Sans fat lady, love consumes in many tongues

Naples Night extends to the Timothy Dwight dining hall this weekend, as the Yale College Opera Company sets up two scenes from Italian operas with two German brews, binding them all together with a theme of love. Scenes will be presented from two Italian operas, Beatrice and Benedict and Cosi Fan Tutte, as well as two German operas, Hansel and Gretel and The Magic Flute. Opera glasses aren't necessary, as the TD stage offers a unique intimacy with the characters. Dining hall acoustics can be dicey, but in such an intimate setting, these strong voices richly fill the space.

CAYTE PUSHKAREVA/YH Gretel refuses the evil witch's gumdrops with gusto.

The narrator, Magic (Erin Roberts, DC '02), plays the authority on love, appropriately wielding a rainstick as her scepter, showing the subtle, stirring emotion of which she and the performers take command. The scenes are further bound by constant themes in set, costume, and musical accompaniment. The set pieces remain on stage throughout all four scenes: giant flowers in basic reds, yellows, and blues take on the character of each scene as the music changes. A hypnotic poppy over Hansel and Gretel suddenly becomes a fierce seducer in Cosi Fan Tutte. Amanda Poppei, CC '00, designed the costumes in a casual, modern style, dyed in bold primary colors that, like the giant flowers, allow the performers' skill to temper them. Hye-ki Choi, the pianist, provides live accompaniment so that the scenes ripen rather than curdle with canned music. Unified by these elements, such moments freely explore love's various types.

Hansel and Gretel, the first operatic excerpt, is the only scene performed in English, easing one into the operatic style with the help of supertitles projected on a screen to the left of the stage. Through emphatic descriptions, the songs of Hansel (Miriam Lederer, TC '00) and Gretel (Claire Owen, ES '03) build a gingerbread house that tempted me to rush the stage to pick some gingerbread men and grab gumdrops. The witch (Andrea Pizziconi, PC '00) descends upon the intruders with a spellbinding vigor, sugarcoating her evil devices so well that she could cause a cavity. While each character proves individually solid, as an ensemble they need to interact and respond more to each other's actions.

Adrian Blue and Jean Little's lighting design enhances the witch's evil by caging Hansel in bars of light cast on the wall behind the balcony and showing the heat of the oven with a throbbing rotisserie light in the dining hall alcove.

The scene from Beatrice and Benedict, an opera derived from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, involves Hero (Michele Kennedy, BK '00) picnicking with Ursula (Kimberly DeQuattro, BR '03). Their friendship's strong chemistry overwhelms Hero's love for Claudio. Both Kennedy's and DeQuattro's command of their roles allow the impending sorrow of Claudio abandoning Hero to emerge, as the two flee toge-ther, seeking shelter from a storm.

In the scene derived from Cosi Fan Tutte, Despira (Alli-son Ewoldt, PC '03) commands the stage, as hot as that throbbing oven-light in Hansel and Gretel. She has fun with her part, teaching two very naïve friends the value of flirting. With her compelling presence, Ewoldt holds the reins on the Italian tongue, craftily making the language of love sizzle with the music. Her two acquaintances, Fiordiligi (Janna Baty) and Dorabella (Jeanne Austin, ES '00), provide comic relief with such vigor and harmony that one laughs out loud at their portrayal of two prudes who would have to sell their souls to get into the Exotic Erotic. This scene, appropriately set in Naples, has so much gusto and body language, I barely had to look at the supertitles.

Opera

Scenes The Yale College Opera Company Fri., Feb. 18 and Sun., Feb. 20, 9 p.m. Timothy Dwight Dining Hall $5, $3 students

The Magic Flute excerpt depicts the Queen of the Night (Meg Reuland, DC '02) assigning Tamino (Andrew Osarchuk, ES '02) and the foolish bird-collector, Papageno (Loren Wengerd, SM '01) to save her daughter, who has been captured by the evil Zorastro. The expanse of this play poses a challenge, but Catherine Rush's staging not only milks TD for all its space—she uses the balcony and alcove—but ties the show together by including the narrator in the guise of a monster. Osarchuk's impassioned portrayal of Tamino, the meek hero, complements the Queen of the Night's domineering presence and thrilling aria. The three ladies, No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3, also stir up the scene with their beautiful voices and coy charms, baiting Papageno from the balcony by casting down a bird on a fishing pole. Though they go by numerical names, each performance, especially Lady No. 3 (Gabrielle McColgan, SY '00), presents rich and vibrant characters.

The famous plump woman in a Viking hat doesn't end this show, but the cast comes out to tip the scales against the stereotypical ending with a flourishing "Auf Wiedersehn." Perhaps, in this alternative ending, they are trying to say love will never die.

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