One leaves the theater buzzing with questions, and awakens the next day with indelible images. You can't ask for much more.

Through Feb. 23, 3Below Theaters, 288 S. Second Street, San Jose. 3belowthaters.com, 408/404-7711.

Michael J. Vaughn is the author of 22 novels, including the opera novel Gabriella's Voice, currently available for free download at amazon.