La Finta Giardiniera @ CIM 2/23/11
There are those who think that any Mozart is better than no Mozart. Maybe it is, but there are times that a little less Mozart would be more rewarding. Last week’s La Finta Giardiniera at CIM would greatly benefit by a wee bit of judicious editing here and there. By his own admission, Director David Bamberger says “the opera is dramaturgically sloppy” and “some plot material is repeated time after time. This makes for a piece that is very long and, too often, tedious.” Really?
Several years ago, Mr. Bamberger edited the existing Italian/German versions (half of which had only been re-discovered in the late 20th century.) He tightened it a bit, and truthfully, a bit more wouldn’t have hurt a thing! It’s very light on plot, and some of the music sounds more like a Mozart student than the master, but even so, this production is entertaining in every respect — even if a bit long. The technical aspects were great: colorful and bright costumes by Allison Garrigan, plus inviting set and lighting design by Dave Brooks.
Musically speaking, the production rates a solid A+. Conductor Harry Davidson kept the student orchestra well in hand; it never threatened to overpower the singers, and the pace never flagged. John Simmons did his usual great job, tripling as Opera Coach, chorus master, and continuo harpsichord in the orchestra.
La Finta Giardiniera loosely translates (they tell me) as The Garden Girl in Disguise. Indeed, the main female character is the Marchioness Violante who has a rather violent spat with her lover, Count Belfiore. He thinks he’s killed her, so he flees. But no, not really, she was just injured, so when she’s all better, she goes off looking for him. In disguise as Sandrina the garden girl, in the company of Roberto, her servant, who becomes Nardo, the gardener.
Wouldn’t you know, they end up at the estate of the Mayor of Lagonero, who happens to have a marriageable niece, Armida. She has rejected the hand of the Cavalier Ramiro, who is a most unhappy fella, indeed. The seventh principal is the Mayor’s very saucy maid, Serpetta. Ramiro bemoans his unhappy fate at Armida’s hands, while the Mayor is very taken with his new garden girl.
Armida appears, desperately wanting to be married, just not to Ramiro. And here comes Belfiore, the perfect husband-candidate. Fortunately, he thinks so too, until he spies Sandrina. Oops! Then follows a lot of “yes” and “no” and back and forth, but eventually, after a night in the forest, everyone but the Mayor ends up with a mate: Sandrina as Violante again with Belfiore, Armida with Ramiro, and Serpetta with Nardo/Roberto.
Alexandra Schiano’s soprano was ideally suited to this sort of role, and she was believable in both of her roles. In the pants role of Ramiro, mezzo Samantha Renea Gossard was as nearly perfect as possible to be. She was also thoroughly convincing as a very love-lorn young man.
As Armida, Laura Anne Valles was able to let her soprano voice soar, while yet exhibiting an agile stage presence. She’ll be an excellent villainess one of these days. The comic, saucy part of Serpetta could not have been in better hands than those of soprano April Martin. She led the hapless Roberto/Nardo of baritone Mark Wanich in a merry chase, to be sure. However, he was entirely up to her schemes with comedy skills of his own.
Cleveland Hts native, tenor Nathanael Hein, was dashing at times and undecided at others as Count Belfiore, but whichever, his voice retained its lyric qualities, even when he was under fire, so to speak.
Tenor Kevin Simmons made a charming, if ineffective Mayor. Mostly, his part was to watch the antics of the others.
Sung in Italian, there were English Supertitles by Paul & Kathleen Zweifel. Unfortunately, they failed on occasion. It’s still great to have them available, however, even if intermittently.
All told, this really was an enjoyable evening. The principals were double-cast, and this review if of the Wednesday evening cast. I’m certain the alternates were equally as proficient.
Next up for the CIM Opera Department will be Spring Scenes and Trial By Jury — the latter a one-act opera by Gilbert & Sullivan. Dates are Fri 4/15 – Sun 4/17. For more information or to order tickets call 216.791.5000, ext. 411 or visit the website: http://CIM.edu.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz, who writes: My most recently published book is Ardenwycke Unveiled (e-book and trade paper). Cerridwen has another contemporary romance from me, But Not For Love, currently available only as an e-book, but perhaps will be in print later this year. I hope to soon get around to completing some of the 30+ incomplete books in my computer!Actually, I’ve just re-issued my very first published book (from Berkley in NY 1993) Secret Shores which is available now in print, plus print and as a Kindle.
By the way, Cerridwen has also accepted two of my short stories in their Scintillating Samples (complimentary reads) area: Song of the Swan and Unexpected Comfort. I love photography as well, as you can see here. Occasionally I teach writing workshops and sometimes do editing or ghostwriting on a free-lance basis. But over and above everything else, there’s always been the writing. I can’t imagine my life without it.
And now, after more than a few requests, I’ve started a blog about writing. You can find it here.
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