Odd Choices Detract From Beauty of ‘La Traviata’
By Mark Stryker, Detroit Free Press
May 12–Verdi’s “La Traviata,” which closes Michigan Opera Theatre’s season, is bulletproof. The characters are so appealing, the music so touching and the structure so sturdy that only monumental incompetence can destroy it on stage.
Brilliance, of course, is another matter. Verdi’s weeper, which tells the story of a fashionable Parisian courtesan with a heart of gold, demands a heroic soprano flexible enough to morph from party girl to doomed swan. Verdi’s Violetta must cope with coloratura fireworks in Act 1 and then music rich with heavy lyricism and emotion as the tragedy unfolds.
There are other challenges. The static plot and dated morality tale doesn’t carry the same weight after 150 years. Violetta runs off with lover Alfredo, whose father Germont demands she give up his son to avoid disgracing the family. It requires balance, consistency, chemistry and proportion. No one said opera was easy.
MOT’s disappointing production, which opened Saturday, proves the point. Flaws outnumber virtues, yet the magic never wholly disappears. Thank you, Verdi.
The painted sets from New York City Opera look old and shabby, and Violetta’s death scene plays out behind a baffling scrim and under dim lights that blunt the impact. Director Mario Corradi also makes several other odd choices. During Violetta and Alfredo’s first duet, a pair of dancers twirl distractingly in the background, a metaphor, I suppose, for the seduction taking place in song.
Corradi seems determined not to give us a genteel “Traviata,” so he pumps up the sex that drives the story — a reasonable idea — but the results are more vulgar than sage. Violetta reclines on a couch as a butler pops the cork on a phallic bottle of champagne. Later she channels her inner Gypsy Rose Lee, stepping out of her dress during her first act aria to sing in her (classy) underwear.
Soprano Dina Kuznetsova was an uneven Violetta. Her treacherous first act aria was messy, her florid lines inaccurate, heavy and overly anguished. Her acting was histrionic. She buried her face in her hands, grabbed her head, swung her limbs, fell to the floor. But she rallied, singing with grace, warmth, passion and hushed beauty as she agrees to give up Alfredo and infusing her death scene with sensitive pathos.
As Alfredo, tenor Arturo Chacon-Cruz sang with a welcoming legato and elegance, but there wasn’t much chemistry with Kuznetsova. As Germont, full-throated baritone Marco Di Felice sang with ardent resonance, revealing the conflicted emotions of a father protecting his son but aware of the cost of his actions. As usual, the MOT chorus sang well.
The production’s biggest victory was the expressive conducting and orchestral playing flowing from the pit. Giuliano Carella lovingly shaped the score with idiomatic flair, striking perfect tempos balancing urgency with natural arcs of lyric song. “Traviata” may be indestructible, but it soars higher with this kind of help.
Erin Wall (Violetta), Mark Panuccio (Alfredo), Luis Ledesma (Germont) sing Friday and Sunday. Contact MARK STRYKER at mstryker@freepress.com.
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