Down with the King! 'Poppea'disappoints

Some operas are virtually indestructible, as long as the musicians follow the composer's guidelines within the music. Claudio Monteverdi's music, however, is at a disadvantage because records of his opera's performances during his lifetime are relatively obscure. Though his vocal music is brimming with vitality and pathos—Dame Janet Baker brought down the house at her farewell recital at Edinburgh with a set of his songs—it demands scrupulous attention to rhythm, nuance, and tempo.

REBECCA ROSENTHAL/YH Unfortunately, this beautiful moment was ruined when an audacious imrpov comedy fan shouted, "Why don't you sing about it?!"

For the most part, the Yale Opera Company suffers in these respects. The tempos chosen in their production of The Coronation of Poppea often do not fit the words, and while there is not a written indication of speed or attitude in the score, the dramatic situation should uniquely inform both the singer and the conductor.

Even so, the production offers good things. The early parts of the first act promise a dynamite show with two superb scenes and the gorgeous entrance music of Poppea and Nerone (Rolando Sanz, MUS '02). After such an auspicious beginning, however, come the problems.

Admittedly, the production itself is very inventive and beautifully done, given the limited resources available. The costumes consist of a hodge-podge of influences but are nearly uniform in their interpretive vision. One exception is the truly strange costume Christian Van Horn wears upon his first entrance, a getup that fits more comfortably by the seashore in the 1950s than in antiquity. Such careless inconsistencies are symptomatic of the experience as a whole.

Case in point is the drunken duet that Nerone and Lucano (Leah Wool, MUS '02) engage in, which is spoiled by a tempo far too slow for such a ribald piece. The choice of what to include or excise from the original score is also rather hit-or-miss. Included is a great comedic scene for Arnalta the nurse, played wonderfully by Stephen Wilder, MUS '01, but an even more charming and funny intermezzo is cut from the show. Of course there must be light patches in this rather dark and "amoral" opera, but Arnalta's scene comes out of nowhere after the tragedy, intensifying nothing.

The musical director, Cristina Stanescu, has to work under trying conditions, playing the piano and conducting at the same time. She is forgiven for an occasional bit of listlessness and lack of support for her singers, but her leadership seems so rigid that the music does not have time to breathe.

Even with this handicap, the music need not sound tepid, as it almost uniformly does, coming alive only in various spots and patches. Hopefully the energy of the music will right itself with the excitement of opening night.

What is uniformly pleasing is the blocking and lighting of the production. The performance's opening music and blocking are wonderfully done, as is the lighting for Ottone's entrance, beautifully suggesting the shade of tree bran-ches at sunset.

The singers are generally good, with patches of truly inspired singing and characterization. As a rule, the sopranos become squally and the sound pressured when the music takes them higher to the passagio. Vikki Maloley, GRD '02, is pleasingly free of this problem. It is a pity she doesn't sing more, as she is also a committed actress.

The true problem with the singing in this production is that the voices do not change from scene to scene, circumstance to circumstance. The beauty of L'incoronazion di Poppea is its amazing fidelity to creating real characters. Rounded figures emerge from the juxtaposition of behaviors under different circumstances. Give this story to a set of actors and they will vary voice and vocal placement and volume magically. Why is this not also done in opera? It is done, but all too rarely.

There are, fortunately, moments of vitality and verve. The softer, more calmly lamented singing by Kellie Jenkins, MUS '01, is superb. Hers is a velvet voice that draws all attention to itself. Of all the actors, she brings the listener most immediately to her plight. Equally vivacious is Wool, who throws herself into everything she sings. Ironically, her string of minor characters saves the first act from degenerating into competent but uninvolving dra-ma. The second act is better realized, and there is an indestructible piece of music to end it all, "Pur ti miro."

Regrettably, Yale Opera tackled this most ambitious work, a great opera by a great opera composer, under less than ideal circumstances. This is a show demanding much from all involved, played in conditions that make a perfect performance nearly impossible. When you see it—and despite its problems, you should—you will catch several glimpses of how much this production has captured and just how much more it could have been.

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