May 12-18, 2005

opera

Same Bat Channel

by David Shengold

Opera Company of Philadelphia's final season offering, a revival of Robert Driver's 1995 Die Fledermaus production (April 29), stemmed from the need to combine the casts of two projects abandoned for financial reasons, Eugene Onegin and La clemenza di Tito. Engaged initially for these, William Burden and OCP debutantes Bruce Ford and Christine Goerke accommodated the management by offering local audiences their first-ever Eisenstein, Alfred and Rosalinde, respectively. All proved very enjoyable, but Goerke's thrillingly rich, agile vocalism easily dominated. Very few Rosalindes so successfully bring Wagnerian heft to Johann Strauss' twists and turns. Her speaking displayed the same wide tonal palette and command of comic nuance. A total triumph. Now can we have her back in something like Gluck's Armide, and Burden and Nathan Gunn in that Onegin? Such casting coups — and not offering yet another Barber of Seville — would make Philly the operatic "destination city" it could easily be.

Burden, in weight of voice not ideally matched with Goerke, supplied considerable stage charm (cutting the rug with grace and gamely standing on his head) plus admirable linguistic and musical style. Driver's gag-driven direction kept Ford's cleanly sung Alfred particularly busy, with entrances on an antique bicycle, stilts and a scooter. A fourth international artist, Jochen Schmeckenbecher, made a lively Dr. Falke, lacking the velvet legato for launching "Bröderlein und Schwesterlein" but fielding the most authentic Viennese style. Star quality dipped off thereafter, though John Davies made a solidly professional Frank. Sarah Tannehill, directed as an air-dusting, hip-wiggling ur-soubrette in the role of Adele, sang prettily in her upper middle voice; her topmost notes lacked focus, and the lower range seemed nonexistent. New Zealand's Sarah Castle offered a sopranoish, blandly correct Orlofsky (a role for a capital "P" Personality). Surely OCP could have cast these parts more successfully from AVA and Curtis? Limber Grant Neale (Frosch) labored hard to upstage the entire production, including a staggeringly unamusing drag turn at Orlofsky's ball.

Boyd Ostroff's sets and Richard St. Clair's costumes lent a sense of bourgeois luxury without undue heaviness; their work provided the 19th-century flavor that went begging in Driver's televisionish shtick (typical detail: Eisenstein and Falke high-fived at the operetta's denouement). For better or worse, Corrado Rovaris' propulsive musical direction studiously avoided traditional Viennese schmaltz and luftpausen, but this production is worth catching for Ms. Goerke, the two fine tenors and Strauss' irresistible tunes.

Die Fledermaus Through May 15, Opera Company of Philadelphia at the Academy of Music, Broad and Locust sts., 215-893-1999